Slowly getting back to normal

Yesterday afternoon I had my post-op appointment. I'm coming along fine. My stitches are just beginning to fall out, and there's no sign of infection. If you've never had dissolvable stitches in your mouth, my experience has been that they don't simply disappear. They dissolve in spots along the thread, then short lengths fall out. It will feel like a loose thread hanging inside my mouth. Often, if I simply do a salt water rinse, that short length of thread will fall out. I've just begun losing bits. My surgeon tells me that these stitches typically take between 7 and 14 days to completely dissolve. After my last procedure, it took about 10 or 12 days before those thread bits stopped falling out. TMI, I know. 

Anyway, I'm very gradually resuming some of my workload around the house.

Today I managed to work in the garden in three brief spurts for a total of about 45 minutes over the course of the day. I transplanted some more petunias to some pots, collected viola seeds, mulched the potatoes beds with grass clippings, did a little watering, and harvested a large container of lettuce to be used in the next couple of days. That was it for me. Yesterday I harvested a bunch of turnips, washed them, bagged the roots and leaves to use in meals this week, and chopped and froze the stems to use in stir fry meals next fall and winter. 

I also spent some time just inspecting everything outdoors. The strawberries are ripening quickly. The marigolds are growing and looking great. We lost a couple of cucumber plants, but I had planted extra, just in case. We should be good. We have a bird nesting in a hanging basket. We are trying not to disturb the little family, but I spied the basket swaying a little (on a very still day), and one daughter said she could hear tiny squawks. Although I feel like I missed a week of summer life, nature allowed some of our trees to flower just a little late. Two of our dogwoods are in full bloom this week, about 2 weeks later than usual.

After my little bursts of garden attendance, I went out to the mailbox for the first time in just over a week. Yikes! That was a lot of mail. I paid the bills and discarded the junk mail. It feels good to catch up on ordinary chores.

Bit by bit I'm getting back into the swing of things. What's been going on in your week?

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?