I remember well the weeks I spent post-surgery with limited attention span, limited energy and Violent boredom. Let's give her a list of things she can do that won't be harmful and will make her feel like she's accomplishing something. Mine: shove a bar stool comfortably close to the kitchen junk drawer. (If you have more than one, schedule the other one for another time.) Remove everything. Put some in the trash. Keep some. Or take a damp paper towel and at least wipe the bottom of the drawer out. When I did this, I discovered all manner of 'charge' things to stuff we didn't have anymore. Just one more. One day I cut holes in my tomato pin cushion and removed everything. I discovered all manner of needles that were in okay shape but had been shoved below the recovery line. Next?
The great pleasure of sorting buttons! Tie matching ones together. Or at least sort by color and/or size, so the next time you need a shirt button you don't spend several hours finding one. (Says the owner of 3 full tins of buttons, not counting a plastic box of the extra ones that came on recent clothing.)
Get somebody to stack the old quilt magaz>I remember well the weeks I spent post-surgery with limited attention span,
I can spend DAYS happily sorting threads, buttons, lace and patterns into their 'proper' places... But here's a sewing one:
Find and save a small crewel work design from the intertubes. Draw it out about 2" square on a bit of scrap linen and embroider it with leftover wool bits. Take some off-cuts of wool doeskin or melton and turn your little embroidery into a cute little needle book. They make fantastic little gifts...
Oh ho! Have you have suspected that I have been misbehaving in online forums? I have been a bit naughty in my travels. I found a bit of a debate on biscuit making and put in my two cents. Next thing you know there is a raging argument over whether the soda goes in the flour or in the buttermilk. I found a discussion on laminitis in horses and goats, and suggested they pasture the critters away from their walnut trees. Sure enough the whole thread blew up with folk arguing over various species of walnut and various parts of the trees and fruit and what parts are bad for livestock and what parts aren't. You don't even want to know how I thumped on the Da Vinci code lunatics that were infesting a discussion on the assorted conservation techniques that have been used on da Vinci's Last Supper.
Yeah I definitely need more constructive things to do with my time.
So I thought to myself, "I have been meaning to tackle that drawer for ages." So even though I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the 10 pounds of old keys that don't fit any lock, I headed on into the kitchen.
First obstacle, no bar stool. So I took me a chair and piled all the phone books on it, then I added Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns (bigger than all the phone books put together). I was going to put the Hyatt texts (by Harry Hyatt) atop of that but DH said they were too expensive, and besides I would slide off and break my head, so I settled for a couple of pillows. Any volume of the Hyatt texts is probably over my lifting limit anyway. That got me up high enough that I didn't have to bend or lean too very uncomfortably. Yes my counters are entirely too tall.
So I pulled open the drawer and started pulling things out. It is your typical junk drawer, the aformntioned keys, two decades worth of half burned birthday candles, a couple gross of expired coupons, countless half books of matches, enough packages of grape kool-aid to supply the whole state (nobody here likes grape and there are always two packages in the multi-packs), and other sundry odds and ends. The first fistful of coupons, with a half dozen birthday candles and a mysteriously unwrapped cough drop mixed in, had barely made it into the bag I had brought for trash when DH yelped, "What are you doing woman!"
Apparently I was committing a most egregious error. A) I was doing work. I should not be doing work for surely it will kill me and then where will everyone be? B) There is a lot of good stuff in that drawer and I shouldn't just be tossing it out willy nilly. C) If I go rearranging things how is my long suffering DH ever going to find anything ever again?
All was not lost. I pointed out that long expired coupons and unwrapped cough drops have little value. I also mentioned that sitting on a cushion sorting through a drawer was hardly strenuous. Really, just a casual mention. I didn't get annoyed. I doubt I even hit 100 decibals explaining things.
He decided he would help me neat up the drawer. I decided I could live with that.
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