Broken ankle and housebound, how are others passing the time if you are laid up?

[Inastatus]

What are you up to today if you are laid up for any reason? I’ve broken my ankle and not allowed to bear any weight on one leg so am pretty redundant at the moment unable to do anything round the house. I’m getting around by hopping with a walking frame. I might consider a knee scooter once I’ve had my hospital appointment next week and find out whether or not I’ll need surgery. DH is running around after me and I feel guilty - I can hear him hoovering and I’ve never wanted to do housework so much in my life!!

I’m sat on the sofa with my leg up watching morning tv which is quite depressing. I’ve been half heartedly doom scrolling on my iPad and occasionally read or have a go at a jigsaw puzzle. What else can I do to occupy my time? Any good Netflix recommendations/games/activities?

Knitting? Audiobooks? Journaling?

Housework would not be top of my list. Cleaner? When I broke my legs (v messily, surgery, pins and a plaster cast up to the hip), I just read a lot. It was actually quite pleasant (well, apart from the discomfort, having to sleep in a weird position and physio). I sat down somewhere comfortable with a stack of four or five books beside me after breakfast and read straight through. If it happened now, I’d do it in the garden, in shade.

@WarthogWoman - I’m hopeless at knitting 😅 I might try an audio book - never listened to one before.

@SinisterPeaches - yes, I need to get my teeth into a good book. I get distracted by my iPad or tv.

Time to practice then! 😂

You could learn to crochet if you don’t know already. Massively easier than knitting and you produce stuff much quicker.

Or drawing? There’s a channel called Sketch Loose on YouTube and it’s brilliant. He does a free sketching course on his website too. You don’t need any fancy materials to get started.

Another thing I always think I’ll do if I get time is sort out all my photos into albums/slideshows. Quite creative and therapeutic as well as productive.

Learning/advancing a foreign language? Lots of beginner level courses available online.

Hope you recover quickly and it’s not too tedious!

Small Lego sets keep me occupied for a bit. Words with friends (online Scrabble ish game? ) Simon's cats (online game). Hope you feel better soon x

Daytime TV aimed at people with the IQ of a teaspoon isn’t going to do anything for your mood, and nor is doomscrolling. Leave your iPad somewhere you can’t easily get it and find a good book!

It wouldn't bother me that much being a gamer. If I couldn't be bothered with a console I'd be on the meta quest visiting different countries/doing an escape room etc.

Get well soon though. Maybe some puzzle books/jigsaw/colouring in. Christmas shopping list. See if something sparks your fancy online. Crafting, make some cushions etc.

Yeah I’d turn off the TV, it’s depressing background noise! Turn it on later when there’s something good you want to watch 😊
You could plan a film marathon - this is your chance to catch up with all the films you’ve always wanted to watch!

You could work through all the Hitchcock classics - or Marvel if that’s your thing, or Harry Potter/Lord of The Rings etc!

I think planning what to watch is good rather than just clicking between various rubbish mind numbing channels - well it would help me more anyway! 🤣

And definitely a yes to the reading - this is your excuse to be lost in all the good books you haven’t had time to read 😊 No one can make you feel guilty for it 🤣

I'm in hospital. Am alternating between reading my kindle books and listening to this brilliant audiobook https://open.spotify.com/show/0SYN1pxsGwsRDdlqu318Ke?si=8xrHzdgtRi6dMwif2Lg0SA&utm_source=copy-link

Also doing a bit of Duolingo and the NYT puzzles.

I log my reading on the Storygraph app which helps me feel productive when I am bedbound.

Learn to crochet with YouTube tutorials (I learned from Bella Coco)
Reading - find a good series and read them all
Does anyone you know have a Nintendo Switch and some games you can borrow? Animal Crossing is incredibly soothing
Podcasts
Audiobooks
There’s a site called MakeBox that do some beautiful craft kits with everything you need.

I've also been working my way through lots of Agatha Christie audiobooks this year.

@CassandraWebb - thanks and hope you get well soon.

Also laid up for a few weeks now and I ordered some lovely bright paint by numbers canvas prints on Amazon. I'm not crafty at all but it passed some time and they were easy to do! The ones I got are pictures of cocktails but they had lots of different ones. Hope the ankle starts to feel better soon.

I’ve just retired through ill health so spend quite a lot of my day laying on the sofa (MSK issues all over body but worse in my legs and ankles).
I am catching up on programmes I loved or never had time to watch as busy full time working mum to 2 kids (now teens)
Ive watched the whole of Trie Blood (massive Alexander Skarsgard fan) and now watching Lost
it’s good to dip in and out between hospital appointments and swimming when I can manage it

@Londubs - oh, paint by numbers, that’s something I could get my teeth into. I used to love doing it when I was a kid.

I can spend an hour listening to a audio book and playing a coloring game on my tablet. I find it keeps my mind on the book.

A good podcast series - try Sweet Bobby or British Scandal - while doing colouring or jigsaw

I broke my foot last year just before Easter so was non weight bearing for weeks, oh my word I was sooooooo bored 🤷‍♀️🤣 I watched endless 💩 rewatched things like Yellowstone, read books, annoyed people a lot lol

Gosh let your DH do the housework without guilt!

Kdramas!

@mrsfeatherbottom - I had to google kdramas - now going down a rabbit hole 😅

@mondaytosunday - yeah I’m trying not to feel guilty but I’m used to being the one who looks after the house and family - not in a martyred way, I genuinely enjoy it like that. I know I’ll just have to get used to it for the next few weeks.