How to deal with a long commute

Do you have a long commute to work? Are you wondering how you will deal with this change? Perhaps these tips will help you.

I had a commute of 1 hour 10 minutes spread over between 2-4 buses per trip every day until I moved closer to work. However, now my husband has a similar commute for him to get to work with our new house so I decided to write down all of my tips that I learned over the past three years.

The best tip that I can give you is to think of this time as "me" time. We call it my husband's "reading hour" instead of the word "commute". We are adding a positive connotation to this particular time of day instead of thinking of it negatively. I know that when I first started this long commute I thought that it was a terrible time waster but then I learned how to knit. Now, I can't do without that hour to and from work every day because it's the only time that I knit during the day. Talk about a positive turn around!

Our other tips include:

• Listen to audio books or read a book. Buy all of the books that you've been saying that you want to read (I found all of mine second hand) and read them one by one. When I lived in Montreal I read over 29 books in two years while commuting on the metro - I kid you not.
• Listen to music
• Play games on a portable mobile device like an mp3 player, if you have one
• Listen to the radio on your portable mobile device. You may find that you really get into certain programs that play during this time.
• Listen to learn a language CDs to perfect another language
• Listen to podcasts on your mp3 player or smartphone
• Watch a movie on your smartphone, if it has video capability.
• If you know someone in the bus, sit with them and talk. You may develop a really good friend!
• Read a magazine or even better - save your magazines that come in the mail for this specific time instead of reading them as soon as you get home. 
• Read the newspaper. My husband downloads the newspaper to his portable device every morning and reads his newspaper online every day. This saves a lot of paper for us and keeps him sane.
• Check your social networks on your mp3 player, if you have downloaded the apps for that. Just like the magazine, you could reserve this time as the only times that you check them
• Carpool with work friends and talk.

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!

Treatment for a dislocated or broken toe

Have you recently dislocated or broken a toe? I did -- Christmas Day. I walked into a chair leg and it went between my toes. I immediately thought that I had to go to the hospital but I researched treatment on the internet. I was rather discouraged with what I found so that is why I am writing this post based on my own experience.

First though, I will share my research:

• eMedicineHealth:  Broken toe
• MedicineHealth: Broken toe
• The Toe Doctor: Dislocated Toe
• Our Health Network: Toe Dislocations
• PodCare: Broken toe

The rest of this post is a combination of the advice of the above websites, my doctor and my own personal experience. I am not a doctor nor a healthcare professional nor do I claim to be. This is just my experience that I decided to write down and share with others.

What I learned from this experience:

Immediate action: PAIN! 

• Go to the emergency room - depending on the severity. You don't need to call an ambulance but if you punctured the skin then you might want to see a doctor. Prepare to sit there for a long time though because this is not considered a serious injury. I personally did not go to the emergency room because we were able to pop the toe back into place. At the very least, call your doctor and make an appointment TODAY.
• Assess if the toe is broken or dislocated. I was able to move mine so we determined that it wasn't broken but it really hurt to do so.
• Tape the toe back into place. We did this immediately and this is what saved my toe. Use medical tape and tape the toe to the entire foot -- I personally didn't like buddy-taping (taping two toes together). If the toe is broken, the toe might be taped with linen tape then buddy-taped.
• Ice the area for 15 minutes every hour or two hours.
• Sit down and elevate the foot.
• Don't walk on it or walk with assistance.
• Take a sick day from work.

Day 1-3: The toe will swell up and turn a variety of colors from blue to purple. You may also notice bruising on the other side of the foot. Half of my entire foot was blue and the toe was numb.

• Rest; try not to walk unless absolutely necessary (ex. going to the bathroom).
• Ice the affected area every 2 hours for 15-20 minutes.
• Keep the toe and foot elevated when you sit.
• Take Ibuprofen for the pain. It's an anti-inflammatory.
• Tape the toe or group of toes together with medical tape.
• Wear comfortable slippers that have padding around that area to give you a cushion should you happen to step on it. Don't wear shoes -- they will most likely not fit anyways.
• Get into the doctor. Although, don't be disappointed when he/she notes that there is nothing that can be done for this kind of injury (unless you have one fabulously broken toe or toes). Make sure to talk to your doctor about physiotherapy and get a referral.
• If you work in a job that requires you to be on your feet, you need to call your employer to tell them about your injury and ask if there is anything that you can do while you are sitting. If not, you may have to take more sick leave for a few days.
• If you have a foot bath with jets or a tub with jets, take a bath. Put your toe over the jet -- does it hurt too much? Then wait a week. If not, let the jet do the work.
• Consider wearing compression socks like those for diabetics.

Day 4-7: still swollen but not as much. The bruising is still there but it should be purple, not blue. It still hurts but not quite as much.

• Keep taping the toe. I thought that I didn't need to but believe me, tape it. It helps a lot when you try to walk. It also helps when you involuntarily wiggle your toes. Don't believe me? You will and you won't believe how many times you just wiggle your toes around without thinking about it per day. Taping keeps this from hurting.
• Ice the area a few times per day for 15 minutes.
• Wear comfortable, roomy shoes if you have to walk. Do not wear closed toe shoes or anything that pinches that area. Your entire foot is most likely still swollen.
• When you walk, try to find a method that does not put pressure on the toe. This means that you will be limping (which is fine). After walking though, massage your calf muscles and do some ankle exercises. I found that by limping I really strained these areas.
• By limping, you may notice that your whole body is out of whack. Now, because I can't walk correctly, my calves and ankles hurt, by back hurts, etc. So try not to walk much or stretch these areas really well as often as you can to keep limber.
• Call the nearest reputable physiotherapy clinic and make an appointment for an assessment.
• Try to wiggle the affected toe. You should be able to move it gently by this time without too much pain. A few times per day, consciously make an effort to move it back and forth. If anything, this boosts your morale that your toe will heal.
• If you are working, wear slippers at work. Wear shoes only when you absolutely have to.
• If you take public transport, try to find a way to carpool. I can tell you, working was fine but taking the buses to work and all of the walking that I did sure did not help my toe. Plus, I looked like a hunchback walking around with a limp.

Weeks 1-4:

• Keep doing all of the above from days 4-7: icing, taping, etc. You might not think that it is necessary but it sure helps.
• See a physiotherapist at least twice per week and do the exercises recommended.
• Do some stretches for your back, hips, thighs, calves and ankles because they most likely hurt from the limping. Do this as often as you can.
• Stuff your shoes around the toe. I did this because my boots didn't fit quite right and I needed to support that toe or it REALLY hurt to walk. I found that this helped whenever I needed to walk.
• If you have stuffed your shoes, try your best to walk normally. This will help your body re-equalize. 

*This is where my experience is right now. I will update when I have more information.

And, until your toe is completely healed and you are walking (even running) without any pain, don't do any of these activities:

• Exercise that requires your feet. This is walking, running, snowshoeing, skiiing, etc. This includes dancing to songs (even if it's with your feet) or getting up too quickly out of a chair. 
• Foot massages. Especially if it's a professional masseuse that does a hard massage.
• Pedicures from a professional. Get a friend to do it.
• Get on your knees for something then get back up: try it then you will see why. How do you balance to get back up? 
• Go barefoot. That's how I got into this predicament and my doctor told me to always wear slippers around the house.

Hand pain from knitting

After a few marathon knitting sessions earlier this year, I noticed that my right hand really hurt. I thought that it was caused by the knitting so I did some research online to see if this was normal. I did find some posts about pain while knitting (such as this one) so I decided to share what I had learned from this experience.

Hand pain

The pain that I had was on my right hand between my thumb and index finger. It felt like a tendon was on fire every time that I opened my hand or moved those fingers. The pain shot down those fingers and my hand tended to cramp up. My hand was burning it hurt so much and I couldn't use it even to do everyday stuff like typing on the computer or cooking.

Diagnosis

I went to the doctor and she said that it was the beginning stages of tendonitis in my thumb. She said that it was caused by me having my hand in a particular position for an extended period of time. If I kept it up doing marathon knitting sessions then I would end up with carpel tunnel syndrome.

Treatment

This is the treatment that I did for one week:

• I wore a long bandage around my hand and I couldn't move it. This bandage forced me not to move it because I did try and do regular things. 
• Every day, I iced my hand twice with a bag of peas for about 30-45 minutes. This really did help.
• I didn't move my right hand to do anything, even regular things like typing, opening doors, etc. I really had to let it rest for one week. Of course, this means that I stopped knitting. I couldn't write either.
• I took Advil whenever I felt pain which was only for the first three to four days. No more than 3 per day!

After the one week:

• I removed the bandage. 
• I gradually added everyday things like opening doors, typing and cutting vegetables. If my hand hurt while I did it, I switched hands. 
• I iced my hand once a day (if I needed it). The icing really helped. 
• I did hand exercises from this website and this one twice per day. I also massaged the area between my thumb and index finger.

 After two weeks:

• I slowly started to get my hand used to normal everyday things like typing, cutting vegetables, etc. I found writing particularly difficult so I avoided writing for an hour straight. After about 10 minutes, I did a few hand exercises to avoid keeping my hand in the same position for an extended period of time.
• I continued doing hand exercises.

After one month:

• After any activity that used my right hand, I did a few hand exercises to keep my hand moving. 
• I started knitting again but only for 30 minutes at a time.In those 30 minutes, I found myself doing a hand exercise every 20 minutes or so. 
• I listen to the pain. If my hand started to get tight or hurt, I stopped, did some hand exercises and did something else.

Afterwards:

• I learned not to have marathon knitting sessions (4-5 hours straight or more). 
• I knit for 30 minutes at a time, twice a day on the bus. 
• I keep my hand moving instead of keeping it in one position for a long period of time. 
• I still do hand exercises whenever I feel like my hand is cramping up. 
• I changed my knitting needles. I noticed that I pulled the stitches more with a bamboo circular with a rubber connector cord than a thinner, plastic connector cord. So, I got rid of all of my circulars with rubber cords. 
• If I sit down in the evening to knit a blanket, I do between 4 to 6 rows (depending on how long it takes to do a row) then I stop. This is between 30-45 minutes at a time. I know that it will take me longer to finish bigger projects, but I do not want to return to the pain that I had. 
• I train my hand to take more. I could only do two rows on a blanket at a time before my hand started to cramp up so I stopped. Then I trained it to do three, four rows. I listened to the pain in my hand and stopped but that doesn't mean that I will never knit again.

Other activities that activated this hand pain

I also had the misfortune of noticing that after I had this hand pain, sometimes other activities that taxed my hand gave me some hand pain. You may notice this too:

• Using scissors for cutting anything, especially if the thing being cut is thick
• Using a one-hole hole punch
• Writing for extended periods of time
• Opening a difficult door with my hand around the door knob
• Pulling on a large rope with my right hand
• Picking up heavy bags with my right hand
• Using a mouse on a desktop computer for an extended period of time

The Bride's Kit

Here's one for you brides: what should you carry around with you in your purse on your wedding day? You know, the one that you will have someone carry around on your wedding day with all of the emergency items? Here is what I had (and some of the items that I wish that I had on that day):

In the main pocket:

1. A stain remover pen. Just be careful, some have added dyes or could dye the wedding dress.
2. Tylenol or Advil, whatever you use for headaches or pain management.
3. A copy of the ceremony program.
4. A list of phone numbers: the church, photographer, transportation, florist and/or decorator, reception location, hotel, etc. Everyone involved in the wedding.
5. Also, a map with directions to and from each wedding venue. If you don't use it, your driver might.
6. A cell phone.
7. A bottle of water with a tight-fitting cap. No leaks today!
8. A snack like trail mix.
9. Cash for any payments that have to be done on this day or for emergency items, like food or water that needs to be bought on site.
10. A camera with a charged battery and empty SD card to take pictures during the day. You might not take these pictures, but others can use it.
11. Any medication that you or your groom takes regularly. Although, this doesn't mean bring your vitamins with you.
12. A small lint roller (if not for you, for the groom).
13. A travel-sized package of kleenexes or homemade handkerchiefs.
14. Cough drops.

In a small pencil case, in the purse:

1. Long-lasting lipstick. Preferably, the one that you will be wearing on this day.
2. Waterproof mascara.
3. Concealor.
4. Eyeliner, if you are wearing any.
5. Chapstick or lip gloss.
6. Safety pins.
7. Bobby pins.
8. A small can of strong hairspray.
9. A comb.
10. Spare earrings that match your dress.
11. Polysporin.
12. A bug bite treating stick.
13. A nail clipper.
14. A tweezer.

Optional items:

1. A travel-sized container of hand lotion.
2. A travel-sized spritzer of scented body spray.
3. A travel-sized spritzer of glasses cleaner and a cloth - if you wear glasses, this might be a necessity.
4. Depending on the season of your wedding, you may need allergy pills. If you are highly allergic to certain things, then bring an epi-pen.
5. If you are very particular about your nails, bring your nail polish with you to fix any chips. I didn't care but some girls do. Just make sure that it doesn't spill or get on your dress when you reapply.

Ears popping on an airplane

Here's a confession: I have a problem with changes in air pressure. I didn't know this until my first flight to New York when I was 16. I was told that chewing gum would help your ears pop but I had no idea that I would be one of the other people who felt ear-shattering pain on landing. Are you one of these people? If so, read on: I found out how to solve it!

So, on the way up in an airplane my ears pop a bit to adjust to the change in air pressure so I only notice the pain when I come down. It's really bad if we come down quickly instead of slowly to allow myself to adjust to the change in air pressure. I have tried everything from manually trying to pop my ears to trying to yawn. I have pressed on my head behind my ears to dull the pain and I have even tried pressing a warm facecloth to my ears. I must look awfully strange to other passengers on a plane.

Well, I had to deal with this. I fly at least twice a year so that is at least four flights per year for the past 10 years. It took that long before one of my co-workers (who also snorkels) told me of a diving trick for adjusting to pressure in the water: plug your nose with your fingers and blow slightly to pop your ears as you go down. Not once, but many times, say every 2 minutes until you are at the bottom. Decompress like this all the way to the top as well.

BRILLIANT! So, on the way down, I am the passenger holding my nose and blowing (quietly) to pop my ears every few minutes as we come down. Don't mind me, that is if you notice that I do this. I am no longer in any pain when I fly! It sounds strange but it really does work.

So, are you one of these people? If so, here is a trick that really does work. Who cares if you look strange doing it. Actually, after a few years, I've gotten pretty discrete about it. The person next to me doesn't even know what I am doing.