What to do when you are injured

Have you been injured recently and have to stop your usual routine? I made this list after I had to change my routine when I dislocated my toe. Hopefully, this list appeals to everyone!

Hobbies:

1. Learn how to knit or pick up the old knitting projects
2. Learn how to cross stitch or pick up the old projects
3. Learn how to crochet or pick up the old projects.
4. Learn how to paint or catch up on some painting. This could be painting canvas, wood, or anything else, for that matter. 
5. Get into stained glass painting
6. Learn how to paint dishes and fire them
7. Make candles at home
8. Finish off any scrapbooks or start new ones
9. Organize the boxes of photos and photo albums
10. Learn how to work with clay
11. Do the mending on your socks, shirts, etc.
12. If you like to sew, time to finish all of the sewing projects that you have going.
13. Learn how to draw. Get some books that show you how to do people or landscapes (depending on your interests) and go for it.
14. Learn how to make homemade soap, body lotion, body wash, etc.
15. Get into woodworking or carving wood. You can make your own chess set.
16. Get some pre-made wood items (like a jewelry box) from a craft store and finish it off. This could be staining it or painting it.
17. Learn a new language. Get the software in the language of your choice with a bilingual dictionary and set a time every day to do it.

Computers:

1. Organize photos, documents, videos, music and anything else on your computer
2. Scan the old photo albums and organize the images on the computer
3. Watch some movies that you’ve been wanting to see.
4. Mine through fantastic websites like Wikipedia, eHow, Essortment, and various blogs
5. Learn how to do things on your computer such as mastering Microsoft Office applications, anti-virus software, e-mail,  etc.
6. Organize the bookmarks in your browser
7. Download FamilyTree Maker (or a similar software) and start researching the family genealogy. Keep track of it in the software. See if you can get it all the way back to the mother country
8. Find your favorite podcast and keep up-to-date with the episodes. You may find that you become a fan of many podcasts. 
9. Play video games -- even better, play them with friends and family.
10. Research the things that you've always wanted to know about.
11. Create an account on a site like Amazon and do some shopping. If you can't shop, create some wish lists.

Brain Teasers:

1. Make a puzzle with 1000 to 2000 pieces
2. Read the books in your collection that you haven't read yet -- or the ones that you haven't read in a long time.
3. Master sudoku puzzles, word puzzles and crosswords. Work on doing them in pen.
4. Actually read the manual for your computer, phone or car to find out all of the features that you never knew were there and try them out.

The Kitchen and the house:

1. Make meals in large batches that can be frozen so that you are cooking less. Also make use of the slow cooker and meals that are very easy to make and don't take a lot of babysitting (like roasted meats and a salad).
2. Start making your own condiments (ketchup, BBQ sauce, etc.), pickles and preserves.
3. Thoroughly mine cooking websites like Allrecipes and make a list of the ones that you want to try. Try them, then review them online. 
4. Organize the junk drawer (or drawers)
5. Purge your bookshelves. This doesn't mean toss everything but take a good look.
6. Go through your dresser and closet for items to take to the Salvation Army - and take them!
7. Time to get into menu planning - plan menus for a month and write up the recipes and grocery lists for them. Then put them into practice and evaluate how long it took to make, if you like them, etc. 
8. Take care of the clothes that needed special care - hand washing, ironing, steaming, etc.
9. Go through the medicine cabinet and toss all expired medication. Check all toiletries and personal products for expiry dates as well. Make a list of the items that you should always have in the house (Tums, Polysporin, etc.) and the items that you now need to replace as they are expired. Gather all of the old prescriptions as well and place in a separate plastic baggie. On an outing, take the expired medication back to the pharmacist and get the items missing from the medicine cabinet.
10. Start a remodel in one of the rooms of the house. This could mean a major clean-up as well as you may notice that some rooms are cluttered. Think of repainting the walls and/or furniture, taking down wallpaper (or adding some), etc. Or, you could plan a renovation in an area as well. You are home -- you might as well.
11. Tackle the to-do list that you've been making in your head for the past 10 years. This could be the little things like purging your old school notes or shampooing the carpets. Even better - find all of the post-it notes that you've been keeping, write it all up in a master list on your computer and go about getting it done.

Social and personal life:

1. Make social dates with people and keep them. If you can't get out of the house, set up regular phone calls or video calls over Skype and keep them.
2. Plan your next trip (or trips). This could be the next big trip, the March Break trip, the family reunion, etc.
3. Plan movie nights with friends (most likely at your place). You can theme it with dinner to match the movie (ex. watching the Godfather with spaghetti and meatballs, cannoli for dessert).
4. Plan your Hallowe'en costume for this year (and those of your kids)
5. Watch at least 2 movies that you've secretly wanted to see but always said no to (for example, if you hate comedies but have wanted to see a Will Ferrell movie, do it).
6. Get a jump-start on Christmas for next year. Go through the decorations and see if there is anything that you can toss or donate, or if anything needs to be replaced (like the lights, garland, etc.). Plan the menu and gifts that you want to give to people. If some require time to make, why not make them? At the end of the day, if you decide on something different later on you now have an extra gift that comes in handy for that person that gave you something that you didn't expect.
7. Start planning the next family reunion. Get everyone's address and phone number, plan a venue and any associated costs. Plan the events and the meal, what is needed and talk about who can bring what. If anything, the list with addresses comes in handy for Christmas card time.
8. Break a few bad habits. Time to stop smoking or drinking, or eating right before bed. Pick a few habits that you've always wanted to break and do it. You have the time!
9. Evaluate your finances. Sit down and look at where money needs to go versus the items that you want. This could mean a little tweaking or a major overhaul. Look at paying off debts and savings in particular. It's also a great time to make short term and long term goals like paying off the car and buying a new TV within the next 3 years. If you are feeling really ambitious, program the finances into your calendar software (like Micosoft Outlook) to give you reminders. 

If you have kids:

1. Play board games. Get out the ones that you played as a kid and play those too.
2. Go on an outing once a week with them (if you can). This may be very difficult but try a location that is easy to maneuver around like the bowling alley, a museum or the mall.
3. Make your own playdough and make masterpieces.
4. Get out the lego.
5. Get out the dinky cars and the mats and play on the floor.
6. Teach them any of the above hobbies (woodworking, painting, knitting, etc.)
7. Go through the kids' wardrobe for items that are now too small and decide if these are hand-me-downs, can be reused in anyway or if they are going to the Salvation Army. Note anything that needs to be mended along with any stains and take care of that too.
8. Play video games together.
9. Go through the old photo albums together.

Exercise and healing:

1. Do all of the stretches required of you in order to heal
2. Go to physiotherapy appointments.
3. Take pictures of your healing injury – it might be difficult to look at (at first), but you’ll see the healing
4. Find games that you can play on the Wii that don't hurt or harm your healing.
5. Switch your workout routine to work an area that is not injured, for example, if your heel is injured then work your upper body. Just be careful as you may be overcompensating for an injury in other ways so don't overwork an area that hurts from regular activity.

 Sources:

Martial Arts Planet, "101 Things to do when you are injured".

Yahoo Answers, "Fun things to do while injured".
Undefeated Running, "Top 10 Things to do while you are injured and cannot run".

Tanya Hall, "Things to do at Home When Sick in Bed".

NextGenUpdate, "Things to do While Injured".

Running Free, "Things to do while out injured".

OreganLive.com, "Ten Things To Do When Injured".

Reddit, "Stuff to do While Injured".

Nice Shorts, "Things to do While Injured".
My Broken Leg, "Tips for Home Survival".

AND - my brain!

10 cheap, homemade present ideas for kids

I like making my gifts because I think that they mean more to the recipient. Of course, gift cards and toys are always acceptable and I am not saying that everything has to be homemade, but these are the gifts that they will most likely remember and keep.

1. Scrapbooks: I am making this for my nephews this year and I hope that they will enjoy it for years to come. I also plan to do this with my kids: each one of them can get a scrapbook detailing the past year for Xmas so that when they leave the nest they have these gifts. If you don't have time to make a scrapbook, a photo album always works too.
2. Re-molded crayons and coloring books: what a great way to use up old crayons! The blog notes that this works best with Crayola or another good name brand of crayons and perhaps not with cheaper Dollarama crayons.  
3. T-shirt tote bags made from their favorite t-shirt which was stained, too small or wore to rags. This way they can still have happy memories of that shirt for years to come, even if it doesn't fit.
4. Clothes: whether bought or homemade, they are always welcome, especially if their favorite super hero or cartoon character is featured. You can always take a plain t-shirt and buy some fabric with their favorite super hero or celebrity on it. Cut out an image from the fabric and sew it onto the front of the plain t-shirt for a custom shirt that they will love. This is even better if you make a pair of pajama pants to match.
5. Room sign: make a sign for the door into their room. I used to do this in camp on a piece of wood that we painted with our names and splattered our favorite shades of paint all over it. I still have it and I remember thinking when I was a kid that it was the coolest thing ever that I could display on my door.
6. Knitted or crocheted blanket: you can make kids a cozy blanket out of their favorite colors. I made one of my nephew and I made it big enough for him to use until he's in his teens. I did a subtle ribbing pattern on it.
7. Christmas ornaments: make one every year since your child was born with the date on it so that when they grow up and leave the house, they already have a small collection of ornaments for their own tree. This could be as simple as wooden snowflakes that you have painted white and wrote the name and date with a gold pen on the back. You could use that same gold pen to outline snowflake details on the front too.
8. Room decorating: all kids like to decorate their room. What about if your Christmas gift to them was a redecoration of their room? That means paint, wallpaper (maybe) and perhaps a few matching items for their room. You could wallpaper the back of the door or the back space of the bookshelves for dramatic effect.
9. Personal plates: do up their own place setting with a cup, mug, plate and silverware. You can buy these now in craft stores and paint them yourself then fire then in the oven or glaze them. Do a nice design on them so that they look forward to eating everything on their plate to see that design (we wish!).
10. A candy or cookie bag: make their favorite cookies or homemade candies, bag them up and put them in their stocking for Christmas morning. I can remember fudge, truffles and snickerdoodle cookies being my favorite and we only ate them at Christmas.

Using up leftover yarn

After all of those knitting projects, what do you do with the leftover yarn? I have been pondering this question for some time as I don't want to have small bits of yarn taking up space. So, I researched all of the possible ways that I could use up this yarn to get it out of the way.

The first place to look though is one of the One-Skein Wonders books.There are also some fabulous ideas on Ravelry and Knitting Pattern Central.

15 Projects (knit or crochet):

1. Reusable makeup remover pads or crocheted face pads. 
2. Dish scrubbers (or this one) or crocheted tawashis.
3. Dishcloths. Seriously, just visit this website and try them all. 
4. Bath puff.
5. Glasses case. Do a rib around the top to keep it closed.
6. Pencil case. Sew on a zipper or make buttonholes to close it.
7. Adult or child headband or ear warmer.
8. Ipod, phone or Blackberry sock.
9. Try knitted or crochet jewellery. 
10. Use it to test stitch swatches or gauge.
11. Make a sachet for smaller items.
12. Make shapes like hearts, flowers or squares. 
13. A coffee cup sleeve or mug sleeve.
14. Strips for a leftover blanket. Knit long strips for a blanket in all of the leftover yarn then use a matching colour to piece it together.
15. Belt for kids or adults! 

10 Other ideas:

1. If you have wool, try felted wool balls.
2. Use it as scrap yarn to hold stitches.
3. Use it as scrap yarn to sew up projects where the seam will not be visible.
4. Use it to embroider a small design (heart, flower, basketball, initials, etc.) on clothing or accessories, for example, a shoe on a fabric shoe bag. Or, to embroider the edges of pillowcases or other household items in a straight stitch to add a little bit of detail.
5. Use it to do a blanket stitch on the edges of a fleece blanket.
6. Use it as ribbon to wrap up Xmas presents.
7. Use it to create a crocheted neckline on a shirt.
8. Wrap the yarn around wooden or styrofoam letters to spell words on the wall like this project on homemade by Jill.  
9. Yarn wigs for dolls, kids or adults.
10. Pom poms. What about a pom pom garland?