October 2023 W.I.S.H. Thread - Happy Healthy Halloween

[PAsFab5]

Oh this is fun! I have to agree that staying busy is really the key to feeling fulfilled.

DH meets all this criteria-he has a ton of hobbies-he collects all types of things and is a member of a few groups and such that are involved in collecting/history. His artistic abilities makes him money-painting motorcycles and signs. He does this as side work and has always had more work offered to him than time.

I would say my hobbies are helping others through volunteering. Between the SPCA and church I have endless opportunities and they make me healthy (walking dogs) and happy-but no money LOL. I actually start helping with Awana at church on Wednesday evenings starting tomorrow. Looking forward to a new experience and opportunity to learn and grow.

Thank you everyone for your kinds words yesterday. I was able to get up and get stuff done, to include a good strength training workout. I went to bed early and woke up feeling way better this morning.

Enjoy your Tuesdays!!

 

[Oneanne]

I do disagree with the thought that you should have a hobby that makes you money, I just can't go with needing to monetize so much of what we do, we need things in our lives that just bring us joy.

I'm an obsessive crafter/creator. I always have something on my knitting needles but rarely finish anything, I self-regulate by keeping my hands busy, which is more important than finished objects. I go in and out of doing embroidery and recently got into doing it with wool embroidery threads. I have quite a few watercolor paints and want to get in to drawing and painting in travel journals, or even doing quick little studies of everyday life. I just got a set of 50 acrylic paints and have acorns and wooden mushrooms coming to paint with them.

It is interesting to think of walking/hiking as a "hobby" instead of "exercise", I think it is probably both. I'd like to get in to bird watching and had looked for a local group a while back, it is time to do another search. I really need to give some thought to the "joy" factor in activities and find ways to be outside during this dark damp time of year... out with other people.

 

[piglet1979]

I am off today and have cleaned a bit and walked the dogs. I am going to work on laundry and the 2nd floor of the house in the afternoon.

I will admit I am unmotivated and emotional today.

Shortly after I woke up my mom was calling me. My relationship with my parents is complicated, so the fact that she was calling me at 8am was odd. I thought there was an emergency. She was calling to wish me happy birthday, but it’s not my birthday. Then my dad texted me happy birthday. The fact that I have been their daughter since the day I was born and neither of them know when my birthday is…it’s hurtful. Instead of apologizing my mother said…oh well! Better now than never!! My body and heart literally aches for days after any communication with my parents, which is why it is very limited.

I’m hoping to turn things around here so I am not down in the dumps all day!

I am eating healthy so far, tracking and drink my water!!!

I am so sorry. I know how you feel. I hope your day got better.

Do you have any hobbies? Do you find they bring you the benefits mentioned above? Are there any hobbies you are interested in taking up?

I don't really have any at the moment. I think my hobby is my kids. I do love helping out with their activities. I am the booster parent for Nick's soccer team and I just picked up being the booster mom for tennis as well.

I do love horseback riding and this is the best to just get your mind off of the world around you. You have to focus on the horse. I just don't have the time or money for it. I also love soccer and wished I found a place to play after I graduated high school. I still love the sport but way too out of shape now for it. So I kick the ball around with the kids at times.

 

[piglet1979]

We had a much better weekend around here. Things are falling into place for Jeff's grandmother. She is still at his mom's until tomorrow and we haven't gotten anymore texts about not being able to handle it. When we talked to his mom she is very calm and seems fine but his 22 year old sister acts like it is the end of the world so we think it is more of an issue with her and having to help not really his mom. This is what Jeff thinks but I don't buy it. Anyways starting tomorrow his grandmother will be back in her apartment and getting PT to help with her walking and getting up from chairs. On Saturday, an aid will be coming everyday for about 12 hours to help her. I don't think she needs this much but my friend from high school owns the business we are going through and said we can lower it at anytime. With her being here Jeff and I can stop by at any time too to check on her. We haven't seen or talked to her in a little over a week. His mom also set her up with a life alert system so if something happens and she is on her own she can get help.

Jeff and I took off Friday and Monday because Monday was our 19 year anniversary. We just basically relaxed. I did go out Friday night with a friend of mine that is in a very crappy marriage. I see her often as her sons also play soccer and band with Nick. Friday was her birthday so after the game we hung out a bit.

Saturday and Sunday I did a lot of cooking as Sunday night was senior night for soccer. I was doing good and I haven't gotten emotional about Nick graduating until Sunday we got the message of who they will play for their first playoff game and then it was the senior night dinner and Monday night was the game. We got announced on the field. I was really starting to get choked up until it was our turn and the anxiety kicked in that everyone was watching me and all I could think about was to smile and don't fall. I have no clue what they announced for Nick either. The night was great. Nick played the full JV game and even scored. They won 4-1. He didn't get any playing time on varsity but it was a very close game but they pulled out the win. The score was 2-0.

 

[newski_mom]

Great topic with hobbies!

Probably the only "hobby" I have right now, I'm not sure I would call a hobby, but DH says it is lol.

I follow the CC thread here on the disboards and a few other bloggers too to learn about traveling for less. So, it doesn't make money, but it does definitely save a lot of money. This does two things - makes us be able to travel more often and lets us take our adult kids with us more often! I do spend a decent amount of time reading and organizing things to do it, but I love it, so find it fun and fulfilling - so I guess maybe it is a hobby!

Things I would like to do, but just haven't started are - learning to play the guitar, tennis, and more crafting. I also think about possibly taking up golf when DH and I retire. He loves to play and I play about once a year. I don't really love it, but think it's fun on a nice day. The one thing about it is that it can be pretty costly if you go a lot, so we'll have to think about it before we add daily golfing to our schedules lol!

 

[Oneanne]

WOOHOO its

 

[newski_mom]

I love your embroidered picture - it reminds me of something that I saw at our Apple Fest this past weekend. One of the vendors had embroidered towels and one of them said - Merry "Fit"mas and a Hapy New Rear! with a couple of dumbbells on it! It was so cute!

My WooHoo for today is everything is coming together for our open enrollment that our HR lady and myself are having tomorrow. I can't believe it's that time of year again already!

 

[Oneanne]

Woohoo... I'm loving having Disney+ and have been watching all the things. Last night it was Hamilton. I have the soundtrack but I don't think I'd seen the entire production before. King George's song is one of my favorites and seeing the actor perform it made it even better.

Woohoo... I was able to get in for a hair appointment Saturday. I need to change up the cut a bit and have the color done. Growing it out, even just the little bit that I have, makes it challenging to keep styled and only wash every three days so I have a choice to make... cut it back shorter or start washing more often.

Woohoo... I'm signed up for an in-person eight week course that starts in a week and goes to mid-December (what!?!) called 'Walk the Wheel of the Year". I'm thinking that being in with the same group of people multiple classes might help to foster some friendships more than a single class here or there has. Plus the topics we'll cover really resonate with me.

 

[PollyannaMom]

WooHoos yesterday -

the vet had my cat's favorite kidney diet food in stock again

and DS got an appreciation award at work!!!

 

[Oneanne]

THANKFUL THURSDAY



What are you thankful for today?

 

[PollyannaMom]

the eggplant parm I made last night turning out
DS getting my Halloween bin down from the attic for me
audible books

 

[PAsFab5]

@PollyannaMom I LOVE eggplant!!!

Whooohoooo Wednesday for me was a big one-DHs family has decided to pull names for secret Santa this year!!! His family is pretty large and Christmas shopping was often overwhelming over the past 22 years so the fact that we are moving to secret Santa this year is the biggest whooooohooooo I could ask for!!!

I am thankful that my first night at Awana went well. I felt good when I left and I loved the program. I am with 3-4 years old so lots of personalities and kids that age are just so open to learning. Next week I travel for work so o can’t go but looking forward to getting back into it the following Wednesday!

 

[Oneanne]

Today I'm thankful for my trusty little car and the service she's given me these past 20 years. I can think back to when I got her but can't quite comprehend that it was that long ago. I'm sad to be letting her go, but it is time. I'm not going to make it to the car dealership today but am planning to go early Saturday. They've gotten a few more in stock and one of them is the blue color I was most interested in, so kind of excited about that.

If I do get a new car Saturday, and that is the plan, I'll do some sort of day trip Sunday to get to know her... need to think on somewhere fun.

 

[newski_mom]

Today, I'm thankful that my mom's appointment went well today. It took longer than we anticipated, but all went well, so that's always something to be thankful for!

 

[Oneanne]

FRIDAY FREE FOR ALL



How has the week gone for you? Any fun plans for the weekend? Any new recipes you've tried that turned out yummy?

 

[PollyannaMom]

How has the week gone for you?

Pretty good personally, but feeling sad for the Middle East.

Any fun plans for the weekend?

Yes, we made plans a while ago to do some "almost local" tourist stuff.

Any new recipes you've tried that turned out yummy?

I made eggplant parm, guided by (I didn't really measure) a recipe I just looked up on line. It was yummy.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25321/eggplant-parmesan-ii/

 

[newski_mom]

That Eggplant Parm recipe looks delicious - I've never thought about baking coated eggplant. My mom used to make fried eggplant that I loved. I've done mine in the airfryer a couple of times and it turned out pretty good. I need to try this recipe!

This weekend, we really have nothing planned. Sometimes those weekends end up being the busiest, but I'm thinking this weekend will not be like that - nothing even on the horizon lol!

I haven't really tried anything new, but I have started getting better at planning meals for the week. For some reason it seems harder now that we're down to just one kid at home. When we were all at home and the kids were younger, it was just a given that I'd prepare something for the family. So, even if it was a baked frozen lasagna, I made something. Now, we have all of these do your own thing nights and it just seems odd to me. So, I bought a write on wipe off board to hang on the refrigerator and I'm writing down meal ideas for the week. I'm thinking eventually DH or DS will start writing down things they want (when they get tired of what I put up each week). My plan is to have one "DYOT" night each week, but just be more organized with other meals.

I have a lot of saved recipes on my phone. I use an app/website called Copy Me That where I store recipes. I'd like to try at least one new meal each week for variety. I've added your Eggplant Parm to my phone to try soon!

 

[Oneanne]

This has been my worst food/sugar week yet, and I feel overall crappy for it. I'm not sure how to get the switch to flip in my brain, but will keep plugging away at it. I'm also stressed and worried about world events, so need to start meditation and walking more to counteract that.

I've been having a hard time finding coats/jackets to replace the ones from last year that are now too big, but yesterday a winner finally arrived so I wore it out for an afternoon walk.

I made some meatloaf this week, for the first time in forever. I found a recipe that uses Stove Top Stuffing as the bread binder and was real excited about it, but it didn't turn out great. I think my ratio of meat to bread was off and the meat was too lean. But I made sandwiches with it for several days, which was nice and easy, so I will try it again.

Big plans for the weekend... new car of course. Yesterday I took mine thru the car wash one last time and got weepy. I also took down my little Pluto poseable that's been curled around the mirror for as long as I've had the car... boohoo. I need to vacuum it and clean the console today and then we're ready to go. And I need to remember to take the Mickey antennae ball off, and should probably peel the Tinkerbell sticker off the window. Ugh, don't know if I can actually do that one. Heavy sigh, happy, excited and sad.

 

[piglet1979]

I have missed the last few days. I am going to woohoo that I survived this week. Nothing bad but lots of appointments and making up time I missed at work.

I am thankful for the school staff and their support last night at Nick's soccer game. In all my years of playing soccer and watching my kids play I have never seen a ref get ejected from the game. It was bad. He gave one of our kids a yellow card kicking the ball to the other team after a foul (he was just getting the ball to them), then he ejected to parents that complained but I have seen worse from parents. Then our player had the ball and running with as fast as he could and the other team came from behind and slide tackled him and our player got a double yellow (turns to red then and we had to play down a player and he can't play for the next game which is a playoff game and he is a senior so potentially his last game). Another parent got ejected, our coach got a yellow and he tried to eject our athletic trainer for stepping in and pulling our coach back. We had 2 principles, a few teachers, a HS aid a secretary and the assistant athletic director at the game. the assistant AD is about my height (4'9") and is the sweetest girl. She handled everything great. The AD then came up with the cops and at half time ejected the ref. He was also switching calls from the line refs as well. All of the staff did a great job of keeping the fans from getting too out of control and getting the game going again. The second half was much better then the first.

Today, we have football/marching band and then on Sunday we are celebrating Elizabeth's birthday. We are almost 2 months late on this. Having her birthday coinciding with the start of school always makes it rough to get a party in.

Today, I also joined Summer in the Prednisone club. I am not excited for this at all. I thought I had a sinus infection for the last 3 weeks that I have just been trying to ignore but it got to the point where Advil wasn't even helping the sinus pain and I it has been waking me up the last 2 nights. The doctor thinks it is just inflammation but but me on an antibiotic to be sure since it has been so long. This alone will most likely give me 2 horrible side affects that will cause me to be on another medicine. And the prednisone always messes with my sugar and I know there were a few other side affects I got the last too but can't remember what. Next week is going to be a fun week.

 

[PollyannaMom]

For some reason it seems harder now that we're down to just one kid at home.

I have only one to start with, and I always felt like that made the "family meal" thing more challenging.

I think my ratio of meat to bread was off and the meat was too lean.

When I use lean turkey, I throw one of these into the mix to add a bit of healthy fat:
(doesn't have to be this brand, it's just the first picture that came up - I buy whichever is on sale)