Knitting at the movies.
Going to the movies is a great family activity for many people. It has been a treat for our family to go to the local theater together for a long time. And, being a small town, we almost always see friends there too. Seeing the movies together has always given us good discussion topics with each other. I like to think that our willingness to show an interest in their entertainment has kept us closer to our children. Where is it written that being a Parent inherently means that you cannot possibly share common interests with your Kids? And no, I do not mean that Parents should Act like Kids or try to Be Kids......
When our kids were little, I usually had one sitting on my lap, or holding my hand or something that occupied my hands while we were there. I'm thinking we probably went to the shorter movies back then too. Somewhere along the line, I started becomming anxious at movies and had problems sitting still. I began to dread everything about the movies; driving there, waiting in line, sitting through the previews, the time involved ....... Especially if we drove to "The City" to one of the big Multi-Plex Theaters. I realized that I was coming up with excuses to not go with DH & the Kids. OMG! I was becoming that lady that we know that is proud of not having seen a movie in 20 years!
Then, I discovered that I can take my knitting with me to the movies. It has to be a project geared toward knitting in the dark. It requires the use of "silent" needles and techniques that don't involve big hand or arm movements. Big yarn, bamboo needles, simple stitches, no pattern reading ......... With these givens, I can calmly ride for an hour, stand in line and wait in the theater for another hour and then relax through a three hour movie and watch all the way through the credits for the funny little extras that some tack onto the end. AND an hour home. Sometimes inculding a restaurant meal before or after. So, anywhere from Two to Six hours of knitting time gained.
Added bonus: not eating nearly as many snacks or drinking as much expensive soda. Calories and Dollars saved! And, less caffeine late in the evening. Why do movie theaters never have drinks with no caffeine and no sugar?
Showing posts with label therapy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label therapy. Show all posts
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Personal Experience: Knitting as a way to deal with ADHD, OCD and other disorders.
Are any of you experienced in dealing with "disorders" like Depression, ADHD or OCD?
I've been working at getting mine under control, whatever it is.
I'm going to try listing the benefits.
Kind of a "count your blessings" exercise.
This may take several days and many postings.
I don't expect to get it right the first time.
(And you have no idea how hard it is for me to let people possibly see something that isn't perfect and finished.)
I've been working at getting mine under control, whatever it is.
I'm going to try listing the benefits.
Kind of a "count your blessings" exercise.
This may take several days and many postings.
I don't expect to get it right the first time.
(And you have no idea how hard it is for me to let people possibly see something that isn't perfect and finished.)
Thursday, February 10, 2011
A moment of Clarity
My dear, dear family and DH don't often understand my Hoarding Issues. And they often ask "Why?", and I've been having a thought on that today......
Some of you may have grown up going to the library all the time. I did not. Our little neighborhood school libraries were a good try, but nothing like what I discovered later.
Some of you may have had a library in your home, and subscriptions to magazines that came in the mail. I did not. Our "family library" was a 3' wide 4' tall bookcase. One whole shelf was occupied by The World Book Encyclopedia. I was a voracious reader and read through the whole thing one summer when I was about 12. There was one dictionary, published before my birth, and one Bible, awarded to a parent for Sunday School attendance in 1934. While I do think I read the dictionary, I'm pretty sure that I haven't read the whole Bible yet.
When I started college, we were expected to know how to use an "index to periodicals". I remember discovering the archived magazine section at the libraries. They had ancient copies of the most fascinating publications; all bound into volumes by year. It was like an archaeological find, only not so much dust. Before then, I had no idea that there were so many magazines on such a wide variety of crafts and arts. I think I "wasted" a great deal of a year or two of college lurking in the depths of those archives. That was before my Hoarding got to be a problem. Everything I would ever need to know was at the library, open almost 24 hours a day, a short walk from my dorm room.
Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe those archives were a contributing factor to the problem. As time went by, I learned that my little college library sold off great numbers of books and magazines at a book sale every year. Their capacity for storage had been reached, and the oldest and least read had to make way for the new and the popular. At 4 books for $1 or $5 per bag, how could anyone let these precious tomes get away? As long as they were in the Library, it was possible to go there and see the patterns and read the articles if they were needed. As they were sold off, they went to live in someone else's stash closet, or horrors! to that new recycling center in the mall parking lot. Then they would be "Gone". As time went by, the big University Library and the Public Library in the University Town started getting rid of their stuff too, and I was always right there to buy and haul home as many boxes and bags of books as I could afford. By the time we set up housekeeping, and I was home with little ones, even the small town local Library was getting rid of periodicals over 5 years old. They were giving them away free! They, too, had a Fund Raising Book Sale every summer. It was for a good cause. And I was giving them a good-ish home. Right?
Sometimes, I've discovered that I actually had 2 or even more copies of the exact same issue. I even spent a great lot of money on magazines on eBay at the height of the problem.
In reality, they stacked up in places inhospitable to paper and decayed away in many gruesome ways. They have taken up space that could have been put to better use. Space that has been expensive to maintain, hard to acquire, never enough of. They have required heating in the winter and venting in the summer. They have been drowned by rising water and roof leaks. They have been nibbled and gnawed by mice and moths and who knows what else.
These collections were read only occasionally. When I did try to find a half remembered article or pattern, it could never be found in the chaos. It became much easier to just make up a pattern than to find the one I was looking for. And now, with the Internet and Ravelry, and all the company websites like Bernat and Lion Brand and Interweave, isn't it easier now than ever to find exactly the pattern or idea that I need? Without the Paper Overload?
This may be a breakthrough moment; wish I had a therapist to talk to about it. Maybe it's time to let more of them go..........
Some of you may have grown up going to the library all the time. I did not. Our little neighborhood school libraries were a good try, but nothing like what I discovered later.
Some of you may have had a library in your home, and subscriptions to magazines that came in the mail. I did not. Our "family library" was a 3' wide 4' tall bookcase. One whole shelf was occupied by The World Book Encyclopedia. I was a voracious reader and read through the whole thing one summer when I was about 12. There was one dictionary, published before my birth, and one Bible, awarded to a parent for Sunday School attendance in 1934. While I do think I read the dictionary, I'm pretty sure that I haven't read the whole Bible yet.
When I started college, we were expected to know how to use an "index to periodicals". I remember discovering the archived magazine section at the libraries. They had ancient copies of the most fascinating publications; all bound into volumes by year. It was like an archaeological find, only not so much dust. Before then, I had no idea that there were so many magazines on such a wide variety of crafts and arts. I think I "wasted" a great deal of a year or two of college lurking in the depths of those archives. That was before my Hoarding got to be a problem. Everything I would ever need to know was at the library, open almost 24 hours a day, a short walk from my dorm room.
Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe those archives were a contributing factor to the problem. As time went by, I learned that my little college library sold off great numbers of books and magazines at a book sale every year. Their capacity for storage had been reached, and the oldest and least read had to make way for the new and the popular. At 4 books for $1 or $5 per bag, how could anyone let these precious tomes get away? As long as they were in the Library, it was possible to go there and see the patterns and read the articles if they were needed. As they were sold off, they went to live in someone else's stash closet, or horrors! to that new recycling center in the mall parking lot. Then they would be "Gone". As time went by, the big University Library and the Public Library in the University Town started getting rid of their stuff too, and I was always right there to buy and haul home as many boxes and bags of books as I could afford. By the time we set up housekeeping, and I was home with little ones, even the small town local Library was getting rid of periodicals over 5 years old. They were giving them away free! They, too, had a Fund Raising Book Sale every summer. It was for a good cause. And I was giving them a good-ish home. Right?
Sometimes, I've discovered that I actually had 2 or even more copies of the exact same issue. I even spent a great lot of money on magazines on eBay at the height of the problem.
In reality, they stacked up in places inhospitable to paper and decayed away in many gruesome ways. They have taken up space that could have been put to better use. Space that has been expensive to maintain, hard to acquire, never enough of. They have required heating in the winter and venting in the summer. They have been drowned by rising water and roof leaks. They have been nibbled and gnawed by mice and moths and who knows what else.
These collections were read only occasionally. When I did try to find a half remembered article or pattern, it could never be found in the chaos. It became much easier to just make up a pattern than to find the one I was looking for. And now, with the Internet and Ravelry, and all the company websites like Bernat and Lion Brand and Interweave, isn't it easier now than ever to find exactly the pattern or idea that I need? Without the Paper Overload?
This may be a breakthrough moment; wish I had a therapist to talk to about it. Maybe it's time to let more of them go..........
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