Not Just A Mom: Hobbies

Today with the Not Just A Mom bloggers, we are talking about our hobbies. I told Dave that I was broadly defining hobbies as "things I enjoy doing." Otherwise, I feel like I don't have any :) The "Not Just A Mom" bloggers are Sarah, Dara, Joanne, Adrienne, Lauren, and Jen. (Click on each name to go their blogs.)

1) Reading

If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know I love to read. I used to participate in readathons although I haven't lately. I'm usually reading two or three books at a time, and since I read quite quickly, I read a lot of books every year. I've already read 133 books in 2023.

I love reading so much that I, with another few bloggers, started an online book club during Covid. We've met together once a month for almost three years now and it has been one of my favourite book clubs ever.

 

2) Blogging

This leads me to my second hobby -- blogging. I have been blogging for over sixteen years now. For the first few years, this blog chronicled my and Dave's adventures as we moved across the country so Dave could attend grad school. Dave used to write more posts but, after a few years, almost all of the posts were written by me.

 

I never ever imagined that my blog would lead to some amazing friendships. I feel so fortunate to have met a number of blog friends in our various travels. And I am so thankful for all of you who read here and comment and have become such an important part of my life.

This is me with Dara and Sarah last year when Dara's family came to Canada and we all met up. Dara and Sarah are two of the Not Just A Mom bloggers.

3) Watching baseball games

You're probably not surprised by this one, are you?!?! I don't even think Dave knew how deep my love of baseball ran when we met. I especially love my Toronto Blue Jays but I'm happy to go to any baseball game. One of my baseball dreams is to visit every MLB ball park (I've been to eight out of thirty) and then my next dream would be to see the Jays play at every park. I've only seen them at two other parks (Comerica Park in Detroit and PNC Park in Pittsburgh) thus far.

Left: Rachel and I at PNC Park, Pittsburgh; right: Sam and I at Kauffman Stadium, Kansas City

Left: Baseball is fun with a drink!; Right: Sam and I at The Skydome, the Blue Jays home (officially, it's called The Rogers Centre but don't get me started on that...) 

I also love unique baseball experiences, like going to a Blue Jays playoff game last October...

...and seeing the Blue Jays play at their Spring Training stadium in Dunedin, Florida this past March. 

4) Walking

I love to walk. I am so much happier when I can go for a walk. I mostly walk to work every day, I love to walk along my favourite path to our uptown to go the library or to Starbucks or for ice cream, I love to do a forest walk with Dave (especially in winter). I just really love to walk.

5) Hanging laundry on the line

Dave was arguing that this isn't a hobby, but I think it is. I cannot emphasize how incredibly happy hanging laundry on the line makes me. It instantly makes my day better. I know this is ridiculous but I've decided that this is a hobby for me -- hahaha!!! I even have a special clothespin apron my aunt made for me to make hanging laundry easier. And I've hung out so much laundry, I'm actually on my second clothespin apron!

6) Baking and trying fun new recipes, mostly from Pinterest

I really love to bake and I'm a sucker for an interesting new recipe. I get ideas from friends on Instagram and from Pinterest. I've made dandelion shortbread, decorated focaccia, made a watermelon out of Rice Krispies, and, just this past weekend, I made peach oatmeal muffins and a marinated tomato experiment.

7) Yard work

I also love to do yard work. Not much makes me happier than laundry hanging on the line and a flower bed to tend to. Just like hanging out laundry, being able to do yard work instantly makes my day better. In fact, after I've been really sick, the way I can tell I'm feeling better is by when I want to do yard work. I'll often be up for that before I'm up for eating - hahaha!

8) Finding fun things for my family to do

My last hobby is finding fun, and random, things for my family to do. Sometimes, it's something for when we go on vacation and sometimes it's a lot closer to home. I really enjoy a unique experience and my family lovingly puts up with me. Sometimes, they even enjoy it too!

Left: skating in a forest in January 2023; right: Illumi near Toronto, August 2023

Left: Rachel and I explored Candytopia in New York City, August 2023; Right: We walked through a field of sunflowers, August 2023

So those are some of (all of?) my hobbies. Is there anything I wrote about which you wouldn't consider a hobby? Do we have any of these in common? Is there anything I shared which surprised you?