Down Time

If you’re reading to find something to do this weekend, I would recommend going to see Central High School’s production of the comedy Nunsense! Show times are: Friday at 7:30 P.M., Saturday at 2:00 P.M. & 7:30 P.M., and Sunday at 2:00 P.M. Tickets are $10 a person. Call the school at 261 – 3438 for more information.

Now, with the school semester coming to a close, we’re looking towards a long 3 months of kids home from their respective schools and colleges, wondering how to spend their time. Now is a great time to start picking up a craft or hobby, or brushing up on one you haven’t done in a while. You can take the summer to start a project, or to teach your invaluable craft to your children. You may even get a group together that shares your interest in that hobby!

If you’re looking to teach a craft to your kids, an easy one to do together is scrapbooking. I know that the word seems almost offensive to some people, imagining stickers, silly photos, magazine clippings, cute little flowers and funny quotes all pasted with Elmer’s Glue into a book, but scrapbooking is really much more than that. You can organize your massive collection of photos, both of family and friends. Get together with your kids and have them help you choose their favorite pictures of your family vacations. You can even get them a kids’ digital camera, and they can take their own pictures of their favorite places and things and put them into their personal scrapbook. It’s a great way to make memories you can go back to for a lifetime.

For a less “girly” hobby, look into whittling. I’m serious! It is an art form that, for many years, was passed down through generations of men, father to son. This is not to say that a mother or a daughter couldn’t do it, I would truly encourage that. Go to the Central library on Joor Road to find a helpful book to get you started! Also, if you’re really interested, stock up with a pack of Ivory soap. It’s great to practice with a dull knife (plastic, even) and a bar of soft soap before you get to the sharp stuff. You don’t want to give a child a knife with which they can hurt themselves, after all.

I recommend finding a group of people that are interested in pursuing a new hobby along with you. Get together every week or two to encourage and help teach one another. Even if you can’t find four people that want to whittle with you, find four people who just want to take up a portable craft. You’ll learn a lot when you work with others.