Klutzy Elasait is klutzy, and other stuff
Long time no post...
In the last couple of months, I have (mostly) gotten back my ankle function, we have been to northern England, we've joined a meal service called Blue Apron, I've tried to slice my finger along with an onion using a slicing device, and I've gotten my sewing/craft room/office more or less organized.
In reverse order: After spending some time on this project the last three days, I am currently looking around at my space. The quilting fabric is all sorted, except for a few fat quarters I found after that project (aren't there always a few more fat quarters?) All the books are sorted by craft and in sub-categories. The embroidery supplies, weaving supplies, etc. are all in places. My jewelry supplies are organized in their own work corner. My fabric bolts are all up on the shelf designed for them or the tops of the other shelves, organized by fabric type and color. The only major thing not yet dealt with is the trim, which is currently occupying a set of plastic stacking bins. It will go onto dowels as soon as I get my little PVC pipe pieces cut down to the right size to hold the trim rolls.
Which segues nicely into the klutz part, since doing that would require me to use a hacksaw.
Earlier this week I was trying to slice an onion. I don't really like using knives to cut things, so I was trying to use a slicer-upper-thingy I own. (Yes, that is a technical term.) I tried to slice off a piece on the fingerprint side of my right forefinger. Okay, I've done that sort of thing before, so with much cursing, I headed for the first aid supplies. And tried to stop the bleeding. Which, after 45 miinutes of trying to go about my business, had not stopped. So, off to the urgent care center. They put a big bandage on it right away rather than have me drip bodily fluids all over the waiting room. Paid the $25 co-pay (I have no idea what I would be charged if I didn't have insurance). Waited about 20 minutes. Saw the doctor. He instructed the nurse to soak it in that stuff they soak it in to cleanse such wounds; after another 20-25 minutes he put three or four stitches in it and wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic. I am not convinced the antibiotic is necessary, but I am dutifully taking it. The stitches were because of the blood thinners I'm on; he wanted to make sure it wouldn't start bleeding again. I go back next Wednesday to get them out.
I was cutting the onion because my sister-in-law sent me a voucher for a free week of meals from something called Blue Apron. On their two-person plan, they send you, every week, the exact ingredients necessary to cook a tasty meal for two. The meals are about 600-700 calories--not bad for a main meal. And they are really tasty. All the ingredients are fresh, not processed, so there is a fair amount of prep. But it is healthy eating, uses small suppliers, and is stuff I'd never, ever have tried on my own. The recipes have very detailed instructions and lots of pictures, and if you go in at least 6 days ahead you get some choice on which meals you get. You can also skip any week with 6 days notice--we cancelled the three delivery dates we were going to be in England. It's just under $60 a week--yes, it's possible I could acquire the ingredients for less than that, but I've thrown out a lot of produce over the years due to having to buy in too-large amounts, and this way I don't have to plan or shop. The only ingredients so far that we've had to supply ourselves have been olive oil (or, I use peanut oil for oriental-theme dishes), salt, and pepper. And since it's only 3 meals a week, that gives us enough flexibility to do other things on other nights--eating out or cooking something else we want to eat.
And the trip to England was marvelous. We spent a week in York (with a day-trip to Haworth), three days in Scarborough, three days in Sheffield (with a day-trip to Leeds for the armoury museum), and a weekend in Lancaster with Richard and Lena (SCA friends who lived in St. Louis for awhile several years back). I got to do a short walk on the Haworth Moors--it was only about a mile and a quarter, but my ankle, which was still having some trouble on uneven ground, couldn't have handled much more. We went to lots of pubs. I got to go to the quilting museum in York, which sadly closed at the end of October. And we walked all along the two bays in Scarborough, arriving at the country pub about a mile out of town that was our lunch destination just as it started raining fairly heavily. We took that as a sign and remained there for a couple of hours, then walked back when the high tide was crashing against the seawall. Generally speaking, the spousal unit's superpower of keeping the rain at bay during visits to the British Isles held--we only had two really rainy days.
And that's my life during late September through early November.
In the last couple of months, I have (mostly) gotten back my ankle function, we have been to northern England, we've joined a meal service called Blue Apron, I've tried to slice my finger along with an onion using a slicing device, and I've gotten my sewing/craft room/office more or less organized.
In reverse order: After spending some time on this project the last three days, I am currently looking around at my space. The quilting fabric is all sorted, except for a few fat quarters I found after that project (aren't there always a few more fat quarters?) All the books are sorted by craft and in sub-categories. The embroidery supplies, weaving supplies, etc. are all in places. My jewelry supplies are organized in their own work corner. My fabric bolts are all up on the shelf designed for them or the tops of the other shelves, organized by fabric type and color. The only major thing not yet dealt with is the trim, which is currently occupying a set of plastic stacking bins. It will go onto dowels as soon as I get my little PVC pipe pieces cut down to the right size to hold the trim rolls.
Which segues nicely into the klutz part, since doing that would require me to use a hacksaw.
Earlier this week I was trying to slice an onion. I don't really like using knives to cut things, so I was trying to use a slicer-upper-thingy I own. (Yes, that is a technical term.) I tried to slice off a piece on the fingerprint side of my right forefinger. Okay, I've done that sort of thing before, so with much cursing, I headed for the first aid supplies. And tried to stop the bleeding. Which, after 45 miinutes of trying to go about my business, had not stopped. So, off to the urgent care center. They put a big bandage on it right away rather than have me drip bodily fluids all over the waiting room. Paid the $25 co-pay (I have no idea what I would be charged if I didn't have insurance). Waited about 20 minutes. Saw the doctor. He instructed the nurse to soak it in that stuff they soak it in to cleanse such wounds; after another 20-25 minutes he put three or four stitches in it and wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic. I am not convinced the antibiotic is necessary, but I am dutifully taking it. The stitches were because of the blood thinners I'm on; he wanted to make sure it wouldn't start bleeding again. I go back next Wednesday to get them out.
I was cutting the onion because my sister-in-law sent me a voucher for a free week of meals from something called Blue Apron. On their two-person plan, they send you, every week, the exact ingredients necessary to cook a tasty meal for two. The meals are about 600-700 calories--not bad for a main meal. And they are really tasty. All the ingredients are fresh, not processed, so there is a fair amount of prep. But it is healthy eating, uses small suppliers, and is stuff I'd never, ever have tried on my own. The recipes have very detailed instructions and lots of pictures, and if you go in at least 6 days ahead you get some choice on which meals you get. You can also skip any week with 6 days notice--we cancelled the three delivery dates we were going to be in England. It's just under $60 a week--yes, it's possible I could acquire the ingredients for less than that, but I've thrown out a lot of produce over the years due to having to buy in too-large amounts, and this way I don't have to plan or shop. The only ingredients so far that we've had to supply ourselves have been olive oil (or, I use peanut oil for oriental-theme dishes), salt, and pepper. And since it's only 3 meals a week, that gives us enough flexibility to do other things on other nights--eating out or cooking something else we want to eat.
And the trip to England was marvelous. We spent a week in York (with a day-trip to Haworth), three days in Scarborough, three days in Sheffield (with a day-trip to Leeds for the armoury museum), and a weekend in Lancaster with Richard and Lena (SCA friends who lived in St. Louis for awhile several years back). I got to do a short walk on the Haworth Moors--it was only about a mile and a quarter, but my ankle, which was still having some trouble on uneven ground, couldn't have handled much more. We went to lots of pubs. I got to go to the quilting museum in York, which sadly closed at the end of October. And we walked all along the two bays in Scarborough, arriving at the country pub about a mile out of town that was our lunch destination just as it started raining fairly heavily. We took that as a sign and remained there for a couple of hours, then walked back when the high tide was crashing against the seawall. Generally speaking, the spousal unit's superpower of keeping the rain at bay during visits to the British Isles held--we only had two really rainy days.
And that's my life during late September through early November.