Hobby Adventure!!!

I like to define myself by my hobbies rather than what I do for a living (because what I do for a living isn't that interesting or meaningful to the world), but I think my hobbies are a bit too broad in scope.

I crochet. Well that's nice. What do I crochet? Originally, only rectangular things and only one stitch. This meant lots of scarfs and blankets. I branched out to hats using a cheater method called the "nifty knitter." This past summer/fall I learned a new stitch and began making hats on my own, and not just any hats but animals hats. Of course, animal hats aren't really that high in demand unless you know a lot of little kids. No, what I want to do now is protest crochet following in the spirit of these awesome protest knitters.

Also, I used to be primarily a baker, then I branched out into cooking, and I have lost the touch with some of my baking. It's time to reclaim the world of baking and perhaps emphasize savory things because I don't like sweets that much. Though my first desire is to bake something like what I ate for breakfast, which was sweet. It came from a local mexican bakery and looked like one of those McDonald's apple pie pastries in shape and had the same little breather gaps. However, it wasn't hard and crusty like the tiny apple pies. It was just about the flakiest pastry I have eaten and had a cream cheese filling. Taste-wise, it was like a cheese danish, but less sticky and more flakey. Absolutely amazing. I want to make those first.

Then I will focus more on useful pastries--things I can take for lunch. Little quiches, pot pies, a homemade hot pocket things, stromboli, etc. I better start getting better about stopping by the Y after work.

New Life Goal - Master Upholstery

I really, really want to become an accomplished upholsterer. This isn't just a crackpot dream of mine.

I would like to be able to recover the chair in my living room with fabric I actually like instead of using an orange sheet stuck all over the bottom with dangerous pins.

I would like to be able to respond to the cat-astrophe that willl someday be my couch because Tonks really isn't half as fond of her scratching posts as she is the corners of the couch.

I would like to just do this as a hobby. I'm sitting in front of a pretty, shapely table at the moment, but it has some discoloration on the surface, and all I can think is "I could fix that."

Yep. I need to find a class on upholstering. Then I need to wait until my lease runs out, move into an affordable little house that is not downtown but that has a garage, and set up a little hobby shop for refinishing and reupholstering furniture.

Is it odd that I think that would be fun? I think I miss doing things with my hands. All I ever use is my mind, and it's getting a bit tired.

Sometimes I even imagine that I quit my job, open a bakery coffee shop that specializes in savory scones, and sell refurbished furniture from a side room. Of course, one has to have money for such dreams. And, let's be real, if I was running a bakery coffee shop, when would I ever have time to refinish and reupholster furniture?

Also, these are all things I enjoy that I think I might not enjoy so much if they became work. They are best as hobbies/pieces of a daydream.