Bent Every Which Way But Straight

 

                                                                         (not him)

Tuesday night, I lowered my chair and was met with resistance and a weird sound.  The chair raising mechanism was toast, it appeared. Well, finally, it worked. Something had slipped under the chair and in the lift mechanism. The whole chair is now whomperjawed. The left side of the footrest is lower than the right. The seat lists to the left. The left arm is lower. This throws off my whole body. 

When I awoke this morning, my left knee would not hold me up. I slept like a log for about seven hours. I must have slept wrong on my knee. Or, the chair not sitting right could be the problem, maybe both.

After I got up from a nap, just now, the pain in my left knee is worse. I managed to get to my chair. Then, I had Tommy bring in my walker. Hopefully, using it to get to the sink to wash my hair will work. The pain is so bad, my knee just collapses. 

Now, Tommy is back to getting things for me. Usually, my knee stops hurting just as quickly as it starts. Not this time. I may have to resort to an aspirin along with the cream I am using. NOW, I cannot walk without knee collapsing and extraordinary pain. 

Thursday

Well, I just figured out Sunday is Easter. Walking is no better. 

Today, Tommy drove me to Publix--slaw mix, lettuce, carrots, milk, bread, apples, bananas, strawberries, Halls Mentholyptus cough drops, eggs, two chocolate Lindt Easter Bunnies for Easter. When I got in the car, I told Tommy I bought a slice of carrot cake to share tonight. He was very effusive with "Oh GOOD!" We enjoyed it. 

We picked up eight more covid tests. I am still negative. These tests were so hard and confusing. Okay, the directions left out things. So, I wasted the first test. There are six more. 

Tonight, I gave Tommy instructions to put eggs on to boil. Well, he put the lid on the pot. Why? I was timing them with lid off, but at least I managed to get in the kitchen to see it. He left frozen meat on the counter to thaw. Why?

Tommy's voice is suffering as he sounds like a very old man whose voice is soft but still low. I hope it comes back. He told me my voice is not back yet, either. He said it sounds hollow. I have no idea what that is. 

We planned nothing for this weekend as neither of us have much energy or ambition other than to eat well and stay well. 

He is having ham and I am having chicken breast. I think he is opening green beans. I made cole slaw in my recliner. So, we are back in the groove. Since I boiled 6 eggs, I had one with a sliver of butter on the hot egg. I will make one into two deviled eggs for me and the other four will go into potato salad. 

The eggs peeled perfectly since I used really old eggs. I need to color some just because it is Easter. We do have our chocolate bunnies, but I think we need colored eggs of some sort. I am not sure where my molds for Jello eggs are hiding. 

I forgot to call about getting the chair repaired. Since tomorrow is Good Friday, I doubt I will get much of a response.

On Friday, we need to go to the grocery store again since I did not get everything we need. Tommy is going in with an electric cart, too. Today, I hit a table with Easter cookies and pastries on it and was so embarrassed! They added a table in the aisle, so it was easy to hit. I did the same thing to the extra table with Christmas cookies. ugh! 

The Sedum Joy is regrowing after the winter. It always does. I think the Gerbera Daisy is the plant with all the green growth. 

What are your Easter plans? 

Have you ever broken a recliner or lift chair? How did you break it?

45,000 pounds of Chicken Fat and Reducing Sodium in Canned Beans

 It all spilled on Deadman's Curve in Birmingham. The smell will be disgusting.  I cannot imagine how it well be cleaned up, but I suppose there are experts at that kind of cleanup. Still, the stench will linger.

That is a lot of schmaltz!

Have your ever cooked with schmaltz? I did once, making biscuits.

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As you may remember, I bought 12 or so cans of Hunt's Petite Diced Tomatoes for $0.72/14.5 oz can.  The sodium content was 200 mg. I was horrified. The No Salt version was 15 mg. 

I decided to look at the can of green beans, my favorite canned vegetable and the one I eat most. I almost had a stroke when I discovered there were 380 mg of sodium. I have some cheap green beans in my sights, but I need to see if there is a No Salt or Low Sodium version on sale also. 

While I thought about the several dozen cans of green beans I have, I wondered if I could reduce the sodium. I always drain the beans before I heat them to eat. When I put them in soup, I never drain the liquid. When I looked it up on the internet, I discovered I only reduced the sodium by 8% by draining the liquid. By soaking for 30 minutes, I can reduce the sodium by 45%. 

Then, the article goes on to talk about cooking the dried beans, so I wonder if this method only works for dried beans canned commercially. I hope it works on green beans. 

If this is the fact with green beans, the can of green beans that had 380 ms sodium would only have 209 mg of sodium. This is a significant reduction and good for our health. Of course, the fresh green beans I cooked and froze have no added sodium. 

Sodim content reduction by draining, rinsing, and soaking. 

I only know I won't be canning green beans, maybe freezing. I have avoided much sodium for years, but it appears I have not done well with the canned food. 

Do you look for ways to reduce sodium? Do you need to reduce sodium? Do you can or freeze green beans?