Between not going anywhere and working on a new business, I have been feeling all the physical effects of sitting that newspapers and the “wellness industry” keep telling us will kill us one day. (Yeah, you read that 🙄 right, about the wellness industry. Don’t get me started.)

So right now I am sitting on an inflated cushion that’s kind of like a yoga ball except it goes on top of my chair instead of replacing it. This way, at least, I can “actively” sit.

I’m inclined to chuckle about “actively” sitting 😂, but I also suspect my back and abs will be feeling it later, so I’m biting my cheek.

Mostly, I’m thinking about sewing, which is only tangentially related to all the obsessing I’ve been doing over sitting so much.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve made some major changes to my home office. It’s a small bedroom at the back of our house, and up to November it housed a large convertible (orange! 🧡) sofa so the room could be used as a second guest room.

Ha ha ha guest room.

It took having no guests, even for dinner, to make me realize that even in Normal Times, this second guest room gets used maybe once every two years. But I use it as my office every single day. And it had a ginormous (for the room) orange sofa taking up a huge amount of space. A sofa that would end up covered in my crap, because I do not have use of a sofa in my office but I do have both a need for storage and an inclination to pile stuff everywhere.

So out went the giant orange sofa (into the living room, which we rearranged and which I love love love), and in came a long desk surface and some drawers for storage and a modular table I can fold up when I’m not using it.

I’m still finding a place for some of my stuff, but now I have my workspace (where I’m sitting on my new wibbly wobbly cushion thing and looking out the window, and a place for my sewing machine, and, in theory, a place for doing other crafts.

In cleaning everything out, I discovered an old crib sheet, and I want to make small square pads out of it, for removing makeup. (Have I mentioned that I’ve taken to wearing minimal makeup even as I usually wear horrifying combinations of comfy pants and old t-shirts layered haphazardly? I don’t question it; I just go with it.)

For some reason likely related to feeling anxiety about *waves hands,* though, I haven’t sewn these things yet. Also, I haven’t finished getting things put away in my newly arranged space; I still have piles of crap all over the place.

I’m trying to simultaneously accept this block—it is, after all, an exceedingly stressful time—and kick myself in the ass to get things in order so I can actually enjoy myself in here (which is, obviously, something that should contribute to my ability to navigate this exceedingly stressful time…).

Blech. Whatever.

At least I’m taking care, a bit, of my physical core on this ridiculous cushion, right? One thing at a time.

Onward!
Kim

Items of Note

• It was so much fun to work on this series about costuming in the Canadian winter, and interviewing artist Caitlin Ffrench about the work she does for TV shows and films.

• This bit of wintry magic.

• “A babka and the constitution, what else?” (This was the highlight of my news perusal this week.)

• Related: Babka is like challah filled with a rich chocolate paste—half bread and half dessert and all delicious. I made one for the first time a couple weeks ago and yes for sure I will be making it again this afternoon. Our rabbi recommended this recipe, and it’s delicious. (It’s also extraordinarily dense and slightly too much to fit in a loaf pan—my last attempt did not cook all the way through in the centre, so I’ll be playing around with volume and timing today.)

• “When faced with the prospect of sheltering in place for an unspecified number of weeks, Generation X knows for sure that we got this. Heck, we’ve been training for a moment like this all our lives.” This is me, 100%, as a young X-er. I am baffled by my kid’s inability to entertain himself, and am beginning to wonder if the answer is to leave him alone at home for a couple hours every day—something my parents did for me that was not neglectful in the slightest, and that has, now that I think about it, definitely equipped me with the skill of filling my own time. At eight years old I developed a routine after walking home from school, which was to toast a bagel, butter it, and eat it while watching Inspector Gadget.

What I’m making: Very little this week, but hopefully some reusable face wipe things out of an old crib sheet!

What I’m watching: Still Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which I continue to adore.

What I’m reading: Blech. I put down The Other Mrs., by Mary Kubica, after a couple chapters. I seem to be in a mood where if an author says a character gets into their car after unlocking it with a key fob, I’m done. Holy leave that unnecessary detail out, Batman. I’ve just started Archer’s Voice, by Mia Sheridan, and I’m not enjoying the writing much here either, but I’m sticking with it for the small-town charm for now, even though it’s suuuuper cliche. Apparently, I’m cranky about books right now. The kid and I are reading The War I Finally Won, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley, which is a follow-up to The War That Saved My Life, one of our favourite books of 2020. It’s lovely, and we both adore the characters. I started a discussion thread about books—head on over and chime in! Starting next month, threads like these will be open to folks who have paid subscriptions. Yum.

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