Napkins from Lithuania
A few days ago I received the final (I think! – I ordered so many it’s hard to keep track!) of my packs of rice paper and napkins. I knew there was a delay on this one because it was coming from overseas, but I hadn’t realised it was coming from Lithuania – I don’t think I’ve ever received anything from there before. I cut the stamps off the packet because they were so unusual, and I thought I could incorporate them into a project sometime, so for now they are residing in a box with the rest of my interesting postage stamps.
The napkins are absolutely gorgeous. There are three of each of the two designs. The script is gold.
The shells are a useful size for fussy cutting and collaging and should fit well with my teabag art.
In each case, the pattern is duplicated and inverted, so you get two on each napkin. You can spot this on the script one if you look for the two blank spaces in one line of the script.
I scanned both napkins. They were too wide to scan in a single pass so I did two. This is the result of the script one.
I was planning to splice these together into a single square image but then decided to create a 6 x 6 inch piece instead which would probably be more useful. I can always use these bigger images if required.
Here are the 6 x 6 ones I created. The centre one is the one direct from the scan. The script has come out sepia. The surrounding ones were edited to remove the backgrounds, and the colour of the script changed to create several variations. They were saved as png images to preserve the transparent background.
I can create digital backgrounds with these and print them out as required.
I scanned the shells napkin in the same way, and spliced the images together to create one single pattern repeat.
There are some subtle changes in the background which don’t show up very well in the photo. I spent a lot of time cloning out the embossed design around the edge of the napkin which interfered with the shells on the sides and bottom of the image, and also got rid of the printed border. After this, I created a png of the image, removing the background and making it transparent, so I’ve got two versions. However I choose to use these images, I can print them out at whatever scale I choose, and it will be easy to fussy-cut out the shells as required.
This wasn’t how I intended spending Saturday afternoon and evening but it was fun doing it, even if it was painstaking work that took a long time!
Health update, and planning for my operation, military style!
True to her word, Mr. Daniels’ secretary got his letter off to me and it arrived on Saturday. All my questions were faithfully repeated in bold, and under each one was his reply. He has answered pretty much everything, apart from the PICC vs cannula issue, which he said was “noted” (he had read the copy letter from a previous pre-assessment that I’d sent him) and said it was a matter to discuss at pre-assessment. I am very reassured, particularly as I now know that he is going to go ahead with the tummy tuck as well as repairing the hernia – this will involve remaking the stoma. In the letter to the GP after my last appointment with him, he stated that he intended merely repairing the hernia with mesh, which left me feeling confused because it contradicted what he’d said two years ago. Nice to have that confusion cleared up.
He also informed me that apart from the first few days post-op, I will be able to resume my normal diet. This is a huge relief as I dreaded going on the bland low residue (virtually fibre-free) diet I was subjected to after my initial surgery – really boring, and it would have involved a lot more pre-admission preparation to fill the freezer. I shan’t be able to resume my normal levels of cooking for a while after I come home, and I need to make sure there is plenty of food ready prepared.
Quite a few of our regular meals are running low in the freezer, so I have made up a schedule for myself, so that I can replenish these. I need to be hyper-organised about this for two reasons: 1) so I don’t forget anything and 2) in order to pace myself and not get over-tired. It’s just meal planning at a more intense level than normal really. It has enabled me to plan my shopping lists for the next couple of weeks, and I’ve got a really big delivery coming this Tuesday.
As I did the last time I was going into hospital for colorectal surgery, I am planning to make up separate batches of the basic ingredients for my rehydration drink which I have every day. Normally I make up a litre the day before. It requires blending as it contains lemon zest and dates as well as liquids (kombucha, lemon juice and water) and salt. If I blend up all the ingredients minus the water and freeze them in daily batches, all I’ve got to do is dilute it, and it doesn’t take up much room in the freezer. The advance prep takes a bit of time to do, though.
I’ve also discovered that I can freeze my tofu. This is part of my increased intake of soya products to ward off the symptoms of reduced oestrogen levels from my medication post-breast cancer. I normally make up a fresh batch every few days. This involves firstly pressing the tofu for a couple of hours to extract as much liquid as possible, and then making a marinade with the Vitamix (it contains cashews, spices, lemon juice and yogurt). I cut the tofu into cubes and marinate it for several hours and then bake it in the oven. This three-stage process takes all day, although each stage doesn’t take too long. I shan’t want to be doing this during my initial recovery, so I’m going to make up several batches and freeze them.
I also need to sort the freezers so that everything is easily accessible, especially meals ready for my hubby in my absence. The kitchen freezer (upright, part of the fridge freezer) isn’t very large, but at the moment it’s a bit of a muddle and needs reorganising. The large and small chest freezers in the outhouse are already pretty full. I store a lot of whole foods in the lower baskets – although these are mostly dry (nuts, spices, dried fruit), I buy these in bulk and they do have a limited shelf-life at room temperature, especially nuts which can rapidly go rancid if not eaten fairly quickly. Dried fruit tends to dry out more and go darker, which isn’t really a problem, but freezing it gives it a bit more time at peak freshness. I am proposing to remove all the dried fruit from its basket in the large freezer so that I have more space for ready-prepared meals for us both. The fruit will be fine in the cupboard for a few weeks.
I also need to make space for some extra loaves of bread. I normally make bread as required, slice it and freeze it so I can take out slices when needed, but I am going to make two extra loaves to tide us over. My hubby will be helping me in the kitchen as far as any lifting is concerned (I won’t be allowed to do any heavy lifting for 6 weeks) and I also need to be aware that I shall tire much more rapidly than normal, and will only be able to do short stints in the kitchen, so any labour-saving strategies done in advance are going to help greatly.
Going in just before the end of the month and near the end of the week makes things more complicated, because I won’t be around (or will not be well enough if I am around) to do my normal tasks at this time, such as the accounts. These things are going to have to be done early, so over the next couple of weeks I’m advancing things a day or two earlier so that things co-ordinate OK, as well as some of the weekly tasks like the laundry, which I normally start on a Friday, and do the ironing on Saturday. During the week of my operation (Thursday), I need to have completed this by Wednesday which is several days earlier than normal, so in the intervening week I’m doing it all a day earlier, to create two “short weeks.” I tend to keep a strict routine for all my domestic tasks so that they all get done and nothing gets forgotten, and I’ve got it down to a fine art so that I can pace myself and not get overtired, spreading out the tasks on different days. Major events like going into hospital throw a spanner in this well-oiled machine so a lot of advance planning is required! It’s like a military campaign!
I’ve done all this sort of thing before and know the ropes. My ME does complicate matters somewhat and always has to be factored into any plans we make. All this advance planning is pretty hard work and tends to do my head in a bit, but it’s well worth it, and I shall definitely reap the benefits in the weeks to come, until I can get fully back into my normal routine again. The only thing that’s impossible to plan is the time element after I come home, because I have no idea how long I am going to be in – Mr. Daniels couldn’t answer that question because he said it all depended on my recovery, which is fair enough. I am hoping I won’t be in for more than 4 or 5 days but given previous experiences, it could be considerably longer.
Another thing that complicates matters is that this time I shall be in hospital in Exeter, about 45 minutes away from home, as opposed to Torbay, only about 10 minutes down the road. It is going to be harder for my hubby to get over to visit me. We’ve been spoilt in the past by our close proximity to the hospital (one of the reasons we decided to retire here) and it’s really paid dividends – not just for my health, but when we were dealing with Mum and Dad in their old age.
I am sure that everything will be fine. Now I’ve heard back from Mr. Daniels with answers to my questions I’ve been able to start planning, and I’m feeling less stressed about the whole thing. This evening I even managed to put some Kindle and audio books onto my phone in readiness! Now I’ve got my new iPhone which is much larger than the old one, I think I might leave the iPad at home and use the phone for everything, although I do prefer the iPad. I may end up taking both in after all, but it’s best to keep things simple. Less stuff to charge up, less clutter on the table… I always seem to have a lot of stuff, and last time I was in, one of the nurses teased me and said my table looked “lived in”!! My hospital bag, a large wash-bag that I always keep ready for emergencies, is freshly primed and ready to go, as is Kermit’s bag full of his kit (stoma bags etc.). So we’re ready for the Off!
