I decided to cut corners in my Saturday morning project. Literally. I took the frozen 1.5 lb brisket (ie. it was just a little slab of meat), put it on the cutting board, and made the mistake of choosing a big serrated knife to cut off the fat. I’ve never made brisket before but I like trying new things, and the slow cooker makes life easy. Of course, the knife (too large) slipped and sliced my finger. And there was blood, lots of blood. It was deep cut (but I didn’t need stitches according to my friend the nurse). So I tightly wrapped two band aids around it and held it up high above my heart.
I held it up and remembered doing this as a child. When I decided that I should try the project my girl scout day camp counselors discussed: making earrings out of acorns. My sister and Lizzy, our friend,and I gathered in the kitchen. And I got out the grown up scissors. Of course, I slipped and cut my finger badly. Allison had to go down to the basement to get my dad twice before he came up. He didn’t understand my sister when she told him I was “dripping”. I fainted and came to in the bathroom, on the floor, with a pillow under my head. I tend to faint. We had a planned excursion to the train museum later that day. And I remember walking around holding the same left pointer finger up above my heart, wrapped in gauze, wondering at the throbbing feeling.
So here I am, by myself in my apartment, because I live alone. Talking myself through not fainting. I did pretty well the first time. I even tweeted about it. Saying how I didn’t faint. And then, I noticed that the tip of my finger was blue. Whoops, I had the band aids too tight. After I re-did my band aids, the fainting symptoms came back with a vengeance. I grabbed an ice pack and sat in my chair.
Sitting there, I remembered sitting in the wheel chair after getting hit in the head with a baseball bat (I was in the way) being coached by the nurse on how not to faint. She told me that you have to remember to keep breathing. The ice pack kept me in touch with reality, but it was pretty shaky there for a while. I don’t know why, but blood just does me in. I cannot handle it. It’s my little panic button. I spent a long time sitting in the chair with the ice pack. When I calmed down, I drank my coffee. Eventually I took a shower. But before that, I used a steak knife and cut the fat off the brisket and got it into the slow cooker. When it came out five hours later, it was delicious.
