What's Your Hobby?

I cook excessively (whole neighborhood's gettin' fat).

And weather permitting, I garden excessively.

Both very pricey SAHM Occupational Hazards, sigh, but in a way, it benefits the Family, right?

:)

I love to cross stitch, I made a birth one for all three of my kids, make christmas stockings, gifts for friends. It is a no brainer (once you learn it) it is relaxing for me. Something I can do with the kids around or at night while watching t.v It is just so relaxing for me and really quit simple and not a big mess.

I used to love drawing and sketching but can't seem to settle down and do it--used to spend HOURS on it--scenery, animals, portraits, fanciful images, etc. My SIL got me a new sketchbook and beautiful pencils for Christmas and I drug out my old drawings and am going to try to re-inspire myself.

I like some crafy things but I am a cheater. I use my glue gun a LOT and love making my kids' Halloween costumes. I also really like finding scraps of material, ribbon, beading, etc. and using nuts, which I glue together with wood glue, paint, and decorate into small animals as Christmas ornaments. That doesn't take a ton of time all at once and I can start and stop as I like as long as I keep the projects on a plate out of reach of the kids. I haven't finished any for a while.

Summer hobby: FISHING!!! Thankfully, my boys like fishing, too. Sadly, I usually feel I can't justify my own fishing license, so my husband usually buys the license and I take one kid for a hike while he fishes with the other and then we switch. So add hiking to my list as well. :)

Newish "hobby" (quite embarrassing for a girl who only ever owned a pair of hiking boots and sneakers) is shoe shopping. Expensive if you buy, super fun if you can just try on some really hot new heels and think about wearing them to work. Awesome if you find a great clearance deal. Not so awesome when you're nine months pregnant and can't handle putting anything on your feet at all. :) (I prefer to be barefoot anyway, but if I HAVE to wear shoes...may as well have fun, right?)

Books and antiques--I'm a book collector (will never own a Kindle unless some mad soul buys me one, but I will return it and buy books). I love the smell, sight, and feel of books, especially older books. I don't have a lot of time to browse antique stores or used book stores, but sometimes that is my Saturday morning break after I let my hubby sleep in--I head over to the antique store in town and just wander and see if anything grabs me, even something small like a handkerchief, or old bookends, or a book. That is as cheap or expensive as you let it be. I find the experience of the store very soothing though and don't always buy anything.

Does drinking count? :)
Cleaning?
Cooking?

I do garden and Can homemade jams and salsa......

I've just started scrap booking and I bought a Cricut machine and love love love it! It is fast and easy and you can make cut outs for your babies photo albums or start making a scrap book while your child is young so you can remember every picture you are putting in there more clearly than starting when they get older.

1.playing Scrabble
2. scrapbooking
3. reading
4. moutain biking
5. baking/ cooking
6. exercising

I love coloring, too. I color while I watch TV sometimes. They have so many amazing coloring books on Amazon.com. I have an Erte Designs one, a Geisha one, Indian Mandala designs, Fairies, etc.

Traditional scrapbooking is fun, but it became out of the question once I had babies. It just took too much time to get out and clean up, and babies were getting into all the stuff. I will sometimes get on shutterfly.com and work on digital photo books. I like it because there is no mess and I can still be creative with fonts and layout and page patterns. Then when I have a few extra bucks, I order the completed photo book and they mail it to me.

Hula hooping while I watch tv is a good way to burn calories. I find it to be fun and relaxing. Plus, you really can't be eating at the same time.

I love drawing and painting but it is a bit more expensive, messy and time consuming. I have to schedule time to do it. My kids usually want to paint at the same time.

Baking and cooking... but I am afraid that while that keeps your hands busy, it doesn't help in the overeating dept.!

Well, I don't know if this counts, but I'm kind of obsessed with cooking shows, so when I have some down time I'll just turn on Food Network to get new ideas for meals. I also love to read anything about food/cooking I can get my hands on (look forward to the NY Times dining section every Wednesday! and my monthly Bon Appetit magazine). I love to cook and try new recipies. Being on WW for the past year has somewhat put a damper on things! BUT, I'm trying to channel my energies now into finding healthier versions of favorite meals, and adding some vegetarian meals to my repertoire. Hey, it keeps me off the streets - LOL :)

I've been knitting & crocheting for 28 years...I started when I was 4. I do one or both of them daily after the kids are in bed and the house is tended to. It's the only way I really know how to relax :)

-Treadmill... it was a huge $$ investment, but I'm on it every night b/c it's relaxing and mind-numbing!
- Photography... I love taking pictures and take courses in photog whenever I can. In fact my husband bought me a beautiful new camera for my birthday and I can't wait to subject my son to a photo shoot!

Baking cupcakes.
I'm actually trying to make it into a career though :)

Doesn't it suck when your hobbies cost too much money? lol

I have a 2 1/2yo and a 6 month old. So its RARE that I get to actually have time to do my hobbies.
but mine..Reading, if given the time, I could read 3-4 books in a week. I just Eat them up.
Other than that...I've been drawing since I was a little girl. Or any kinda of drawing, painting, photography, etc
My friends & family are always coming to me to design tattoos for them lol
But I draw everything and anything. My hubby calls me a "copy machine" because I can duplicate anything onto paper.
But with two kids, I honestly cant remember the last time I just sat down to draw. Its also really hard with it being winter. In the warm months I would go for a "mommy bye bye" and go to a coffee shop, listen to my Ipod and draw.
Its MY time.
My hobby can get perty expensive, but I dont splurge. I have a pen,sharpie, art supply obsession. If Prismacolor makes it, I want it lol
That's why I buy things in small amounts. One month I'll buy 3 new pens, next my hubby will surprise me with new stuff.

All I need now, is my own studio and the time to be alone :)

I love to cook and come from a 'cooking' family. So I do a lot of cooking and baking. I also love gardening and although we have a small yard, we have an organic vegetable garden and herb garden and I grow roses. Lol, I never realized how much I would love to garden until I was able to. My son is 11 now and helps me plant and weed and is proud to take fresh heirloom tomatoes to school for his teachers or take a bag of green beans over to our neighbor's in the summer, so it is really a family thing.

I also read a lot and play the piano.... these hobbies can cost as much or as little as you want to put into it. Cooking is something you have to do anyway, lol. Gardening requires a little initial investment, but pays off in fresh veggies and you can get into community seed swaps and all kinds of freebies. You just need to find something you LOVE. :)

Hello, my name is D. and crafting is my lithium (that and a good cup of joe)

I mostly make bows, headbands, hair stuff mostly but have no patience to list in ebay or etsy. I have sold a lot to friends and I have my bows in a photographer's shop and at a consignment store.

I have also made upcycled dresses most just for my daughters. One of them was from an old shirt I had when pregnant with the first. I made it into a dress for her and recently cut it up for a tunic for the youngest. I'll link a pic. http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages#!/photo.php?fbid=178...

I have made:
snack bags for the girls (we don't use a lot of ziplock in our house =)).

tissue jackets (it protects your pocket tissue from getting icky in your purse)

bib clips (turns restaurant napkins or paper towels into bibs and can also turn a baby blanket into a nursing cover)

I LOVE making things. My dds are the same. Billy loves to draw (I am allowed to take away all her other activities but not Young Rembrandts. The kid was actually band from the drawing table in preschool LOL). Rory loves to paint bird houses.

i paint. at night. once my oldest have gone to bed. sometimes my youngest likes to color while i do it. it helps me unwind and just be at peace before bed.

I also love shopping, going to farmers markets,gardening/yardwork...vitam DDD.

I am also getting ready to become a midwife. The school part is where i am at. before kids...
wakling around downtown seattle for hoursinto the midnights. something captvating about city lights, drink coffe, go to concerts..alot, I was a ballerina for all my young life until i was injured. I am too old to get back into it professionally again. But an old fart dance class everyweek would rock.

I know i am missing so much, but i feel like they dimmed the lights and my speech is over:)

-Libby

You mean other than sleeping? LOL :)

I actually love to crochet. I don't have a whole lot of time to do it anymore though :( But it's pretty easy to carry a project with you and work on it anywhere. I'll throw the hook, instructions, yarn, etc. in a small bag & carry it with me sometimes. It's not too expensive if you just make simple things out of yarn. I don't do a whole lot that requires materials beyond the yarn! Plus you can get a lot of free patterns online.

I taught myself Web programming several years ago. It was my career path for a while, but now it's just a hobby. I have my own domain & hosting space to play with :) I have a bad habit of starting things & not finishing them.... haha I learned everything online from tutorials & manuals for free. Tried buying books but I can't seem to finish them :) You can get free space to play with, which I started out with, but now pay about $100 a year to have my own neverending space.

I also enjoy making things from latch hook kits. You can buy different sizes but I can't remember how much they were...

I don't find a whole lot of time to do these things anymore. With hubby deployed I have to take care of our apartment & our daughter myself in addition to working full-time. I usually don't have the energy to clean let alone work on a hobby!! lol

Sometimes I just take the time to do something just because I need a break & need to do something fun!

I paint tiles with glazes, fire them in my kiln, and sell them a couple times a year at art fairs. So fun! And bc I am selling them it pays for my hobby and then some! I paint on detailed pictures of nature: birds, flowers, berries, plants, etc. I glue them into frames, boxes, mirrors, and they sell like hotcakes :) I don't sell off a website, but you can check them out at www.talustiles.com

I love photography! I am taking classes now and hope to become a photographer when I grow up. It is a very expensive hobby. I want another new camera for my birthday. I am a Nikon girl. I don't have much time to photograph except homework assignments. I do take pictures of my boys sporting events.

I'm a little late answering this question, but I read and cook. No baking (as I have zero sweet tooth). My latest obsession is making pasta from scratch. Very fun, very messy, but also quite cheap!! I find both reading and cooking to be relaxing and fun. Both hobbies satisfy the OCD aspects in my personality. For example, I can obsessively surf Amazon.com to find books, then cross reference them to my local library and reserve them for pick up (free!) And I can exhaustively research topics like "homemade pasta" on Chowhound.com (my new favorite website) to get tips and advice. I envy you crafty types--when I do a craft project with my five-year old, I'm hard pressed to tell which item was created by me and which was created by him!! It's cool how different we all are--how do I have the patience to create the Perfect Ravioli but lack the ability to make a good looking pinecone Christmas ornament?!:)