Welcome to the October edition of the Simply Living Blog Carnival - Enjoyment cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. This month, we write about what brings joy to our lives. Please check out the links to posts by our other participants at the end of this post.
Hobbies seem to come and go. New things are always exciting, but can get less interesting with time. Shiny things get dusty, as it were. When I had my oldest, I found that I was spending zero time on myself. My father-in-law gave me cash for Christmas and insisted I not spend it on bills. He told me to spend it on myself. I'd been wanting to take up candy making, so that is where every cent went! I got some chocolate molds and melt-its, etc. I had a blast painting chocolates and making different shaped goodies to share. I made candies for some baby showers. It was just so nice to focus on something just for the fun of it! I have since passed along every bit of that equipment.
My ex-husband took up photography and had a very nice camera. Our wife joined him. I felt kind of left out and it looked like a nice hobby. A friend mailed me a nice camera to borrow and loved my photograph so much that she let me keep the camera! We even did a lot of photography-themed date nights. I got really into macro photography, which got me into the garden where I found spiders. Jumping spiders are so cool and cute! That somehow lead to my fascination with tarantulas and I became a "tarantula keeper." At the height of my collection (shared with my new husband), we had 20 tarantulas!
After having Sasha, I stayed up (usually breastfeeding) at night and read blogs, especially Hobo Mama. I originally created this blog mostly so I would have an icon when I commented there! But it took off and I really enjoy writing here. I even created a blog about our tarantulas! Alas, we have since moved into a space where we're not allowed to keep spiders. Most were sold to a breeder, but a friend is keeping a couple specimens for us.
I've wanted to take up geocaching for three years! I already wrote about this new hobby, but I will update to say that I'm still enjoying it. We go out every Sunday, as a family, and "Treasure Hunt." I also try to find at least one geocache every day.
I think the thing I love most about geocaching is sharing it with my family. There is a sense of accomplishment when I find a cache, but I especially love the time we're spending together (outside, away from home).
Do you have hobbies or other things you love? Tell me what you enjoy doing!
Thank you for visiting the Simply Living Blog Carnival cohosted by Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children, Laura at Authentic Parenting, Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy, and Joella at Fine and Fair. Read about how others are make their lives joyful. We hope you will join us next month!
- No, She Doesn't Sleep Through the Night - And It's Not So Bad! - This post on Partners in Kind is about our family sleep habits, how we tried CIO, and how our family learned to let go of the 'standard' in order to enjoy a good nights rest for all of us.
- Don't Do Anything That Isn't Play - Momma Bee at Raising a Revolution is inspired by Marshall Rosenberg's (nonviolent communication) advice "don't do anything that isn't pay" to find the enjoyment in doing even the most mundane and disliked tasks.
- Shared Hobbies - Jorje of Momma Jorje shares her progression of hobbies, since hobbies can wax and wane. She also explains why sharing a hobby makes it the best.
- The Joy - Relaxation Relation - At Authentic Parenting, Laura discovered how much enjoyment is related to relaxation.
- Finding and Defining Enjoyment - Anneli at Mamman i det gula huset shares what she enjoys, her thoughts on how she has found truly enjoyment through self-reflection and how to find enjoyment in every day tasks.
- Simply Enjoying Life - Mandy tries to focus on enjoying life at Living Peacefully with Children by cutting out some things and changing her perspective on others.
