Pig's Feet, Power Outages, Pliers, and a Paper...

PART ONE: Pig's Feet

This all began Friday night. As Stephen was walking upstairs to study (of course; and yes, on a Friday night), he stopped mid-way to begin the following conversation:

Stephen: Can I bring home a pig's foot?

Jill: No! (Stated without hesitation due to the sheer randomness of the question.)

Stephen: Why not?

Jill: Seriously? Are you really asking that? Remember when you taught yourself how to suture by cutting a banana and stitching it up (I am not lying, by the way), and I opened up the refrigerator and found it? It made me want to vomit. I do not like things like that, especially in the kitchen! (I hate hospitals. I get queasy when I see anything medically related other than a band aid.)

Stephen: But, this is for school!

Jill: (My thoughts: Well, duh! I figured!) What are you planning on doing with it?

Stephen: Practice suturing.

Jill: Where are you planning on storing this foot?

Stephen: In the freezer.

Jill: NOPE!

Stephen: Why? It will be in a bag.

Jill: I do not want a nasty pig's foot in my freezer...

The conversation continues with me defending myself by saying that we cannot put a pig's foot that has walked in manure in our freezer (fully knowing that it would be completely sanitized). Then, I suggested that he bring it home, immediately practice, and then throw it away. Not going to happen. Little did I know that a pig's foot is very expensive and you do not throw them away. We have yet to come to a decision/compromise, but I would not be surprised if Stephen has already hidden a pig's foot in our freezer. I am just going to play "the ignorance is bliss" card.

In situations like these, I try to step back and think: Am I ridiculous to not want a pig's foot in my freezer? Then, I imagine myself getting chicken out of my freezer and thinking about a yummy dinner when I see a pig's foot that looks like it has been mutilated and then stitched back together. Or opening the freezer door in the morning when I am half asleep to grab a Lean Cuisine for lunch and a "railroad track" looking pig's foot falling to my feet and scaring me half to death. NOPE, I am NOT RIDICULOUS at ALL!

PART TWO: Power Outage

At approximately 2 am Saturday morning, our power goes out. You are probably thinking how do you know the time? Well, Stephen and I sleep with a fan and when that humming noise turned off, we were both wide awake. It came back on at 4 am for ONE MINUTE. Awesome. According to my neighbor, the top of the line was hit and they had to repair the damage. Needless to say, we were without power until 2 pm Saturday afternoon. The whole day I kept turning on lights and then saying, "Dang it! The power's out!" You do not realize how much you use electricity until it is gone. Oh yes, and my main to-dos for Saturday were: Do the Laundry, Clean the House (since I couldn't use a vacuum, that meant I also couldn't clean a bathroom - don't you love my rationale for avoiding cleaning?).

PART THREE: Pliers

Stephen went out of town Saturday afternoon for a boy's weekend. About two minutes after he walked out the door, I decided to get a drink of soda out of a two liter. BUT I could not open it.

Just a little insight on the "routines" in the Hasselbring household: When Stephen closes something with a lid and I am the next person to open it, I have to yell for him to come open the container almost every single time. I cannot get them open, and it frustrates me to no end that I can't, so I eventually yell for him. What does he do when he looks at the container? He says: "Jill, c'mon, you can open that!" My reply, "Um, no I can't! Why do you think I asked you to open it!" Then, he makes me attempt AGAIN in front of him just to make sure. At this point, my palms are sweaty, my hands hurt from the many attempts before - it is like they have become raw (so it is definitely not going to open), and my blood pressure is through the roof. After all that, he opens the container with ease and I need a shower from the workout.

Back to Stephen not at the house to come to the rescue...

So I try and try to open it. Once again, hand raw from trying so hard. I then think...PLIERS! I go get pliers, and they worked like magic. Then, I took one itty bitty sip and secured the top back on the two liter. REALLY, all that work for one SIP?

PART FOUR: BIG Paper

I should not be writing on the blog right now because I have a 15 - 20 page paper due in 10 days for grad school, of which I am still in the researching stage. I am not behind at all. Awesome. I say that to inform you that another drought is coming on the blog. I am telling myself that I cannot blog again until I am finished with the paper and the presentation. Who knows, that may mean I will post more frequently than ever...

So to leave you on a "good" note, here are a few pictures of Stephen suturing using a SUTURING KIT. Why would you ever want to practice on a pig's foot when you have a suture kit that has been recycled through many other PA students before you? Seriously...

Inserting the suture...Practicing...Stephen was so proud of this stitch (the first one from the left)!