February 05, 2020

10 Activities That I Love (a writing prompt)

I am really loving these writing prompts--they are fun to think about! I know they don't exactly fit in anywhere on my blog, but I enjoy writing them and on days when I just don't have much to write, they are great for giving me an idea. Some of them are very personal and will be hard to share, while others are light-hearted and fun.

This one will be fun :)

Today's prompt: Activities I Love

1. Feeding "My" Squirrels


I have really grown to love the squirrels that come around every day for their treats, and it brightens my day when they come up to me (or if I look out the window and I see one sitting on the deck, just staring in the house and waiting for me to notice, haha). This has become somewhat of a hobby of mine. Sometimes, I'll sit on the deck with a bowl full of different nuts and feed up to five squirrels at time. They've learned that they can't fight with each other, or I won't give them nuts.


2. Organizing


I absolutely LOVE seeing a messy closet or drawers or cupboards and completely organizing it. Sometimes, I go really crazy (it's how you can for-sure tell when I'm hypomanic) and I clean the heck out of everything. In the photo above, I switched from hangers for all the clothes to folding them, and I'll never go back. I read about it in The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (Amazon affiliate link), and I haven't looked back since. It's amazing!


3. Projects


I love doing projects around the house--everything from painting furniture to building shelves to getting creative with old items that I bought from thrift stores. This is one of my favorite things I've made. You can see several more projects on my DIY projects page or click the photo to see the tutorial for that particular project (the pet feeding station).


4. Knitting/Crocheting


When I was losing the weight in 2009-2010, I liked to keep my hands as busy as possible, to keep from snacking. I knew how to knit, but I taught myself how to crochet as well, and I made a LOT of projects that year. I became pretty obsessed and had a yarn stash that was completely ridiculous! When I stopped knitting/crocheting so much, I got rid of the entire yarn stash and decided to just buy what I was planning to use at the moment. In the photo above, I'd made that aviator hat for Luke before he was even born. Because my brother is a pilot, Brian and Becky wanted to get a cute baby photo of him in a suitcase with the aviator decor ;)  (You can find me on Ravelry here, if you want to see more of what I've made).


5. Coaching/Teaching about Running


Running is one of my most favorite subjects. While I don't love the actual running part, haha, I do love to answer questions about training, giving advice about anything to do with running, read running books, and write up training plans. I'm getting the itch to write another training plan, so if any of you have ideas for one, let me know! (The above photo is my very favorite photo from coaching cross country!)


6. 1000-piece Puzzles


I LOVE working on puzzles. I went through a phase a few years ago where I was working on them all the time. It was a great pastime! However, my back just couldn't take it anymore. Actually, most of my favorite hobbies (knitting/crocheting, puzzles, reading, playing solitaire, etc) have really done a number on my back. I miss doing puzzles!


7. Writing Lists/Making Sketches for Project Ideas


I am a huge list-writer. I have notebooks (just regular old spiral notebooks) that are filled completely with random lists and notes and sketches (for projects, mostly). I write "to do" lists frequently, ideas for blog posts, things we need from the store, vacation ideas, goals, etc. I have 2-4 notebooks that are completely FULL of things like you see above--tons of measurements and board cuts and stuff like that--for the house renovation.


8. Playing Board Games


I'm usually not in the mood to play, but one we start playing a board game, it's super fun! Our current favorite is called Wits & Wagers (Amazon affiliate link), and it's the perfect game for a family of 4-5 people ages 10+ or so. Jerry, the kids, and I all love it! (It's not the game shown above--that's a game called Sequence.)


9. Looking Through Memes (Especially Mental Health Memes)


I absolutely LOVE browsing through memes, and I just can't get enough. I love the ones that are very relatable (especially mental illness--I've posted my 100 favorites here). The best ones? Dark humored mental illness memes (it sounds terrible, but I find them hilarious). Nothing gets me to laugh more than a dark humored meme about depression or bipolar.


10. Playing Games Like Peak and Lumosity on My Phone


I started these mind games to sharpen my memory and coordination and all that (hoping that it may help in some way in staving off Alzheimer's). I really enjoy playing the games! I make sure to do them once a day to keep a streak going.


And that last one just reminded me that I need to finish my Peak "workout" for today to keep my streak going. It's already 11:27 PM, so I want to do that before bed.

Feel free to share activities that you love! I'm always looking for new things to try.


4 comments:

  1. I have done that exact same puzzle, it was tough! The couple months leading up to the birth of our second baby in December my husband and I started picking up puzzles from the second hand store and working on them at night after our toddler was asleep. It was such a nice time to sit and chat while we worked. I was often doing birth prep lunges on the chair as we worked :). He got me a custom puzzle for our anniversary that was a collage of wedding pics but about a week before our anniversary we had our daughter so we haven’t had any free time to work on it yet. I am excited to be able to puzzle again someday.
    By the way I love reading your daily posts. I’m so impressed you have been writing so much!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Katie are you still running? I need to get back to it on a regular basis for mental reasons mostly. I always read your blog for inspiration & need it today more than ever. I want a divorce, but we have 2 dogs to care for & they need us both. I'm 60, my husband 28. He's always checked out younger women, then denies it and gets super mad if I say anything about it. The other night we went to super with our 12 year old granddaughter. Our waitress was about 20 y/o. Pretty, perfect figure, skin tight jeans. He stared, then told me he was just watching her vacuum the carpet. When we left, he was walking out behind me and gave her a cute little wave. I'm not allowed to say anything 'cause he gets mad instantly and denies it like always.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I said he's 28, but I mean 58, I would never be with somebody that much younger than me. I will stay away from him but try to do the best thing for our dogs. Not a 28 year old! I need to feel good about myself, take care of our dogs, and not let him belittle me when I try to say I can't let him treat me so bad and control me. He controls my money and every thing I do. I work away from home and he's controlling me and Katie don't even bother to post it. If I say anything, he starts yelling. Please post running. I usually don't cry. I want to read your running It's the only thing that makes me feel good about myself, I sound crazy but I'm not.

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  3. What a great list! It's fun the squirrels have learned your no fighting policy.

    ReplyDelete

I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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