Look Ma, no thumbs!

5 plus 5 equals 10, take away 6 and it equals 4. Why the elementary math lesson?  Well last week my husband was taking down the last of the Christmas decorations and the ladder slipped and he took quite a spill.  He ended up breaking his left arm and wrist and his right thumb.  He also had various bumps and bruises but those are minute compared to the use of his hands, especially the thumbs.

According to the orthopedic doctor thumbs contribute to 50% percent of all that your hands do.  Think about it.  Can you button a button without at least one thumb?  Can you shake hands?  Can you even write a letter, drive a car?

So this past week was quite a change in our routine. And next week appears to be the same. Tuesday he goes for surgery to try and repair a crushed wrist and arm enough for proper healing. 

So as you go about your day, imagine what it would be like to not have the use of your thumbs.  Yes, it’s hard and the hubs complains quite a bit, but I remind him every day that although he will not be shaking hands any time soon, he will still be here to shake hands 8 weeks from now

Fish hooks without fish

My husband.  Gotta love him.  He is very neat, does laundry, vacuums and just loves to wash dishes. He loves to fish as well, but have patience; I’ll get to that in a minute.

 He’s pretty much the perfect guy right?  In a way he is kind of like me.  When he is doing something he doesn’t quit till he’s finished. This Christmas his daughter came over with a car problem. Being the handy, considerate man that he is, he started to work on it right between slicing the turkey and eating the pie.

He went into the garage to get a tool or some such thing and couldn’t find it.  What’s a guy to do but empty the rollaway tool chest in piles around it, looking in vain?

Unbeknownst to me, he put a pile of snelled fishing hooks dead center of the passageway to my car.  For the non-fisherperson’s information, a snelled hook is a hook attached to some form of line or device.  Basically a tangled up group of fishing lines with fishhooks added to the mix.

So, fast forward a few days and I’m heading to work.  I walk smack into something.  It’s a little dark in that part of the garage and I don’t turn the light on.  Something is grabbing me and tearing at my pants.  I reach down and realize what it is.  I pull and tear and relocate a hornet’s nest of hooks in a safer part of the garage, not realizing I was taking a souvenir.

I wait on customers like I always do.  It’s after Christmas so it’s pretty busy.  After a few minutes I realize I have a snelled hook swinging sideways from the bottom of my pants.  One customer snickers.  Another customer nods her head in understanding.  I pull and try to dislodge the unwelcome guest to no avail.  No avail that is unless I want to rip a hole in my brand new pants.

I get an idea.  If I get a wire cutter, I can cut the hook in the middle and slide it out with no damage.  I look in the box of tools we keep for putting up signs and displays and found a rusty old pair of needle nosed pliers with a cutter section on it.

Snip, snip and I am free.  Not exactly what they mean when they say catch and release but at least I am hook free. 

My husband, you gotta love him.  You may ask did he ever fix that car problem?  Well, no, he didn’t, so that my friend is most likely a story for another day.

Peppermint flavored coffee

If you like the flavored coffee creamers they are selling in the grocery stores like I do then you will love this little tip.

What do you do with leftover candy canes?  There are lots of things you can do with them but my favorite is this:

Drop a small candy cane (Or piece from a larger one) in a cup of coffee or hot chocolate and stir.  As you drink  your beverage you will taste a delightful peppermint flavor.  Voila!  Flavored coffee!

If you have any ideas to use those leftover candy canes post them in the comments.  I would love to see them!

Happy New Year!