I'm reasonably certain that most of you will recognize this lop-sided smile as the goofy grin of someone just back from a visit to the dentist. You would be correct. Another crown. Dang. I had a tooth with a big old crack in it which I am going to attribute to a long standing and very bad habit of chewing ice. (don't get started down that path!) I don't know for a fact that was the cause, but it is a reasonable assumption. Anyway! Due to my being a big dental wimp, my dentist long ago started instructing me to take one little valium a half hour before my appointment time whenever I have any procedures done. Not a cleaning, I'm not THAT big a baby. I've written about this before but, in a nutshell, this concept of taking a little something to relax has been a wonderful change for me with regard to scary and potentially painful dental procedures. And, I'm quite sure, also wonderful for my dentist. And it's kind of funny that no dentist before ever thought of it. It's not that I'm screaming or throwing dental tools around the room for heavens sake. I was raised better than that. It's just that I am so terribly dentalphobic that I am an absolute wreck in the chair. I'm so tense that every muscle in the body is as stiff as a board. My fear adrenaline runs so high that it defies the powers of Novocaine. Nowadays however, I'm just as relaxed as can be. I come just short of falling asleep in the chair while she is working on me. Better living through chemistry. The one downside is that I am a real lightweight when it comes to medication. The same medication that just brings most people down a half step leaves me totally gonzo. And this is a very VERY small dose. So I knew head of time that the entire day would be a write-off. I was prepared. And since I've had to do the crown appointment before, I also knew that I would want to eat something soft later that day. With that in mind, I made some pudding the day before. I have these adorable little depression era green glass pedestal bowls, each one little serving that are perfect for puddings. They were all ready for me in the fridge. I also did something I almost never do. I had a hankering for manicotti so I indulged myself by buying a frozen premade manicotti that I would fix for myself later in the week. I had several movies recorded and waiting for me in the TV cue and a nice clean soft blanket on the sofa. I was ready. Because I know better than to drive under the influence and since my dentist office is just down the street, I walked to the appointment. The medication hadn't fully kicked in and I arrived just fine. I breezed through the appointment and two hours later, I carefully staggered back home. For whatever reason, my body decided that it was absolutely starving and a cute little pudding wasn't going to cut it food-wise. So I took the frozen manicotti out of the freezer. I turned on the oven and once it was all heated up put the little tray on a cookie sheet in and set the timer for an hour. It worked out perfectly. I was told to not eat for an hour. By the time it was done, over an hour would have gone by. Good to go! I decided which movie I was going to watch, got my sofa nest all made and caught up on some emails while I waited. I would like to point out here that while in my head I absolutely knew that I was still under the influence of the medication, I actually felt fine. Numb and crookedly smiling but fine. I had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't actually totally myself. The timer went off, using pot holders I carefully removed the cookie tray from the oven and put it on the stovetop. So far, so good. I'm not actually sure how it happened. Perhaps it was in removing that little film from the top of the manicotti. Maybe it was transferring it from the cooking tray to my plate, but somehow, I manged to burn my finger. I mean really really really burn. I was smart enough to immediately stick my finger under cold running water. But not for long because dang it, I was hungry and nobody likes cold manicotti. So I turned off the water, finished moving the food from tray to plate and took it all into the family room where my movie awaited me. I tried to ignore the ouchiness of the burn but after just a very few minutes I saw the blister rising. Okay. I went back into the kitchen and made a little ice pack with ice cubes wrapped in a washcloth bound with a rubber band. Other than the fact that the ice drips as it melts it worked fine. I eat with my left hand anyway so it didn't stop me stuffing yummy manicotti in my face. But I kept having to replace the ice cubes because they were melting so quickly. When I finished eating, which was so good, my finger still hurt like a bugger, and my lap was wet from the dripping washcloth and somewhere in my swimming goofy altered state brain I remembered that Joy put in my Christmas stocking this year two small ice packs that were, even at that moment, in the freezer waiting for my next injury. Sometimes I'm such a dummy. One looks like a pineapple and the other like a flamingo. I used them both alternately for the rest of the day. Ok now looking at this photo the burn doesn't look like much does it. What a BIG BABY I am! But honestly it hurt so bad yesterday and these little ice packs saved the day. Obviously this one was the flamingo.
Eventually the pain subsided enough that I was able to sleep and when I woke up the blisters were starting to drain. Today it just looks red and very shiny and just the tiniest bit tender. So today's lesson is do not cook when your brain is impaired. Which actually I already knew but being impaired at the time, obviously had forgotten. Oh! I probably should have mentioned that Tim is away this week. If I was in my right mind, I would have waited until he was home and then all of this would have been a non-issue. Adventures in Sam-Land. Never a dull moment.
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AuthorYup, this is me. Some people said, "Sam, you should write a Blog". "Well, there's a thought", I thought to myself. And so here it is. Archives
February 2025
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