Standing Desks 101

Sitting is slowly killing us

No matter where you work - whether it be from home or at a traditional office or from the bottom of an ocean on a submarine - chances are you spend a large amount of time sitting. We sit to work. We sit to eat. We sit down at night to relax.

There’s only one problem. Sitting is terrible for you. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, when you spend a large percentage of your day sitting you increase your risk for obesity, metabolic syndromes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. A recent study found that those of us who sat for more than four hours a day in front of a screen had a nearly 50 percent increased risk of death from ANY cause.

In other words, we need to get up out of our chairs.

Standing is the answer

Enter the standing desk, which is exactly what it sounds like. You stand at your desk and work. Instead of hunching over a keyboard, you stand with your feet planted firmly on the ground, you shoulders relaxed at your side, and your head facing straight in front of you.

I started using a standing desk over a month ago. At first, it felt a little odd to not sit down and dive into my work as I was accustomed to doing. However, I found it was much easier to maintain proper posture from a standing position and I immediately noticed less tension in my upper back and shoulders. I also find it easier to focus and move around the room when processing a new idea or concept.

Standing Desk 101

As the popularity of standing desks has increased, so have the options for anyone interested in standing while they work. For anyone who just wants to test out the idea, I highly recommend The Standing Desk 2200, a very clever DIY standing desk addition for your current desk. I built my own Standing Desk 2200 and it has been a great solution for me.

For anyone ready to commit wholeheartedly to standing, there are great options for all budgets with most experts recommending an electric desk that can also be lowered for sitting when your legs or back gets tired.

If a standing desk of any kind seems too extreme, you can commit to getting up and moving around regularly to help lessen the negative affects of sitting. 

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Halloween costumes for the whole family

It’s October. Summer is officially over and it’s time to embrace all things fall from corn mazes to falling leaves to COSTUMES!

That’s right. October means Halloween and Halloween means costumes. I love dressing up and every year I look forward to planning out every little detail of what we will wear.

You see, we are family costumers. There is a theme. We all dress accordingly and have since Griffin was born. I love getting dressed up and I love being part of a group and I love these hooligans I call my family so it really is the perfect scenario for me.

It’s gotten harder as we have to work around actual children with actual preferences (aka we will be dressed as some types of superheros again this year) but I never tire of the challenge.

Since family costumes take a bit more preparation, I thought I’d give you a couple ideas early in the month in case you wanted to force – I mean lovingly guide – your family into a theme.

Baby Lobster and Chefs

Griffin’s first Halloween he was the lobster and we were the chefs. We literally carried him around in that pot for part of the night and it was a HIT. The lobster costume was adorable and it’s an easy theme to coordinate for new parents because all you need is white jackets and chef hats.

Pirates and Baby Parrot

My entire family got in on the act this year. We all dressed as pirates and Griffin was our parrot. Nicholas made Griffin’s costume out of felt. It was basically a blue felt poncho with felt feathers glued on. We rented our costumes, which was more expensive, but dang we looked good. The best part was the theme for my favorite house on Jefferson Street was Peter Pan!

The Wizard of Oz

When we added baby Amos to the mix, we suddenly needed four costumes instead of three – opening up a new world of possiblities! The Wizard of Oz is the perfect fit for those with boys and I’ve got to admit – wearing the ruby slippers was more fun than I expected it to be! Also, my mom got in on the act and it was awesome.

Spiders!

2012 was the first year Griffin had a costume request. It was all Spiderman all the time at our house so we knew that would be our theme. Griffin was Spiderman. Nicholas was J. Jonah Jameson. Amos and I were the radioactive spider and his web. Thanks, Martha! It worked out perfect since Amos still needed to be toted around and people flipped for my skirt!

The Avengers

Superheroes are on heavy rotation ALL the time at the Holland house so the Avengers were a natural choice. This was before I was pregnant for a million years so I could rock Black Widow. Also, Amos was the most amazing Thor ever and kept that costume on for the next 3 months.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter offers lots of great choices no matter the mix of boys and girls. We went with Hermoine, Harry, a dragon and Professor Quirrell because Griffin had only read the first book. My parents were Hagrid (worked well since he was carrying our little dragon most of the night) and Professor McGonagall.

Mario Brothers

This was a HIT and let's be honest Felix was the most amazing toad in the history of the world. We cobbled together bought, borrowed and homemade costumes for this one. 

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Pumpkin Picking

The theme this week is FALL. I'm on fall break and I've taken the boys to the lake to enjoy the nature and the trees and all the fall things. I'm writing about one of my favorite fall traditions - picking pumpkins - today on HerKentucky.  

It is one of the highlights of my year. I love the hayrides and the hot cider and the excitement on the boys' faces as they run among rows and rows of bright orange pumpkins

From the post: 

Every year through cold weather and warm we pick the perfect pumpkin (or pumpkins) for our family.  

Click on over to see photos from our fall tradition.  

 What fall traditions do you celebrate with your family?

Moments from my small town life

My Ever-Changing Living Room

I just redesigned my living room…for the fifth time…in four years.

On the same day, I switched around furniture in Griffin’s room, Amos’s room, and my den. Oh, I also just completely redid my bedroom. 

I can’t help myself. I am a creature of change. In many ways I’m still the little girl who would rearrange the furniture in Barbie’s dream house three times before lunch. 

For some people, a living space is static. My mother is like that. She tackles a major renovation every ten years but then that’s that. Everything stays the same until another decade passes. I think my constant redos and updates stress her out but I can’t help it.

Some of the change is because our family is constantly changing and our living space must reflect that. I needed space for a baby swing. Now, I need space for coloring. I needed a nursery. Now, I need a big boys’ room. Hopefully, I’ll need a nursery again before it’s all over and then there will be more change.

The living room redo came about because I wanted a space to truly escape from my work. My desk is in the middle of our den and kitchen so if we spend all evening in the den I feel like I never escape work. In fact, I sometimes spend all evening at my desk. Now, with the addition of some of our more casual furniture, the living room has become a place to relax at the end of the day. 

The best part is my “new” living room cost me zero dollars. When I say I renovate rooms, I’m not talking about custom drapery or new furniture. I’m talking about using what I already have and a lot of creative energy. My “new” living room contains a free couch a friend was getting rid of, a chair passed down from my mom, a new chair that was a gift from a friend, and a family heirloom. Two of my girlfriends came over one rainy Friday and we re-arranged and re-arranged and re-arranged until the room finally made sense. 

I absolutely love it… for now.

Is your home constantly changing? Or do you like things to stay the same?

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