Things I Didn't Know

fake flowers washed in cold water -- do this

You can wash cheap, Dollar Tree fake flowers. 

Hand wash in a sink of cold, soapy (liquid dish soap) water. Swish around, gently rub off any dirt, dust, or grime. Rinse in clear cold water. The key is to use cold water. Hot water will cause the colors to bleed into the water. But in cold water my flower color held up well. After rinsing, give them a good shake then transfer to your washing machine and use the spin cycle (no rinse) on gentle to remove most of the rest of the water. Stand up in a jar or glass to air dry overnight.

fake flowers washed in hot water -- don't do that

I was collecting "red" things from my house a couple of weeks ago, to create some patriotic displays in our living areas. I had some fake red geraniums and mums sitting outside on our covered front porch for a couple of years. They were quite dirty. I washed the first stem in hot, soapy water, and a lot of color bled out. I then washed a second stem from the same set in cold, soapy water and the color mostly stayed with the flowers (minimal color bleed). After this trial, I washed all of my fake red flowers in cold water and had success. Of course, I'm not an expert on this topic. But with cheap, dollar store fake flowers that are so dirty you don't want to display them any longer, it's worth a shot to see if they can be rescued before tossing them out. The way I figured, I wouldn't know unless I tried.

The American flag, when displayed vertically, should have the field of stars (the union) on the left side.

We're all familiar with how the American flag looks when it's on a pole or displayed horizontally. On Flag Day, earlier this month, I went to display my father's flag inside our house. (We have a different flag that we use outdoors on a pole.) So I decided to display this flag vertically, hanging from the upstairs' handrail. I originally hung it with the field of stars on the right side of the flag. Then my daughter noticed a little instruction booklet that came in the box with the flag. It says when hanging the flag vertically, the field of stars would be to the observer's left. I didn't know this, but now I do.

Our Goodwill Outlet (the Goodwill clearance store) gives away free reusable shopping bags with each purchase.

Our local Goodwill stores have begun saving all of the reusable shopping bags they receive with donations. Then they give them away in the outlet stores for customers to carry away their purchases. This most recent time my daughters shopped there, they got this cloth shopping bag to hold their "new" stuff. What a wonderful thing for Goodwill to do -- giveaway useful items they can't seem to sell. We now have one more reusable grocery bag. This one looks like it will last through many years of grocery shopping. I had no idea Goodwill was doing this.

Just a few things I didn't know.

Do you put up a flag for Flag Day or the 4th of July (or Canada Day, or other national holiday where you live)? Have you ever decorated for a patriotic holiday? Would you take a gamble and wash some dirty fake flowers? What's been your best supply of reusable shopping bags?

My Week of Menus for a "Soft" Diet

Thank you, friends, for hanging in there with me while I took several days off from blogging recently

I didn't have a guide for how or what to eat, with the exception of it needed to be soft, non-spicy (I interpreted this to mean non- heat spicy, not no spice at all like cinnamon), smooth, and chilled or cold for the first 24 hours (heat and spice can increase bleeding). I was instructed to stick with soft and smooth for several days as the incision area healed. You'll see that by the end of the week I was not only eating more variety and texture, but more volume of food.

As to what I could eat, that was up to me. Weeks earlier, I thought through some possibilities that would work for our budget and my tastes. Family members gifted me with suitable foods that I may have been reluctant to buy for myself due to cost. Otherwise, I primarily chose foods that we had on hand.

All of my meals at the beginning of the week were different from what my family was eating. At first, they took turns cooking for themselves and making food for me. Later in the week, I was able to make my own breakfast and lunch, plus modify my own dinner to work for me. By the last day, I was once again cooking dinner for the family, just modifying my portion.

Day 1

lunch

post-op first "meal"-- supposed to be cold foods for the day

baby food fruit puree pouch stirred with applesauce

pumpkin pudding (a thin cornstarch pudding mixed with canned pumpkin, sweet spices and maple extract, prepared the day before)

snack 1

raspberry sorbet 

snack 2

more pumpkin pudding

dinner

thin mashed potatoes with melted cheddar stirred in, then cooled (to meet the cold food requirement)

silken tofu pureed (using smoothie blender) with honey and vanilla extract

Day 2

breakfast

cream of wheat with soy milk and butter

lunch

chicken bone broth, served warm not hot, with crushed whole wheat saltines stirred in till soft

mashed potatoes stirred with canned pumpkin puree, served warm

snack

baby food fruit puree stirred with applesauce

dinner

pureed (using pitcher blender) cream of broccoli, potato and cheese soup with crushed whole wheat saltines stirred in, cooled

raspberry sorbet 

Day 3

breakfast

cream of wheat made with soy milk, butter and drizzle of honey, cooled

lunch

chicken bone broth, served warm not hot, with silken tofu chunks and crushed whole wheat saltines

baby food fruit mixed with applesauce

chocolate soy milk

dinner(greater variety and texture in tonight's meal)

scrambled eggs with cheese, cooled 

well-cooked macaroni noodles with butter 

pureed (using immersion blender) cooked spinach

canned pumpkin puree with butter and salt

Day 4

breakfast

cream of wheat cooked in soy milk with honey and butter

lunch

chicken bone broth with soft tofu chunks, very finely minced baby turnip greens, and crumbled whole wheat crackers

baby food fruit puree stirred with applesauce and canned pumpkin, then topped with graham cracker crumbs. (I discovered I needed to allow the graham cracker crumbs to soften for a bit. Eating the crumbs while still crispy was like rubbing sand into a wound.)

tiny serving of raspberry sorbet (about 2 tablespoons)

snack

pumpkin pudding

dinner

well-cooked macaroni topped with marinara sauce and cheese

well-cooked carrots with honey-mustard glaze

Day 5

(The stitches hurt, so I'm still on a soft food diet. Even though the carrots were well-cooked last night, they still required chewing motion in my mouth.)

breakfast

oatmeal cooked in soy milk, with honey and butter (I cook the hot cereals in milk to boost the protein of my breakfasts.)

lunch

smoothie (soy milk, peanut butter powder, beet powder, pureed pumpkin, banana, honey), made in smoothie blender

still hungry, so I made some cheesy mashed potatoes

dinner

egg salad, finely chopped

canned pureed pumpkin with butter and salt

pureed (using smoothie blender) broccoli

cheesy mashed potatoes

I gave up on the pureed pumpkin and the potatoes at dinner -- just too much pureed stuff. So I made myself a cup of cocoa in which I melted marshmallows. Sometimes, you just need a treat.

Day 6

I thought I'd be off of this soft diet by now. But I guess it just takes a while for healing.

breakfast

scrambled egg 

leftover cheesy mashed potatoes

lunch

baby food fruit pouch stirred with applesauce and topped with graham cracker crumbs

a couple of tablespoons of softened peanut butter

dinner 

first quasi normal dinner with the family, eating mostly what they had, just modified to fit my needs

pureed (using immersion blender) teriyaki chicken 

pureed (using immersion blender) turnip greens with onions and garlic

soft bread, crust off, torn into cubes and soaked in the liquid-y chicken

cocoa for dessert

Day 7

breakfast

1 egg and the last of the cheesy potatoes plus minced chives made into a large potato pancake

lunch

pureed (in smoothie blender) silken tofu, blueberries, vanilla, and honey (eaten with a spoon, like yogurt)

soft buttered bread, crusts cut off

a large spoonful of softened peanut butter

dinner

For tonight, I'm making a vegetable and beef soup. I'll puree my portion. I think we'll have bread and butter with the soup. I'm getting really close to not needing pureed foods. I have very little pain now. At lunch today I was able to simply eat my slices of bread the way a normal person would, and not need to cut it into bites. As long as I chew on the opposite side all of the time. Also, I made a pumpkin snack cake to use up the leftover canned pumpkin. We'll have that for dessert.

Thoughts about my menus

Day 1 was short on protein, vegetables and whole grains. However, I was allowed a light breakfast before the procedure. For my light meal I had a smoothie made with a small banana, soy milk, flax seed meal, honey, beet root powder, and peanut butter powder. This meal added a full serving of vegetables (beet powder), 1 fruit, fiber in the flax seed meal, and protein in the soy milk and peanut butter powder. By the end of Day 1 I managed to get over 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. It felt like I ate a lot of sweet foods that day, though -- not great.

On day 2, I incorporated slightly thicker foods with mash-able chunks in the saltines soaked in soup/broth. I was also allowed to eat warm foods, just not hot or spicy. Heat and spice can increase risk of bleeding from sutures in the mouth. I didn't have very much post-op bleeding, fortunately. But I didn't want to create a problem where it had not previously existed. I also added more savory foods this day in the bone broth and the broccoli/cheese soup. I was still lean on protein. A major difference between day 1 and day 2 is that on day 1 others were bringing me all of my foods. Whereas on day 2 I was getting my own breakfast, lunch, and snack. My daughter made dinner for the whole family that night. They had their soup non-pureed and with carrot sticks plus the crackers. I didn't eat as many fruits and vegetables on this day, but I did manage to get some whole grains in with the whole wheat crackers.

Day 3 -- the first two meals were very soft foods. But by dinner I could have soft chunks, like scrambled eggs and well-cooked macaroni noodles. I had really missed having foods with texture by this point. But I didn't want to risk breaking open the wound site. Again, I fell short of the 5-a-day fruit and vegetable recommendation. But I did do better with protein, having the scrambled eggs with dinner. By the way, bone broth has a fair amount of protein. My pint-size box of chicken bone broth (Kettle & Fire) contains 20 grams of protein. I used just under 1 cup for each meal, providing about 9 grams of protein in bone broth and 2 or 3 grams of protein in the tofu per bowl of my soup. Also by day 3, I was doing better with variety in all of the foods that I ate. 

By day 4 I was getting the hang of preparing enough varied soft foods for my meals to meet my nutritional needs.

Day 5 and I'm growing weary not eating chewy foods. Despite what I'd like right now, dinner last night involved too much chewing. I'll go softer for dinner tonight. Time will pass and I'll soon be able to eat chewier foods again. You know what they say, when the patient begins complaining, they are beginning to recover. Breakfast of oatmeal was not soft enough for this stage. You don't think about oatmeal as being chewy, but it is, just slightly. It also has larger particles which floated around in my mouth and irritated the stitches a bit.

By day 6 and day 7, I was managing better, eating slightly more textured foods and making ordinary family meals work for me.

I didn't pre-plan my meals for these days. Instead I made sure there were plenty of soft foods that I could choose from on hand. 

pre-made foods and tools that made preparing a soft diet easier

• blenders to puree soup, tofu, cooked vegetables and meat
• baby food fruit puree pouches -- I mixed these with jarred applesauce, as the baby food pouches were too banana-y and peach-y for me. My husband gave me a couple of boxes of fruit puree pouches earlier this spring. I saved them for this surgery that I knew would be happening.
• boxed bone broth -- my son and daughter-in-law gave me 2 pint-sized cartons of bone broth on Mother's Day 
• silken tofu -- it's already soft, but can be made completely smooth with a blender or cubed and dropped into broth
• instant mashed potatoes to make single servings of potatoes
• canned pumpkin puree -- can be added to smoothies, mashed potatoes, broth soups, or eaten as is seasoned with butter and salt or butter, brown sugar, and a pinch of spice
• jarred applesauce to moderate the flavor of the baby food and pureed pumpkin

We used 3 types of blenders this past week, an immersion blender, a smoothie blender, and a pitcher blender. The immersion blender is great for small quantities, like a single serving of cooked greens or tender meat like chicken breast. The smoothie blender works well for smoothies and slightly larger amounts of food and liquid. It's especially useful for consuming directly out of the container, like with smoothies, or when using the smallest container, a single portion of vegetables. For a container blender, the smoothie blender is easy to clean up afterward, just wash a cup and a blade assembly. The pitcher blender worked better for larger quantities, such as a couple of bowls of soup.

I pureed vegetables and chicken in cooked form, adding water to the blender/container to aid in pureeing. I found that vegetables,. once pureed, often needed additional seasoning, due to the watering down of added liquid. Silken tofu, while already very soft, benefits from pureeing, too, becoming very smooth and yogurt-like in texture.

So that was my week in meals for a week following "mouth" surgery. Could I have planned better? Absolutely? Could I have eaten a more balanced diet? Certainly. Could I have pre-made more foods for myself? Of course. In the end, I got through the week, and I don't think I did much damage to my health. The important things for this past week were that I gave my mouth, gums, and jaw a chance to begin the healing process, and I didn't tear any stitches. I think I succeeded in that regard.