What do you do that is just for you?

I go to the gym four times a week and hiding out in my potting shed with my earbuds in .

Go into Thornton’s, buy 3 bags of chocolate - Turkish delight, strawberry creams and chocolate gingers - and a huge bag of their plain fudge. Which I then hide in my bedside cabinet. My goodness those bags squeak when I try to open them quietly ...

Norty me. ?

A coffee out, people watching, reading alone, sewing, a facial now and again.

Oh yes and flowers, I agree with others about that.

Sing in a choir and play tennis.

Urmstongran ??? I’m picturing the squeaking! If I’m not sharing something yummy I eat it in my car !

Well, I live on my own, and I am retired, so really everything I do is just for me. One thing I really enjoy, surprisingly, is cleaning. I love to tidy my living room and bedroom, dust and vacuum, clean the windows, water the plants, and then perhaps rearrange some of my ceramics. I think it’s because housework with children, teenagers and a husband in the house is always clearing up after other people, and it never stays completely clean or tidy for long. Now, it just me most of the time, so I make my home as inviting for me as I can. I remember reading that Mary Wilson said she enjoyed polishing the furniture and arranging vases of flowers in a room, standing back and taking it all in, then softly closing the door. I can relate to that.

DoraMarr I’ll leave a door key under the doormat tomorrow when I go out. Thanks. ?

Urmstongran

Monica my idea of a good marriage.

I love flowers too.

Read for as long as I want listening to my favourite music. Buying flowers for myself. Talking to my friend on the phone with a cup of coffee in my hand. A glass of wine and the TV in the afternoon ( more decadent than the evening!) I can do them all whenever because I live on my own and love that most of all

Getting stuck into a good book. I always have at least one on the go.

Playing the piano (not very well!) though somewhat neglected lately because of Stuff and lengthy periods of unavoidable house guests - can’t practise with anyone except dh within earshot.

A blissful afternoon zizz on the sofa! Though can’t do that either with house guests around.

Yennifer, I went to college and did An Art foundation course, one day a week for two years it was so interesting as I had never done anything like that in my working career. I felt alive mixing with both young and older students and met new friends of my own age. These days are completely different I do lots of childminding which takes up a lot of time. When I have time to myself I love to disappear in a quiet room with a good Lego set it is very theraputic.

I lie on my bed and listen to audio books.

Go to the hairdressers (if I had the money, I'd be there every week/ fortnight as my mum and her friends used to to) or have a manicure.
Sit in a comfy chair and read
Watch whatever programme I want to watch without comments from across the room!

I did an MA entirely for me. I did it part time to drag it out as long as possible.
Heaven.
?

... and MUCH cheaper than an undergraduate degree.

I have always read a lot so that has been my escape all my life.

I've got into Postcrossing. It's a worldwide project where you sign up for free and send postcards all over the world. In return you get postcards back from all over the world. The postcards are not connected so each one is a surprise. I love receiving postcards through my door and also choosing and sending them to others. I even choose nice postage stamps from an old collection I was given.

I craft and I read

Urmstogran finished, and thanks for the chocolate biscuits. Same time next week?

Most things I do are exactly what I want to do. I walk with my 2 dogs 3 times a day. I like to cook and bake, I knit as a hobby. I'm available if friends or family need me and I used to volunteer for WVS after I retired from work aged 68. Life is good.

Very kind of you DoraMarr and you’ve done such a good job! I’ll try to be home earlier next week. It would be nice to meet you.
?

Yoga class, ( I have practised Yoga since I was in my 20s) & a dance class. I feel so much better after these classes plus the others who go are great fun & we usually have a coffee afterwards. I did an Art class for 2 years as well- I hope to get back to that later this year. I still enjoy painting at home.
However my passion is reading & the best treat I can have is lying on a sunbed- either in my garden or on a Greek Beach -with a Kindle full of books I have been wanting to read. I read every night before I sleep too & if I wake in night I read then.
I am just waiting for new the Hilary Mantel to come out next week- I suspect the housework will have to take a back seat!
I cannot imagine life without books. Luckily DH is the same.

Playing music with various groups of friends. One group is professionally tutored , so keeps the brain cells working !

Yennifer What a good question! As I am the only human in this house which is run by Maisy, very small dog, and her gang of similar small dogs, it must seem to those on the outside as if everything I do is for myself. In fact I live to be the servant of the dogs and to send things to my children and DGC. I had to think really hard about what I do that is just for myself. I mean I make food but that is out of necessity. I have no motivation to cook just for myself and if there were a human food like the dog food that comes in a bag and is complete in everything I would happily live on it. So what do I do just for myself....?
Read!! I love reading!! I generally read in the loo. Old habit from childhood because my mother couldn't complain about my reading there as she didn't know.
I also love looking things up and finding things out. The internet is wonderful for me!
Talking about food, I have got it down to a fine art. I have an all in one cooker thingy. (In fact I'm on my third). I put everything in it and turn it on. Yesterday I put a whole bag of frozen casserole root veg and onions in, with a tin of cannelloni beans and a few handfuls of ginger, herbs de Provence and turmeric and some other stuff and cooked it then added a can of lentil soup. Usually I just use dry lentils. I thicken it with milk and cornflour. I use it on its own or add other things (often spinach and broccoli) or have it with anything else. It's the nearest I can get to my all-encompassing food, or human answer to dog food. Obviously I freeze it in one-meal sized bags.

NotSpaghetti. Many Congratulations! That sounds wonderful! Good for you! I keep toiling with the idea of doing something like that which is just about something I like and not career related. Do you mind me asking, is it expensive? Also, how did you manage to make the time frame suit you and not have to keep within a rigid and imposed structure?