looking for a hobby!

[MS w/MS]

Let me start off by saying I'm sooooo glad this site is back! I am on disabilty and spend most off my time in the house. I am only 38 and I have mobility issue. Can anyone recommend some type of hobby to help past the time? I just want something that I can call my own. Any input is appreciated.

thanks

[agate]

Welcome!

What are your interests? You can find a hobby for just about any interest, I think.

I was diagnosed at 39 and was exactly where you are--staying at home but not by choice and wanting to keep busy and useful somehow.

I happen to like reading, plants, and needlework, as well as cats. I've almost always had a housecat, and taking care of a cat is a hobby--as well as a service, because giving a cat a home is probably keeping that cat off the streets. (I adopt cats that aren't in demand.)

I found reading printed books difficult but began getting Talking Books, which people with MS are often eligible for. I've listened to a lot of books over the years.

Anybody can maintain a few houseplants, or even many houseplants, if you enjoy tinkering with them.

If you like needlework or crocheting/knitting, you can probably do a lot of that unless your arms give out.

I've heard of people putting mosaic tile coffeetables and other items together. I've known of a few people with MS who develop skill in making jewelry (and even marketing it).

There's always the computer, of course. You can spend all day every day on it if you enjoy surfing the Web, playing computer games, and joining message boards. Some people enjoy chat rooms and spend a lot of time there, though I never have liked them much myself.

Do you like music? I used to listen to the radio and my own music collection a lot. I learned to play the recorder and practiced it every day for years. I haven't been near it lately, but I still have my recorders and sheet music.

You can take photos and make albums of them. You can also make scrapbooks, especially now that scrapbooking is a huge industry for many people.

There are people who get so involved in saving money that clipping coupons and saving them for use in buying items becomes a hobby.

[avalonai2]

Hello, I found that things that challenge your mind and thought process can be rewarding. Things like art, in any form, no matter your art ability doing it to please you, or writing, maybe study something that you never considered studying but you find interesting.

An average in math I found mathematics, physics, and time therory, who knew?:) I picked up books and dove in not knowing it was such a great mind vacation. The best part is when I am so tired to even read I can still create concepts and therories and the hours go by so quickly.

Things that keep your mind active...

Hope this helps :rolleyes: hmm what next

[BBS1951]

I am using the Michel Thomas CD method to teach myself Spanish in my car commute. I am loving it :)

[frame]

im in a similar situation and i play games a lot
i finally broke my world of warcraft addiction
WOO

[0357]

My hobby these days...

I use a digital camera...it's free to download them to your computer and use Photoshop to resize or crop your photo...you can send your photos to friends and family. You do need a cable to attach from your camera to your computer once you want to download your pictures to your computer. Another plus; if your photo doesn't turn out you can just delete it.

[ryonka]

I got some good drawing pencils and a couple of pads of paper. There are days when I'm just too weak/tired to do anything else...but I'll just draw abstract pictures of how I feel, or what's going on in my head...It's kinda fun! And what's so nice is nobody else has to see it!:D

[cricket52]

Hi MS:

It's not much fun being housebound.

I enjoy knitting and crocheting. Sometimes the weakness makes it difficult to tackle long projects, so I knit or crochet dishcloths.

Pogo and Big Fish are my favourite game sites, clicking and pushing a mouse around isn't too tiring.

By evening I am toast, so I veg and watch TV. I haven't been able to read a book for about 4 years, I have trouble following a plot and talking books don't interest me. My knitting tends to be plain because cognitive issues make it hard to read patterns.

A Nintendo Wii is in my near future (I plan to park myself at the mall until the store opens on the 19th of November). The games sound like fun and I have always wanted a game console. Being older and stiffer, the Wii might give me a bit of exercise while I am having fun.

[Cat Dancer]

Well, if you go here http://community.webshots.com/user/uppitycats

and click on the dollhouse, you'll see what has been occupying MY time for the last two years...

[BBS1951]

Wow! Who would have thought that the President of the Curmudgeon Society builds doll houses! It looks spectacular!

[Cat Dancer]

Wow! Who would have thought that the President of the Curmudgeon Society builds doll houses! It looks spectacular!


There's a lot about the ol' Cat you don't know... ;)

[elizabeth]

Wow! If I get many more hobbies, I am going to have to move out of the house so that we have space for all the supplies! ;) Besides reading, which I do at the rate of about a book a day -- NO JOKE -- I home school our 11 year old son and then I have about 2 dozen different artsy projects/hobbies I love. I make gifts and some of the stuff I actually sell in galleries, too, so I am not totally inundated with all the stuff I make!

Let's see, there are all kinds of needlework: crochet, knitting, embroidery, etc. I just ordered a little machine to set rhinestone studs (though I used to just use a little set of pliers) to decorate fabric -- I do jeans, overalls, etc. with them, plus patches with sequins, trims, buttons, etc. I also sew - clothes, pillows, quilts, home decorations, mending, etc. whatever!

Art projects: Drawing, painting, card-making, picture frames, papier mache, rubber stamps, tin-work, embossing (paper & metal), stepping stones (mosaics in concrete for the garden), wood projects (I buy little wood boxes, drawers, baby chairs, etc at craft stores & paint), etc.

My newest thing is that I am going to teach myself to make glass beads. I also make jewelry -- in sterling silver, gold, and with beads (glass, semi-precious and precious stones, and beads, etc.).

I love glass painting. You can get Pebeo paints at caft stores or online (try dickblick.com) that you can paint right on glass or china, then bake in the oven. They are then permanent and will last and last -- even through the dishwasher! I use them to make glassware, decorate vases, mugs, etc. It's fun and makes really great, cheap gifts.

I bowl in 2 leagues when I can (when the MS lets me), and I coach bowling and Little League for kids. Bowling coaching is year 'round, and Little League has been April through June (though I may not be doing it anymore after this last year - it's getting very hard as disability accumulates). I have to have something to get me OUT of the house, and this works. I miss ADULTS, though, so I am really looking for something that feeds that need.

I would gladly give up some of the arts for adult company, though I may end up teaching something artsy to get adult company if need be...

JUST some ideas. I hope something sticks/helps! :)

[Abby2006]

I like Needlepoint and this summer I took up knitting - well lets just say I have needles and yarn and knitting for dummies book. <smile>

Abby

[MS w/MS]

wanted to say "thanks" for all your input. I need to look into some of these. I guess my hobby is playing internet poker. No limit hold 'em to be exact. I can play for hours, depending on whether I am winning or losing!

[dagaz]

HI I'm a scrapbooker, and a Quilter. The nice thing about quilting is that you can take your favorate old clothes or baby clothes and make memory quilts and it really does'nt have to cost alot. My grandmother did all of her quilts by hand and she had terrible cateracts(sp? so vision isn't that big of an issue. You can find several easy patterns online. I draw a ton, I don't believe it's a tallent because I was taught by my sister as long as I have a picture or a photo infront of me I can draw it nearly to the T
I also cross stitch but only when my vision isn't messed up. I hopeI helped give you some idea's

Dag

[dagaz]

I just wanted to add if you take up drawing get some blending stomps for shading and some professional pencils with different lead ( I know it's not really lead any more):D I use Castell andStaedtler pencils usually 4B 5B The higher the number the softer the lead. H2,3 ect are hard leads and harder to blend

Good luck. Dag

[BBS1951]

wanted to say "thanks" for all your input. I need to look into some of these. I guess my hobby is playing internet poker. No limit hold 'em to be exact. I can play for hours, depending on whether I am winning or losing!

Love Texas Hold em. We hold regular poker parties here, and DH goes to play at the tourneys every weekend. So far, he is breaking even :)

[Algesia]

Hi people,

I've been afflicted since 2000.

I am slowly writing my autobiography.

I am starting a new religion based on several pre-historic societies. I started this after reading a little about Scientology. I figure I'll make more money than my friend who sells Amway.

I go to the university library and am working on learning more about the Native American's society before we "Pale Face" arrived.

I go to the medical library in the hospital and read journals and textbooks, so I will know more than my doctors.

Other than that I watch the discovery channel, cause I've seen every Law and Order, Judging Amy, etc.

Hope tghat helps

Al Gesia

[BBS1951]

I'll join your religion algesis :) Will people worship me, bring me Gold, cook sumptuous meals, provide me with eager and willing young men?:)

[elizabeth]

Ooooh, I also LOVE playing FreeCell, and all kinds of games like Tetris, etc.

The puzzle games are the ones I like, but there are tons of things to try, and I'm sure there's something for almost everyone! :)

[Linda C]

HI,
Welcome to our world. I wish to comment on doll house miniatures.
I've enjoyed the hobby of miniatures longer then I have experiened MS. In fact I wired my first house while blind in one eye. Vision has since improved.
Doll house miniatures is a hobby that includes all your interest. I have made miniature dolls,foods of all kinds, and ton's of different kinds of furniture. I like doing single rooms. You can try new things. There is a lot of on line shops.
We even have a national organization, I's web site is miniatures.org if you do .com you go to a miniature store.
I has been about 12 years since I was dx with MS.
Blessings,
Linda

[Cat Dancer]

HI,
Welcome to our world. I wish to comment on doll house miniatures.
I've enjoyed the hobby of miniatures longer then I have experiened MS. In fact I wired my first house while blind in one eye. Vision has since improved.
Doll house miniatures is a hobby that includes all your interest. I have made miniature dolls,foods of all kinds, and ton's of different kinds of furniture. I like doing single rooms. You can try new things. There is a lot of on line shops.
We even have a national organization, I's web site is miniatures.org if you do .com you go to a miniature store.
I has been about 12 years since I was dx with MS.
Blessings,
Linda

Hi, Linda! I'll have to check out the miniatures.org site! I spend WAY too much time..and money..at .com :D

[Matt]

My grandfather was really into that too. He built my sister a really amazing dollhouse when she was little.

[barbarab]

You really need to follow your bliss----whatever it is that makes YOU happy.

I have 2 Russian Blue cats, spoiled as all heck...and an entire solarium full of hoya plants --over 120 of them. Once a week it takes 6 entire hours just to water them, and then I'm wiped out for the next day.

Once a month I attend a book club meeting. This months book, nit picked by me, is one I've read four times since junior high: "Cry, the beloved country" by Alan Paton. I usually choose newer books, looking for the new classics;)

Way back when I was newly dxd [1994] and still working, I spent a lot of time on the web, ordering current scientific publications on MS. I'm a molecular biologist, so wasn't befuddled by the language, and could critically assess the value of the research. Other than a few advances in immunology, I can't say that anything earthshaking has occurred in the field over the past 13 years, and I've grown bored with the subject as I've adjusted to living with my limitations. I don't believe there will be a cure, or even a treatment for my type of MS [PP] in my lifetime. I'm not even convinced the experts are correct in assuming that this is an autoimmune disease. Yes, the immune system is involved.....but that may be a healthy response to our disease process.

Cat's dollhouse was interesting----when my daughter was 11 I built her a Victorian 3-story dollhouse. Simple, no pattern...just lots of shingles and the curlicues of Victorian places.....but she never developed an interest in miniatures, and the dollhouse sits unused in the attic.

I'm thinking of going back to school for a fourth degree, like three are very useful to me now! ha ha....There is a decent law school just blocks from my house, and it's very tempting. I always adored taking classes! someone talk me out of it, please!:confused:

[Linda C]

Get that doll house out of the attic.

[Una]

Wow Cat, that doll house is so cool. How long did it take you? I have always wanted to do that. I always wanted one too! The pics with your cat peaking out the window is hilarious!
My hobbies are all computer related at the moment. Game and photos, but I would really like to get my hands on something like that doll house.

[bluesky63]

My hobby is thinking of things I'm going to do and then never doing them.

A slight variation is remembering things I intended to do when I was much younger but never ended up doing.

I also highly recommend the imaginary conversation, in which you have a stimulating dialogue with a real person who isn't actually there at the time.

Along with that comes the imaginary post, in which you mentally compose the perfect response to some issue at Braintalk, although you never get around to actually doing it.

All of these activities can leave you exhausted, which brings us to another of my recommended hobbies . . . sleeping.

Goodnight. :-)

[Jakaloke]

My hobby is thinking of things I'm going to do and then never doing them.

A slight variation is remembering things I intended to do when I was much younger but never ended up doing.

I also highly recommend the imaginary conversation, in which you have a stimulating dialogue with a real person who isn't actually there at the time.

Along with that comes the imaginary post, in which you mentally compose the perfect response to some issue at Braintalk, although you never get around to actually doing it.

All of these activities can leave you exhausted, which brings us to another of my recommended hobbies . . . sleeping.

Goodnight. :-)

Right now I'm having amnesia and deja vu at the same time.
-- Steven Wright

Scott

[Matt]

My hobby is thinking of things I'm going to do and then never doing them.

A slight variation is remembering things I intended to do when I was much younger but never ended up doing.

I also highly recommend the imaginary conversation, in which you have a stimulating dialogue with a real person who isn't actually there at the time.

Along with that comes the imaginary post, in which you mentally compose the perfect response to some issue at Braintalk, although you never get around to actually doing it.

All of these activities can leave you exhausted, which brings us to another of my recommended hobbies . . . sleeping.

Goodnight. :-)

Wow, bluesky, it's like we're the same person it sounds.

Then, with me there's the occaisional cognitive defect where I write something that is really a response to something I saw on the internet 5 years ago.

Or, just being irrational. Like continuing to look for something after I have already found it.

Then there was that time my doctor sent me to a shrink. They couldn't understand why I still thought the medical establishment thought it was all in my head after no doctor has suggested that they think anything is all in my head for years (they thought I was having cognitive problems, I think).

A bit of brain fog can keep your mind busy for a long time.