January 30 I went to Wichita to stay with my sister, Karen, for a while. On Jan. 31 she had surgery on her foot. I wanted to be with her and help her out till she was better able to do more. The surgery was intense and the recovery will be slow. She had a lot of pain and walked with a brace on that leg and foot just to be able to walk. When I brought her home from the hospital after surgery, she was in a huge wrap and can not put any pressure on the foot. It was so hard for her to get up and down from the chair and bed, to the bathroom and to change clothes. Showering is still the most difficult activity of all. After 10 days, she had the stitches removed and is now in a cast but still could not put any pressure on the foot. An accident or two with pressure have sent her pain level sky rocketing. She is back in school using a knee scooter to get around and that makes it so much easier than if she would have had to use crutches. Today she can now begin to put a little pressure on the foot and on March 18 she is to get a walking boot. She hopes then it will get easier.
Besides spending time with her and her family, I was there to help her. I really do not know how much help I am since cooking and cleaning are not my best chores. But I drove her around, helped her get around, fetched and took orders. Karen and I always enjoy spending time together. We have many common interests and can visit for hours and hours. Usually when I spend time there, we sew and sew, working on a quilt for one or the other of us. Not this time. Her sewing room is in the basement and it is her right foot (the sewing foot) that is casted. She did work on a hand quilting project and some crocheted edges on baby blankets as she sat in her chair. I worked on a hand embroidery project that is on my list of goals to do this year. We sat and did hand work as we watched 5 seasons on Mad Men on Netflix. We also watched several movies. Poor Ron, her husband, was mostly kicked from his chair as I sat in it all day. I'd offer to move my little next of computer and sewing in the evenings when he got home so he could have his own chair in the living room but he said no. He watched TV in the bedroom since he did not want to watch the same thing Karen and I did.
I did laundry, dishes, changed bedding, cooked and tried to clean up the messes I made. I actually had a lot of fun cooking since I actually had someone to cook for. It is not so fun to cook for myself, cooking for one. The thing I had the most fun making was bread. I have never been able to make good bread. Karen has a sourdough starter and a Kitchen Aid mixer with the dough hook. I wanted to try to use them while having someone to try it. I made a loaf of regular sourdough bread first. Then I made cinnamon rolls which were really good. Then I made a rosemary Parmesan bread followed by two loaves of french sourdough bread. I made one french loaf the regular long way and the second one I made round. We took the round loaf and made the bacon cheddar ranch bread (Crack Bread) from it. That was SO wonderful. I also made pizza dough and soft pretzels. Karen and I made pizza pockets (made like bierocks) for the freezer. The soft pretzels turned out really good also.
I found out a few things from my experimenting with bread at Karen's. I like the bread machine much better than the Kitchen Aid. I would just use the dough cycle so I could make what I wanted from there. Emily had two bread machines she had gotten really cheap at garage sales. She gave me one that needed the kneading paddle. I got that ordered right away and now have it. I am excited to begin making bread at home.
I also spend one day making Chicken Cordon Bleu. I had never made it before but have always really liked it. Judy had made some for Christmas dinner. I looked at a lot of recipes on the Internet and made a combination of a couple of them. It was actually pretty easy and turned out great. That and the Crack Bread were two recipes Ron said were keepers.
I stayed 3 1/2 weeks with her. She is back in school full time. Ron takes her and picks her up on his way to work since I left on Tuesday. One evening she had him run her around to run errands. He asked how much longer this was going to last. I'm not sure which one of them is more anxious for her to be able to drive again.
It was great to spend time with my sister. It is also nice to be back home again. I get the feeling that maybe I was a little bit missed here as well. It is always nice to feel needed and wanted.
Recipes I used:
Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls
Sourdough Soft Pretzels
Rosemary-Parmesan Sourdough Bread
Cheddar Bacon Ranch Bread-aka-Crack Bread
Chicken Cordon Bleu
Sourdough Pizza Crust
Rose
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