Spinal alignment and shoulder positioning.   My back can take a lot of strain off the muscles simply by lining up the spine so it holds the weight. It activates other muscles, because balance needs to happen, but over time it feels better because it leads to less muscle tension, which hurts less. Yoga also helped me get better at rolling the shoulders back and so they can rest their weight on the scapula. I've been attempting to keep my upper body in this posture since my childhood days of horse riding (the instructor pushed hard for "back straight, shoulders back" because it makes a huge difference for balance while in the saddle, and presumably kept everything from rattling around as the horse trotted and ran), because I like it. It makes me seem taller, which is always a benefit as a woman in an office job, and rounding my shoulders forward makes the muscles hurt, and this posture prevents that.     For the stomach, tils your pelvis back/upwards. Imagine looking at yourself in profile/side-view, and imagine your pelvis is a bowl. The majority of humans who sit a lot will stand with the "bowl" tilting forward as if pouring something out of it.  Picture a thread attached to the very tip of the front of the bowl, and pull that thread straight upwards until the bowl is even.  This will tuck in your lower belly a little bit, and will give the hips more room to move, at an angle that makes it easier for them.   Note that for me, this makes my belly spill over the edge of the bowl instead of just drooping all over my pelvis, so it's still visible, because this is not a magical solution that hides anything. It just repositions it. It does make my lower back and hips much happier though, and that's the main reason I do it.    As for knee pain  and efficient walking, that's a combination of technique and footwear. Potentially some very targeted muscle training for the knees, but that's only if the cause of the pain is lack of muscle strength close to the joint.   Posture isn't the solution to everything. I also think Hatter is right that posture in general, whether that is the ability to make minor adjustments to make a specific joint line up in a specific way or it is the ability to make a movement use a slightly different muscles than it defaults to, is a matter of mobility and body awareness, a lot more than it is about strength.

I good friend and a couple of others wanted to get the same tattoo phrase but different languages. She was asking for French and I'm like - I have a source. Now - do you want the EXACT phrase or do you want the French phrase that's equivalent? And if the exact phrase - shall I ask to make sure it doesn't mean something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT so you're not laughed at in France\Canada\NOLA? Because.... yeah.... somethings do NOT translate well. While I don't remember the phrase, it turns out the exact wording was fine and worked in both English and French (and I think another friend went with Hebrew, but she was fluent already). But - you know - you gotta ask and make sure it's checked by someone that knows AND you TRUST. Because I have friends I KNOW would tell someone with a straight face that some Kanji or Arabic says one thing but it actually says "I'm an idiot" or worse....

Tour de fleece is great fun. Been ages since I've done one but it got me hooked on watching the cycling. Didn't realise it was on this month, Will have to tune in for the mountain stages (my fave).    that beach does indeed have very cool rocks 🪨❤️   we are getting the jellyfish right now too. Makes getting in the water interesting. Wishing you jelly free swims

Female TMI behind spoiler guard.   Also, since we did Costco yesterday and an Aldi's run today - that's all my steps in for the last 7 days straight. Also, my muscles are reminding me that I used them poorly Friday doing what I needed to get 50 POUNDS of shrimp into containers, covered in water and in the freezer - then clean up the cooler my brother brought them in. So while I'm sore AF and taking Aleve to like, be able to move at all, totally worth it! That is the ONE and ONLY thing I miss about home - the fresh seafood. But Bro and SIL have now seen the place and they love it (and we talked about ALL the day trip things from here they'd enjoy) - so maybe they'll come up every year or so - and bring their tithe in Shrimp LOL.

No idea what that would be like, but it sounds amazing.    glad the poison ivy is getting better for you.    ❤️all the cute doggo pics 🐕

Yup. Thats the bumble jasper. It is crazy insane yellow/orange in person. So pretty. Everyone piece slightly different too, so its really striking looking. 

This is so wonderful. I wish I had done it at work before, it would drive people up the wall. While not being able to say anything against me. 🤩

Those pandas are not gonna repopulate themselves, now, are they?

He did not. Because I specified A5. Handwritten in my A5 notebook. Dammit.

Did all the things! Including mowing both lawns and I showered for real and washed my hair then brushed it. Woo hygiene. I haven't been washing my none rash parts as well in fear I might spread more of the rash but I figured now was as good a time as any.    The plan currently is to make lasagna for dinner from scratch but if I don't feel like it I have a back up plan of "smokie" sausages which are a hybrid between sausages and hotdogs and kielbasa. To be honest I'll probably go the sausages route because I'm about to play some Fallout 4. I restarted it yesterday because I don't have access to FF9 anymore and I felt inspired because we played the MTG Fallout commander decks and watched the Fallout series lol. I feel a bit guilty about not working on my coding project but I did apply to another job 2 days ago and I figure if Mr.R is on vacation then I'm on vacation. I still very much need a job though. Stressing about money! I might make a post on my Facebook about offering my animal portrait painting services to people.