Dr. Laura,

I was listening to the call from the woman who was a stay-at-home mom, but because of finances - and other reasons - she went looking for part-time work yet nothing was suiting her fancy.  You told her it's not a good idea for many reasons, but you also told her that one of the main reasons she felt compelled to work was simply because she was bored.

Being a stay-at-home mom myself, I can certainly identify with that! Although I'm busy doing house chores, running errands and cooking, it's not exactly fun. It can be quite tedious and boring actually.

You told her she needed a hobby. You were 100% correct!

The hobby I decided to take up because I was getting bored?   Cooking.

And while that may not seem like a huge deal...after all, I do that on a regular basis out of necessity... anyone who knows me personally would think this significant. When I first married my husband, I could cook all of three things and they came in boxes. Needless to say, the first year we were married before the kids came, and because we were both working full time, we ate out a lot.

However, now that I'm a full time mommy I DID NOT want to teach our children the bad habits my husband and I fell into, so I started to look up some easy recipes online.

Fast forward two years and I cook dinner every night, and at least four days a week I bake something.

I didn't cook all that much in the beginning because no one taught me and I never took the time to learn myself, but, just like with everything, it takes some practice and patience (A LOT of patience on my part as I remember some of my earlier experiments going straight from stove to trash), but the more I kept at it, the better cook I became. And now I actually look forward to cooking, whereas before I considered it just another chore that needed to be done.

My family used to joke with me on the holidays and playfully remind me to stay out of the kitchen. Now when I ask to help they are pleasantly surprised and are impressed that I seem to know what I'm doing!

My point is I took something that I originally really disliked, tackled it, and now really enjoy it! I love to see the look on my husband's face when he takes the first bite of a meal I prepared and I see the satisfied grin on his face.

Thanks for the motivation for taking up hobbies. I challenge people to take up something they didn't think they could do or would like to do. You would be surprised what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it.

Katherine