Get a Hobby!

 Get a Hobby! Book Review

There’s a new book out there for grown-ups that at first glance reminds me of The Dangerous Book For Boys.  It’s got a short introduction and two-page overviews of over a hundred fun activities or hobbies to explore.  It sounded like a real kick, and I was excited to take a look when the Parent Bloggers Network asked me to review this book.

Get a Hobby! 101 All-Consuming Diversions for Any Lifestyle does what it advertises, which is to present short blurbs on a wide variety of activities.  From composting to stargazing to seed trading, if it’s interesting and it’s a hobby, it’s probably in there.  The book is an interesting browse, and it really is amazing to see the bredth of activities that adults occupy themselves with.  Get a Hobby! is such a wide-ranging book, however, that it doesn’t have room to present more than a paragraph about each hobby, a bit of history, a short list of websites and other resources, and maybe a diagram or interview with a hobbyist for each activity. 

The book begins with a 1 page forward, 1 page introduction, and a 19 question test.  I was really interested in the test, thinking maybe I’d find a new interest based on the 19-dimension classification system that the book uses.  Unfortunately, the test is 1-dimensional.  Each question is in essence a filter for whether or not that attribute (”adventurous,” “crafty,” “patient”) applies to the reader.  The end result is a list of adjectives.  Then each new activity is introduced with the highlighted adjectives at the top of the page.  I would have really liked an index that sent me to the ones that were a good match … maybe an accompanying web site will spring up that will use the set of selected adjectives to send the reader directly to suggested activities?

Get a Hobby! is a book that means well, but it may just be a book for a different audience — say, people with more time on their hands than ideas they’d like to implement.  Want to see for yourself?  Go visit PBN and leave a comment on their launch or mid-campaign posts, and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a copy of the book and a $100 gift certificate to Michael’s!

P.S. I almost totally forgot.  Note to authors: Astrology is not a hobby; it’s a lie.

Joovy Caboose

Wondering how to transport your adventurous toddler and cunning baby?  Looking for an alternative beyond the Graco Duo or a sling and a stroller?  Then you may want to check out the Joovy Caboose.  The Caboose is a funky mix of a stroller and ride-on toy for moms with two kids under 5, at least 2 years apart.  It’s an ideal solution for moms of a toddler and a newborn, as the newborn can ride in the front seat with the special car seat attatchment and the toddler (or anyone over age 2.5 and less than 50 pounds) can ride sitting down in the back.  Later, the little one can sit upright or recline (some) in the front seat and the older one can either sit or stand in the back, buckled in or unrestrained. Of course the directions say to strap ‘em in every time, but the part we like best about this is the flexible seating arrangements. 

As I’m strolling with my newborn at a reasonable pace, my toddler can run ahead, lag behind, sit in the “jump seat” of the stroller, or “hop aboard” the back, standing on the running board and holding onto the handles.  All in the span of a minute and a half.  Although it can make for a bit of a hectic walk, it’s all worth it on the trip HOME from the park, when everybody collapses onto the stroller and begins to fall asleep.

Just.

In.

Time.

For.

Nap.

Three cheers for the Joovy Caboose!

Avent breast shells

Avent breast shells.  Use ‘em.  Love em.  Wish I’d known about them before month #4 of nursing baby #2.

A friend mentioned these to me in an offhand way this week, and would you believe I’d never tried ‘em?  I thought they were for inverted nipples.  Boy, was I wrong!  These guys are fabulous for chapped, blistered, bruised, blanched, otherwise injured nipples, or just plain leaking.  For details on use and effectiveness, feel free to check elsewhere, but let me just say, if you’re having nursing difficulties at all, check these out and try them — they give you the space to heal. 

That’s what they do.  These little plastic domes hold the bra away from the breast and let the nipples air-dry and heal between feedings.  Simple.  Easy.  And yet so very critical to the healing.

They also are good to use during a feeding.  Slip one in your bra on the side that the baby isn’t nursing from, and it collects any milk that leaks from that side.  Without compression.  Without soaking rag after rag or pad after pad.  Without worry.

Use ‘em.  Love em.  Heal.

Soothing Soothies

New mothers, breastfeeding mothers, mothers wincing in pain as they try to distract themselves by reading or watching TV over their babies’ soft, downy, sleepy heads as they nurse, I have news for you.

There is a product that you should check out if you’re having pain with nursing your newborn.  They’re called Soothies, and they’re wonderful.  Simply wonderful.  Without being too graphic, if you’re getting blisters and bubbles in all the wrong places, pop a couple of these gel-filled pads on the hurt area betweentimes, and your body will thank you.  Instantly, you’ll feel a cooling sensation, and, as that dissipates, the inflamed area will relax and begin to heal. 

Add in a relaxing pre-soak in hot water and/or an epsom salt solution (soak yourself, not the Soothie) and positioning advice from a licensed breastfeeding consultant or Kellymom.com, and you’re on your way to recovery.

Soothies can be found at your local CVS store or select online retailer.  They’re expensive ($11.99 and up for two), but worth every penny.  Especially if you cut them in half and use only a half-circle at a time.

Bear in the Big Blue House: Woodland Valley

Are they freakin’ kidding me?  As much as I like Bear in the Big Blue House (and I do, oh yes, I do), the later episodes have gotten to be a bit much.

Apparently they ran out of things to talk about in The Big Blue House, and now the episodes feature the world Beyond the Otter Pond.  Good enough, except now there are even more adult characters and references, which seems strange to me.  The 2005 DVD called Bear in the Big Blue House: Practice Makes Perfect contains three episodes, Show Your Stuff, The Great Bandini, and The Old Bear Game.  

The first episode opens with Bear talking about his new hobby.  Whittlin’.  Yes, WHITTLIN’.  As in, sharp knife, piece of wood, 9-1-1, and lots of injuries.  It’s kind of a Dangerous Book for Boys kind of hobby, and that’s okay, except that this is a DVD for PRESCHOOLERS.  The target audience is still using the big fat pencils, for goodness sakes!  To Bear’s credit, he explains it by saying something like, “you carve this piece of wood with this sharp tool, and … well, this is really a hobby for grown-ups.”  You think?  Well, that would all be well and good, except that Bear continues to whittle, and to talk about whittlin’, for the rest of the episode!  I’m wondering how many preschoolers have gone for the knives after viewing this one … particularly the kids who watch these episodes over and over and over again….

The episode that I do like is The Great Bandini.  This episode is also from Summer 2005, but it has fewer objectionable aspects and is in fact quite cute.  Whoopi Goldberg costars as Edwina Badger, a new woodland friend that the gang meets on the way to see The Great Bandini make a special appearance at the local library.  Edwina talks to the friends and helps them see the music all around — the melody of the birds, the rhythm of the crickets, and the deep burp of the bullfrog.  Bear reminisces about Pip and Pop’s hip-hop songs, and the scene flashes back to their ditty “We Love Love!”  While very cute, it is a little intense for the youngest ones.  And the references to Woodstock are just weird.

The last episode is Take Me Out to the Bear Game.  I have to admit, I didn’t watch this one past the first few minutes.  When they introduced baseball cards, and how much fun it is to collect them, I was done.  Again, great pasttime, but not really for toddlers.  Toddler obsessions are too insatiable to include things like baseball cards that are intended for older kids.

This last season of Bear just isn’t as good as the earlier seasons. 

Just my opinion — but now you know it!