How’s Your Back?

I hope it’s better than mine. Mine hurts. Bad. Not in a disabling, can’t function way. Just hurts bad enough to take a lot of Advil and use a heating pad all day long. Do you know how I hurt it? Lifting furniture… no. Lifting rovers…. no. Exercising…. no. Doing yard work…. no. Doing house work…. no. Doing laundry…. no. I hurt my back in a very spectacular way…. ready…. I hurt my back sneezing.  Justin’s asked me a couple times how I hurt it, I tried to beat around the bush a little then I fessed up that I hurt my back sneezing. I mean, seriously, how ridiculous is that? I laugh at myself for reasons such as these regularly.

I tell you all of this because I want you to meet my back’s new best friend.

You can call it a cordless heating pad, you can call it a rice bag or you can call it a bed warmer. Whatever you want to call it, it’s totally fabulous and easy to make. These have been around for a while and I’m pretty certain most of you know about them but just incase you don’t I thought I’d introduce you to your new best friend.

My mom has one that I used every night at the farm… she’s had it for 10+ years and it’s still good as gold. I like to put it in the bed where my feet go a few minutes before I climb in and then its all warm and toasty. I’ve been watching the weather lately and chances are it’s cold where you live. So, if you have a sewing machine and don’t have one of these I think you should make one… just trust me. THIS IS A BEGINNERS project and very fool proof.

Here’s what I used:

• a piece of 100% cotton fabric 9″ x 36″
• 100% cotton thread
• rice {I used medium grain white rice}
• a couple tea bags or lavender would be nice too… I was fresh out

I folded the fabric in half with right sides together and sewed a straight stitch {with 1/2″ seam allowance} on the two long sides. And turned it right side out {below}.

Then I marked 4 equal sections on the front. Starting with the section closest to the closed end I stitched a straight stitch {top stitch} about 3/4 of the way down the marked line. Then I filled it with rice {I used about a cup and half of rice}. 

I filled it with rice and some tea Chamomile tea  that I sprinkled out of a tea bag and into the rice bag {I used 2 tea bags for the entire bag}. The rice has a smell… not an odor, just a rice-y smell and I figured a little dry Chamomile would be helpful. I don’t want to deter you from making one, it’s not a BAD smell, but if you put this hot rice bag in your bed at night your husband will likely know its there because he will smell it before he sees it or feels it… so a little dried lavender or tea can’t hurt. I’ve even read of people using essential oils but I was afraid that adding oil to rice and then microwaving it would cook or burn the rice… anyone ever tried it with essential oils?

Ok…  After I filled it with rice I tried to maneuver all the rice away from the small section that had not been sewn shut and then sewed it closed… then moved on to the next section doing the same thing. At the end I turned the ends under and top stitched the bag closed.

Voila!

I nuke it for three minutes. WARNING— it’s PIPING hot when it comes out. Hot enough to not put against bare skin! Consider yourself warned. It’s not too hot against clothing but don’t microwave it for 3 minutes and then lay it on bare skin… or you’ll cook yourself. Maybe you should start with 2 and 1/2 minutes. It stays hot for a long time and there are no cords attached. You may want to make a few while you’re at it! It’d be a great gift for a girl friend or a hostess gift.

Totally unrelated to the rice bag…

Do you see PWs cookbook above my microwave?! I followed her recipe for pot roast today and I must say she knows what she’s doing… slow and low is a must for a pot roast and the rosemary made the entire house smell so good. The roast & veggies were soo good… and I added fingerlings too! The entire cookbook is fabulous… but there’s one thing that Erika and I can’t quite figure out… why her smaller recipe pictures aren’t numbered and read LEFT to RIGHT… have you noticed? They’re all read top to bottom and I never learned to read that way so I found myself going from step 3 to step 7 because I read left to right instead of top to bottom. Am I totally nuts? Please tell me no.