Friday, July 19, 2013

Friday Fun ~ Searching to Allievate Boredom


Since my stroke, I've been severely limited in things I can do for personal enjoyment. I can read. Watch T.V. or movies, or putter around in my garden. I garden before 10AM and after 7PM. The heat just saps too much of my strength.  For most that would be enough, but not for me. So I'm searching for ways to alleviate my boredom.

I cannot knit, crochet, or quilt yet until I get some semblance of fine motor skills in my left arm.  I tried drawing and painting last week and it was taxing at best with no joy in it. I'm not giving up just lowering my expectations quite a bit. So meanwhile I'm playing with silly putty with my left hand to build more finer movements. My left hand is not paralyzed. I can only do that so much before I get bored, usually after an hour.

Sure I've got my computer games but I find myself nodding off after an hour or my brain gets tired. Before I wasn't lacking in things to do and try. Yes, I'm cooking more which I love to do, but we can only eat so much and my neighbors are stocked up with goodies too. I'm BORED! I've never been bored in my life so this is an alien feeling for me.

I even had a go of making my own laundry detergent and dish soap a couple of weeks ago. As a result, I have enough laundry and dish soap to last us a year doing laundry three times a week and dishes twice a day. (ten gallons of liquid laundry soap and three gallons of dish soap) I've already got enough liquid body and bar soap to bathe us and our grandchildren for a year.  When it costs pennies to make versus buying it for a buck, I'll take the pennies.

The chickens and rabbits only take minimal care now. I've held off breeding them for the time being. I'll wait until September when the temperature drops slightly below 90 degrees. Although I do miss my chicks hatching and bunnies being born. But I also realize that the butchering will take more energy than I have in this heat.

I guess I could felt my bag of dryer lint into flat sheets or potholder batting. Or spin the Angora hair I've collected over the past year into yarn, but since I can't do needlework right now that's a mute point. Neither option holds my interest at this time. I need the challenge of doing something new. For me that's what's fun.

Have any ideas? What do y'all do for fun?

Enough poor, pitiful mes. Time for a chuckle...

If you've read my blog you know I had a handi-capable demolition and reconstruction project going on for the past two months. My youngest daughter, Jenn, and my oldest granddaughter, Sabrina (12) were packing up my old office to turn it into a family room. My granddaughter ran across our collection of record albums.

 Sabrina said, "Aunt Jenn, what do we do with these books?"
Jenn chuckle and told her they were music albums.
Sabrina pulled out one of the records and her jaw dropped. "That must be a mighty big CD player."
Jenn almost was rolling on the floor with laughter and then showed Sabrina to the turntable.
"You mean they drove around with one of these in their car?"

What a difference a couple of decades make. The same conversation ensues with my cassette tapes and 8-tracks. After that Sabrina just called it "this stuff" and showed Jenn.

Have a great fun Friday. If you have a suggestion for me, let me have it.

8 comments:

  1. Bored. Wow. What a foreign concept, and I've spent plenty of time on bedrest with chronic illness. I do knit and watch cooking shows as my first choice, so good for you with the silly putty. I do know a lot of good hand exercises for dexterity (shattered my wrist in 2000 and had to fight to get its use back). Read? If I had time on my hands that's what I'd do first.
    Loved the story about the record player. And by the way, I mis-read that part about the chickens and the bunnies. I thought it said, "I stopped FEEDING them for now" and I thought uh-oh, someone go help this lady feed her animals, and then I re-read...sigh.
    Thanks for visiting my garden today. Good luck with yours.
    Tina @ Life is Good

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  2. for me... i design stuff, see it in my head and find that right combination of items that need to be in it. most never see the light of day, some are "what was i thinking", though i save them... you have some great ways, but share your time... i should let you edit my monster book... that is a nightmare full of there, theirs and to, too and twos...

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  3. Tina- I love gardens and gardening. I missed it terribly last year with my stroke.

    Jeremy before I can edit anybody else I've got to relearn grammar and spelling myself...mine too. But after a year, bits and pieces are coming back to me. I do miss my art work and projects.

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  4. And now cars only have places where you can plug in your cell phone for music.
    Want to be one of my clones? That would keep you busy a few hours.
    Anything you could volunteer to do? Something even in the home?

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  5. Hi Jo .. the only things I can think of - off the top of my head .. are jig-saw puzzles, or card games with people, or trying your hand at painting ..

    I fall asleep rather more often than not -

    Love the story of the albums, record player etc .. gosh times change so much ..

    Could you read to people who would like to be read to .. I'm not sure if you can travel ... or if that's an option .. even local travel ...

    Cheers and have a happy weekend .. Hilary

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  6. Have you tried puzzles? Crossword, sudoku, or even jigsaw puzzles. Might be a good way to pass a few hours...

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  7. Alex- Email with questions coming.

    Hilary- I love puzzles but they don't love me right now. Reading to others creates problem with my aphasia but good suggestion. Yes time seems like it stands still, but it gallops by.

    Lara- Circle a word and crossword puzzles have two problem. I) I tend to do them too fast or get frustrated with them. 2) I'm writing with my non-dominant left hand right now and it's messy. At times I can't read my own writing. Thank you though.

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  8. I think I would like to scrapbook if I had the time, and I'd definitely try more crafts. I'd love to do more to feed my creative side. :)

    I hope you're having a nice weekend.

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