2020 Can Check Out Anytime

What a year this has been….first came Coronavirus and the self-imposed quarantine to protect Mom (and me). In May our good friend R. C. passed away unexpectedly. Then in June Mom fell and broke her hip. The summer was spent waiting for her to heal and finding ways to keep the household properly supplied without outside human contact. Her hip healed, leaving only a slight limp, so she was very lucky. Unfortunately, her COPD worsened when she had her hip surgery. Now she is on oxygen 24/7, which has been an adjustment for her.

Last Tuesday, I was preparing our Walmart pickup order (which works great, by the way). Mom said she wanted me to order the ingredients for a peanut butter fudge recipe she makes each holiday season. I was doing a bit of sewing while she searched for her recipe, so I didn’t know she’d removed her oxygen cannula and didn’t put on her portable unit as she should have. She was off oxygen longer than she realized; when she stood up from the dining room table (where she’d been searching through recipes), she fell. I heard her hit the floor….HARD….and ran to her. She was conscious, but couldn’t get up from the floor.

An ambulance ride and seven hours in the ER later, we found that nothing was broken, but she couldn’t stand up on her own. Now, a week later, she still needs assistance from me getting up and down, but does not have any pain as long as she’s sitting still. Another healing period is ahead.

Has this been a crappy year? No doubt. Could it have been worse? Definitely. I’m grateful that our hermit-like lifestyle has helped us avoid COVID-19. I’m grateful that Mom didn’t break another hip when she fell last week. I’m grateful that my health is good enough that I can provide Mom with the care she needs while recovering. I’m grateful that she doesn’t complain about my cooking. (I’m a pretty good cook, but not as good as her. *LOL*) I’m grateful that I’m retired and don’t have to worry about holding down a job while dealing with these other matters.

So what have I accomplished during this pandemic? Not as much as I should have, to tell the truth. I did manage to rearrange things in the kitchen cabinets to make things a little more organized. Under Mom’s careful supervision I emptied her closet and reorganized everything to make items more accessible for her. I kept the yard mowed during mowing season. I knit a bit. I bought myself a new sewing machine and have been learning how to use it.

I have a few other projects lined up, not the least of which is stenciling the backsplash in the kitchen. I need to get Mom back on her feet before I tackle that, but I hope to be able to get it done soon after the first of the year.

As for the moment, I’m tired and perfectly happy to stay in my recliner with my laptop in my lap and knitting at my side while Mom takes a nap.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Our New Normal Got an Update

Just when you think you’re adjusting to all the changes in life lately, something new happens. On June 2, Mom fell in the living room and broke her right hip.

It’s not unusual for there to be a loud noise, at which point I usually shout “You okay?” and Mom replies “Yeah, I just dropped (insert dropped object here).” But this time was different. As soon as I heard the loud noise, I knew she’d fallen and I rushed into the living room to find her sitting in the floor.

She couldn’t move her right leg at all; her foot was turned slightly to the right, and she couldn’t straighten it. I told Mom that I wasn’t sure which had happened, but I thought she’d either broken her leg or her hip. I called 911, and bless their hearts they came really quickly. They evaluated her and transported her to the hospital. After about six hours in the ER, it was determined that she had, indeed, broken her hip and needed surgery.

Fortunately, surgery went beautifully. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, I was not allowed to stay at the hospital with her. They were kind enough to let me spend a few minutes with her in post-op, though. Hospital policy only allowed visitors in the hospital between 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., so I was waiting outside the door every morning at the appointed time while Mom was there. Her hip progressed well, but her COPD caused her a lot of problems with her blood oxygen level.

Finally she was well enough on June 8 to be moved to rehab; once she went there, I wasn’t allowed to visit at all. (Stupid Coronavirus!) I know it’s for her protection, but it’s hard to know that she’s in there and I can’t see her. I managed to spend a little time with her on Wednesday, though, when she had a follow-up visit with the orthopedic practice to remove the staples from her incision.

Her incision has closed up nicely and looks great. Her therapy has been going well, but she’s really anxious to come home. I’m anxious for her to get here, too!

I never thought Mom was very noisy, but this house sure seems terribly quiet! Tilly has been pouting at me; she’s sure that I’ve done something terrible to Mom and it’s all my fault that Mom’s not here to give her treats as required. (Mom’s a softer touch about kitty treats than I am.) Hopefully Mom will be home very shortly, Tilly will forgive me, and life will return to the previous “new normal” imposed by the pandemic.

Stay safe, friends, and take good care of yourselves. Life can change so very quickly.

Something New

So, what’s been happening in your corner of the world? Since I blogged last, life has gone pretty much as usual during the pandemic. Mom and I have stayed in, had groceries delivered, done the daily chores, and carried on.

The one unusual thing that’s happened is that we traded cars. Our Hyundai Sonata was still performing beautifully, and with the exception of a series of dents down the driver’s side (more about that in a moment) was in excellent condition. It had just under 45,000 miles on it, but it was a 2015 model. I knew that if we were going to get anything out of it on a trade-in, we’d need to do it soon. Now about those dents: when we lived in the apartment complex, we had next door neighbors who never trained their kids how to properly open a car door. Their parking place was beside ours, and we received a row of dents. I spoke to them about it, received an apology (but no offer to fix them), but the dents never stopped until we moved to Church Hill. I was thoroughly disgusted, but what do you do?

Back to the new vehicle. I knew that as time wears on, Mom would have more trouble getting in and out of a sedan because it was low to the ground. However, a full-sized SUV is too tall for both of us. I’d learned that from driving a Durango. So, a small SUV seemed as though it would meet our needs. I began window shopping online.

Mom wanted to stick with a Hyundai because we’d had such wonderful service from the Sonata, and I agreed wholeheartedly. Though she told me that we could get a different color if I liked, I knew that deep red was her favorite color. I looked over the models that Hyundai had available and determined that a Kona was the right size for us. It didn’t have as much cargo space as the Sonata, but we don’t need as much cargo space as we used to need. I found a Kona in Johnson City that was Pulse Red with black interior.

I showed it to Mom on my laptop, and she agreed that it looked good. I called the dealership and explained about our concerns about coronavirus, and that we were interested in scheduling a test drive but needed to know what precautions would be taken.

They went over and above my expectations. When we arrived for our test drive, the interior of the Kona had been sanitized. The salesman and all the staff maintained proper distance, and anything we touched was sanitized before we touched it. We were allowed to take the vehicle for a test drive without a salesman to minimize exposure.

After the test drive, we were presented with the trade-in value of the Sonata, which was more than fair. We qualified for much more rebate than I expected, and quickly came to an agreement. Anticipating the possibility that we might trade, we’d emptied nearly everything out of the Sonata the day before, so there wasn’t much to move to the Kona.

Our salesman was wonderful; not only did he make special efforts to make us comfortable, he made sure that we received all the rebates for which we were qualified. He went over all the electronics with me (there’d been some updates since 2015!) and made sure I understood all the safety features. If you’re in the market for a new vehicle, I highly recommend our guy and will be happy to share information. Just send me a message in the comments.

Mom is still getting used to the size of the Kona. I’ve driven subcompacts off and on for many years, but Daddy never bought anything but full-sized vehicles. And the bigger the better. *LOL* The Kona rides really well, and she loves the lumbar support in her seat, so she’s a happy camper. Wait until next winter when she gets to enjoy the heated seats!

Other than trading cars, life has pretty much been like “usual”. I’ll be glad when we get back to a more normal “usual”, won’t you?

Connections to the Past

I just took a loaf of home-baked bread out of the oven and the house smells wonderful. One of the things that takes the sting out of self-quarantine (Day 34) is the aroma of fresh bread, hot from the oven.

As I knead bread, I feel a connection to the past. It’s the same slightly nostalgic feeling I get when I knit with double-pointed needles. (I usually knit with circular needles, but I use DPNs for some small items.) I know that in years long past, baking bread and knitting were not hobbies to fill idle time. These were life skills, performed on a regular basis to provide food and warmth for families.

Today I baked bread as a matter of avoiding having to go out in public and risk bringing Coronavirus home to Mom. The fact that it smells so good is just a welcome side effect. Homemakers of long ago felt no nostalgia while kneading bread; it was just a chore performed daily.

I knit to relieve stress (and the evening news can cause LOTS of stress) and center my thoughts. The lovely items that fall off my needles are another welcome side effect. My ancestors knit so that their children could have warm socks, hats, scarves, and mittens.

My thoughts often drift (as I’m sure yours do, as well) to how much longer our nation will feel this terrible dread. We miss our usual routines; we miss being able to be out and about with other people. If I allowed myself to dwell on this for very long, I’d become distraught.

So I choose to fill my time with the usual household duties, a bit of yard work, baking bread, and knitting.

Stay as positive as you can, friends. This, too, shall pass.

Day 33 and Some Really Good Soup

Yes, it’s Day 33 of self-imposed quarantine, a dreary, windy day with remnants of a storm system passing through the area. We’re lucky that the storms left us relatively untouched. Everything’s very wet, but still intact. Areas near us suffered terrible flooding and high winds are expected today. That usually means lots of downed trees.

For lunch today, Mom is reheating some lovely chicken gnocchi soup we had in the freezer. It’s a recipe I found online after Mom and her sister, Sandy, had enjoyed the soup at Olive Garden. I’ll include it at the end of this entry in case you’d like to give it a try.

We’re still well, thank goodness, and still being super-cautious, staying home and carefully handing incoming deliveries with all the suggested precautions.

We continue to eat delicious home-cooked meals, even shying away from having an occasional pizza delivery. “Better safe than sorry,” we say to each other. If you are #stayinghome, it’s a lucky thing to be quarantined with an excellent country cook like Mom.  🙂

I wonder what the first thing will be that we do when it’s safe to be out in the world again. I’m betting Mom will want a trip to Walmart. I am looking forward to a Big Pal and tea. (For those of you who don’t live in my area, the tea at a local burger/hot dog chain called “Pal’s” is famous. I’m a confirmed addict.)

I think a lovely drive will be in order, and it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to visit Aunt Sandy and her family in North Carolina.

I’ve never been a fan of shopping, especially grocery shopping, but I’ll be glad to be able to stroll up and down the aisles, selecting the familiar items we always buy and taking note of new and interesting items available. Who would have dreamed that I’d consider it a treat to be able to select my own produce? Strange times, folks, for sure.

If you’d like to give it a try, here’s that recipe I’d promised:

Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup

Ingredients:
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• celery seed to taste
• garlic powder to taste
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups half-and-half
• 1 quart chicken broth (this can be adjusted to make soup thicker or thinner as desired)
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1-1/2 cups fresh spinach leaves chopped
• 1 cup diced cooked chicken breast (I used rotisserie chicken)
• 1 16-oz. package potato gnocchi (we found it on the pasta aisle)
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. In a large pot melt butter in oil. Over medium high heat saute onion until tender. Add celery seed and garlic powder. Add the flour to create a roux and cook for another minute.
2. Slowly add the half-and-half and chicken broth (I’d start with 3 cups of chicken broth and adjust it to the thickness you want from there) and stir until it starts to thicken. Add carrots and cook until carrots soften. Add spinach, chicken, and gnocchi; simmer for about 5 minutes or until gnocchi is cooked and soup is thickened. Salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

A week got by me….I’m not sure how!  Mom and I have become accustomed to staying in.  Coronavirus has sent most of the nation (those of us who are being cautious, at least) into self-quarantine.  We’ve not left the yard since March 11.  Luckily, we had plenty of food and supplies on hand.  We’ve only needed to have groceries delivered once so far, and I think it will be at least another week before we’ll need anything else.  (Truth is, we could get by for another 2 to 3 weeks, but there will be some things we’ll want more than need.)

It’s a different kind of Easter this year, that’s for sure.  Because of social distancing necessary to curtail the spread of the virus, local churches are offering services online.  Some are even offering “drive-in” services.  Our Easter was low-key, as most of our holidays are now.  We had a delicious barbecued pork roast for dinner and have dozed a lot this afternoon.  The weather is gray and dreary; strong storms are predicted this evening.  That’s okay, though….good weather for naps.  🙂

I should have accomplished a lot of things during this month of isolation, but I’ve pretty much frittered it away.  I brushed up on my bread-making skills, have knitted a bit, did some work on my genealogy, did some yard work, and performed the usual housekeeping duties.  Other than that, it’s been a fairly uneventful month.  I’ve promised myself to be more productive in the coming week, but it’s not the first time I’ve promised myself that lately.  Time will tell.

Right now seems like a good time for a brief nap.