S/O what hobbies/interests were your faves?

I was a pretty avid kitchen collector for several years. I hit garage sales and thrift shops and put together a pretty impressive collection of Pyrex for not a lot of money. Then Country Living did an article on it and ruined that fun thing for me. I still use and enjoy my Pyrex and am well stocked at my cabin and house. I would have run out of space anyway.

Years ago I painted ceramics. Then it was embroidery, counted stitch until I couldn’t see good enough and then paper scrapbooking and cards, then digital scrapbooking and cards which I do to this day.

I’m I picked up paper again because I suffered a brain bleed in February that I was supposed to die from but survived and attribute that to my brain recovery. Last week I got on my laptop for the first time and am able to do it! When my brain starts hurting and I feel sick, I have to take a break. Thank goodness for hobbies as it sure beats sitting and watching TV!

Believe it or not, this is a hard question for me to answer. There are some hobbies I enjoyed because of the community that came with it, like scrapbooking, Crossfit, and skiing. And there are others I like because it allows me to get lost in my head, like painting, which is what I do now. I actually don't do any scrapbooking now, and mainly because I no longer go to crops. I actually have little desire to scrapbook, or at least the way all the magazines and companies "want" you to. I enjoyed skiing a lot, but we stopped doing that once we started having a family. And now, I am too old to start up again. I am afraid of hurting my knees. I love miniature things, but I never owned a doll house. We also used to bowl in leagues a lot. That was fun, hanging out with friends and stuff. I always had an interest in calligraphy. Our gym is fun because of the community, and we've been going there for quite a while now.

Other than my current hobbies there have been several I've enjoyed over the years.

I miss playing musical instruments. When I was child, all the way up through college, I played the trumpet and the saxophone. My first husband was a guitar player. So I bought a bass in my late 20s and I played through my early 30s. I tried to buy a new one in fall of 2021. And I played a bit. But then Esther died and I fell off. And I just didn't feel like continuing. That season of my life is over now.

I do miss running. I took up running when the pandemic hit. I was actively losing weight at that time and I was trying to incorporate exercise. I ran for about a year and a half. Never more than 3 miles at a stretch. But the mental health benefits for me were unbeatable. Something about my brain makes me a very strong responder to exercise. Esther had her worst suicide attempt and it just threw me off of doing any personal care. I'm actively losing weight now. I had told Jeremy that once I reached a 40 pound milestone I would start running again and I am at 37.3 pounds lost. So very close. I am hoping I can put together the self discipline needed to do so again.

The other thing I enjoyed but am over is wearing my Wool& dresses. I don't know if anyone remembers but I wore that same gray dress for 100 days straight in 2021. I subsequently bought several dresses and I have enjoyed wearing them for years now. I have 7 dresses. Three of them I have worn holes into. I've patched them but I think they look bad enough I don't want to wear them in public anymore. Another one has a stain I just cannot seem to get out. I'm just at the point where I feel dumpy wearing them. So I only wear them at home anymore.

Anyway those things were good for seasons in my life.

ETA: my dog Ellie and I were taking a walk early this morning in the dark and got quite close to a skunk.  We took off running the opposite direction.  So I guess I started back running this morning. LOL!

I used to make somewhat elaborate gift tags for the holidays, and they were very fun, but they felt very, very indulgent in terms of time spent of something like that.

On the flip side, something more physical as well as far more recent, I used to take long hikes & nature walks very regularly and after I hurt my knee a while back I got away from that, always looking to stay on level ground to avoid any unexpected twists that might upset it. I've recently really started focusing on exercises to try to rebuild strength and stability in that knee, so I hope to start visiting at least some easier trails/walks next year.

I used to collect stamps. I still have my albums squirrelled away but I can't remember when I last looked at them.

I used to swim 3 times a week and would go with a friend once a week which was a great way to keep in touch.

I've always sewn and knitted. I have photos of my sons and I'd made everything they were wearing except underwear and socks - I've never felt the urge to knit socks except for the lovely yarns available now. I've made shirts and sweaters for various family members and pretty much everything I wore was hand made for a long time. I've not machine sewn for years; my machines are hidden under far too much other stuff in the spare room. I still love yarn craft but occasionally I itch to go and dig a machine out, not just for me but to teach my granddaughters. I don't think they have ever seen anyone use a sewing machine irl.

I've had long breaks in my scrapbooking but I still love it and do a few LOs a year. I'm into mini albums at the moment and really enjoy them.

I've had quite a few hobbies over the years. The ones that were fun were beanie baby collecting, scrapbooking, running and knitting. When I got divorced, I downsized quite a bit and don't have room for a lot of hobbies.

I need to find a new hobby to get involved with.

Currently? scrapbooking, genealogy, and reading - although I've been struggling a bit to consistently read this year

As a child/teen? reading, hiking/camping/Girl Scouts, genealogy (I was 12 when I started researching)

Hobbies that have fallen by the wayside?

I collected vintage Fisher Price Little People sets for years. All three of my children played with them and I have them displayed in my craft room now but am no longer actively collecting. In part due to space but also because with my kids grown and no grandkids on the horizon...no one is playing with them any more. (Plus see below)

I collected pigs as a child because they were my favourite animal and as an adult, I've acquired more plus hedgehogs and gnomes. I also built my everyday dishes, Christmas dishes, and corning-ware via collecting a piece at a time at yard sales and thrift stores.

I'm no longer an active collector of anything because (and this'll sound a bit unkind...) I prefer a small, curated collection that I've picked out of my favourites. My dh is a more is better sort (and will buy me any and every pig/hedgehog/gnome/FP he comes across at yard sales etc...) and isn't too keen on me weeding out collections (and the kids, esp. DD18, also are sad if I mention downsizing, especially anything they've given me). And all of that plus the fact that dh's collections are taking over the house, has taken the fun out of collecting for me. Plus cleaning out my mum's house...I don't want to leave a mess like that for my kids.

I'm still a lifetime member of Girl Scouts but no longer active and considering additional downsizing of my GS book collection. I stopped volunteering after the troop I led decided to leave GS and just meet up on their own without the rules (and without my family). DD18 continued on, first as a Juliette with my help, and then we found her a speciality troop an hour away for her last 5 years. I miss working with the girls and I miss socializing with adults but I've also learnt that what I thought were friendships weren't.

Sewing is something I did enjoy and still do but I haven't really sewn at all this year. My main machine needs servicing and ...

I did used to really enjoy scrapbooking - but I also think it was oddly stressful for me - I don’t miss it at all.

I consistently love running and hiking and now I really love barre, yoga and tennis. I love watercolors and I used to love knitting.
I loved gardening and cooking, but I don’t have the space for those things now - but look forward to those again soon.

Running and reading are probably the 2 most consistent and consistently enjoyable hobbies I’ve had in my life. I feel like lately cocktails are also a hobby lol.

Painting is theraputic for me. My favorite medium is oils, but the smells are too strong. I switched to acrylics and water colors. I haven't painted in a couple of years. I used to do needlepoint, but never had the patience for it. I keep telling myself that I'm going to scrap or make a card and then I don't do it. I gave up pushing myself to do it.

I mentioned in the other thread that I'm singing arias, after not singing for decades. It's my true passion and I denied myself for too long. Having resumed training a year ago, I want to encourage everyone not to wait. If you love doing something then do it. Right now. It's worth it.

Zee , when my mother wasn't at her piano she was in her craft space working on her miniatures or faux Faberge eggs. It is a huge hobby.

-Painting, drawing, and collage/mixed media. Back when my bipolar was running amok I was really prolific. I made tons of good stuff. Then I got properly medicated and my creative output went way down. I just didn't have any angst to drive my creativity.

I'm hoping I'll get back to happy art making when I retire. You'd think being an art teacher I'd do art on my own but sometimes it just seems like an extension of my job, not a break from it.

I still scrapbook like crazy, though. I am one of the few on this side of the board that is still going strong after twenty plus years.

-Walking. A year ago I was walking 2 miles or more everyday, exploring all of the metro and state parks in the area. I loved the peace and taking photos of nature. I love woodland creatures. I don't know why I stopped- I'm hoping to get that going again this year.

-Filmmaking. For a few years I worked (usually unpaid, occasionally paid) on local film sets. I mostly did set design, props, and other artsy stuff. Sometimes, though, I had to hold the boom, or do other crew stuff. Once they even used my hands in a shot because the character needed to play the piano, they didn't know how, and I did. One of my favorite jobs was when we were shooting a bad horror movie set in the 70s and I had to go in and remove all of the modern things at the location and replace them with 70s era items, which I had also helped find.
I really love filmmaking but because of where I live most of them were really bad, gory, straight-to-video films with gratuitous boobs sometimes. Sometimes I'd get lucky and it would be a nice, artistic short film. But I just got tired of the kind of films I had to work on so I gave it up. It was my favorite hobby. Maybe I should look into doing that again now that I will have more time.

If I had a second life I'd go to LA, Atlanta, or Vancouver and work in the art department for films. Oh, yeah. I have a page on IMDB. That is always my fun fact about me. Unfortunately, it doesn't list everything I worked on, but it is still pretty cool.

Collecting vintage stuff. I used to go to antique/vintage stores all of the time and collected several things. I liked paint-by-numbers, plaster religious statues (love a good Mary), ceramics and glass shaped like hands, vintage chenille bedspreads, 1950s tablecloths, anything Alice in Wonderland, and several other things. I adore mid-century modern design, too. The internet has kind of killed that, however. Everything in on ebay and the like so you don't find them in local stores, and the price has shot way up. I miss the antique stores of the past.