What do you do to keep busy?

Blaze, I love hand and foot. My husband and I played for an hour or two every day. It was the best 2 handed game I have ever played.
 
Vala said:
Blaze, I love hand and foot. My husband and I played for an hour or two every day. It was the best 2 handed game I have ever played.
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I never heard of it 'til the lady who organized it posted a notice in the building lobby looking for other players and encouraging those who didn't know to come and play but it is quite fun. Grandson caught on so fast. By his 2nd hand, he was pushing me away and saying I got it, Grammy, and he did too. So now my family plays every now and then too.
 
Well, Christmas is almost here, and I am looking forward to spending some time with my son and his family, and that will wear me out! Then I will come home, and sort laundry for the wonderful young lady that is helping me these days.

I sincerely wish for ALL of you a wonderful Christmas with lots of love, peace, and happiness.
 
Vala said:
All you really need is the board if you don't want to spend the money on the table. It could be propped up with books to get a good glare free slant or put on a coffee table. It holds most 1000 piece puzzles, but not all. You need to check the measurements on the puzzle boxes. The table really does helps the back. If you go to jig things you could save the picture of the board and have someone make you one. they cost about $60. The URL is below.

http://www.jigthings.com/puzzle-boards/
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Vala, when I was taking my niece every day for radiology treatments for her cancer, the waiting room had a big puzzle out on a table and all of us "waiters" would work together on it. It was a great idea for people just sitting around waiting, and we enjoyed it. The only trouble was, they had it on a big flat table and the glare was awful and made it very hard to differentiate certain colors. We even tried moving the table, but it didn't work. A slanted board would have been perfect, but then again I don't know how we'd have all gotten around the table.

I thought it was a great idea for a waiting room, though -- gave people something to do and got them chatting with one another. I wish more places that had a lot of people "waiting" would do something similar. The only places I've ever seen them were in the waiting areas of the cancer portion of our large hospital, for people waiting on friends/family to get done with chemo, radiation, etc.

I'm not very good at puzzles, but it was a great distraction.
 
What am I doing now? Trying to keep from losing what's left of my mind. Lightning struck out building and we had to evacuate. So far, I have been in 2 motels, now waiting to be picked up to go to another place where we can sleep on cots until the 12th or so of this month. So, if ya'll don't see too much of me, it's because I have totally lost my mind.
 
i_am_Lois said:
When I lived in Philadelphia there was plenty to do. Museums, flower show, Italian market, South Street, Chinatown, zoo, huge parks, sporting events.

Now I live in nowhere land. All my activities I do are home based.

So now I spend my hours surfing websites on the computer, playing games on the computer, watching TV, cooking, crocheting, Sudoku puzzles, and various crafts.
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Lois, I can relate. I live in nowhere land myself. My activities are reading, gardening, watching TV, knitting, computer solitaire and Sudoku, and working very part-time. I had two children, but they live away and I have no grandchildren. I drive to "the big city" about once a month to do some cultural things like attend a concert, visit a museum, go to the Farmers' Market, etc.
 
Well, I came here to communicate with people my own age, and I love it. I've been busy trying to get a power chair so I can get out of bed and the apartment. I stagger and fall and walk into things. Seems like the gov has changed things and I, along with my doctor am fighting tooth and nail to get one. It's been about a year now and nothing, so I said the heck with it and went to gofundme. I may spend the rest of what little life I have left, but I want to be able to go to get haircut without having a babysitter with me, and just to go outside instead of looking at "outside" through the window. Broken bones don't feel good, and having your neighbors talk about you being drunk when you don't even get near the stuff makes you want to put your foot where the sun don't shine!
 
Leotie, it doesn't sound as if your mind has gone yet!
do hope your building will soon be ready for you again; and you go get 'em girl!
 
I am going to TRY to take up cross stitching again, since my hands shake too much to do brain surgery anymore. :eek:))

Also I write poetry, think, take care of my dog that is sick and dying from cancer, read, play games on here (tri-peaks solitaire, hidden object games, and Mah Jong) I also help my neighbor who doesn't have or know how to use a computer when she needs to know something.
 
I seem to be busier now than I was before I retired. I do still do a little 'paid' work, but I have taught myself to crochet on Youtube. I am totally left handed and have never been able to learn and suddenly I thought of YouTube. I love playing with colours and patterns and have made some lovely afghans for my children and grandchildren. I find it very relaxing. I love to cook and since we have moved out into the country I now make my own bread, jams and preserves from the local farmers markets and from our own garden. I think it's a different type of busy now, it's a choice not a have to.
 
I volunteer, at a rather large museum, Dance ( ballroom ) at least twice a week look after house and garden (hubby and I share the work) I'm 70 next birthday starting to slow little
 
Both my wife and I are active in our community, and we have a fairly large property to tend. We also do a fair amount of volunteer work, as well as keep busy with our part time business and our "jobs" (I dabble in politics and she sits on a couple of corporate boards). We also enjoy dancing and go as often as time permits. Our two beagles also keep us busy.
 
I've never been very good at socializing, so while I quite like solitude, I risked becoming a recluse. To stop that from happening, and give structure to my week, I've done a few things:

My one big non-negotiable expense is a gym membership that includes several classes a week designed for active seniors. It's perfect because you're amongst other people, and inevitably make new friends. We get on as a whole group, but groups have formed within that, and a couple of times a week my small group goes for coffee afterwards. Getting fit is the bonus.
I joined a small weekly Mahjong group - it's a great game, and really good for the brain. Same thing happens here - you gradually get to know people, and friendships develop.

But my best one has been starting a walking group. I invited one person I knew, then others from groups I belonged to joined in. They introduced others. So now we are 9. We walk about an hour each week, in local reserves, parks or beaches. Finish in a local coffee shop if we can find one. Walking in a group is ideal, because just by changing speed, you move in and out of the group. No pressure for lengthy conversations with one person.

None of them require too much time, energy or money, and they provide me with a great deal of interest, exercise and companionship.
 
I recently gave one of my sons the business my wife and I had run for thirty years. This allowed me to empty my house of inventory (books). After I sell the house and move to a two bedroom senior apartment I intend to start another business selling collectible ephemera on Ebay. I don't really need the income, but I think the daily responsibility will be good for me. I considered some sort of volunteer work, but I don't relish lots of social interaction. If I need to feel like I'm contributing, I can donate my income to some cause or other.
 
I seem to be busy all the time. In Feb. my husband passed away so I had a lot of paperwork, phone calls and details to take care of. I joined an art group and go there once a week. Every 2 weeks the seniors here play euchre which I really like. I decided to check out the wellness centre and signed up for the senior pool time one day a week. (warm water to exercise in) Because this is 1/2 to 3/4 hrs from here I also make a day of it by doing my shopping in town. The normal things I have to do at home take me about 3 or 4 times longer then it used to so I am busy all the time. At the end of a day I am not sure what I did all day but I am generally tired. Making lists is a very good way of keeping on track. I write everything on the calendar, if that ever gets lost well then I am done for.
 
Leotie, please don't think of someone having to be along with you as a "babysitter". They are not. They are a companion, a helpmate. I am having this discussion with my mother every day and as far as I'm concerned this person does far more than you could ever realize and in some instances could turn out to save your life some day.
 
I still have 3 horses to keep up with, as well as the mowing and weedeating. Sometimes the horses help with that. :playful: I am also a quilting addict. And I don't mean the tiny machine quilted ones. These are full bed size hand quilted ones. I do a few smaller couch throws, 3X5 feet or so, and once in a while a baby quilt when needed. Today I am bored because its too hot to work outside and my cheap sewing machine broke (less than 100 hours on it) in the middle of creating a new block for a quilt. I'm annoyed and frustrated which makes it hard to settle to something else.
 
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