Greensacks

You know me, I'm always on the lookout for cool 'green living' ideas and products. These just arrived in the mail :

Greensacks are Australian-designed, and not expensive. These 5 bags cost me $15. They are to use in the supermarket, to bag fresh fruit and veggies, instead of using those thin plastic bags. The fruit and veg can be stored in the bags too, in the fridge or wherever. They were even a finalist in the 2009 Green Invention awards! They're made of a fine mesh, and are machine washable.

ETA : I didn't use the thin plastic bags for quite some time, and just bought stuff loose, especially if there were only 3 or 4 of the fruit or veg. That is, until Dotter did a microbiology class at school, and came back totally horrified at how many nasty nasty bugs there are on supermarket conveyor belts, which she'd grown cultures of ... the really really bad bacteria. She's insisted that I use some sort of protection over the fresh produce since then. Hence my trying to find an alternative to the plastic bags :)

I'm getting some of my knitting mojo back (not so doped out on pain meds now!) ...

It's amazing how often I don't knit things from the gorgeous knitting books I have - time to remedy this! These are the Kai-Mei socks from the book Sock Innovation by Cookie A. Yarn is Merino Cashmere sock yarn by The Knittery (now sadly closed down). I got this much done last night :

And a quick Christmas pressie for my niece, who loves dressing up - the Make Believe Crown pattern is from Interweave Knits' web site. I made it with thick cotton (from LittleNeedles!) as she's allergic to wool.

Latest hip news - I'm slowly improving, but last week I got a slightly infected toe which sent my surgeon and GP into a bit of a tizz - very real risk of the infection spreading into my hip, which is a Very Very Bad Thing (if it gets in, you have to have the prosthesis removed and a new one put in - NOT nice surgery). So I'm on antibiotics for a couple of weeks.

I can walk more easily now, and sometimes don't even use a walking stick around home, but in general I'm still using crutches, or a walking stick. I sometimes get slight clunking and shifting / grinding sensations in my hip, which my physio thinks is the femur head and acetabulum (socket) shifting slightly. Eeergh. So when that happens I need to go back to 75% weight-bearing on crutches, to relieve stress on the joint.

My surgeon had to put in a short 'spike' into my femur - my bones are quite deformed and too small for a regular long spike. So this means the whole prosthesis isn't frightfully stable, and probably accounts for the permanent hip restrictions I have from now on. No low seats or squatting down ever again, and probably other things as well - I'll know more when I see my surgeon in about a month. This is taking a bit of getting used to ... normally hip restrictions last for 3 months, not the rest of your life.

The obturator nerve damage is gradually repairing, but it's very slow. If I try with all my might, my inner thigh muscle can contract a tiny tiny amount for a few seconds. My knee pain is gradually lessening too, and I'm needing less of the serious pain meds. Still going to a lot of physio, with plenty of daily exercises.

I've removed the dressing from the wound - it's healed up really well, much narrower and neater than my childhood scars. I need to massage it every day with skin cream (Sorbolene, Vitamin E, BioOil, or something similar). I might venture into the pool next week some time.

I'm allowed to lie on my right side for a little while, if I have 2 pillows between my legs (so the operated leg doesn't fall past the midline of the body). It's so nice to have a change from lying on my back in bed all the time!

Christmas is a bit of a washout this year - cooking is still pretty hard for me, and I haven't done cards, or decorations, or put up the tree, or anything much. We're going to join in the big family luncheon at my sister's (small) house - around 16 adults and 3 or 4 young kids - and just bring the drinks, no cooking required! Will be lovely to see my family, and we can even 'dilute' my tiresome FIL with plenty of other people. Normally we spend the day just with him, and have a fairly horrible time of it. So while he'll probably find it overwhelming and confusing, meh, too bad. He ain't got no choice in the matter, and he'll get a nice meal.

I hope you have a really lovely Christmas holiday, with not too much stress, and thoughtful gifts, and delicious food, and lots of love and hugs!