I am not too sure if this is a good idea or not... I guess we will see who all replies!!!!<BR>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR>Here goes:<P>WHAT ARE ANY OF YOUR STRESS RELIEVERS OR HOBBIES THAT YOU DO TO TAKE YOUR MIND TO ANOTHER PLACE?<BR>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<P>My answer is: I am a scrapbooker. For those of you who dont know what that is.... There is a place called Creative Memories (creativememories.com) and they have consultants that teach and sell products. <BR>I got into it when my 2 year old was born and I have been an addict ever since!!!<P>I LOVE to take photos of my little girl. I am a sticker freak. I have over $300 in stickers!!! $100 just for my paper!!! Pens, markers, scissors, paper punches, rubber stamps.... TONS of stuff!! I am addicted!!!<BR>Not to mention the 1,000 rolls of film that I take to Walmart to get developed every week!!! Well not 1,000... maybe 100?!!? (My poor child, Bless her heart... As soon as she sees the camera, she says "CHEESE!!") <P>PLEASE share with me your hobbies, interests, and passions.<BR>I think this thread could be a great thing.<P>Thanks,<BR>~Heather the Scrapbook Queen!!!

I do crafts such as cross stitch and quilting. I also do oil painting and drawing. I couldn't do any needlecrafts when I was first into recovery. It was something my ex best friend (H's OW)and I did together often. I've finally gotten past that. I do have a lot of memories of her in my sewing room and when I look at the curtains we made together though. But it gets better with time. HObbies are like therapy.

I got some good responses on this a while ago...worth a look!!!<BR> <A HREF="http://www.marriagebuilders.com/forum/Forum34/HTML/003801.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.marriagebuilders.com/forum/Forum34/HTML/003801.html</A> <P>Jacky

Crochet ! It is great when I am really ticked off. I just pretend that the yarn is hubby's (or whoever's) neck. Reach out with hook, grab neck er, I mean yarn, twist a little pull through loop, repeat. Gets the agression out and is great when you're hurting too, granny squares are the best you can see progress quickly at first and you can make many little ones or one huge one if you want.<P>But keep me away from hot glue guns ! I admit to having evil thoughts when using the glue gun Bwahahahahahaha um sorry.<P>Deb

I work out and it does a great job relieving stress and makes me feels so much better! I do a combination of weight training and cardio exercises. I have turned my computer room into a mini-gym with barbells, dumbbells, steps, etc and work out to exercise tapes. I'm in better shape at 44 than I was at 30!

Staystrong,<P>I was also an avid scrapbooker. Something I enjoyed very much, was pretty good at, and would benefit my family. Problem is I'm having problems getting back into it since d-day 4 months ago. My friends and I have a group that usually gets together about once a month to crop together. I've been skipping these to spend more time with my H. I guess it's an emotional thing to work with all the photos and remembering those happy times, and wondering "Was he sleeping with her then?" I just can't bring myself to get back into the swing of things. I have thought about taking a little mini-vacation and getting a hotel room by myeslf for a couple of days to get work on scrap book stuff and just have some time alone. <P>The ironinc part is that my H gave me $100 gift certificate (for mother's day) to our local scrapbook store the week before d-day and I've yet to use any of it. He also gave me $75 gift certificate to a day spa 3 days before d-day for our 9 yr Anniversary and I haven't used that either. Guess I feel that these gifts were not given with his heart and give me bad vibes.<P>Our latest hobby is home remodeling. We are kind of doing it together, and the house definitely needs it. So it's a good hobby.<P>Thanks, Heck

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by StayStrong:<BR><B>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR>WHAT ARE ANY OF YOUR STRESS RELIEVERS OR HOBBIES THAT YOU DO TO TAKE YOUR MIND TO ANOTHER PLACE?<BR>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR></B><HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>My answer is: <P><UL TYPE=SQUARE><BR><LI>A nice, long, hot bubble bath.<BR><LI>Prayer and meditation of scriptures.<BR><LI>Help or do something nice for others--takes my mind off myself, my problems.<BR><LI>Water the lawn.<BR><LI>Go around the house wearing earplugs.<BR><LI>Take a nap.<BR><LI>Eat something really rich and really sweet.<BR><LI>Exercise definitely helps, but I do it mostly for health, not to escape reality. It's difficult to escape the pain of oxygen-debt, but afterward, that nap comes in handy!!! <BR></UL>

going to Bible Study groups and also to Starbucks every day for a venti latte and lemon pound cake- I love to sit there and just let my mind relax while I sip the latte. And people watch there of course.I even bought the 30th anniversary little Starbucks teddy bear to hold at night. SOO relaxing. lifeismessy

Well,my 2 hobbies are kind of expensive.I love watching movies and I hate going to movie theaters..sticky floors,crying kids,cell phones,beppers...not being able to pause when you gotta go to the bathroom or get a refill...So I saved some money and spent a few thousand dollars on a really nice sound system,I had a nice large tv but it recently broke back to the smaller one for now.I have a dvd player and 150 or so movies on hand to watch and pause when ever I want to.<P>My other hobbie gets expensive but I do not really consider it a hobby...they are my pets.I keep fish.I have an jaguar all alone in one tank,she is about 8" right now...mean little devil..bit me last week when I was cleaning her tank.Then I have a pair of oscars in a larger tank,they are pushing 10",they also have a 10" pleco,he takes care of cleaning up thir mess.Then in my smaller tank I have a black moore and a commen gold fish.<P>Yes,I can pet my oscars,I am sometimes able to hand feed them when the room is quiet.Somtimes I can just lay on the couch or sit in front of the tank and just watch them,very helpful for me.<P>I do not read much,other than the internet and the bible but I do enjoy a chrisitan chat room,we have prayer meetings in the morning and fellowship in the evening..just a good time.