Finger Food, or How I Spent Labor Day

I know this is a little late to be discussing how I spent Labor Day, but I've been really busy! My weekend started out great. I went to Amy's house to scrapbook on Friday, took Katie shopping on Saturday.

On Sunday, I went to church, had a great lunch at my parents' house, and went to an Uppercase Living Party. Sunday evening, Tracy's cousin invited us to a bonfire in Hoagland, and we had a great time there, too!

Then Monday came around. We slept in, which was wonderful! I can't remember the last time I stayed in bed until 10:30. Then, I had to go to the grocery store. I picked up all the things I needed to make a salad for our Bible Study Labor Day party.

WARNING!!! Stop here if reading about blood bothers you. Just skip down to the recipe!

I started getting the salad ready when I got home, and then when I was slicing the cucumber, I sliced my pinky finger, too! Somehow I've managed to use the vegetable slicer for years with no problem, but then my finger got in the way. Somehow, with blood pouring out of my finger, I was able to use my other hand to finish the salad. My finger was still bleeding when it was time to leave, so I slapped another gauze pad on there and we went to the party. Everyone said the salad was great, so I posted the recipe below.

Two hours later, when we left the party, I was still bleeding. Sara said I should probably get it checked out, but first we had to go home, because Katie's mom was coming to pick her up at 6. After Katie left, we drove to the doctor's office. They usually have an after hours clinic, but I wasn't sure how that worked on holidays. They closed at 3, so we tried RediMed. They had just closed at 6, so we went to the emergency room.

Everyone at Parkview North was great! They got me all bandaged up. Bill had to come and visit me, even though we told him he didn't have to. I think he just wanted to give me a hard time, because he and Tracy were exchanging lots of bad jokes. I got a tetanus shot, since my last one was probably in 1994. They told me it would be best to keep my bandaged finger above my heart for as long as possible for the first 24 hours, and they told me to be sure and get my blood pressure checked on Tuesday because it was SUPER high. It was 199/136 the first time they took it, and 190/131 the second time. My temperature was also high, so I'm just chalking that up to trauma from watching myself bleed for 4 hours!

On Tuesday, still holding my finger up in the air (thank goodness it wasn't a different finger, if you know what I mean), I ventured to the fire station to get my blood pressure checked. It was a little better, 150/84. What I want to know, is why do they pick the fire station for blood pressure testing?!?! For men, this is probably fine. For women, being around firefighters...probably isn't going to keep the blood pressure low. That's how I'm justifying it, anyway.

Now it's Thursday and I'm pretty good at doing things while keeping my finger out of the way. I'm getting better at typing without it, too. I can even change the bandages and all that fun stuff, and it really doesn't hurt much.

Hopefully it will heal up without getting infected, and I will be good as new. Now here's the recipe. I dare you to make it without thinking about this story! Note: No fingers (or finger parts) were actually in the salad!

"Finger Food" Salad

Serves: a crowd

Ingredients:
1 head leaf lettuce, washed and torn into bite size pieces
1 head romaine lettuce, washed and torn into bite size pieces
1 med. cucumber, sliced
1/2 med. onion, sliced 1/2 med. green pepper, sliced
1 container grape tomatoes
1 can black olives, drained
1 pkg Kraft cheese crumbles (I used the Colby/Cheddar/Monterey Jack)
Kraft Tuscan House Italian Dressing, to taste.

Directions: Layer ingredients in a bowl. Just before serving, add dressing and toss everything together. Enjoy!