YAY ME!

I'm FREE! The splint is OFF! The stitches are OUT! Oh, and it feels so good! Not only that, but just knowing the surgery is done and now it's just a matter of getting my hand back to normal again--well, that's such a relief.

The surgeon and the physical therapist were both pleased with my range of motion and flexibility. (Since immediately after surgery, I've been wiggling and stretching my fingers and making a fist and stretching back out several times a day.) I've been given exercises to do to continue to increase flexibility, and in two weeks, we'll start on strengthening. In the meantime, I've also been given a sheet of gel material and a single glove--I get to stick a strip of the gel over the incision and then wear the glove to bed every night beginning Friday. (I'm thinking about adding some beads or something to the glove--a la Michael Jackson. What do you think?!) The gel is supposed to help minimize scaring, because apparently that's the main risk of surgery--the scar can become painful and irritated.

I have a few restrictions on what I can do--specifically lifting and putting weight down on the hand are to be avoided--but the surgeon was okay with everything else as long as I don't do anything too much, and if something causes pain, I'm to back off doing whatever it is for awhile. (I'm thinking that might include housecleaning, dishes, laundry, and possibly cooking.) And once I get movement and strength back into the hand, I'll be able to go back to work--probably in about four weeks or so.

I can tell I have some work to do with my hand. It doesn't quite bend back as far as it should. In typing, it's hard to stretch to hit a key with my index finger and then hit another key with my pinkie--they don't quite want to stretch AND bend at the same time. My thumb's not quite hitting the space bar hard enough either. And I'm sure I'll notice other limitations along the way. But at least I'm ON THE WAY!

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm guessing using a rotary cutter might be difficult and/or a little painful, but I'm hoping if that's the case, wearing a velcro wrist splint will provide stability and protection. Any input from those of you who have had the surgery?

Next week, Hubby goes to the doctor for his broken leg, and we're hopeful he's still on track to be able to start bearing weight on the leg again. Wouldn't it be nice if we were both somewhat healthy together?

They say getting old isn't for sissies, but I'd say neither is middle age! Most of the time, things are okay, but when they break down--well, spare parts are hard to come by and the old parts can't be repaired as easily. For now, though, I'm celebrating my progress.

Family Vacation

It was just about this time of the year, and about 15 years ago, when our family was looking forward to a vacation at the beach. Our plans were somewhat loose as to detail, but we knew our vacation time would be spent on the central California coast, and we specifically wanted to spend the 4th of July on the sand somewhere, playing in the ocean and watching the municipal fireworks display. Our two kids--Soccer Son and the Wild Child--were at pretty good ages: just old enough to not need constant supervision but young enough to not rebel too much at the thought of spending time with their parents.

There was just one drawback. For the third year in a row, the Wild Child had broken her arm and was wearing a cast. Not a very happy situation for a family vacation at the beach!

We had considered postponing the vacation--the Wild Child was due to have the cast off around the 6th of July, if memory serves me correctly, but we all really wanted to celebrate the 4th of July at the beach and other summer obligations prevented rescheduling. What to do?

After considerable thought, I decided it would be best to cut the cast off myself. Yeah, I know, but I did. It was only a few days before the cast was due to come off anyway, it was a Friday night, and we were just about packed to leave early Saturday morning. I'd been thinking about it for a day or two, and by that time, removing the cast made a lot of sense to me.

Thinking that removing a cast would be a fairly simple matter, after dinner that night, we set about the task in the kitchen with scissors and a serrated steak knife. I thought getting the cast wet would help dissolve it. Not! After working on it for an hour or two, I decided a hand saw might help. With a pretty good cut made into the cast already, we were much too far along to go back, but the darn thing just wouldn't split open. In fact, we tried a couple of different saws. It was very slow going.

About two or three hours in, I was fairly certain I wasn't removing the cast any earlier than it should have been removed. After all, with all the yanking and bending of the arm and cast I'd been doing, if the bone hadn't already healed, the Wild Child would have been in some pain--but she wasn't. Both of us were pretty tired of the struggle and exasperated, but we nearly had it off. We kept going.

In the end, I think it took about three or four hours to get the cast off. Seriously, we had a truly wonderful vacation, and it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun with a cast, but in retrospect, I really don't recommend home cast removal. It's really a lot harder than it looks in the doctor's office.

With the arm splint I have though, it would be a piece of cake. Only the bottom part is made of cast material--the rest is bandages that I think would cut pretty easily. Given what you now know about me, you can probably understand why it's been so hard for me to resist, but I have so far, and now I'm into the home stretch--my doctor's appointment is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.

All I can say, though, is that he'd better be planning to remove the darn thing tomorrow. After that, I'm not making any promises! I've sharpened my scissors and I'm ready.

Uh Oh!

The first time I really remember doing something that wasn't quite the right thing to do medically was after I'd had my gallbladder removed. My course of treatment involved a rather long story that I won't go into now, but I was in the hospital on mostly a liquid diet for a couple of weeks before I finally had surgery. Keep in mind, too, that this was back in the days before they did things laparoscopically--and I have the hugely long scar from the incision to prove it too!

I came out of surgery with a stomach that looked like it belonged on the Frankenstein monster, criss-crossed with sutures and with a drainage tube sticking out. I stayed in the hospital another couple days after surgery and was eventually sent home, still with the drain. I don't know why I didn't ask, but as far as I can recall, I wasn't told exactly when the drain would be removed--or maybe it was just the drugs that left me in a fog.

As I started to get better, the drain started "pinching." I had lost weight from the light diet, and I could see that the drain was attached to my skin by one little stitch, and that stitch was as tight as could be because I'd "shrunk" while the drain hadn't. Again, I don't know if it was the pain medications or what, but I thought that if I just snipped that stitch, I'd be much more comfortable.

But I didn't do that right away, of course. I wasn't that dumb. First, I needed to think it through. But eventually, over the course of a few hours, I convinced myself that it was the only thing that made sense. So I snipped that little stitch, and the drain started sliding out. Well, then I was in a panic! I had no idea what the drain might be attached to internally, and I had this horrible image of the drain sliding out, followed by all of my intestines! I gripped the drain and tried to push it back in, but it wouldn't GO! In tears, holding onto the drain with one hand, I called Hubby at work and told him what I'd done; I was half hysterical, so he agreed to call the doctor.

Hubby came home and drove me to the doctor's office, where I didn't get nearly the lecture I was expecting. The doctor agreed it was probably time to remove the drain anyway, and he did. And while it felt kind of odd coming out, I found the drain wasn't attached to anything at all, and the removal wasn't painful! I guess it was a bit anti-climactic, but the initial sight of that drain sliding out of the incision when I snipped that stitch was scary enough to keep me from practicing medicine again--at least for awhile.

And--so far--I still have the splint on my right wrist from THIS surgery, although it's driving me crazy. My sister-in-law works for a medical facility, and she told me that in the last week or so, she's seen two patient charts with notations that the patients have removed their own casts, so I guess I'm not the only nut case! I still have to get through two more days until my follow-up appointment when the doctor will remove this splint--I sure hope I can make it!

Struggling Toward Normal

I'm telling you, I AM SOOOOOOO TEMPTED to cut this splint off my arm! But I'm trying to behave, so I won't--at least not today.

I'm feeling pretty normal again. (As normal as I ever get, anyway!) Yesterday I only took two Extra Strength Tylenol around mid-day and nothing today. I have no pain except where the splint rubs a bit on what I think is the incision, and that's more annoying than painful. Just about any way I can move my fingers and thumb feels fine, although I suppose the hand feels just slightly stiff at the limits of movement. And there are things I know I'm not supposed to do--like lift things--so I haven't. I'm really, really anxious to start physical therapy, because I think I'll be able to make a pretty quick recovery--if only I could start! But my next appointment isn't until Wednesday, so I have to be patient.

Today I tried driving, and I didn't have any problems except for snapping the seatbelt into place with this bulky splint. I managed though. Today was tea and embroidery with Gran at Bearpaws and Hollyhocks, and since I was totally and completely ready to get out and be around people again, I went and I had a good time. I even did a little stitching without any difficulty, although I thought I probably should take it easy, so I did.

That Halloween quilt I was piecing the other day? I have all the blocks made and I'm sewing rows of blocks now--I should have it done this weekend. I'm definitely going to need to enlist Hubby's help with some cutting so I'll have something else to do.

I'm not a very good patient, am I? I wish I COULD sit around and do nothing but heal and nap, but I'm just not that person. If I felt worse, I could, but I feel fine and my hand is mostly pain-free, so it's hard to do nothing. I thought it might be fun to go to a movie with Hubby--at least I'd be forced into inactivity for a couple hours--but since I can't lift anything, I can't load his wheelchair into the car and push him around, so that option is out.

I wish I could just push a button and fast forward to Wednesday when the splint will come off and I'll start physical therapy because I can hardly wait. In the meantime, I'll have to try to be the patient patient that I'm not. Do you have any "bad patient" experiences? I have a couple I'll tell you about in the next day or two.

Drugged and Bored Witless

I'm BAAAAAAAACK! At least a little--don't know if I'll be back to blogging regularly yet though. Typing mostly lefthanded is slow work.

As you probably know from Gran's updates, surgery went really well, and I'm ready to get back to normal--except my right arm won't let me. And I'm pretty bored. I'm surprised at how much I CAN do, but every now and then, I slam up against something I unexpectedly CAN'T do--like wash my left armpit. Who knew? I guess I need some kind of bath brush. Stuff like that will take a little getting used to.

The doc prescribed Vicodin, and it's working pretty well, but I get kind of sleepy. And really? I just can't sleep all of the time. I wish I could take my heavy-duty Motrin, but it's on the list of things I can't take for a couple weeks. Tylenol is okay though--maybe I'll give it a try.

I've been doing a little reading--I've STARTED about three books, but they're all slow to start, so they just aren't keeping my attention focused. I feel like I keep reading the same thing over and over--and with the Vicodin? Maybe I a.m.

I'm glad I pre-cut some fabric though. I've been able to sew some strips today off and on. Here's a photo:

You can kind of see my baggie of ice there on the table too. After surgery, they told me to put ice on my arm; only problem is that the wrapping of the splint is too thick for the cold to penetrate. Maybe they just wanted to give me something to do? I figured I can at least get a little baggie of ice across my fingers and the base of the fingers, although I don't really know if it helps or not. But again--it gives me something to do, I suppose.

Another thing I did was to order a second jelly roll of Make Life by Sweetwater--I'm thinking a braid quilt would be simple enough, and I can enlist Hubby's assistance in doing the little bit of cutting that will be needed.

I think I'm probably going to go crazy before I can use this hand again. It's probably a short trip.

P.S.: Robin has her new blog giveaway up--go over there and check it out so you can enter! Just click HERE.

Something To Look At While I'm Gone

Since I have surgery early in the morning and I'm not sure when I'll be back online, I thought I'd leave you with a couple of reasonably pleasant things to look at. First, this month's Schnibbles pattern, State Fair (it's there behind all the "stuff").

I used Mary Engelbreit's Recipe for Friendship fabric for this one and changed the borders a bit. I also added red buttons in the centers of each pinwheel--I'm not sure whether you can see those though.

And here's my latest Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along block--I used orange fabrics for the center and background fabric for the rest. I also added appliqued stem, eyes, and mouth.

And here's something else to look at: Robin has finally taken the plunge into Blogland. Click on her name above to visit her. You may know Robin already--the picture that accompanies her comments is of her black cat wearing a hat. She's visited with us here in Blogland for a long time--but now she's moved in! She has two grandchildren on the way, a new "toy" (an embroidery machine), and a load of creativity, so she's been making baby items and is thinking about starting an online shop. In the meantime, a little birdy told me that Robin's planning a giveaway sometime soon, so don't forget to visit!

Last but not least, if you're curious about how my surgery went, Gran will post an update on her blog. Just click HERE. She and I won't be in touch with each other until sometime later in the afternoon, so she probably won't post the "news" until Tuesday night or Wednesday sometime.

Thanks for all the well wishes on my surgery. Once I can either type left handed or recruit a typist, I'll pop back in to say "hi." I hope to see you before too long!

Herding Ducks

For the past several days, I've been trying to get my ducks in a row, in preparation for surgery. About a week ago, I did some shopping for pull-on, pull-over, loose, cool, and comfortable clothing and slide on shoes. I think I have everything I need.

Then it seems I spent much of Friday traveling from grocery store to grocery store--and do you know what? I STILL have a list of a few "last things" I need to buy tomorrow.

At some point, someone--and I'm sorry I don't remember who it was--commented with the idea of freezing individual dinners ahead of time, so I spent Friday night preparing those dinners. I have five different meals, two of each. Generally, I tried to design simple-to-eat meals, although there is one that includes a pork chop that I might need help cutting. I've also cut up various types of meat--a couple of whole chickens, a whole tri-tip, chicken breast slices, etc.--and froze those so they're ready to cook and serve. I've made and frozen hamburger patties. Some of these meats Soccer Son will be cooking--he and his fiance have offered to cook for us twice a week and will make enough to ensure we have leftovers for other meals. Tomorrow I'm going to chop and slice a bunch of salad stuff and fruit. I also stumbled across a blueberry cake recipe I NEED to make. So, as far as food is concerned, I think we'll survive.

On Saturday, I did a general, overall housecleaning. Really, after all the "spring cleaning" I've been doing for the last month, it didn't take too much time or effort, but at least I know it's as good as it's going to get--because it might be awhile before I do much more than the bare minimum again.

Today, of course, was Father's Day, and I spent a good part of it cooking again and cleaning up afterward. Soccer Son and his fiance came to dinner and we spent some quality family time together, eating, talking, and playing dominoes.

Tomorrow I plan to do all the things I haven't been able to do so far, as well as a few things I just WANT to do--like Knot-y Ladies Embroidery class tomorrow night with Gran.

Sometimes I think about people who suddenly break a wrist or a hand and are out of commission, much as I will be after surgery. Then I wonder whether I'm spending too much time preparing--because if I was to break a wrist, I wouldn't have ANY time to prepare ahead, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't die because of it. But I guess it gives me something to do and maybe it will make things a little easier later.

If you've ever been pregnant, I bet you remember other women telling you horror stories about their pregnancies or the pregnancies of people they knew. Heading into carpal tunnel surgery is much the same. It seems everyone has either had it themselves or knows someone who has, and I've heard a wide range of stories from protracted and difficult recoveries to super quick recoveries; so, at this point, I'm not really sure what to expect. AND--and this is a big AND--because this is a workers' compensation injury, I really need to do what the doctor tells me to do when he tells me to do it rather than be my normal rebellious self and try to push myself to get back to "normal" as soon as possible. That's not to say I won't push to recover--but I suspect I'll have to be a little more cautious about it and follow orders.

So tomorrow--all the final stuff. And wouldn't you know it? Tonight the microwave seemed to act oddly, so I'll have to try it again in the morning. It's a fairly recent purchase, so I'm sure it's under warranty, but what a hassle trying to get it repaired or replaced at this point!

Several quilters have told me they were able to sew not long after carpal tunnel surgery--just simple seams, though. So I've picked out a pattern, much like half log cabin blocks, that I can sew without having to make any further cuts. I'm hoping to get at least part of it cut by tomorrow night, so I have something to sew once I'm at that point in my recovery.

Gosh, now that I think about it, it sure FEELS like there's still a lot to do, and time's running out, so I'd better get off the computer and get busy! Thanks for stopping by!

Tea and Sympathy

Last week, Gran was kind enough to accompany me on another road trip--I desperately needed to get my mind off all the surgery-related anxiety (someone asked what kind of surgery I'm having--carpal tunnel release on my right hand), so getting out of town was a great idea! And THIS time, there wasn't any of that healthy raw stuff. No sir-eeeee Bob! THIS time, I picked the restaurant!

Gran described our trip on her blog a few days ago, so you may have already read about how I needed to start the excursion at Starbucks with an iced latte. I don't remember reading where she told you what SHE needed to start the day with. Hummmmmm. I guess I should remedy that omission. Keep in mind--this isn't lunch. Around 11 a.m. or thereabouts, we pulled up at the Ghirardelli chocolate factory and outlet.

Strawberry cheesecake, if I remember correctly. And it wasn't one of those Yoplait light yogurts either! But then I guess she needed the energy so she could make it all the way from Lathrop to Pleasanton--maybe a 40 minute drive in the passenger seat!

Okay, so here's MY KIND of lunch place--the English Rose Tea Room. Generally speaking, tea rooms enjoyed a surge in popularity several years ago, and then the interest in afternoon tea died back, along with the economy. But the English Rose seems to have weathered the ups and downs very well. They have three seatings daily and the restaurant was just about full when we arrived and saw the tail end of the 11 a.m. seating and, of course, the customers for the 1 p.m. seating.

While we were awaiting our seating, we sat out on a side patio in the shade. Darling little garden space!

Both of us ordered the top-of-the-line, full on English tea, although having tasted the scones, clotted cream, and lemon curd, I could have been just as happy with the cream tea. Heaven! (We had already begun eating the little sandwiches on the bottom tier before we remembered to take photos!)

After tea, we back-tracked a bit to Livermore, where we visited In Between Stitches, one of the shops highlighted in the most recent spring Quilt Sampler magazine. (If you're a long-time reader of Pam Kitty Morning's blog, you may recall she used to work at this shop a few years ago.) Very nice shop! Gran has more photos on her blog--just click over from the link in my sidebar under "friends."

I don't think I thought about surgery hardly at all during our excursion, AND I learned something VERY important: I can eat English tea with my left hand. Of course, that means that Gran and I may need to repeat the experience during my recovery period--or seek out another tea room. And you know what else? I bet I could eat a Ghirardelli ice cream cone with my left hand too! Sadly, though, I'm reasonably certain that eating a raw, vegan salad with my left hand would be virtually impossible. Oh, well, I guess I'll just need to come to terms with my upcoming disability and make adjustments accordingly!

My Middle Name Should be "Anxiety"

Ah, many of you guessed what might have gone wrong with my pre-op tests, but none of you got it right. Leave it to me to do something so dumb, no one can even guess!

Let's start at the beginning. Once upon a time, when the Earth was considerably younger, I was born, . . . (yada, yada, yada) . . . and then, a month or so ago, I got a call from the surgeon's office, setting my surgery date for June 22nd. A few days later, a packet came in the mail. I don't know why, but for some reason, when I opened the packet and began reading the material concerning surgery, I was somewhat overwhelmed. I kind of think I was in denial. In any event, I gave it all a quick read-through and figured I'd read it more carefully a little later, when surgery got closer.

So I did. A few weeks ago, around the beginning of June, I pulled out all the papers and read them again, mentally dividing up the deadlines and what went with them. One of the things that had my panties in a twist was the full page list of things I couldn't eat and medications I couldn't take beginning a week before surgery and lasting for two weeks after surgery. Seriously, I had no clue what many of the items on the list were--and because of my job, I have a pretty good background in medical terms. It really seemed like overkill for a simple surgical procedure! It's not even full-on anesthesia, for goodness sake!

I also looked--once again--at the papers for pre-op tests. EKG and lab work--and the funny thing was that the tests were to be done at a medical facility right next door to my office building, so I'd be able to stop in and visit one more time before the surgery. There was no appointment date on the paperwork or any instructions about scheduling an appointment, so I called the facility and was told the tests would be done on a walk-in basis. Cool!

My hairstylist was someone I hadn't seen before (because most likely anyone who was cutting hair when I last had mine cut is long since retired or maybe even dead), and this being a pretty busy time of year with graduations and weddings and such, she had to move a few of her appointments around to fit me in. She called me on Sunday to see if a Wednesday appointment would work for me, and I told her that was fine, thank you very much. So in planning my week, I remembered the deadline for the pre-op tests was today--Friday, June 18th--so I thought it would be fun (at any rate, as much fun as you can have when you have to give blood, pee in a cup, and get electrodes stuck all over you) to go for testing on Thursday and show off my new haircut to the people I work with.

So here's where I screwed up. I knew I had to fast before the tests, and I thought I remembered the period of fasting was 10 to 12 hours, although I could have water during that time. I wasn't sure if there was anything else I needed to do to prepare, so I got the paperwork out on Wednesday night to take a look and to put it in my purse so I was ready in the morning. As I looked over the instructions, the deadline for the pre-op tests jumped out at me and slapped me on the forehead: June 15th! Of course, I was looking at the paper on June 16th, planning to go the next morning, on June 17th! The big, black stamp that warned me surgery may need to be postponed if the tests weren't done in time slapped me on the forehead a second time. HOW DID I MISS THE DATE?

Well, when I first looked at the paperwork, in my mind, I interpreted the date range for the tests as being the two full weeks before surgery--which would be between 6/8 and 6/18, NOT between 6/8 and 6/15. For some reason, I never recalculated the time period or--apparently--looked at an actual CALENDAR to figure it out.

At this point, you need to understand something about me--I'm VERY anal and overly cautious about not getting things wrong. I HATE being wrong or doing things wrong and I really, really HATE being stupid, unprepared, and/or irresponsible. So immediately I had a hot flash and felt an urge to run around in circles until I'd somehow outrun my error or died trying. Yeah, I knew pretty quickly that wouldn't work. So I thought I'd take a bath and get ready for bed--maybe I'd drown in the bathtub and wouldn't have to worry about the tests. Then, because I was WIDE AWAKE, I thought I'd read, but I kept having to read the same page over and over. I considered taking a Tylenol PM (according to "the list," I COULD take Tylenol), but I didn't want to be groggy in the morning and since I was fasting by that time, I didn't know if I could take it or not. So I turned off the light and tried to sleep. THAT didn't work, so I tried to read again. At 1:30 a.m., I turned off the light and slept fitfully until a little before 6 a.m. During brief periods of wakefulness in the night, I kept trying to tell myself that rescheduling surgery might be for the best, what with Hubby's broken leg and all, but I knew in my heart that it would be terrible if I had to wait longer, especially since workers' comp is involved.

I'll spare you the blow-by-blow description of how I spent the time between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. when the surgeon's office opened and I could call to find out if surgery would need to be rescheduled or whether I could go ahead and have the testing performed. It wasn't a nice time, and it involved nausea, an upset stomach, and an intense desire for caffeine and food (fasting, remember?), but somehow the time passed. Eventually I got through to someone at the doctor's office who told me the fact that I was two days late for the pre-op testing was no big deal and I should just go ahead and get it done as I'd planned. WHEW! What a relief!

So there's the story. Although Wednesday night was one of the worst nights I've spent in recent memory, I've now gotten those two hurdles behind me, and I'm feeling a LOT calmer and much less anxious. Testing was okay, although it seemed to take longer than it needed to. Lucky for me, the cardiology center has a coffee/snack cart in the lobby, and I was MORE than ready for an iced latte and string cheese once the tests were done. Now I just need to do all those last-minute things I want to take care of before surgery. I suspect that by Monday, my anxiety level may rise again, but that's okay. At least I have the weekend to be normal--or as close as I ever get!

23 Inches

Well hello blogettes! I thought I'd pop in for a few minutes. Part of the reason I haven't been blogging for the last several days is poor mental attitude. In other words, I've had a bad case of pre-surgery anxiety for the last week or two and you really wouldn't have wanted to hear from me because I've had little of interest to talk about. Now, though, I've successfully jumped two of the three surgery hurdles--the only one left is the surgery itself--and I'm feeling some relief at having gotten this far. Surgery should be a piece of cake, eh? Well, maybe not. But let me tell you about the first hurdle.

So the title of this post: 23 inches. Do you know how long 23 inches is? Here's a visual that might help.

My very long 6" x 24" Omnigrid ruler is one inch longer than 23 inches. My 18" x 24" cutting mat--which extends almost the entire width of my sewing table--is one inch longer than 23 inches. I know 23 inches doesn't really SOUND as long as it LOOKS, so I wanted to give you a visual idea of what I'm talking about.

Okay, so the first surgical hurdle I've now jumped? Getting 23 inches cut off my hair.

Big hurdle, huh? Well, it was for me, anyway. My hair has been growing forever with not much cutting aside from occasional trims. See the nude self portrait of me in my profile in the side bar? I don't look the same anymore; I need to have another photo shoot soon. Seriously? I think getting my hair cut was nearly as traumatic as the surgery will be.

I've been thinking for the past couple of years that I SHOULD cut my hair, but thinking and doing are two different things. Really, having it that long was just silly since it wasn't practical to wear it down, and putting it up and hiding it away every day? Well why have it? So when I knew I'd need to be able to take care of my hair with one hand, I was finally pushed into taking the step between thinking and doing. I bit the bullet and made an appointment with a hair salon. REALLY a good experience, overall, and those 23 inches that were cut off will go to Locks of Love.

In its natural state, my hair is absolutely stick straight and very fine. It tangles horribly. Within about an hour of styling, it gets limp and stringy. So after some thought, I decided I'd also need some kind of perm for body. And you know what? My hair now looks a lot like it did in the 80s. Remember when EVERYONE had a perm? Yeah, that look. A little bit below my shoulders, a bit layered, and kinky curly. I'll be able to experiment with some styling by Sunday and I'm told the curl will loosen up quite a bit in about a week, so that's all good. And really? With one hand, I think I'll still be able to wash it, stick some gel in it, scrunch it up, and go. Simple.

I was a little bit teary-eyed when I first arrived at the salon, but by the time I left, I was pretty pleased with the outcome. So pleased, in fact, I nearly sat down and wrote this post then and there. But the second hurdle still loomed--the pre-op testing which I had planned for today. And when I sat down at the computer last night to write this post, I thought I'd first take a minute to review the pre-op instructions. It was then that I realized I'd already screwed up the second hurdle, and my enthusiasm for my haircut was quickly replaced by panic. I'll tell you about that in the next post.

Same Old Stuff

My hands have been bothering me the last couple of days, and I'm not sure why. It really doesn't seem like I've been doing much with them, and I haven't even been doing any housecleaning for several days--not since Gran abducted me and forced me to eat raw vegan food. (Do you think THAT might be the reason?!)

I've been trying to get ready for the surgery, which is a little over a week away, by doing some shopping for slip-on shoes and loose clothing that can be pulled on or pulled over with one hand. On Friday, I took Hubby to his doctor appointment for his broken leg. Since that's just about all I've been doing, I have to wonder if the hands are acting up because of (1) carrying clothing hangers and my purse around while shopping or (2) pushing Hubby's wheelchair and getting it in and out of the car. I suppose it might be due to both but some things are simply unavoidable.

On Friday night, I was trying to cook tacos with numb hands and I accidentally lit a stack of paper towels on fire! Yikes! (Maybe I'm just not meant to clean or cook because I'm obviously a menace to my family when I do either! I really should have been born into a wealthy family with staff to do these kinds of things.) Putting the fire out was fairly easy since I was paying attention, but it sure made me think!

Anyway, part of what I wanted to say is that I might not be blogging much between now and surgery--not as long as my hands are bothering me and/or I'm busy getting ready and doing a lot of really boring things. And, of course, once I have surgery, I won't be able to type at all for some time, but I think you'll be able to click over to Gran's blog if you're wondering how I'm doing--she'll be keeping an eye on me. (Just as long as she's NOT feeding me "healthy" foods!) Or I may possibly have someone like Hubby post for me--but again, I'm not sure how much I'll have to say, so we'll have to play it by ear.

So for now, I'll post when I can if I have something to say, but don't worry if a day or two goes by without a new post. Thanks for stopping by to visit.

Ah! THAT's Better!

Have a tasty weekend enjoying a few of YOUR favorite things!

Raw!

The stuff we do for good friends is truly amazing, isn't it? Today I found myself giving in to Gran's occasional promptings to go to a local restaurant, The Green Boheme, for lunch. Click over there and check it out if you have time. Yep, raw vegan food. Let me just say you should be careful of making friends with Canadians--so many of them seem to be hippie holdouts, even if they don't look like it on the surface. But I went along with the raw vegan lunch idea. (Me, whose idea of a near perfect lunch is Micky D's double cheeseburger and medium fries followed by an iced vanilla latte at Starbucks.) I don't really "get" the whole raw concept and how heat changes the enzymes in food. Vegan/vegetarian, sure, I get the "no animal products" stuff, but raw? (BTW, I DID see John Cleese on So Graham Norton this morning talking about how he accidentally ate poodle in China and liked it a lot, so maybe I was inclined to be a little more vegan-friendly today.)

Anyway, lunch. The menu was kind of limited. (Probably out of necessity--after all, how much raw vegan stuff is out there?) And I figured a salad is a salad, right? Except when it's a RAW salad--then it's topped with stuff like hemp seeds and uncooked, shaved beets. (Are hemp seeds LEGAL?) It wasn't bad though. The dressing was good--some kind of lemon mustard herb stuff. I thought about getting soup until I found out it wasn't actually hot--it's just sort of warm. Somehow that seemed less appealing. Gran was brave and ordered a black hockey puck they called an All American Wellness Burger. And you know what? I guess raw vegans don't eat bread either--because, of course, you'd have to BAKE it. So no bun. She said it was good though. (But since raw vegan was her idea, I think she probably HAD to say that, don't you?) She offered me a bite, but I figured our friendship really didn't require it, so I passed.

I asked about iced tea, and they said they had some kind of hibiscus stuff. Then I saw they had French pressed coffee (why is HOT coffee okay?), so I got that instead, and it was pretty good, but when I asked if they had anything resembling cream and sugar, I was told I could help myself to the coconut sugar. (Have I ever mentioned that coconut isn't really my favorite flavor? I passed.) Still, I think the black coffee was better than the Maca root coffee substitute Gran had. (Maca is supposed to be a sex and fertility herb--I'm not sure what she had in mind for this evening, and I don't think I want to know.)

Gran has taken classes from the owner/chef of the restaurant, but the men-folk in her family didn't seem to like the raw vegan diet. She told me, though, that you can make a really good raw vegan lasagna, but food preparation takes a lot of time. (On the positive side, I'd never have to clean my oven again.)

Of course, no meal would be complete without dessert, and The Green Boheme has a rather extensive dessert menu. Something was brought to our table that Gran told me was a pecan chocolate bar, and we split it. It wasn't too bad, but it had that weird taste that comes from using "healthy" ingredients in place of stuff like sugar.

I forgot to bring my camera this time, but Gran took photos, so you might keep an eye on her blog to see if she posts them. I'd really like you to see the All American Wellness Burger for yourself. (Why is it that vegans and vegetarians seem so stuck on making dishes that look and taste like meat but never really do?) I know I've poked fun at the whole raw/vegan lifestyle here and that it probably really IS a better, more healthy way to live, but I just don't think it's for me. When I looked around the restaurant, I saw that everyone was stick thin and none of the women wore make up. Yeah, not me. Next time I go to lunch with Gran, I'm going to pick the place--and I think it just might be Mexican food. Carnitas and margaritas. Yum!

If Goldilocks Had Been a Quilter . . .

If Goldilocks had been a quilter, there might have been another verse in the old folk tale that would go something like this:

After she'd eaten the three bears' breakfasts she decided to see what else the three bears had been doing, so she walked into the living room where she saw three quilt blocks laid out on the coffee table.

First she picked up the corn block Papa Bear had made.

"This corn block is TOO large," she exclaimed.

So she picked up the block made by Baby Bear.

"This corn block is TOO small," Goldilocks whined. "And the scrappy sky background doesn't make the corn stand out either!"

So at last she picked up the block made by Mama Bear.

"Ahhh, this corn block is just right," she sighed.

But unfortunately Goldilocks wasn't a quilter. In the real world, though, the conversation I had with myself was very similar. After looking at the very large pumpkin and corn stalks on the design wall since last weekend while waiting for the fabric I need to complete it--which STILL hasn't come, I decided to experiment with different sizes. The first experimental block was the smallest one with the scrappy background. And, of course, I didn't like it at all. I think it would have worked okay if it wasn't scrappy and if there was more definition between the green in the corn and the blue background, but it just wasn't what I wanted anyway--too small. Next I decided to try making a block that was three-quarters the size of the original block, and I think I'm happy with the result. I was worried, too, about the lack of contrast between the green and the blue, so I decided to try the star-on-cream fabric. I kind of have an idea that this is a night time scene, and I think the little stars are as close as I can get to the idea of night. I LIKE the blue though.

Here's a last photo of all three block sizes so you can see the difference--it's hard to tell in the above photos with no real size reference. The largest blocks are 10" (finished); the medium blocks are 7-1/2" (finished); and the small block is 5" (finished).

Time, now, to announce the winner of the six Pansy Park patterns--Cara! Woo-hoo! Cara, please email me your mailing address so I can get those out to you soon. Thanks to all of you who entered.

That's it for tonight--us corn farmers need to get to bed early!

Domestic Goddess

I've come to realize that there's something quite satisfying about all this cleaning. I think, in a way, it's become a bit of a replacement for my "real" job. There are things I don't miss much about my job, but I DO miss the people I work with and I miss that feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day. At least with the cleaning I've been doing, I have that feeling. Funny, isn't it?! I sure wouldn't want to do it for a living though!

Today I was even inspired to do a little cooking since I was cleaning the refrigerator. Really, if you cook a thing until it's not green and slimy anymore, it's safe to eat, right?

Okay, I'm just kidding! But we bought a roasted chicken a few days ago, and I thought I'd better either make soup with what was left or toss it, so I put it in a pot with a bunch of veggies that were aged to perfection. I waived my magic wooden spoon over the pot several times, and before long, soup was born!

This past week, our neighbors picked cherries off their tree and gifted us with a generous amount. A couple days ago, when I was looking for a way to get rid of Hubby for awhile, I wheeled him out to the garage with a cherry pitter, a bag of cherries, and a bowl. By the time I let him back in the house, he had a bowl full of pitted cherries, so I turned those into a pie today. Yum!

I guess it's time to wheel Hubby back out to the garage again tomorrow!

P.S.: The pie bubbled a little bit of juice onto my clean oven! Oh well, I knew it couldn't stay clean forever.

It's Jelly Roll Day!

Seriously, I need to have a more interesting life. For the last couple of weeks, I've spent much of my time cleaning, and what's there to say about THAT? You all know exactly what it is, right? (And if you don't, I don't think I want to know.) Oh, I forgot to mention yesterday--remember back when I was cleaning Hubby's bedside lamp and I broke the light bulb and nearly caught the lampshade on fire? Well, when I was cleaning the oven, I broke the oven light. See, I'm not good at this stuff. Probably best that the bulb broke though--there's still baked on crud that didn't come off, and who wants to shed any extra light on THAT?

One of these days I'll do something interesting--I promise. In the meantime, the kitchen is progressing and I think that before too long, I'll have a couple photos to show you of my kitchen decorations. So that's something--sort of. Right?

Well, then, how about the Jelly Roll Quilt Along Sampler Block 8? (Eight? I think that's what it is.) Now THAT's something, right? I finished mine, although it was such a busy block, it didn't seem appropriate for adding embroidery.

I substituted five plain 2" blocks in the center section (the orange) for more of those strip pieced blocks in the pattern--it seemed to make more sense to me visually. Less chaos, or something, since I'm using a busy-looking line of fabric.

Still not interesting? Okay, how about this for something interesting? Remember these blocks I made awhile back?

The patterns for the blocks were six of the twelve patterns for Thimbleberries' Pansy Park Block of the Month quilt from several years ago. Although I half sized my blocks, I have the six original block patterns and each makes a 12" block (finished size). If you think you'd like them--remember it's just six of the original twelve patterns--leave me a comment asking to be put in the drawing. I'll draw a winner on Wednesday night and post the name on Thursday's post.

Yep, that's MY philosophy--if I can't do anything interesting to talk about, at least I can bribe you to pretend interest, right?!

Early to Bed . . .

I'm too pooped from cleaning to have much of anything to say tonight. I've been working on the kitchen, and it's an arduous job. Let me just say this: It's always my plan to buy a new stove/oven before I have to break down and clean the old oven. Unfortunately THIS one has lasted too long, so I actually cleaned it today. (Hubby has picked out our last couple stoves and for some reason, he hasn't seen the point of getting a self-cleaning oven.) So, anyway, maybe THAT gives you a little idea of how tired out I am. I did have some good oven cleaning stuff that doesn't require a lot of hard scrubbing, but still . . . it's just not an easy thing to do. Ever. Because I didn't take a "before" photo (or an "after" photo for that matter), I did a Yahoo image search for a dirty oven, but none were as dirty as mine.

Anyway, my plan now is to head to bed with a book and get a good night's sleep. See you tomorrow!

Corn-Y

Yep, those were corn blocks I was working on--you're all correct. What a relief to know the blocks look like what they are too! LOL!

I had planned to do some cleaning today but my allergies were really acting up--I felt like I had a cold. So instead, I went easy on myself and just did a little sewing, a little napping, and a little reading. (I also searched the house for allergy medications, but I didn't find anything to attack my particular complaints. I think Hubby might try to get his prescription from the pharmacy tomorrow, so maybe he can look for something for me while he's there.)

Speaking of Hubby, I asked him to pick a number, and he chose number 55 as the winner of the fabric for the charmed gift bags. I sure wish he'd pick numbers that are easier to count! It looks like number 55 is Judy in Michigan--woo-hoo, Judy! Email me your mailing address and I'll get these fabrics in the mail to you.

Want to see the corn so far?

I ordered more of the blue background fabric, and I'll need to wait for that to arrive before I can go much further, although there are a few loose pieces I can stitch together. There's going to be a black cat in the quilt also, so I can get that drawn out and prepped for applique as well as a couple more items of applique to dress it up a bit. So, anyway, it's coming along. I don't like having to wait for the blue, but that's the way it goes sometimes! At least I was lucky enough to find a source that still carried it.

The other "up side" of running out of fabric? I guess I'll have fewer excuses to keep me from cleaning tomorrow! Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Random Stuff

You guys always make me smile with your comments! It's really WORTH doing a giveaway just to see who's out there reading what I write. On the one hand, intellectually I know there are quilters reading my blog, but on the other hand, many never comment--and that's okay (although I DO like to hear from you)--so I forget you're all there sometimes. Anyway, I just want to thank you for taking the time to read my stuff, and to come back again and again--I'm sure it must be pretty boring at times.

Speaking of boring, the photo I posted yesterday? Well, coincidentally, my friend Gran had to go down to the courthouse for jury duty this week and she'll be going back on Monday. Apparently in her hours of complete and utter boredom, she began a grocery list of foods I'll need after surgery. I can tell she was thinking about healthy foods, whereas I've been thinking about foods I can eat by picking them up with one hand. I know several of you have gone through this surgery before or have been otherwise deprived of the use of one hand--what did you find was easiest and best to have available for meals? Someone also mentioned making my own frozen dinners, and I picked up some divided plastic containers at the grocery store today--I like that idea. Now I just need to figure out what to put in them!

Hubby had a recheck of his leg today, so I wheeled him around the medical center much of the morning. First he had x-rays and then he saw his doctor; next we went to the pharmacy and then back to the doctor's office because the doctor had misdated the prescription for pain meds. By the time we got back to the doctor's office, the doctor had left for lunch, so we gave up. On a positive note, though, the doctor was pleased with the amount of healing shown on the x-rays; on a less positive note, the x-rays showed Hubby had also broken the smaller bone in his lower leg as well as the larger bone. Yikes! The doctor seemed to think Hubby may be able to walk on it around the time of my surgery, but I have my doubts. That's only two and a half weeks away!

Tonight was the monthly meeting of our quilters' book club. Since the books we read are usually quilting-related fiction, they tend to not be very deep, but they are entertaining. The book we'll read this month is The Quilting Circle, and it contains "four heartwarming stores of the ties that bind."

Have any of you read it? When I read the back cover, it looks like at least a couple of the stories are set back in the past and the genre is "historical romance" so it sounds pretty decent to me.

On the quilting front, I've started to design a quilt I'm supposed to teach at the end of July. At this point, I'm not sure I'll have everything ready before surgery, so I might need to postpone the class, but I thought I'd give you a peek at the first few blocks--

This quilt has been in my head for a couple years, and I've finally set myself down to make it. A quilter asked me the other day whether I use EQ and what I think about it. Well, I don't use EQ--for some reason, I really like to just make blocks and start that way--hands on--although I DO draw out parts of my ideas on graph paper. Still, I find that putting the pieces up on the design wall gives me a much better feel for spacing than even drawing on graph paper. For instance, with these blocks, I can already tell that that my design needs to be compressed into a smaller area--at least that's how it looks so far. But I'll finish making this part of it and move things around on the wall and then decide before I move on to the next part of the design. There will be a bit of applique in this quilt, but I'm trying to keep that to a minimum because most of the quilters I know prefer to piece.

Well, the weekend is here, and I hope you have a fun one planned! As for me, there's more cleaning and quilting in the immediate forecast. Thanks, as always, for stopping by to visit me.

Do Over!

It's not often you get a "do over" in life, but as it's been two weeks since I announced the winners of the fabric for the Charmed Gift Bags and one of the two winners has not claimed her prize, we'll have exactly that--a do over. Another chance for you to win. Woo-hoo!

Seriously, originally I was going to do the giveaway anyway and then I stumbled upon the May Day Giveaway thing and thought "well why not?" But really, I prefer to have giveaways for those of you who are loyal readers rather than someone who's just hopping from blog to blog, hoping to win something. That's why I never ask you to blog about my giveaways or do anything else to attract new readers to my blog. Of course, that's not to say I don't love new readers! I DO! But you know--having someone pop in and comment for a chance to win and then never come back again? Not anything I strive for here. So this one's just for you--shhhhh! Don't tell anyone!

In an effort to throw everyone else in Blogland off, I did an Yahoo image search for "the most boring thing in the world," because you know some bloggers have those things in their sidebars that show who's posted recently and a copy of a photo from their blog post. So I figured a photo of "the most boring thing in the world" would probably keep random blog readers away. Funny what came up though. Mariah Carey and jury duty!

So now no one will know I'm having a giveaway except you, and it will be our secret, okay?

Okay, just to refresh your memory, here's the fabric you'll win if your name is drawn:

And that fabric will make about three of these:

Of course, you're welcome to make whatever you want with it--it's approximately 1/4 yard of each fabric.

And also to refresh your memory, the pattern I used for the Charmed Gift Bags is by Kim Walus and can be found at the Moda Bake Shop HERE.

So leave me a comment telling me you want to be entered, and I'll draw a winner Saturday night; then, come back on Sunday to see if you've won. Good luck!

COMMENTS CLOSED--WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED!

Better!

Last night's sleep plan really did work! I slept like a baby for 9-1/2 hours with no uneasy dreams or tossing and turning. You can bet I'll be following the plan again for the next couple nights until I think I've broken the old pattern. In the meantime, I did more cleaning today, because I think that's one of the things that's weighing on my mind--getting my house in order before surgery since I won't be able to do much afterward for awhile.

Today's task was cleaning the bookshelves in the living room--there are six tall book cases in there, and I like to keep the books I've read and enjoyed, particularly those books that authors write as a series. The cleaning involved culling out quite a few books to store in the garage for the time being, as I'm not quite ready to give them up just yet. Maybe later. Or maybe someday I'll have a larger house and more book cases, and I won't ever have to part with "old friends." In any event, there's room now for "new friends" and the dust is greatly decreased.

Want to see what I did for fun, once I got my chores done? First I finished the binding on this quilt--

Cindy Lou Who on steroids. It's actually a Schnibbles pattern, but I used a more controlled fabric "pallet" rather than charm packs, and I made it larger than the pattern. You may remember seeing this before--I made the top back around January, I think, but I just got around to doing the quilting.

For several months now, Spike has been keeping me company in the office curled up in a basket of wool. When I cleaned the office this week, I came up with different wool storage, and trying to get all the cat hair off the wool she'd been sleeping on all this time was a real pain. I still have a couple baskets of wool, but I want to try to get her to sleep on a (washable) pillow instead. Last night, she tried out the pillow I'd provided, rejected it, and climbed into a basket of wool before I chased her off, so I realized I'd need to devise another plan.

I have a feeling that coming up with a plan to get Spike to give up sleeping in baskets of wool might be as difficult as fixing that oil "spill" in the Gulf, but here's my first attempt--a pillow cover made of wool:

It occurred to me that maybe it's the wool itself she likes, and if that's the case, the new pillow covering might make her happy. Here's a photo of Spike enjoying her new pillow:

See the basket next to the pillow? That's the one she was trying to get into before. She STILL prefers it to the pillow, darn it! But I've been keeping it covered with something to discourage her from trying to sleep on top of it--I hope once she gets used to the pillow, she'll forget all about the basket. Of course, if this doesn't work, the next step is to find a basket to put the PILLOW in. Darn pets!

Well, I'm off to do the warm bath, warm milk, Tylenol PM thing again. I'm glad you stopped by to visit!

How Dry I Am . . .

I hate to say this, but I got nothing for you tonight. Either my brain is dried out and dead or I had a really boring day. Probably the boring day thing.

Actually, the day wasn't very boring to ME, but it wasn't exactly newsworthy either. I did more cleaning of the office (I finally got it done!) and more quilting (and I finally got that project done too except stitching down the binding--so nothing to show just yet). I finally BBQ'd my burgers tonight, but what more can I say after talking about them for the past two days? They WERE really good though. Oh, I know! I can tell you what I put in my burgers!

I came across this basic recipe somewhere and it really is the absolute BEST although I'm not sure why. One pound of hamburger will make four nice sized burgers, and I usually buy 80/20, just like my batting. (Burgers are best with a little more fat.) To that I add a half package of taco seasoning, a heaping teaspoon of minced garlic (or a couple cloves minced up), and a tablespoon or so of diced jalapeno peppers. Um hummm. Jalapeno peppers. Seriously, you'd expect the burgers to be spicy hot but for some reason, they don't seem to be. It just seems like the garlic and jalapeno make the beef more flavorful and juicy. I've fed these to people who don't do well with spicy and they don't even seem to notice, so try it out. Yum!

I think I might be getting a little nervous about surgery or something because I haven't been sleeping very well the last several days. I wake up early, I toss and turn, and my dreams seem uneasy, what I can remember of them. Maybe I need more exercise, but with all the cleaning, it's not like I'm just sitting around all day doing nothing. Or maybe it's allergies. Sometimes I wake all stuffed up and barely able to breathe, which isn't a good thing. I think I'll take a nice, warm bath and wash a Tylenol PM down with a cup of warm milk--maybe that will help. Don't you hate that? Being obviously uneasy about something but not knowing WHAT or WHY? How do you handle it? For me, I usually try to identify the problem, but if I can't, it's often just a matter of waiting a few days for the feeling to pass.

Well, I'm off to try the home remedies. And I'll try to be more interesting tomorrow. Ha!

The First Time

Rabbit, Rabbit! Do you know about that? I'd forgotten until I was about to post and realized the date. Click HERE if you don't know. I need the good luck this month!

You can only do something for the first time once, but isn't it fun finding new things to do and new places to go? Today I did something for the first time, and it was most excellent.

I spent a little time cleaning the office this morning, but I was easily diverted over to Gran's house and didn't quite finish. That's alright though--it was worth it.

We hadn't gotten together since Gran returned from Quilt Market, so today seemed like the perfect day to visit and chat. As I mentioned yesterday, Gran had fallen on Saturday and banged herself up, and she was still pretty stiff and sore today, so she wasn't up to doing much more today than sitting around and chatting. Her Hubby had some errands to run, and she was on her own, so we sat down in her kitchen and looked through a laundry basket full of goodies she'd brought back from Market. Finally I got to hear about the classes she took, the new products she was enthusiastic about, and the new designers who had sparked her imagination and got her creative juices flowing. (Yes, I'm still jealous that she went and I didn't!)

After we'd looked through all her Quilt Market treasures, I loaded her into my car and drove over to a nearby Starbucks. There we poured through a folder of "ideas" I'd torn out of quilting and craft magazines and talked about what else we could do. If only we had enough time to DO all our imaginations come up with!

But, of course, none of what we'd done so far today was a FIRST. The FIRST came when I looked across the parking lot and asked Gran if she was up to coming with me over to Whole Foods. Yep, it was my FIRST TIME in Whole Foods! Of course, I'd heard stories. And of course, I knew it was one of those places that should be avoided for the health of my finances. But it was just too much to resist today since it was RIGHT THERE.

Remember the BBQ's hamburgers I mentioned in yesterday's post? Well, at Whole Foods my appetite for hamburgers turned into a desire for a portobello mushroom stuffed with shrimp and crab accompanied by smoked mozarella pasta salad. Also too good not to take home? Cinnamon bread, a smooth and creamy blue cheese that's dynamite when paired with hazelnut and fig crackers, and a small wedge of handmilled soap. I guess when you're going to do something for the first time, you should really, really enjoy yourself; don't you agree?

And another first? I suspect you remember I was drawing a winner for the box of scraps tonight, right? Well, in honor of firsts and because the first entry in a contest rarely ever seems to be the one picked, I thought the winner tonight should be the first commenter, Ellen in VA. And, as a bonus, Ellen entered on behalf of a worthy cause. Here's what she said:

"I so enjoy reading your blog. Our group would love to be entered to win the box of scraps. Our blog is: http://stitchersforacause.wordpress.com/"

Ellen, please email me your mailing address and I'll get the box in the mail this week.

As I've been continuing to clean, I've found a few more things to get rid of give away, so stay tuned. I never heard from an earlier winner--one of the two winners of the fabric to make the charm bags--so if I don't hear from Jenesq in the next couple days, I'll have another giveaway for that prize. I also have a few random patterns and who knows what else might show up? Anyway, I'll get back to more cleaning tomorrow and see what I can find. And there's still a BBQ'd hamburger out there, calling my name. Besides all that other stuff I bought at Whole Foods? I also got what I originally went in for--some macaroni salad to go with my burger. Yum!