LITERALLY BLOCKING THE PAIN

I've been slightly side-lined for the past thirty or so hours, semi-incapacitated with a tweaked back.  I need groceries, but that's not happening today because I cannot yet get in and out of my car without screaming in pain.  I am, however, able to sit and stand and go up and down stairs without clutching the side rail and taking one step at a time so slowly that a simple trip to the potty during the night takes about twenty minutes.

Nope, today rapid-release acetaminophen has been my friend.  Of course, I'm eating the capsules like leftover Christmas candy, but I don't care.  I can almost move at a partially-normal pace today.  I'm not pushing my luck, though.  I know the drugs are taking off the edge.  I'm staying home and I'm staying put.

I could read; I have several new books plus one a friend lent me, and I have months' worth of magazines backlogged.  I could nap since I slept like crap last night.  I could sit still and work on my final project/paper that is due in a week.  The only thing I know for sure is that I need to spend more time sitting than standing today.

So, I decide to sort out some of my sewing pile.  I discover a box full of quilt blocks that I sewed together probably three or four years ago, back before I was taking a full load of graduate classes straight through all seasons of the year.  I have a dozen blocks of this and a dozen blocks of that and dozens and dozens of blocks that don't really go together and yet might go together perfectly well if arranged correctly.  Or incorrectly.  I don't even care -- I just want these quilt blocks out of my sewing pile.

I plan and work out patterns on paper, adding borders and blocks to make patterns and then ... and then ... and then I decide, "Fuck it, I'll just sew a random forty-eight of the eight-inch-square blocks together.  Yup, I can use the crib-size batting (which is way too big for cribs, anyway) and make a huge lap quilt.  I set up the four piles and simply go across 1-2-3-4-1-2 for the odd rows and 3-4-1-2-3-4 for the even rows.  I pin, sew, pin some more, sew some more, until finally, the top is pieced, sewn, and ready to become a quilt.

I don't finish the project because the tying off of a quilt takes some bending over the work space, and I'm not sure my back is up to that yet.  And, please, do not look too closely at how well I do not line up the rows and blocks.  All in all, it's not a bad accomplishment for a day of infirmary and rest.  Now, if I can just be this productive when my back is fully recovered, I might get that project/paper done this week, too.