Traumatized hand #2

Traumatized hand  #2

THE UNFORTUNATE DEMISE OF MY RIGHT HAND

From a right-handed mystery writer

The Tortuous Journey

          I was sent home with a full arm splint. The refrigerator continued to stand there rigid and silent even after it saw my condition!  Not a word or movement. It had changed, somehow, since I left for Urgent Care. Like it didn't care. It just went about its business.

          After two weeks of the silent treatment from my refrigerator, I got used to it. I realized something was wrong with the diagnosis of a sprained hand. So I checked around and found an Orthopedic Surgeon who specialized in hands and wrists in Culver City.

           It took two weeks to get an appointment because the doctor is so good. Another two weeks of not knowing what was wrong with my hand and facing the unrepentant refrigerator. I was tempted to call the police since it was acting so strange. It had to be guilty of plotting and instigating the attack.  But who would believe me?

          The doctor took one look at my hand and announced that I had torn the ligament off the bone between the first and second fingers of my right hand.  "This will require surgery,"  he proclaimed.  

          After getting my head wrapped around the idea of  "surgery", I scheduled an MRI with a consult the same day. Another week passed.

          The day before the MRI my doctor came down with the flu! Fortunately, the Physician Assistant was in and met with me to discuss the findings of the MRI and discussed surgery. We then scheduled surgery for...two weeks away. That makes it seven weeks since the incident. I'm sure the refrigerator is pleased with itself.

Traumatized hand #1

            

THE UNFORTUNATE DEMISE OF MY RIGHT HAND

From a right-handed mystery writer

The Incident

Some of you may have heard that I have hurt my right hand February 14 in a vicious attack from my refrigerator. The alleged attack occurred while extending my hand into the refrigerator and talking to my significant other. The shelf intentionally stood rigid, and cold;  plotting the attack.

          In excruciating pain and after quickly covering my hand with ice packs I grabbed my coat and headed for the nearest  Urgent Care Center. All the while the refrigerator stood silently mocking me and my injury, enjoying the agony it has caused.

          Convinced the refrigerator had broken my hand the x-ray showed no broken bones. The doctor sent me home with a diagnosis of a sprained hand, and shoved a huge split on my arm, "Give it six weeks," he said..."at your age maybe 8 weeks".

          So, not only am I in pain, and angry at my refrigerator, I've been insulted as well.

          I sneered at my refrigerator when I got home.

Gift wrapping

Gift Wrapping

   Gift wrapping was very popular in Britain. They used wallpaper to conceal the gift secured with ribbons and lace. The upper class soon found it cumbersome and went to tissue paper. However, it easily tore and broke revealing the gift. This was a disaster because it revealed the gift allowing others to estimation the cost of the present. So they moved to brown paper to hide their gifts from view.

   The U.S. played one of the biggest roles in gift wrapping the way we know it today. In 1917  Joyce Clyde Hall and his brother, Rollie, invented modern gift wrap in their Kansas City, Mo. store. They ran out of solid colored tissue gift wrap, during the peak of the Christmas season. Desperate they began substituting the thicker French envelope liner for wrapping presents. It sold so well they printed their own. Then 20 years later, Scotch tape was invented, replacing twine, ribbon, lace and string to secure gift wrap.

Halloween

Halloween placemats kid can make

To get your children ready for Halloween start by making placemats to use with meals. These are easy for kids to make and fun to use. Free pintables are available.

http://www.themotherhuddle.com/halloween-place-mats-with-free-printables/

Lunch box idea

Lunch Box Idea

          To get your children ready for school and looking forward to school, why not make personalized lunch boxes. They are easy to make and a nice way to teach your children how to recycling.

http://www.goodshomedesign.com/diy-lunch-box-made-from-recycled-milk-jugs/

Something's Cooking at Dove Acres

Something's Cooking at Dove Acres

by

Will Zeilinger

How DOVE ACRES came to be

          My wife and I have taken many trips to Santa Catalina Island, only 23 miles off the coast of Long Beach California. On one visit we met a friend who lives there. Since there are only a few cars on the island, she took us for a tour in her golf cart which she calls her “Catalina Limo.” We marveled at the sights most tourists never see and learned that much of the property was passed down through families. This gave me the idea for a story of a young woman who inherits a beautiful estate on the island. How would she get along? What challenges would she face? 

          At sunset that evening, we sat at one of our favorite seafood restaurants thinking of all the unusual people and quirky personalities we’d encountered.  The islanders and their lifestyle are what sparked the inspiration for this book.

Buy link: http://www.willzeilingerauthor.com

 These tea sandwiches were served and made by Dimple at her first family gathering. 

TEA SANDWICHES

Makes 20 small sandwiches, they should be varied in shape—round, square, triangu­lar, or diamond. Remove the crusts and cut in quarters or use a large cookie cutter to make unusual shapes. Any kind of bread will do: white, rye, nut, or raisin. Serve them open faced or closed. Serve right away or cover with foil, and store in the refrigerator. Estimate 3 or 4 for each guest.

Here are sample of fillings for the sandwiches

Fillings

•     Cream cheese, minced cooked mushrooms, garnish with ground nutmeg.

•     Chopped watercress, softened butter, garnish with grated onion.

•     Strawberry marmalade, chopped pe­cans, and cream cheese.

•     Minced crabmeat, mayonnaise, and ground turmeric.

•     Mashed avocado, fresh lemon juice, and hot pepper sauce.

•     Minced chicken, almonds, curry powder, and dairy sour cream.

•     Creamed Roquefort cheese, cream cheese, and sherry.

•     Spread with smoked cheese and top with sliced.

•     Minced cucumbers, dairy sour cream, garnish with capers.

•   Ginger marmalade, topped with chopped walnuts.

Summer Picnicking

Oh So Easy Picnicking

Picnics in the summer trump any activity, no matter where your picnic is. But, the clean up can be a bear when returning home.

          As a coinsure of summer picnics and picnicking, I devised at simple way of handling the hated, "after picnic clean up".

My strategy:

-Throughout the year, save plastic containers, i.e. store bought pies, purchased salads at say chicken take outs, preferable anything with a removable label.

-Before washing the container, peel off the labels while watching TV at night.

-After washing and drying them, store in an out of the way cabinet you hate getting into, i.e. the cabinet above the refrigerator

-Be vigilant with saving all containers

-Before the first summer concert, pull down all saved containers and separate them by size and shape.

-As concerts are planned, put your food in the containers and take off for the concert.

-After the concert, throw the containers, plastic forks, spoons, knives and cups away.

          You'll come home with an empty sack of nothing and be glad you saved those pesky containers.