Fun Fridays

The swings were a little too low for adults, but William seemed to enjoy it anyway.

Doing it on his own!

Just lounging on the table while Aunt Ingrid and Mom chat over a Whole Foods lunch.

On a hobby hunt

I've been feeling anxious a lot lately and I think much of it is due to work stress, but I also think it has something to do with my idle hands. I've decided I need to find some activities I really enjoy to keep me occupied and feeling more accomplished.

There are plenty of things that I enjoy and plenty of things that need to be done (that I don't necessarily always enjoy), but I think I'm looking for something that's:

1. relatively easy for me to do at home
2. doable in shorter spurts of time (an hour or two here or there)
3. doesn't cost a ton of money
4. doesn't result in lots of items that I'll have to figure out how to get rid of (aka 50,000 crocheted doilies)
5. is something I really like to do

I'm having some trouble coming up with the best hobby for me, but here are some thoughts I've been having.

•  Woodworking. The pros: I really enjoy working with my hands and I love working with wood. This also could potentially double as a useful hobby as we work on house projects.  The cons: there's some significant cost involved in tools/wood, there's definitely a learning curve that may be frustrating at times, our garage is freaking hot in the summer making it not that fun to hang out in.
• Cooking/baking. The pros: I love baking and kind of enjoy trying new cooking recipes. This can also be good because, well, we have to eat. The cons: the potential increase of the waist line if I do more baking (which is really what I prefer), having to get rid of excess food and heating up the oven in the summer. While I enjoy cooking, I'm not sure it's something I enjoy enough to really call it a hobby.
• Web design. The pros: I enjoy working on websites, it's a marketable skill and it's easy to find space to do it. The cons: I work on a computer all day, everyday. I would really like to find something to do that doesn't utilize a computer!
• Sewing. The pros: again, I think it could be useful, it can be done indoors with not too much space needed. The cons: I can see lots of things adding up that could be hard to get rid of, I'm not particularly skilled at sewing (based on previous experiences) which I think could be frustrating as well. 

So, I'm open to suggestions and additional thoughts. I guess I may have to try some things out to make a decision. Unfortunately some of these things are a bit costly to just "try". And of course, there are other things that I'm going to get back into working into my daily life to round things out a bit more - and I guess some of those are technically hobbies as well, but not exactly what I'm looking for in terms of a new hobby.

I think for sure I will be starting a new exercise class at least once a week, we're still working on obedience training with the doggies (that have advanced to level 5 by the way!), I need to do more reading (and less TV watching), and trying out new healthy recipes to find ones we really like.

Hopefully this will all keep me busy - in a good way - with less time to stress about work and feel "unaccomplished". I know it's a bit of a dream for many of you to actually have this problem, but it's not much fun for me. Here's hoping I'm on the right path!