Hobbies and Interests

[lea78]

I enjoy spending time with my 2 children, especially during school holidays.

I enjoy cooking and recently have become interested in baking and enjoy my children getting involved.

I love eating nice meals especially Indian food and eating out.

I also like reading especially biography.

I love the theatre and have watched some amazing shows.

[GeorgiaGirl]

Reading has always been my all-time favorite hobby.  So nice that I don't have to give that up!  I never thought I would, but I bought a Kindle Reader before a trip to Ireland last year.  As much as I love the feel of a book in my hand, the Kindle has been a Godsend.  No more pain from holding thick books & it slips easily into my purse so it goes to appt's & such without bulk & heft.  My favorites are historical fiction, southern fiction and suspenseful mysteries.

I used to oil paint.  I haven't since being diagnosed.  Must do something about that.

I love any type of crafting/art.  I have the unfortunate & expensive habit of seeing something & thinking, "Hey, I can make that!"  I then buy all the supplies, make it for a while & then move on to something new.  Craft & fabric stores are very, very dangerous!

Photography - especially landscapes & children.

Nights on the screened in porch with music, wine & good conversation.

[slccom]

Any other bass clarinetists out there? I'm in 6 different bands, three with the Shriners (concert, swing and German) and 3 community bands.

Plus the usual suspects: reading, writing, making silk flower arrangements, petting my dogs, cooking, not too much gardening, some embroidery and mending. \
Sharon

[Patze]

Ah Sharon, you aren't busy enough are ya?  Wow lady, you have a tough schedule!  And I'm sure that you love every minute of it too!


Patze

[MissyLouWho?]

Well, now that I'm not working and I actually have time to think about my interests...lol

I (like so many of us here) love to read.  And I write, too.  I published 3 books so far.  Nothing big, just 2 books on how to do stuff, and a children's book that I also illustrated.  My novels are imcomplete at this point.  I do have one other book that is finished but I am so emotionally involved in I am almost scared to publish. 

I absolutely love anything artistic.  Up until 3 months ago (when this all hit me and I swear I had a stroke), I was in the Art Institute for animation.  I can't wait for the brain fog to clear and the dust to settle so I can go back!  I also have my own face painting business and a mural painting business.  I also make charcoal and pencil reproductions of black and white photos.  I am more of a replicator than an original creator, but I'm working on the creative part!    I also like to invent things.  I've invented some of the greatest things you've never heard of!  I am also the lead developer in a non-profit group where we redo the bedrooms of children with cerebral palsy into stage sets of their favorite places as a means of escape for them  .

I love gardening, but only things that I can eat.  I have a 900 square foot garden and I grow food for our family and I give the excess to neighbors, friends, and the local food bank.  My husband is the mayor of our town and I am trying to persuade him to take a chunk of land that is at our local community center and make a garden to sustain the local food banks fully.  We have lots of volunteers to make it and work it, it's just keeping the hoodlums out of it that's the problem...

I love to dance.  I used to teach tap, jazz and ballet, but took lyrical and Fosse too.  Tap was my favorite, but it hurts too much now.  When I drink (once or twice a year) I think I'm a latin dancer, but no one else thinks so... except my poor rhythmless husband who also thinks he is a great latin dancer    So you could say we're just two peas in a pod 

We live on the water so I also love to fish, crab and just look down into the water to see what's running around in there!  I love anything alive really.

I do a lot of charity work, but it never feels like charity.  Mostly for kids with stage 4 cancer.  We put on a big benefit every year to raise money for a specific child to get the treatments they need.  Our first little girl (4 years old) did 7 chemo treatments and the 8th had less than 1.5% chance of working so the doctors initially said it wasn't worth it. She got so sick every time they did the treatments.  Her parents wouldn't give up, so we started the foundation because of her.  We raised the money for her to get it done and she is now cancer free

If all that wasn't enough, I have 3 wonderful little girls, an amazing husband, a very stinky breathed old chocolate lab whom I love, a rescued baby bunny rabbit who thinks she's a dog, and 5 zany ferrets!

Who has time for Sjogren's???

[susanep]

Scottie that sounds great with scrap-booking etc. The cutting machine your talking about sounds great. It really does help to have something to get our minds off things.

I have joined a quilting board since my sewing. Have even joined in a activities where before Christmas everyone that wanted could turn their name in and their likes, and then each got sent another's name and address, and sent a package to the other with some store bought things (but kept to little things), and something we each made (pin cushions, etc.), and most sent a piece or more of material to their secret partner.

It was so much fun. Then I am going to put together a scrap book of these things and the places they came from. Even though I didn't have to leave home, except to go to the post office, I felt like I had been with a group.

Nice hearing everyone's interests.
Welcome all New Folks
susanep

[irish]

This is a long lived thread. So many people here to share their activities and hobbies.

I haven't been interested in the scrap booking but I have a grand daugher who is doing it some.

I have to add that I am now back to my crocheting. I had a big doilie or white crocheted round tablecloth that I must have started about 15 years ago. I am now trying to finish the last rows. How big around it gets depends on how uch thread I have. It has a nice pattern and probably will give to my grand daughter.

I am also working on crocheting dish cloths. It is so much fun cause you can just make up the pattern and do anything you want. There are also so many patterns online to download and print. I also have another project going that is a rouond baby blanket. I had never seen this pattern before. I think it is called "Jacobs Ladder" and you use the varigated smaller soft yarn. It isgoing to be something a little different.

If I have good luck with this baby blanket I will try to make one for each of the grandkids.

I have a question to ask people. How many of you have trouble doing any of the folk art painting these days. I would love to start in but cause I have some wood items that I could finish. My hands shake now and it sort of ruins my ability to make a neat flower, etc. This is really a bummer.

Keep those craft ideas coming. Internesting stuff. Irish

[Bonnie]

I used to salsa dance a lot, but haven't been able to do this for a while.  Occasionally when I feel OK we push the rug back in the house and dance in the living room.

I love my Kindle!!! I read a lot! it saves me when I feel sick during the night.

I am part of a book group, we meet once a month to discuss a book we choose to read.  I love hearing everyone's different opinions.

I like to socialise with my friends, I save energy up by resting as much as I can when not at work.  My friends bring so much joy to my life.  We all have different interests and hobbies, it is nice to be able to drop in and out of activities when I feel able.  It has also taken some pressure off, as when I don't feel great my husband still has a big group of people to go to the movies/dinner with.  Our relationship has grown stronger because of our great friends support.