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While in Hibernation--what are you doing for fun?

Janice
15 years ago

I'm really getting addicted to some games I find online, and ultimately purchase if I really like them.

For instance, I purchased a 'bejeweled' type of game, recently that enables me to win game $$$

that I in turn use to populate an aquarium, with fish, decorations and important life-sustaining

items--such as feeders, heaters, lighting etc. It's very addictive for me. It's a very high-resolution

type of graphics and game and the music is really great--not so panicky as many timed games tend to be!

It is really fun and relaxing (for me) to sit and watch the fish swim about amongst the waving greenery

in the personally designed aquariums I've created! A very cool *pay-off* for winning the games!

I also enjoy the 'seek and find' games where items are hidden in scenes and you are given a list of what to find!

Some of these can have very outstanding graphics and resolution while others are pretty poor! Thankfully, what

I've obtained are of the excellent type!

In the 'seek and find' games I have are also very complex brain teaser puzzles that you have to figure out,

on your own, as to what they are wanting you to do and what to achieve. Some of the 'teasers' I've done

very well at solving, some take me more times to try and some I've just not figured out, at all----YET, but

I'm fairly tenacious when I set my mind to something and hopefully I will crack them ALL one day!!!

I definitely see, that many of these games sharpen me. I can think faster and solve them much faster

as I continue doing them. I also find they are helping me with my memory and focusing during the day!

So, that is my justification--I'm improving my skills, concentration, memory and still having fun doing it!!

I have tons of jewelry-making material, complete with all that is required to make my own faux stones, etc.

but during the day I am currently working on the 'big-boy' room for our one grandson, since little brother

is due to arrive any day now, unfortunately in a breech position so far!

I've stripped and repainted several pieces of OLD furniture and my hubby made a 'toddler' bed (that I designed)

which can use his crib mattress! I really like how it turned out! I need to take a pic. of the pieces and show

you what's been done.

Right now, I'm making the valances for the two windows and also painting additional tables for the room,

hubby built and will be doing my FIRST reupholstering project, an old rocker (for the big-boy room) my

mother found and had planned on restoring before she died, but didn't get to do, obviously. I know that she

never dreamed I'd be doing that work and that it would be used in her 'great' grandson's room!! I find that

a very comforting thought and really wish she could see what has transpired with our daughters since she and

my Dad's death in that car accident!!

I'm presently waiting on a couple of reupholstering books, that I ordered, to arrive before I continue

removing the fabric that has been partially removed by my mother. I know to use those pieces as pattern

pieces but removing the nasty little upholstering nails (really sinking into the 'cherry' wood) is a bear so far,

EVEN with the appropriate tool!!!

All that to say, I play the games at night when I can't see so well to do any sewing or jewelry making!

The jewelry-making is on hold, right now, because of the other projects.

And, we've yet to lay the laminate flooring in our family room--laminate because of the dog toe-nails

being something that is very damaging to the real wood flooring!! :o( Hopefully, we will get that done

before Spring, but I'm not holding my breath! Long sighhhhhh!

SO--what are YOU doing to while away the hours till Springtime??

Comments (11)

  • hostasformez4
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Janice,

    We're leaving all the cold and snow here in N W Illinois and heading for hopefully sunny Florida for a couple of months.

    I too love the 'fish game' you got and when I get back I plan on buying it so I can plan the full screen version all the time.

    I also play Bridge on line in the winter when I have more time. There are some really intense people who play the game and they want to keep their ratings so they leave the games if they are loosing so it won't lower it. I have a beginner rating too but stick it out to the end and loose rating points by doing that. Oh well!!!

    Hopefully all will go better for all my spring garden plans than they did last year. I'm feeling stronger and have lots to change in the garden. My one New Year's resolution was to take more pictures. That way I'll have more to share with all of my hosta friends.

    Connie

  • tsbccowboy
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Last night we played Sequence with the neighbors.

    I like to play Sudoku when I am home alone. I used to play online Hearts on Yahoo, but haven't played in quite awhile.

    This winter I made a lot of , lots of fun and easy to do. These were given to family members for Christmas. Trays were bought at Goodwill and were used to hold the magnets.

    It seems like we are shoveling snow a lot this year.

    (Connie - enjoy Florida! It will be Hosta time when you return.)

    Also, enjoying friends and seeing their Hosta photos and other photos on the forums,
    Cowboy

  • Janice
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Connie--you 'traitor', 'winter-bird/chicken'! You're leaving the rest of us to fly south and
    leave it all to the rest of us to get through???LOL "You, go girl" and have a good time cause I
    grew up in Florida and I love the snow even having lived in the 'north' for 40 years now! I don't
    ever want to LIVE in Florida again--nice to visit, on occasion but NOT to live in, IMO!

    John--because of your recommendation, we purchased Sequence over the holidays and really enjoyed
    playing it with some of our relatives! I think it will become one of the games we pull out when we want
    a leisurely and fun evening with friends--along with Balderdash as a favorite!

    Have you ever played Pit? Love that one--lots of laughter but involves lots of yelling and grabbing and
    standing--not very leisurely, for sure!!

    I know you're loving the results of your magnet-making and so am I!!! :o)

    Whatever it is we do this winter, I hope we all wind up in good shape for Spring! I'm finally making use
    of the elliptical machine we purchased a year ago. I looked at it set-up in our family room for several months,
    decided it wasn't doing much for me there, so we moved it into a spare bedroom, where glancing at it as I
    passed by the doorway still produced nothing for me and FINALLY decided I must have to get on it for a
    period of time to see any results!! Hope it works better that way than it has otherwise!!! :o)

    Thank you, Connie and John (hot sauce) for reasons to believe there really IS 'life' still out there on this forum!!

    And, speaking of life--where are you Joyce?? I usually can count on seeing evidence from you, that are you're
    checking in on your old hosta friends--along with Connie--who is leaving us soon, so the numbers will definitely
    be down with her 'leaving' us!!

    Hang in there, John!! It gets cold and lonely on 'this side' in January-March! :o)

  • Hosta_Haven
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm keeping busy repairing any garden statues/fixtures that cracked...even brought a fountain in to see what I can do.

    I got three bowling balls from my late father-in-law's house that I'm going to turn into garden globes...one using pennies and the other two glass stones. I have the exterior adhesive now so I can start ...

    I painted some birdhouses I got from the dollar store...turned out very cute.

    And I am gutting my closets...my DIL and I are making a Goodwill run on Wed. We all lost quite a bit of weight last year - me, 38#, my DIL about 60 and my son 70#!!! So we all have lots of 'too big' clothes to donate. (In case anybody is wondering...formula is simple. Walk 2-4 miles/day and take in 1200 cal/day. My husband and I eat 1400/day thus we are not losing as much/fast.)

    Well, I gotta get to work...I have closets to clean out!

    Char

  • just1morehosta
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Janice,
    I have been keeping busy winter sowing lots of seeds,if you remember, we lost 9+ trees in the fall,so i now have a hole in the forest,with SUN,so, i need some sun loving plants,and found winter sowing to be just the ticket to get them.

    Mt daughter and i have been reading up on soap making,we really want to make organic soap and lotion,i think we will be ready some time in Feb.

    I remember you saying you were going to start on your jewlery making,have you finishes any pieces yet?

    Boy, you are really busy,where did you get that energy? Send me some will you.:0)I am still studing for my GED.BORING!!!!!
    I have such a hard time remembering what i read,i guess because i am not interested in science,at my age,i have never had to know a lot of what you have to know,gurrrr.

    I have not been posting,but keeping up on all of you,so i know your health is good,i have to laugh at your comment about your exercise machine,you just may see some results by using it,instead of glancing at it,ha ha ha
    Good luck.

    I hope your new grandbaby turns,breach is kind of scarry eh?I think a lot of babies turn during labor don't they?
    So, will the new "Big boy room" be a permenant room?,or will he just be staying with you while mom is in the hospital?

    Mt grandaughter stayed with me 4 days before Christmas,she is 13,and a delight.
    All three of my grandchildren stay with us a week every summer,great fun.

    Well, i have babbled on and on,so i will let you go,keep warm and stay well.

    Post a few pictures when you can ok.
    Carol

    I winter sowed somw hosta seed last month,and today i did a couple container and placed them on my windowsill,anxious to see what happenes.
    Nice talking to you.
    Carol

  • jel48
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Janice and everyone. Hibernating is about it, since we got home from our Christmas trip! We have snow here... The latest updated numbers (1/13/09) were 176+ inches total with just under 36 inches currently on the ground. That's where it's not piled up, of course.

    And just in case anyone doesn't realize what that much snow means.... here are some pics :-)

    {{gwi:347796}}

    I hope those pics didn't slow the thread down too much when opening.

    Anyway, we're pretty much staying home and watching movies. Lots and lots of movies.

    But the dogs still need to be walked three times a day. And every morning (almost - at least 4 of 5) I need to drag the snow blower out before real daylight and clean the end of the driveway where the snowplow has pushed snow up nearly knee high (on days where it didn't snow much) and sometimes much higher then that (on days when it did snow several inches).

    Usually, when I look out a window, it looks like I'm looking INTO a freshly shaken snow globe :-)

    We had good intentions for this winter. We still have quite a few things in boxes from our move to this house. We planned (and still do) on putting in a number of shelves. But so far, when we're home we've mostly watched movies!

    Oh, we did go to a Michigan Tech Hockey game, and a high school basketball game, and maybe will catch another Tech Hockey game this weekend.

    I think I'm ready for summer :-)

  • papou
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hey!! I was going to complain about the cold weather...and snow...here in Canada. minus 32 deg. Celcius this morning.
    But Joyce your pics sure beats anything we've had here. WOW!!

    Janice, this coming week, I will get the results of a recent Bone Scan and Abdomen Scan....and DW and I should most likely drive down to Florida at the end of the month...can't wait...

    Therese is busy on a daily basis with her needle-point hobby. We play Rummy-O twice a day.
    My son moved into his new home a couple of weeks ago and we intend to make a 3 hr drive to visit them soon.

    Susan and Charlie...our hosta friends from Syracuse...have contacted us. They are soon going to Tampa...and will come and visit us in Margate, Fl

    Papou

  • Janice
    Original Author
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Papou--I still am praying for you and I hope your most recent scan proves to be very good for you
    and that you get to go to Florida and enjoy the sunshine there this winter! How did you pick Margate
    to winter over in, out of all of Florida? I grew up in Ocala/Silver Springs and lived there till I married
    and moved up NORTH!! :O)

    Joyce--that is some SERIOUS SNOW!!! I confess that I still love the snow after all these many years of
    living up NORTH! Beats the dreary gray skies we have if there isn't any on the ground!! It always seems
    like a good reason for me to curl up with a fire and a good book and let all the other 'dailies' take a rest!

    Carol--I've been too busy to really do any jewelry making but I hope I will finally get back 'at it'
    before too long--but I do have LOTS to do in the meantime!

    Good news--the baby has finally turned in the right direction--thank You, Lord and if he doesn't get going
    before next Monday, the 26th, the doctor insists she will induce her!! Our daughter does not want to do that
    so we are praying he will "come on down" before then!!!

    I love the idea of making organic soap!!! I know that could be really fun and profitable if you choose to sell
    them!!! I love the scent of hyacinths, jasmine, lilac and honeysuckle, peonies, lily of the valley, and.....
    'Plantaginea' ;o) just in case you need any suggestions of fragrances! :o)

    Char--I've been wanting to do one of those penny bowling balls, myself and even have all the pennies to do it
    and I'm sure I have a bowling ball stored in the top of our garage, too! Please post a pic. of yours when it's done!
    I even have the instructions on making one---somewhere on this computer!!!

    Oh, Connie--hope you see this before you leave us---I bought the 'Fishdom' game (CD) from Amazon for $12.99
    plus shipping--unless you buy something else to bring the amount up to $25, then it's free shipping!! Beats paying
    more for it online, especially if you want the back-up CD with it!!! Love that little game--way too much!!!!

    So good to hear from you all, and Papou--I hope and pray to hear more good things from you, before long!!

  • dansgrdn
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've been growing hosta seedlings and running up my credit cards with new streaked breeders for next year. Here a few of the babies in my basement.


    Dan

  • jel48
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You sure have some beautiful babies there Dan. I didn't get anything set up for starting seedlings yet (in the new place). I sure am missing seeing them grow, though I've never had any as pretty as yours!

  • jel48
    15 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We have something fun coming up this weekend. Actually, it started on Thursday, but we won't be able to go until Saturday. Michigan Tech has a winter carnival. I put a link below, but will (of course :-) take my own photos and will probably post some later.

    We also snowshowed in to our camp/cabin last weekend. Mainly to check on how much snow was piled on top of the roof and to clean snow off of the popup camper top. But it was a lot of fun too. My first time on snowshoes. Whew! That's some good exercise!

    And the deer out that way... amazing! Not a good thing for growing hostas so I guess the hostas will stay at the house in town and I'll grow 'deer resistant' plants out at the camp. But the deer are really great to watch. Someone (I imagine a lot of someones) out at Eagle River feeds them there. We've been out and I've taken pics twice. Last weekend there were over a hundred deer out there and you can get fairly close to them.

    So..... what have the rest of you been doing lately?

    Here is a link that might be useful: Winter Carnival 2009 Snow Statue photographs