WOYWW 445–Life Gets Complicated

Another week with nothing on my desk, and I have only done a few rows of knitting on the second rainbow sock.

I am posting this on WOYWW so you know what’s going on, but I doubt if I shall have time to visit many desks this week as I’m up to my eyes.

It’s been quite a week, it really has.

Last week my hubby went in to see my mum and she was in bed and hadn’t eaten for two days, and was obviously poorly, and quite confused. They’d had the doctor for her and he thought she might have a UTI. They phoned at the weekend to say she was worse, and the doctor had been again and said she had pneumonia. Her breathing was poor and she was unable to take anything. I was out to lunch on Saturday for our church’s Christmas dinner (my hubby was unable to go because of his broken leg) and a lovely couple from church drove me home afterwards via Mum’s care home, and while I visited her they sat upstairs in the lounge and had coffee.

I sat with her for about an hour and she was unable to speak to me and obviously in distress and uncomfortable. I was so glad of this time with her despite how she was, because I had a feeling it might be the last time. The last visit I had with her a couple of weeks previously had been lovely – she was pleased to see me, and I took in my iPad with photos and videos of the kittens for her to see, which she enjoyed.

We thought she might linger a little while longer, but at about 10 p.m. the care home phoned us to let us know that she had just died.

We are now in the throes of the usual paperwork and huge amount of organisation needed in the aftermath of a death. With my brainfog and lack of mobility, my hubby usually sorts this sort of stuff out, as he did marvellously well with my dad’s affairs four years ago. Of course, he is now laid up and quite immobile, and unable to drive, so life is very complicated! Everybody is being so kind – family, friends, neighbours, friends from church – with lifts, collecting documents, odd bits of shopping etc. My hubby is able to wade through papers and write letters which I have been printing out for him, and sending emails etc., and deciding what has to be done and when.

After a while I find too much information overload makes my brain want to explode, so I can only take it in relatively small doses. He keeps reassuring me that we will get through this – it’s just a bit more complicated than it would have been if he hadn’t broken his leg.

We cannot plan the funeral for any time soon – it will have to be delayed until after Christmas or even into the New Year now. We’ve already started making tentative plans, and we thought it might be nice to include “I know that my Redeemer liveth” from Handel’s Messiah, and it occurred to me that instead of having a recording, it would be much nicer if I was to sing this myself, if I am up to it! I found a Youtube video with just a piano accompaniment with no vocal part for practising, and practice is exactly what I do need to do if I’m going to make those top G-sharps!! I haven’t done very much singing recently. I have just found a useful website where I can buy digital sheet music of the piece, transposed to whatever key I want, so this may be a better option – a single tone down would probably suit me.

To add to all of this was the fact that my hubby had to go into hospital on Sunday morning very early (which made an unwelcome early start for me as he needed help sorting his stuff) for his leg to be pinned – he had an X-ray at the fracture clinic on Friday and it appears that the bones were springing apart and not mending as hoped. However, by mid-morning he was home again because his operation had been postponed in favour of more urgent cases. Usual scenario!

We had a repeat performance on Monday, and this time he was prepped and ready for surgery. However, once they got the plaster off, they found that his skin was still blistered where the plaster had chafed, right where the surgeon was going to make the incision, so all he could do was manipulate the bone back into place and strap him up again, which has certainly made him more comfortable. He was in overnight and came home mid-afternoon yesterday, with strict instructions to keep it up and rested as much as possible. He is now accepting that he has got to cancel stuff and not take on any activities. He had a nice rest in hospital, which was good, and I enjoyed a quiet day, resting and watching TV, and catching up with some emails etc.

He’s going back in again next Monday or thereabouts, and if the blistering has healed, they will proceed with the operation and pin the bone. The anticipated 4-6 weeks’ healing period in plaster will recommence from then, and several people have said that he will probably not be fully weight-bearing for some time after that, so we have no idea when he will be driving again. This is turning out to be quite the long haul, from what he originally thought was a bad sprain!

All this could not have come at a worse time, and in the middle of it, Christmas is looming, when everything slows down to a virtual standstill, with the post being delayed, etc., and also bad weather warnings too!

I am still determined to cook my famous Christmas dinner though, because even more so now, it will be a lovely treat for the two of us, and hopefully an oasis in the middle of the storm! Before my hubby returned yesterday, I spent the middle of the day in the kitchen making some stuffings, the first being mealy stuffing, a traditional family favourite from Scotland, made with medium oatmeal and onion, and for me, a turkey dinner is incomplete without it, and the second being made from dates and walnuts with a few dried cranberries chucked in.

I also discovered this week that not only can you freeze par-boiled potatoes in order to save time on the day, but if you roast them from frozen, they come out even crispier and more delicious than normal! I prepared a whole 2.5 kg bag of Maris Piper potatoes (a nice floury variety that roast well) and froze them separately, so I can take out as many as and when I want.

I had bought a cheap white loaf for crumbs for the date stuffing, and with the rest, I treated myself by making Delia Smith’s marmalade bread and butter pudding from her winter recipes book. This is one of the most delicious variations of this pudding that I have ever tasted! By the time I’d finished all this cooking, my hubby was returning, and it was mid-afternoon before I was able to sit down to enjoy it.

With so much to do, it might seem silly to take on all this extra cooking, but I found it so therapeutic and I got really stuck in and enjoyed doing it so much. I enjoy cooking in my lovely kitchen, particularly with my gorgeous new pantry making things so much easier.