The last 6 weeks have been a bit of a challenge in our house, mainly for me. I have always been accident prone (which may now have an explanation) but lately I have taken it to a whole new level. So it all began when our new neighbours moved in back in March and I thought I would go and introduce myself with some cookies for the kids. I wasn't sure about allergies so I canned the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookiesin favour of the safer Double Choc Cookies (without the chilli). Anyway I had everything ready to go but the butter was a bit hard so I thought I'd give it a little zap in the micro to make life easier... wrong answer. As I was putting the bowl into the microwave it slipped out of my hand, smashed on the edge of the microwave and a shard of bowl dug right in between by second and third fingers on my right hand. It was deep, I could tell because the blood was pooling in there and not coming out... ugghhhhh. So I wrapped it up and phoned the home doctor who came over and stitched me up (soooo much better than emergency). While I was waiting for her I finished off the cookies and after I was sorted I popped over to meet the new neighbours, cookies in bandaged hand. A bottle of bubbles later and much hilarity over my klutziness we are now friends (and the cookies were a hit). In all kinds of good news the webbing healed up beautifully in time for us to jump on a plane to Byron Bay for Blues Fest and a few days R and R in Lennox Head - a stunning part of the world. Three days of non stop music, walking, dancing and crazy crowds, Blues Fest was once again just sensational, and after, in magic weather, we rode horses, drank wine, ate great food and found secluded beaches. Tt was amazing until the second last day when I swam into the edge of the pool - using my face as a buffer, and cracked the bridge of my nose. The last day was spent attempting to hide my scab, swelling and bruising behind a hat and glasses and avoiding the looks of sympathy/empathy/concern that I may be being beaten at home... Noel also got a little sympathy in the form of free drinks, the girl behind the bar telling him she felt so sorry for him because he must be getting heaps of dirty looks.. We arrived home on the Friday night and I got right back to it. On Saturday it was cold so I whipped up the bolognese for lasagne and while it was slow cooking I thought I'd get a jump on the next night's dinner so I could do the floors after that and not have to redo them (crazy anyone?). Anyway I started to make breadcrumbs for the chicken parmigiana and the bread was a bit fresh so the crumbs kept jamming in the hand held bamix. I diligently turned it off at the wall and cleaned them out 3 times and thought I was almost done when they jammed again. this time I was less diligent about tuning it off at the wall and while scooping out the solid lump of crumb with my left index finger, I accidentally hit the power button................. I wasn't great. I did look down and think that considering it had just been bamixed that my finger looked in ok shape. That was just minutes before I got woozy and just managed to get a cloth to stem the blood with (and cover it up) before I took myself outside and lay down so I didn't faint. Once I was back and feeling ok I called Connor to bring my phone out and phoned the home doctor (again). After hearing my story the receptionist kindly fast tracked me and the doctor came to stitch me up. I can't tell you how painful it was, the local anesthetic seemed to have no effect so I just sat their, tears streaming and trying not to faint, as she stitched me cold. There was some movement so she wasn't too concerned about tendon or nerve damage, but it was hard to tell given the blood and tears. 4 days later I had it reviewed and it wasn't healing well and had begun to droop at the tip so I was off to the surgeon to have it assessed. After a 10 second consult I was admitted to hospital to have my extensor tendon repaired, which, as it turns out, was hanging by a thread. That was 2 weeks ago and I'm now out of my cast, in a finger splint and have had the stitches out. In another 2 weeks the pin (which has a bauble sticking out of the top of my finger!!!) will come out and then it's just 2 more weeks until I lose the splint entirely. Yes, I did a good job - I tend not to do things by halves. Apparently 3 accidents in 1 month is unusual and raised alarm bells for the doctor, who sent me off for a brain MRI. The interesting part is that they found that the hole in the bottom of my skull, where my head joins to my neck, is larger than 'normal' which can cause some issues with fine motor skills, particularly finishing movements (any patterns emerging for you?) but that it is nothing to be concerned about, rather aware of. It is something I was born with and would have learned to manage my over the journey. So I guess this was a regression perhaps bought on by doing too much and not concentrating on the job at hand (literally). So there you have it, that's where I've been, I'm sorry and I have turned over a new, and very careful, leaf. PS. I have been giving a few new recipes a go now that we are back to the finger splint so here they come. xx

Picnic

Delicious made simple

Life's a

My recipes