Keep On Learning And You’ll Never Be Bored

I must say, I am seldom bored. I have many things I can do that keep me from being bored.

My mother attempted to teach me to knit. I tried knitting, but I kept the yarn too tight - so tight that the acrylic yarns squeaked against the aluminum needles.

Mother tried to teach me how to crochet as well. Fourth-grade me found it difficult to learn. Mother was left-handed and I’m right-handed, so it just didn’t work. In high school though, I picked up Mother’s copy of a “Learn How” book by Coats and Clark and following the directions, which included illustrations, I began crocheting. I still have that copy (well, my granddaughter does). I also have the same book my mother-in-law used to learn to crochet.

So if I’m facing boredom, I can pick up my hooks and yarn. I always have yarn, and have so many crochet hooks I can work with almost any type of yarn or thread. I make doilies, blankets, afghans, hats, purses, cell phone pockets; there are so many things. I have a huge collection of books with patterns; so many, there’s no way I could make every pattern in my lifetime.

My grandmother taught me to embroider, and counted cross stitch is a type of embroidery. There’s needlepoint as well. My living room walls are covered with pieces of embroidery and cross stitch. I’ve even charted cross stitch charts when I have an idea that I’ve not seen elsewhere.

When I started dating the man who would be my husband, I was taught how to dance to country and western music - the two-step, waltz, schottische, polka and Cotton Eyed Joe. We went dancing regularly, and still enjoy dancing if it’s not too far from home. Once we had kids, we and other parents got them together to learn those dances. We even learned the “Electric Glide” with them!

Another thing we learned when we started dating was the domino game “Forty-Two.” We play for fun, and the challenge, but we don’t take it as seriously as some players do. The kids have learned the game and when there are huge family gatherings - cousins, aunts and uncles - there will be at least one game going on somewhere, if there aren’t three or four games!

On Sundays, we have dinner at our house. Attendees are our children, their spouses, the grandchildren, the single brother in-law and friends who are occasionally invited. It can get rather crazy and definitely loud! And with that crowd, there’s never a dull moment! Everyone has a sense of humor, and we laugh at each other and at ourselves. As the day progresses, the children will have us pull out board games. We have a variety, including dominoes. Regular dominoes help the grandchildren with their early math skills. The dominoes are also often set up so that tapping one in the row, the rest fall down in order. Or they’re used as building blocks, until someone jiggles the table and they all come crashing down.

Speaking of building blocks, I picked up some “mini blocks,” like Legos, only tiny. I had to limit myself, because there are so many available and I don’t have the space to display them all. Unlike crochet, embroidery and cross stitch, they can’t be hung on the walls.

Puzzles! Jigsaw puzzles. I used to buy them before I had kids. The favorite ones, rather than returning them to their box, I would mount finished puzzles on boards. I have two hanging on the walls. I recently picked up a wooden version of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” a favorite subjectThen there’s always solitaire. I think Mother taught me how to play to keep peace in the house. With three children, it was always two against one. We girls would tease our brother, or one of us would team with the brother to pick on the remaining sibling. I learned a basic solitaire game, and Mother taught me one that is almost impossible to win. I learned it when I was around twelve, and I’ve only won it once, and that was recently! I learned two other versions from a computer program. They challenge the brain.

I also enjoy reading, historical romance, suspense (no horror), books that combine those genres. I enjoy re-reading books.

And there’s always reading the Bible. I’ve not gone all the way through the King James Bible, my preferred translation, but I’ve read something from each of the 66 books. And believe it or not, there are “rabbit holes” in the Bible. Follow the references and you learn something “new.”

My husband is mechanically inclined. He can fix just about anything. But he can also create things. Woodworking in high school taught him that nothing is impossible. If he sees a need for something, he’ll build it. He has helped our daughter- in-law and the grandchildren create things from scraps of metal. Pumpkins made up of horseshoes, for example.

I bought a small record player, and had no place to put it. It was one of those things that if you put it away, you don’t make use of it. So he built a table that’s the perfect size, with storage for LP records. All with scraps of metal, 1” x 1” metal tubing, and wood accents from scraps of plywood. Scorched and stained. It’s beautiful.

So if you ever think you are bored, look around. Surely there is something you can do to fill your time, even if it is just sitting on the sofa with snacks and a television, DVD player, or if you’re like me, you have a collection of VHS tapes!