Proper Knife Safety

Here are five simple rules for proper knife safety:

1. Never touch the knife blade. Never let the knife blade touch you.

2. Use a knife only for its intended purpose.

3. Let a falling knife fall. Do not try to catch the knife.

4. Carry knives with the cutting edge angled away from your body.

5. Never pull a knife toward any part of your body while cutting something.

Here's the story that goes along with the knife safety rules, specifically rule #5:

It's Tuesday afternoon. It's my day off work, so I've been doing some shopping, and now I'm checking out at Fred Meyer. (Well, it's Smith's Marketplace, but it used to be Fred Meyer and we still call it that to differentiate between that store and the regular Smith's grocery store. I digress.)

My cell phone rings. It's Zak. He says, "Hey, so, do you think that our insurance will cover it if I get some stitches?" WHAT?!? More explanation, please, double quick!

He had a very close encounter with a razor blade knife at work as he was trying to cut open a box that had a stubborn plastic zip-tie on it. In fact, the encounter was close enough that the razor blade struck the bone in his arm. Yeah. So a 2 centimeter portion of his wrist was laid open pre-e-tty far and he was debating as to whether or not he ought to go into the Urgent Care clinic and get it looked at or if he'd be okay to just super-glue it shut and keep on working. Good thing that his dad was there and saw the wound and decided that Zak didn't have a choice.

Luckily, he missed all essentials in the wrist, such as tendons, arteries (only a 1/2 inch away, though, if you don't mind...), etc. He needed 7 stitches to close it up and later lamented to me that he wished he hadn't allowed the doctor to use some lidocaine to numb the area up first. He was curious as to how painful it would've been to have the stitches without it. Right. Well. Moving on.

Zak's favorite part of the whole ordeal was that right after the cut happened, a spurt of blood shot a foot or two away and made a puddle on the ground. Thank goodness that he immediately applied pressure and that someone had the presence of mind to grab some gauze and tape and get a pressure bandage on it until it could be stitched up.

So that wasn't really how I was planning to spend my afternoon, but I was grateful that I had the day off work and was able to meet Zak at the Urgent Care clinic and be there while he got stitched up. Many thanks, as well, to the doctor who stitched Zak up and gave Zak basic lessons on how he could do it himself (should the need ever arise) as he stitched. (The last portion of this sentence is dripping with sarcasm--I thought I'd better make that clear in case it isn't completely obvious.) I am also glad that Barb was there to take pictures of the wound with her camera phone since I really wasn't feeling like that was something I wanted to do.

Zak is back at work today with an only-slightly-sore arm (from the tetanus shot) and has promised that he will not pull a knife toward any part of his body while he uses it to cut something.

Happy Thoughts

The first happy thought of the day is that the Celtics won the NBA Championship last night! Go Celtics! I am so happy that the Lakers didn't win. And the Celtics are so deserving of the win - Paul Pierce was amazing through most of the series, as were Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and the rest of the team. The whole team played fabulously last night! It was wonderful to see the Lakers shut down by the Celtics defense. The only downside of this is that now basketball is over until the preseason begins again in the fall. Sigh. At least by that time, Zak and I will have a little buddy to watch Jazz games with. Look at that -- another happy thought! Chances are he'll be sleeping through the games (or maybe that's just what I'm hoping for -- who really knows what he'll be doing?), but I think that still qualifies as "watching" as long as you're in the same room. This, of course, depends on whose definition of "watching" you're using.
Other happy thoughts of the day: I really love the song "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac. There is something about starting my work day with that song that does me good. I don't listen to it every day, but I do listen to it at least two or three times a week. It puts me in a great mood. I sit in my little gray cubicle under the unflattering fluorescent lighting in the basement/dungeon and sing along under my breath and do a little dance in my chair. Don't tell anyone I do that though, okay?
It is so sunny and warm in Cache Valley now! This is a happy thing for lots of reasons, but mostly because we have really missed the sun and warmth (the two together) for the last several months. It's also a happy thought because I have been lucky to escape a lot of the hot weather we would normally have had for the last two months. The summer heat is a whole different ball game when you're pregnant. So, with only six weeks to go, I am grateful that I haven't had to experience the heat for the last six weeks. Plus, we have these wonderful, cool nights in Cache Valley. Can't ask for more than that!
I got to eat more cherries today for my first morning snack. They were so good!
And here's the last happy thought of the day (at least for this post): I have three brand new books at home to read. I love the public library system. This is how it works for me: I notice that new books have been published by authors I enjoy reading. I make a request for the library to purchase these titles since I really don't have $75 or more to spend on three new hardback books. The library purchases said titles. Then I pick them up and get to read them at no cost to me! So I am excited to start any one of the three once I finish reading Sense and Sensibility. I am sitting here just anticipating the enjoyment...
If any of you have happy thoughts for the day, feel free to leave them in the comments!

First Things First

I saw this on my friend Jill's blog this morning and thought it looked fun.

Just write down what you did first today...

The first thing I thought today: Holy Cow! I did finally fall back asleep after laying awake at 4 am for ... well, a while. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to!

The first thing I ate today: Apple Cinnamon Nutri-grain bar. My pre-breakfast breakfast. Have I ever mentioned how my pregnancy eating patterns make me feel like a hobbit? (First breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies...)

The first thing I drank today: Water.

The first thing I said today: Hi. (It was really more of a grunt.)

The first action I did today: Rolled over (quite clumsily) and turned off the alarm.

The first thing I read today: Chapter 6 in 2 Kings and chapter 5 in Ether. Also an article in the June Ensign about increasing your sensitivity to others. Great article!

The first item of clothing I put on today: My exercise clothes that no longer fit very well over the fetal girth. Good thing that I exercise in the privacy of my own home! AND, I did a new Firm workout today - Total Body Toner. It was really good, even though I didn't use any weights. (Thanks again, Carolyn!)

The first person I spoke to today: Zak

The first chore I did today: Threw together a lunch (and several snacks, natch) for work.

The first blog I visited today: Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, since that was the only new post in my Google Reader. She is pretty stinkin' funny! And takes amazing pictures.

Consider yourself tagged. :)

The Perks of Having to Eat for Two

I love cherries. Not maraschino cherries, those are gross. I'm talking about Bing cherries. They are delicious. I just ate a small bowl of them. Mmmmm.

Love when cherries are in season.

Hazel's Blessing

Seriously, one day I will get the picture thing figured out a little better. I have no idea how they are going to look when I post them on my blog. Right now, they're all over the place.

Anyway.

We went to Provo for Carolyn and Jacob's baby's blessing on Sunday. The first picture is, of course, the beautiful Hazel, who slept peacefully for most of the after-blessing celebration. I didn't realize that I look like I'm hiding behind Zak in the picture of the two of us together until I saw it just now. There are two reasons for this hiding pose. First, the fetal girth (as Zak likes to call it) is ever-expanding. This makes perfect sense, since as of today, I have 58 days until my due date. Not that I'm keeping track. Second, I spilled chocolate or some such food item on said fetal girth and I was trying not to show that in the picture. Also, I think Jacob is unintentionally lurking behind us in this shot.

The next one is the beautiful Carolyn and the beautiful Hazel, followed by the three sisters.

We drove down on Saturday night and played games on the Wii with Nik and Alex, including some Blox game that I wasn't very good at, Mario Kart (which I am pretty good at usually), and then Alex and Zak played a lo-o-o-ong game of Defend Your Castle. We stayed with Nik and Alex (thanks again), accidentally absconding with a pillow from their couch which we will return very soon. Jacob did a beautiful job giving Hazel a blessing and we were so glad that we were able to go!