I am just trying to accept my new pace for now and have termed this year “The Year on Hold.” My mind is still moving at its normal speed, but my physical body is moving at a fraction of normal. I would say 1/8th speed of less. Dang that is slow.
My hands and nails haven’t been this clean in a long time and my nails are longer than they have been in years and year.
I cleaned out some stuff in the silverware drawer and found a set of 2 forks and 2 knives that had been my Gramp’s. I set them out for a meal one night. Mom and I had fun looking at them and talking about them. She thought they were mostly likely from Gramp’s second wife’s brother who had been in Germany and brought them back. The antlers are so much more knobby than the deer antlers here in the US. and the detail is beautiful. They were fun to use and enjoy.
The 14 year old neighbor girl came over on day and I taught her how to make granola bars. I sat on a stool in the kitchen and guided her through the recipe. It was fun for both of us. As we waited for them to cook and cool, we played a game. I let her pick the game and she chose Battleship. I bought the game at a garage sale a few years ago and this was the first time I had played it in decades. The game was missing a few of the boats, but we made it work. On the first game we each hit a ship on our second guess. Imagine that. The second game it took us forever for either of us to hit a ship. It was pretty funny.
I managed to take another trip to the emergency room last Sunday. I only stayed 4 hours this time and I am determined to not go back (unless I have to of course.) The blood clot has broken up (that’s a really good thing for me) and I should be on the road to recovery and smooth sailing at this point. The big thing right now is to get my INR (International Ratio) level stable in the therapeutic range. I go to the lab for a blood test once a week and then we adjust the amount of coumadin that I take to keep the INR in a stable therapeutic range. The range we are shooting for is between 2-3.
In the mean time I am digging through and cleaning out drawers a little at a time. I am going through piles of papers and organizing what I can a little at a time. I also hope to have time to work on blog posts and read other blogs and comment more consistently. My mom picked all the cabbages for me before she headed home and I hope to get a crock of sauerkraut fermenting (with help.) I imagine many of you in the northern hemisphere are getting antsy for spring to arrive. In my area we have already hit 90F and most people have their spring gardens planted.
“The Year on Hold” will still be frustrating for me, but I will make the most of what I can.
When was the last time you played Battleship?
Sincerely, Emily
You can see what else I am up to over at Sincerely, Emily. The topics are varied, as I jump around from gardening to sewing to making bread or lotion and many things in between.
Not Dabbling In Normal 
Emily, Sometimes our bodies won’t let us do what our minds want to. You are smart to listen to your body (a very hard thing to do!)
Hi Nancy. In this case I know I must listen to my body. I need to be careful and go with the flow right now. YES – it is so so hard!
oh Emily! so sorry to hear about this. I had a year on hold too and reading your blog was one of the things I did while I was sick. hang in there! sending thoughts of healing your way.
Hi Annie – thank you for sending healing thoughts my way. I hope things are going alright for you. I noticed you are posting again and now I have some time and I can finally read and catch up (and comment)
I’m glad to hear you are doing better! I’ve had some medical issues, too, and expect to have my own “year on hold” soon enough. It is particularly rough to be inactive at this time of year but it sounds like you are determined to make the most of it.
Battleship takes me back quite a few years, I probably last played about 20 years ago with my brothers.
Hi Carolyn. I am determined to make the most of this “down time” so to speak. It is hard to switch gears in to slow motion. I hope your time “on hold” goes well and you get through your medical issues quickly and with no big events.
It was so fun to play Battleship. I bet it has been 40+ years since I had played it.
Not sure about when I last “played” battleships but Steve watched the movie yesterday does that count? ;). Life is forcing you to slow down and smell the roses. There is a lesson here Emily, might be best to take it gracefully? ;). Nature has a way of making us appreciate our lot no matter what it is and slowing down isn’t the worst thing that could have happened to you. Your year on hold appears to have been full of wonderful things so far, discovering your gramps cutlery, getting to not only spend time with a 14 year old girl but also teach her something in the process. Most 14 year old girls are incomprehensible and are permanently glued to their mobile phones so you discovered a real live goodn! I can see lots of opportunities to enjoy your slower pace including spending time with your mum and learning to slow down, which is never a bad thing. I am hesitant to say that this forced slow pace is a good thing because obviously you have had a bit of a rough trot of late but I can certainly see the benefits from this end of your posts 🙂 Thank you for sharing 🙂
I am laughing because I didn’t know there was a movie called “Battleship” and I had to look it up and see it was based on the game. YES I think that counts. ha.
I certainly didn’t want a forced slowdown, but I am glad to be around to live it. It was fun digging out Gramp’s cutlery and actually use it. I know we haven’t used it in over 10 years. I am glad I dug it out while mom was here. My 14 yo neighbor is the one that has watered my gardens when ever I am out of town. She is always amazed to see what I am making when ever she passes through the house. “Pizza! You make your own pizza?!” and more. I hope to do more of these things with her. She’s a good kid and she seems to have fun when she is here. I would love to have her over to make granola bars one more time and then move onto something else with her. Maybe this summer when school is out.
I have just gotten my weekly followers email and caught up on your earlier post. I am so sorry to hear this. Despite all this happening you sound so calm. You made me smile about the bedpans, (memories) I really truly hope with all my being that you make an excellent recovery in the coming months. Sending healing thoughts from the Arctic Wastes of a very very cold English spring. xxx Joanna
Hi Joanna – thank you so so much. Your memories of bedpans that make you smile is a bit frightening to me, but makes me laugh at the same time. Thank you for your healing thoughts. I am trying to remain calm. Your Arctic Wastes will be showing signs of spring soon (I HOPE!)
Sorry didn’t mean to frighten you. I had an eight week stint in hospital twenty years ago now, five of which were flat on my back. Broken pelvis and one broken arm, which meant using a bedpan was challenging to say the least. I got bedsores on my heels (pre air mattress days) and the nurses enterprisingly filled their plastic gloves with water, tied knots in them and balanced my sore feet on them. In my grimmer moments I wanted to make all the nurses and doctors have to spend a week in a hospital bed without being allowed to turn, let alone get out, so that they would know just how very uncomfortable it can be. But I got out of there and the autumn of that year, I got on a plane and went to NYC to visit my sister who was working there at the time. Life goes on. The cherry blossom is coming out, but the winds are still howling across little England from Siberia. BTW I was wondering if you would like some dried starter to kickstart a sourdough culture? The good thing about dried is that it keeps for a while, so you don’t have to use it immediately.
What an ordeal Joanna! I am you had some creative nurse thinking to water in the gloves to give you heels some relief. Not being able to move is so uncomfortable, I can’t begin to know what that would be like for 5-8 weeks. I would love some dried sourdough starter. Did you dry some of yours? Once I get it going can I still use it for making no-knead bread?
So now I’m waiting for the granola bar recipe!
RIGHT! I have a post started on my personal blog and it has been unfinished for many months. I will pull it over here and get on with it. They are so good! Thanks for the push!