I have been standing a lot the last month, only sitting while I drive. For real. I know of evey place in town where I can eat standing up and not get weird looks or nice people asking me if I need a chair. The food carts are always good. And any bakery. My back is getting better, physical therapy has been really helpful, but sitting is sill hard and off limits, which is depressing, to be honest. It's hard to get cozy while standing.
As with any health issue (or like having a small baby) the change in what I can and can't do makes my life different in ways I wouldn't have imagined. So it's pretty cool. (Sort of. See the attempt at a positive spin?) For instance, I have learned to knit easily while standing. The last sweater and this vest (which is half done) were knit standing AND because I need to get up in the night (again, like with babies) to get my bulging disk back in place before I can sleep again (ick) I have been watching weird shows on the computer. All by myself. With no thought or pressure behind the choices. It's great. Before the back thing I never would let myself do that, I always feel guilty not doing something else (but I am still knitting mind you). It's fun and frivolous, even if I am cold, grumpy, and up at 4am in the morning in pain.
I was watching Kingdom, a great tip from my Steven Fry loving Grammie, and then season 2 of Portlandia (Netflix instant is my friend) and then over the weekend I freaked out watching 4 episodes of a show called Tabletop (not on Netflix, but free) where you watch people play board games. Wow, really? It sounds boring and geeky as all get out, and like maybe something you would only watch at 4am when you are in back pain, but I can't tell you how funny and how rad it is. This one is my favorite right now. Warning, there's swearing and bleeping and off-color humor, which makes it entertaining, but not for kids.
We play table top games in this house and while we are still newbies, the girls are getting more into them and Pete and I are too. The trick is to find good ones we can teach them without taking an hour (or more) to learn them ourselves. The beauty of this show is that it also teaches you how to play these games, which is so helpful. I can instantly get a sense if a game will be good for all of us in terms of complexity. I know I could go to a gaming night to learn at a local game shop, but I'd have to stand (weird) and also leave the house, which can be hard sometimes, except for when it's not, but I never know when that will be.
Unrelated-
- I have been listening to Caro Emerald and just love her happy retro sound.
- Grammie is hanging in there. She's halfway through chemo, and on to a different chemo drug, with its own set of lame side effects which are keeping us busy, but she, as always, is a real trooper and looks fab in her hand knit hat. (The model here is mariko, the knitter, not Grammie.)
