Have you picked up any random hobbies during this pandemic? Here’s my newest pastime…
If stage one of quarantine is getting a mask, and stage two is baking bread, and stage three is stopping baking bread, and stage five is cutting bangs, and stage fifteen is following Connell’s Chain on Instagram, I’ve reached stage forty three.
Limericks.
You guys, I’ve become obsessed with writing limericks. It began this weekend, when my friend’s husband asked us to write one for her birthday. Suddenly I’ve found myself writing one for everyone I know. My kids are making so much fun of me, and Alex is being supportive but you can tell he’s kind of like, wait what is going on? ;)
Here are a few examples…
Alex:
There once was a writer from Brooklyn
Who loved his kids, ’60s rock and dry gin
To keep his wife cheery
He kept his beard beardy
A nicer guy there never has been
My mom:
There once was a mom with cold hands
Who wore silk shirts and black Capri pants
But her real secret skill
Comes when things go downhill
Have a worry? Jeannie understands
They’re ADDICTIVE. Want me to write one for you? Here goes…
These readers, so funny and smart,
Discuss Trader Joe’s, dating and art
Stinky cheese they adore —
And the smell of bookstores —
Our love for them is off the charts
And for very close readers:
A group of women who are literary
Wow us daily with smart commentary
These well-rounded folks
Have the best inside jokes
Like, shopping carts? Do it for Larry!
Omg, someone please stop me. Have you gotten into anything new/weird/random lately? If you want to, write your own limerick below! xo
P.S. More nerdiness, and readers show off their cozy spaces.
(Photo by Christine Han.)
80
K-dramas have helped quarantine
my brain when it just wants to scream.
The news drove me batty;
inner voice got real chatty.
Through subtitles, escape was my theme.
Haha! Fabulous!
why stop?
you bring joy with those!
Hahaha this made me so happy. I have the biggest grin on my face as I read. You’re so good! And if it makes you feel any better, I too went through a limerick phase, while working at a bookstore. We would come up with them while standing at the register to pass the time. :)
Aw brilliant, inspired by this I tried writing a limerick about our family to cheer my sister up as she is in quarantine ATM due to Covid at her school (she’s a teacher).
Needless to say it was quite rubbish and involved toilet humour. I sent it to the family whatsapp and my brother said “you know when you just feel REALLY related to someone? That’s how I feel because I know we are all going to love that limerkick and I know Gen loved writing it”. True! I did :D
Thanks for this fun post today!
Larry! That original post has stuck in my head ever since too! Every time I’m in a parking lot and bring back the cart, I think about Larry. What a legacy!
Same!! Even when it’s raining and cold and everyone is the worst, I think of Larry and I return the cart.
This is 100% off topic but I’m going through a big, hardcore break-up during quarantine and it is ROUGH. I can’t go hang out with friends or go dancing or even go to work. I’m back living with my dad as a 27 yo and trying to stay sane so I’ve been turning to classic movies to cope.
Any good break-up movie recommendations?
Mad love to anyone breaking up right now. I feel you.
L! You must read, or listen to Meryl Streep’s brilliant reading, of Nora Ephron’s Heartburn. It’s thrillingly sharp, says the kind of scathing things you wished you could think of, and also makes you fall more in love with the women in your life.
Jenny Offil’s Dept of Speculation is a good breakup read. If the person held you back professionally, vape weed in your bathtub and watch The Red Shoes!
Sorry friend! Breakups SUCK. My favorite movie just so happens to be a breakup movie and that is (500) Days of Summer. If you haven’t seen it – it’ll make you laugh, cry and swoon over Joseph Gordon Leavitt AND hopefully remind you that things will get better. xoxo! Hang in there.
Honestly? I keep coming back to the Break Up (with Jennifer Aniston).
Twelve lemons, Gary. Is it that hard? It kind of helps one to remember all of the deal breakers, when what our hearts seem to want is to remember the good things and hold on to the “if only” dreams.
What I do NOT recommend is either of Taylor Swift’s new albums. It took me a whole week to get through folklore for the first time; I had to keep stopping so I could cry my eyes out.
I’m rooting for you! xox
Right there with you L! Breaking up during this time is awful, and I stuck it out as long as I could so as to not have break up during this time. Sometimes life decides otherwise…I find small pleasures help, and am sometimes just relieved that I don’t have to/get to be around lots of other people, especially happy couples at holiday gatherings right and left. Sending a big hug. XO C
THANK YOU ALL
I feel the love
I love Under the Tuscan Sun for this and the Rebound. (I also enjoyed Nora Ephron’s Heartburn that the other Jenny mentioned.)
The Alex one is so sweet and hilarious. “He kept his beard beardy” :D I don’t know him personally, but it sounds like that sums him up!
Love this. I so agree about pandemic hobbies…recipes, geography games, and now playing the guitar. I’m 35 and have never played, so there is a huge learning curve but I’m having so much fun.
This is too.much.fun for a Tuesday!!
Cup of Joe is a blog j’adore
Caroline’s candor lays me out on the floor
A million hugs to Joanna for starting it all
And while Kim’s lipstick game has us all enthralled
Jenny’s recipes send us right to the store
love!! xoxoxoxoxo
WOW this is impressive! Go Erin!
I love it! BRAVO!
CoJ community: I need recommendations for an (all adult) family that is kinda nerdy / maybe wordy, and engaging. Games I already have include code names, ticket to ride, wingspan (too much for them) banagrams, scattergories, bop it…
spyfall is really fun, have you played that? it’s not a word game but it’s very compelling and engaging.
Catchphrase! We end up dying of laughter every time we play! Taboo and Password are winners as well.
Bang is really fun! It’s not wordy though. Imagine a spaghetti western in game form.
I love this so much! One story quintessential in our family lore is my dad making up limericks at the dinner table that would make us all giggle. The one that stuck in the family canon was (sorry in advance, my brother and I were 10 and 8, fart jokes were king):
There once was a boy named Bart
Who cut an enormous fart!
Bent over he went,
Out of his rectum, he sent
A gaseous work of art!
2020 was a year straight from hell
Sometimes felt like society’s death knell
But then trump got the boot
And the vaccine it flew(t)
Now 2020 is going quite well!
What a fun little hobby! Never heard of these but how sweet to write them for your family and friends.
xo Jessica
Back in the day when cgat rooms were a thing, I ended up a bit bored with the banal chat, (unlike CoJ conversations!) so started responding in limerick.
I was given the nickname “The Riddler”, so that’s the tag I used.
There is a fine place on the web
That I found by pure chance, I’ll admit
The talk is not cheap
In fact, repeatedly I peek
Because gems are what these people speak
Every hour, day and every week.
Love this limerick fun! I’ve gotta try it.
My dorky new hobby is archery. I took a beginners class in October and now I’m hooked. It’s perfect for social distancing, great to be outside (I live in the South where the winter weather is fairly mild) and it gives me the same grounded feelings as yoga. Somehow wearing a quiver of arrows on my back with a bow in my hand feels both alittle silly and totally thrilled.
I LOVE THE IDEA OF ARCHERY CLASSES! Thank you for sharing this. I’m totally in.
I love this! At our wedding, one of the first guests to get up and make an impromptu toast during dinner made it a limerick — and every other table followed suit! It was hilarious. (My husband and I met doing literature degrees in grad school, so there were a bunch of wordy artsy folks there, all of them drinking and making merry, which helped — though the great thing about limericks is that they’re kind of better when they’re bad.)
This is the best one, which I remember 15 years on. It was given by a close friend, a very openly gay man who had seen me through a bit of a messy dating life before I met my husband. Now, some of our family members on both sides definitely lean conservative, and I wasn’t sure how everyone would get along at the reception. My friend read the limerick very… suggestively, and the room exploded with laughter. To be honest, I feel like it really set the stage for an amazing party! #limericksbringpeopletogether (#ifyouopenyourhearttothem)
(My last name sounds like rock quarry btw):
There was a young woman named Quarrie,
We really can’t tell you her story.
It’s neither short nor sweet,
and we must be discreet,
for tonight, it will end in sheer glory. (!!!)
I absolutely love this! I was addicted to six word memoirs for a while!
Wrote this a long time ago for a friend:
A Jew who was brought up in Texas
Might have politics that would vex us
But she’d like to push
Our president Bush
In front of an oncoming Lexus!
Haha. LOVE IT.
Many years ago a friend wrote a limerick for another friend’s birthday and read it aloud at dinner. I’ve never laughed so hard in my life. It’s now become an annual tradition to read the Jenna Limerick every year on her birthday. It never fails to disappoint.
The amazing Limerick scene in this season’s The Crown made me want to write them too! Glad you have taken up this excellent cocktail party trick . . . cocktail parties will be back soon and you will be popular.
Adorable. Made me laugh so hard. :-D
This post, and these comments, are amazing. You are creating vast ripples of joy in dark times.
This makes me think of my favorite book growing up, Matilda, and how she writes the limerick about her teacher Ms. Honey. I still remember that little poem to this day!
Limericks! Yes! Once my two boys started being home with me all blessed day long in the spring, I began using jingles to narrate mundane moments of their day or to facilitate an action I wanted them to accomplish. They are five and two, so the lyrics are primitive and melody questionable, but as long as I string a few sentences together in a sing-song voice it gets their attention and suddenly everything is awesome. Last night I was making supper and needed them to leave me alone for a few minutes, so I started singing:
Brothers!
Chasing brothers!
Brothers chasing brothers tonight! (clapclapclap)
Right on cue, they started chasing each other up and down the hallway, laughing hysterically for a good minute until my 5-year-old ran back to me and whispered, “Okay, now sing ‘Brothers Blowing and Chasing Brothers!'” (ps, “brothers blowing brothers” means you spin your arms around fast in front of your brother so that wind blows in his face :)).
A favorite of my two-year-old is “Ya Put Your Sock On Your Foot And You Keep It There!” Just writing that makes me lol, and then realize that even though I use this tool for desperate times it makes me already feel the sting of this fleeting, bittersweet phase in life.
I LOVE this haha!
These are great!! A couple of years ago my husband and I took our 2 and 4 year olds to Japan with my mother-in-law. We bounced all over the country via plane, train and taxi making obligatory stops to visit ALL of the relatives. It was super stressful. I found myself writing really negative stuff in my journal, but those weren’t the memories I wanted to preserve. So, instead I started writing Haiku about all that happened. I still wrote about the bad stuff, but just the process of finding the words to fit the syllables was therapeutic and it is so much more fun to re-read in that format.
Loooooong time reader who never comments but loves reading all the comments. This time I can’t resist sharing, as I kept myself distracted writing limericks while waiting for the election results:
Despite the low voter abstention,
The people face incomprehension
The reds and the blues
Have such different views
That they’re living in different dimensions.
In a world full of secrets and lies
Does it really come as a surprise
That with so much at stake,
And news that is fake
It is hard to know what to surmise?
There once was a global pandemic
Its spread round the world was systemic,
“Why?”, tell me, “Why?”
The people all cry,
But the answer was just academic.
The voting was coming along,
But everyone said it was wrong.
Indivisible nation
Filled with consternation
To no matter which side you belong.
There once was a US election
Which could go in either direction.
It went to the wire,
My panic grew higher,
And that’s when I lost my connection!
ha! excellent!
Wow! these are seriously impressive!
Well done Margaret! BRAVA!
You’re seriously good at limericks, Margaret!
After going crazy about plants, I’m now into sewing. In 2 weeks, I was able to finish 2 dresses for my daughter. And I just ordered more fabrics online. Really satisfying to see my daughter in a dress I sewed.
Jo, you’re amazing! You have a gift!
This would be a great thing to write on your chritsmas presents’ tags, don’t you think? :)
I love this. How brilliantly random! I started doing very detailed pencil drawings in lockdown… all of my son. When he grows up and sees the collection I now have of drawings of his face, he’s going to think there’s something wrong with me, haha
Love it! Haha well I’ve bought a 5-string banjo, I always loved the way they sound (like Mumford&sons, Chatham county line, The chicks). I’ve never played an instrument before and kind of envisioned it would be like that episode in friends when Ross starts playing the bagpipe, but now I can actually make it through a couple of songs (thanks to a bunch of friendly online instruction videos)
Banjo, Baking and Book reading is definitely my way of getting through this gloomy, non socializing season.
You should check out The Dead South :)
E: Oh thank you! :) Just looked them up and I LOVE it!
I started learning 5-string banjo years ago, aspiring to be the next Sufjan Stevens. Seriously check out his songs with banjos….Seven Swans, For the Widows in Paradise, for the Fatherless in Ypsilanti, many others. Such a different take on banjo playing: meloncholic and plaintive. Sadly, it sits gathering dust, I should dust it off!
MIMS: Anther great tips! Thank you! Such a beautiful way of playing :) Haha now I too want to become the next Sujfan Stevens and have promptly added both him and the dead south to my aspiring banjo playlist. Hope you get to start playing again :)
It’s late and I should be in bed,
But I have limericks stuck in my head.
I’ll be so tired
I might get fired
But I loved all the limericks I’ve read!
Awww I love this!!!
I gave myself permission to buy a sewing machine at the start of the pandemic when it was clear we were going to be spending a lot of time inside, so that I could start quilting. (I had been admiring Suzy Quilts’ beautiful quilts for about a year before this.). I am now on my fourth quilt, and I have to say that although it is definitely a weird hobby amongst my demographic (late 20s, living in a major city), I find it very calming to focus on something other than covid-related news!
Not weird at all! I love cutting fabric up and putting it back together. I started quilting 8 years ago and it has made 2020 a bit more manageable.
Anachronistic pop culture references are swell
Labelling as Emo, Simon & Garfunkel
And best of all
Found in a musical
Mary Poppins was a Manic Pixie Dream Girl
Allsion, this is seriously good and insightful. I want to hear more……
Do it for Larry! I feel like I’m in a club now, I love it. Made my day :)
This cracked me up! A few coworkers have gotten into replying to questions via limericks on Slack! So they too are in stage 43. Its so funny and entertaining
Just loaded the bags in my car.
Oh shit, the cart return is far.
But thanks to an obituary
from a sweet soul named Larry
I do it- he sure raised the bar.
haha! this the best- love fellow coj readers.
Perfection.
Larry makes me return mine too!!!
Haha Liz, I loooove it! There is not a day that I do not think about Larry when I feel like not returning the cart :-)
I went to a wedding last minute without a card (with a cash gift), and I used their monogram napkins and wrote a limerick about the couple on the napkin then used the napkin to wrap the cash up and taped it shut. I was really proud of myself.
HAHAHAHA!! How creative ER!!
Every time I leave the grocery store I think of that obituary and steadfastly take my cart to the cart return. I feel far to guilty if I don’t!
saaaaaame!
SAME! I think of Larry every.single.time I return my cart.
Me too! And if it’s raining or snowing I always say an extra “Doing it for you Larry!” I hope his loved ones know how many people who never knew him think of Larry on a weekly basis!
me too! Any time I’m tempted to leave it I think of Larry, sighing disappointedly from his grave
I sent my sister a limerick just this week to cheer her up – it’s like sending flowers but free.
It was our Friday night girls night text so in due course I actually sent her two limericks, a haiku, and a stanza in iambic pentameter, mostly about breastfeeding. But l’ll share the one I sent when she signed off:
There once was a girl on Lake Erie
Whose eyes were looking quite bleary
Staying up with her sis
Whom she so dearly miss’t
And who sends her love so dearly.
“I actually sent her two limericks, a haiku, and a stanza in iambic pentameter”
omg, you are awesome, Lola.
I used to frequently get a curious/amused “…whatcha doing over there?” comments at work when I would be reading COJ and subconsciously smiling ear-to-ear and even though I’m working from home alone now, I noticed myself doing it because I SMILED THROUGH THIS WHOLE THING I love it so unbelievably much, PLEASE share more!!!!!!!! You were born to write limericks!!!
My poor attempt was a perfect brief break from work — thank you!!!
Cup of Jo comments are full of friendship
Learn about love, books, the best tortilla chip
A warm home and magical community
A balm when we’re all dreaming of immunity
…and also where we got the “salmon flip!”
YESSSSS!!!
I don’t have any new hobbies, just more time for my favorites, sewing and machine embroidery. I also feed and watch the birds, and walk. Getting outside and walking around my neighborhood makes me feel better, especially looking at everyone’s decorations.
Cynthia, I feel like I could have written this! Yes to sewing, walks, and bird feeders during this time!
So happy to consider myself a closer ready because I knew INSTANTLY where the shopping cart line was going. I think about Larry every time I go to a store. Thanks for everything, Jonna. This place is such a bright spot for me.
makes me so happy, Sarah xx
Watching The Crown now and there’s an excellent limerick scene there in season 3 with Helena Bonham Carter… also gets a bit raunchy. ;-)
Quite fun.
ooooh want to go back and rewatch!
While these poems I do quite adore
Stinky cheese I do abhor!
Started doing Punch Needle, luckily I took a class in February in person, she now does virtual, Punchcolorstudio.com, then March came and I had a new obsession!
These are so cute! It’s comforting that we’re all sort of losing our minds, together.
My new hobby is giving immediate family members the finger behind their backs. Outwardly I’m still patient and kind, but when they turn away after inevitably annoying me, I flip them a big old aggressive bird. It’s so satisfying. Coworkers and inanimate objects like that broken strand of Christmas tree lights are also not exempt.
“It’s comforting that we’re all sort of losing our minds, together.” = all
YES! I have been feeling guilty about the “finger behind the back” thing too! I try to hide in the bathroom and do that instead of yelling! Also, great tip from someone recently– if you are so very, very, VERY tired of that annoying co-worker on Zoom, just put a sticky note over their face during the meeting. It helps SO much!
oh i could start doing that! my 90 y old father is driving me crazy.
Tonight they’re great friends, not foes
Once the kids are asleep they watch shows
Finally time to unwind she says
Thank God they’re in bed he says
But what is that scruffling sound? TOES!
CoJ deep cuts, folks ;)
HAHAHAHAHA YOU WIN BD!
HAHAHAHA nice
Not a limerick, but my dear cousin/friend texted me with some mad libs prompts out of the blue one day. Later that week came a postcard with my little story on the back and it gave me a great giggle on a day that I needed one very much. 🥸
I LOVE this post 😊 you do you lady!
Ahahahaha a few years ago when I was procrastinating on my master’s thesis, I got weirdly into writing haiku. I know the obsession you’re feeling EXACTLY Jo – I couldn’t stop! I used to type them up on my typewriter and stick them around my study. My thesis supervisor’s name was Gary and I remember at one 3AM moment of thesis madness I typed:
Can’t stop haiku-ing
Instead of writing thesis
Gary will love them
It remained taped to the side of my typewriter until the thesis was finally submitted.
My lovely aunt and uncle held a St. Patrick’s Day party for years, and each guest had to bring their own limerick. Before the meal, everyone would read their limerick out loud, it got pretty boisterous! She saved them all in a binder; it’s such a fun memory.
That’s awesome!
Teaching myself calligraphy and I can’t stop. I look like a serial killer writing the same names over and over on hundreds of sheets of paper 🥴
Omg my roommate in college got into calligraphy and spooked us all out this way! Syringes of ink everywhere, and papers with all of our names (we were four roommates in a suite) all over the living room. After we got the context it was VERY funny.
LOL! Very 18th century British serial killer vibes.
God this made me laugh so much
What a fine hobby for a young lass! You are sure to have a lot of sass. For a limerick without sass makes you feel like a bit of an ass….:))
These are hilarious!
New hobby has been reading romance novels, listening to podcasts about romance (Fated Mates and Hot and Bothered), even writing a little! I don’t know what happened- I’d never read romance before but this year I got hooked. Anyone else?
Same, Meg. I’ve totally embraced reading romance, and I’ve also started reviewing them too.
Haha! This is fun :)
My new pandemic undertaking is being a mom 🎉 maybe i will try my hand at writing my daughter a limerick
I collect elongated pennies and started an Instagram account showcasing them. Not a pandemic fueled hobby but definitely a dorky one that I adore! @penny_crusher
So funny- at first I thought you said you were collecting elongated penises before I reread. That would be quite a hobby!
I collect them also but don’t get to travel often. You have so many VERY unique ones. I guess being in NYC makes it easier, I’m upstate NY and there aren’t too many near us. Wouldn’t it be great if there was a place to swap? Or do you only collect one’s from places you’ve been to?
Hahaha, I needed that laugh, Meredith MC!
Hahaha I also read it as elongated penises. I’m crying now!
If you haven’t yet seen Julie Andrews trading limericks with Steven Colbert, run-don’t-walk to youtube!
I went through a “haiku phase” in the weeks after the birth of my oldest. It was so therapeutic. Here’s one:
Oh man. Breastfeeding.
Makes me so hungry I can’t
Not think about cake.
hahaha too good!
My partner and I came up with a limerick several verses long in bed one night. It’s EXTREMELY profane/explicit and left us crying from laughter in the dark. We named our WiFi network after the limerick’s hero and refuse to tell any house guests what the network name means. You just had to be there, I think:)
Hahahah
Once again, excellent timing with your posts! I work part time and so have my email auto-reply on for a couple days every week. About a month ago I started writing a new rhyme every week (fortunately I can set it so only my colleagues see these!) here’s one:
I’m away from my desk – I doubt that’s a shock;
Dates below are when I will open my inbox;
In the meantime, might I dare offer you a hot drink?
(Well with COVID, you’ll mix it yourself, I might think)
Take a quarter of lemon, and three tiny cloves;
A spoonful of honey, or more, I suppose;
A pour of hot water, a shot of whisky;
All mixed in a mug you have a hot toddy!
Don’t stop, Joanna! Don’t stop! :)
This made me smile! If you haven’t already read the amazing Arnold Lobel (writer of the famously funny Frog and Toad series) book, “Pigericks,” it might be one to add to the boys’ bedtime books rotation!
To take it to the next level, highly recommend The OEDILF: The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form. http://www.oedilf.com
Pretty sure they accept submissions from any and all! Also they are extremely fun to read.
What a fun hobby this is
Rhyming words with ease
Now that you’ve shared this with us
We’re limericking too, no fuss!
My mom was diagnosed with cancer in August so my brother and I sent her flowers (and notes) for eight weeks. My two favourite notes were…
A limerick:
There once was a lady name Mom
Whose doc said she had myelodysplastic syndrome
So her kids decided to pay
To have a bunch of flowers sent her way
Because we think that cancer is dumb
A haiku:
This week you will start
Round two of drug Vidaza
We hope no barfing
I was quite proud of both and she said she read the limerick to everyone who called that week!
It’s the British in you, haha! So fun, and yes, thanks for sharing 💖
This post made me smile – thank you!! I started painting with acrylics but that was a summer pandemic hobby. Currently my two boys are going through a major dinosaur phase and I’m right there in this phase with them. How did I miss this phase as a kid?! Dinosaurs are incredible!
I worry and then I read COJ
A little bit wit and hodgepodge
my nerves start to settle
I put on the kettle
And feel the dwell start to dislodge
(Cup of Jo relaxes me so…thank you)
omg!! This made me realize that some of us are pronouncing “COJ” to rhyme with podge?? I always spell it out in my mind but I love this way too…is this what everyone else is doing?
The first time I read it, I was thinking…”but it doesn’t rhyme?”
Anna, I, too, think “C.O.J.” and not “codge.”
It took me a minute to realize “COJ” was being pronounced “codge.” When I see the “COJ” I literally say “Cup of Joe” in my head…. until now!! I’ve continued reading comments and have begun saying “codge” everywhere the acronym is used. I love seeing people interpret things differently. Like how every new government law/act has to be put into a cutesy acronym. (I’m a tax accountant and I refer to TCJA as “tic jaw”.)
I am so glad you snuck Larry in there. I think of him every time I return my cart.
What a fantastic quarantine pastime!
These are amazing! BUT you have to do one for Anton and Toby! I was like wait, what are theirs?
haha I did them but they’re full of inside jokes so they might not make that much sense:
There once was a cute kids named Tobes
Who would draw all the sports teams’ logos
He loved basketball —
The Warriors, once and for all! —
‘Specially Steph and his sick three-point throws
Tobes wore leggings and other cool clothes
And had freckles sprayed across his nose
You should see his eyelashes!
He’s a friend of Steve Nash’s!
The kid is a legend, you know
*****
There once was a kid emperor
Who was sweet with a bit of temper
He had a six pack
Just don’t let him attack!
Or you’ll be in for a hospital venture
Underneath, Anton has big heart
Loves to rock and is terribly smart
He plays drums in the Clones
And steals our iPhones
He’s been funny and cool, from the start
I love those ones! Please please save those in some kind of memory book for those boys who are beloved to even thousands of strangers.
Pls consider this my request for a limerick! xx
I’m coming for ya!!!
Well, this is just the cutest! I was expecting needlepoint or something, but limericks are even more surprising and delightful!
My quarantine hobby is knitting. Not a new hobby for me, but what I’m making is: alllll the cute tiny baby knits. I didn’t even know any pregnant people when I started, it just felt like a hopeful thing to do. And then my CSA farmers announced they were expecting: BOOM! I have a tiny blue sweater for you! An expectant college friend gets the striped jellybean colored socks, and my roommate bought the wee newborn socks for her soon-arriving nephew. Babies are the best, man.
The quarantine has revived my knitting habit, too! I went through a keen phase that lasted just long enough to stock up on supplies, and then things got busy…for, uhm, years. But, as I posted awhile ago, I took on two foster kids in the spring, about four weeks into my state’s quarantine. And amidst all the stuff I didn’t know to expect: many, many phone calls that I have to supervise. Parents, therapists, social workers, extended family members. No one can meet in person, and yet all these meetings must happen. I don’t want to be obviously hanging on every word (and I don’t need to be), but nor can I listen and read/write/work simultaneously. So I picked up the old needles and have finished off a baby blanket, two hats, and a cardigan. Stitch by stitch, getting through the days.
So…although no where near your caliber of limerick creating, I still remember my limerick I wrote in grade six (that was a looong time ago).
There once was a man from Peru,
Who said, “oh what shall I do?
The dog that I found,
Is now in the pound,
And I am in bed with the flu.
Bravo, Marilyn!
Ok Marilyn you win because your limerick’s got the rhythm!!
Though I started this “hobby” about two years ago, I’ve definitely been doing it a lot more since the pandemic started: picking up trash on walks around parks and my neighborhood!
I would always get sad and frustrated by seeing trash on my walks, so my husband and I got each other trash grabbers for Christmas one year and always take them and some trash bags on our walks. It wasn’t until this year that I finally acknowledged it as one of my hobbies. It always seemed silly to me to dub it a hobby since it requires absolutely no talent. But it’s probably the thing I do most consistently! Plus, it’s a quick, easy, and tangible way to feel like you’re making the world a little brighter when everything else is so dark.
I’ve just started this as well…. hiking or beach walking and feeling sad about the amount of trash – easy fix! Bring a glove and a bag and pick it up along the way. It really does make you feel a like you’re making a tiny, important environmental impact. (Even better, my teen daughters were all in and told me it made our boring beach stroll a lot more fun.)
What a lovely hobby! I don’t know if you’ve ever read any David Sedaris, but you share the same affinity for local trash pickup. His stories about doing his rounds around his home in England are hilarious (as is the rest of his work). I think his book Calypso is the one with all the trash pick up stories…I’d recommend! :)
Have you ever read David Sedaris’ essays about this? I can’t remember which book they are in (one of the recent ones) but they are hilarious. Not a bad person to share a hobby with
When we go camping or to the beach, I’ve instituted a “age = minimum trash pick up” policy for my little family. We each have to pick up one piece of trash for each year of our lives. Unfortunately, we’ve never failed (and I keep picking up trash well beyond my years until our vicinity is cleared).
I love that, Jasmine and Eliza! If I have kids, I hope to get them involved in this hobby like y’all. How special!
I didn’t know David Sedaris also shared in this hobby, Elizabeth and Calla! I’ll have to check out those essays. Thanks for sharing!
I pick up aluminum cans while walking my dogs. We live near a university, so…college students + decent weather + outdoor gatherings = lots of beverage cans scattered throughout the neighborhood. It’s akin to hunting Easter eggs, but for grownups. (My dad sells them for scrap, so they do get recycled—did you know there’s an aluminum shortage right now?) But it gives me something to do while the dogs do what they doo.
Ha, Deb, I feel your pain! I live near a university too, so I know that life. There’s an area close to our house that we’ve dubbed Miller Lite Mountain.
i love this! my father used to write me a limerick every valentine’s day and every st. patrick’s day (& he wrote my step-mother sonnets!). his little poems were loving and funny and silly & remembering receiving his scraps of paper scrawled over with his unusual kind of nervous handwriting each year = among my favovrite memories of him now. so–keep on keeping on w the limericks! they’ll make everyone’s day. :)
Love it and can totally relate! My new hobby is coping via haiku = @haikoping !
We don’t deserve you, Jo! What a hilarious, lovely share for a Monday.
You brighten our day with great cheer
and do what you can to ease fear –
in my mind we are besties
who never get testy
after 2020, we’ll celebrate with a beer!
Ha, I feel like this is the equivalent to going to a Zumba class with your friend and laughing more than actually working out :) Thank you for this mental break!
yes!!!
That’s just great, Kayla!!
My parents had this book on our bookshelf growing up called “The Limerick” It’s a 400-ish page book from the 1960s filled with almost 2,000 limericks organized by categories like “organs” “virginity” and “weak sisters”. They’re so dirty and so funny. My brother and I LOVED this book SO MUCH. If you can find a copy you should definitely snag it! Although you can also look at the whole book here: https://archive.org/details/Limericks/mode/2up
I had a math teacher in high school (Mr. Timmereck at Cupertino High!) who wrote math word problems in the form of limericks on each of our tests! It made trig a little more fun. <3
Haha not what I was expecting the new hobby to be, that’s great!
My new pandemic hobby is roller skating (never done it before a few days ago) — just in time for it to snow on Wednesday, ha!
This is so terrific. I heartily recommend the Poetry Magnets app! It’s my newest keep-busy-without-mindlessly-scrolling habit.
I am laughing so hard, and I really needed this today. Thank you for sharing your weirdo hobby. I actually love it!
I’m officially putting limericks in everyone’s stockings this year 🤣
omg do it!
The Swedish tradition is to write a riddle on every gift. The reciever reads it out loud, tries to guess the contents and then opens to everyones delight! The riddles are often limerick like – a challenge for you Joanna and Nicole, both!
These are fantastic. Along the lines of filling time with something JOYFUL…does COJ have any recommendations for celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at home without the extended family? My husband and I are expecting our first child in February and looking for a COVID-safe way to celebrate our favorite holiday. We’re planning on making an elaborate dinner for Christmas Eve and ordering a Christmas package from one of our favorite local restaurants for the 25th. Any other thoughts on how to savor our last Christmas, just the two of us, while missing our families and trying to stay safe? In COJ, I trust!
Would also love suggestions on this!!
A few ideas from the mom of an 18 month old:
1. Watch all the holiday movies! If you end up not doing screen time for baby/toddler, you won’t have nearly as many opportunities to get to them the next couple Christmases.
2. Decorate with all your fanciest glass balls and drapiest garlands. My tree is charming this year, but is decorated in felt and plastic ornaments that get removed 5x a day. I won’t be seeing those glass balls for awhile.
3. Make intricately iced/decorated cookies… you’ll never have the time nor the patience to do it again! And eat them without restraint, at all times of the day… in the future, you’ll have to duck down and hide behind the kitchen counter so your little one won’t see you nibbling on cookies and demand their own!
4. If you’re in an area where you’re able to safely/distanced, go on a night-time stroll to look at all the pretty lights, revel in the magic with quiet oohs and aahs, rather than shouts of “light! light! light! flamingo! flamingo! dog! dog! train! penguin! light! light! liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggght!”
Congrats on your upcoming new addition. You’re in for some very magical fun Christmases up ahead, that will blow all past holidays out of the water.
I agree with all of Amber’s suggestions below! Also lounging in bed and sleeping in!
When I was 8 months pregnant, a wise woman told me to take a whole afternoon to gaze out the window and let my thoughts swirl around for as long as I wanted. I often think back on my afternoon looking at a maple tree — not with longing, but with a sense of, “I truly did that, once.” It was comforting to have a particular moment to think back to when I was feeling frazzled, like I hadn’t wasted my opportunity.
Oh my gosh, “in COJ we trust!” If that isn’t already on a keychain, it needs to be!
Amber, DD Tiz, Midge – your advice makes my heart soar! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this and share such valuable tips. Reading them made me feel warm and connected to humanity in a way I haven’t experienced during COVID. Very sincerely appreciated.
I caught myself smiling so hard while reading these! Needed this pick me up in the middle of my workday!
My eleven year old has the same new hobby! He writes a history inspired limerick each week for school. Here’s the one that took me out:
Washington who’s remembered still,
Was a hero who preferred not to kill
But when he was dead, they severed his head
And stuck it on the one dollar bill.
Omg I did not expect that ending…especially from an 11 year old! I totally died laughing. Your kid is super creative and has a great sense of humor.
This is so clever. Bravo!
Hahahah oh my goodness – that’s so good!
so funny! What a clever kid!
This one takes the cake. Your boy is awesome!
My screen is cracked, and it made the title read “My Dorky new Hubby”
I stopped short, What the What!?!?
Hobby. It says Hobby.
hahahaha
Also nerdy, my boyfriend and I have been working our way through a book of logic puzzles. It has been fun to see which of us is better at different kinds of puzzles and a nice departure from screen time before bed.
https://bookshop.org/books/tricky-logic-puzzles-for-adults-130-difficult-puzzles-to-challenge-your-brain/9781646111459
I love this! My mum is a math teacher and when we were kids we would always try to solve a puzzle before falling asleep. This was our favourite book: https://bookshop.org/books/what-is-the-name-of-this-book-the-riddle-of-dracula-and-other-logical-puzzles/9780486481982
Podcasts! You’re Wrong About and Maintenance Phase are my favorites.
Same! And also Live Wire which I’ve worked my way through the archives on. And audio books for memoirs have been such a great addition too!
A fellow Michael Hobbes fan! YWA is my favorite podcast ever!
As a resident of Limerick (Ireland) I love that you’re loving Limericks❤️ This one is on a stone plaque outside one of the oldest pubs in our city:
The Limerick is furtive and mean/ you must keep her in close quarantine/ or she sneaks up to the slums/ and promptly becomes/ disorderly drunk and obscene
I’m from limerick city too and read that plaque last week…I only now know what a limerick is and that the plaque was stating a limerick…thanks Maria,..up Limerick…aboy Kidd
ha! in my office, maybe on week 2 of lockdown, we started writing Haikus. Love that this is a thing. Also, I know who Larry is…AND Connell. I’m not sure what stage I’m in, but I feel both special and seen. xoxoxo.
Love! This brought to mind the lovely obituary of a friend’s dad, who made all of his piercing NY Times comments via limerick: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/26/obituaries/larry-eisenberg-dead.html
oh my gosh, what a love!!
I love it! When I was in primary school I loved writing them for friends. Then in high school rude ones! I might have to get back into it. I have been into writing poetry lately. I think of Winnie the Pooh when poems come to him. I think…if they come to me, write them down. I bought myself a little book to write them in and also make them up in my head when I am walking or before putting the kids in bed. I find it relaxing.
Also…I like making up lame resolutions. Last year, mine was “Be a casual lipstick wearer” but mask wearing kind of stopped that, except in zoom. This year it is to always carry a pen with me, so when someone says “Does anyone have a pen?” I can say, “Yes! I do!”.
This year it is to always carry a pen with me, so when someone says “Does anyone have a pen?” I can say, “Yes! I do!”
== I love that!
This was supposed to be my lipstick year too!
I love that! I’m going to have to steal the pen idea, too. Plus, then I can use it to write down ideas in the little book I’m going to buy after reading this. :)
My best resolutions of years past were to 1) eat more tacos (I believe in setting yourself up for success!) and 2) memorize the phone numbers of everyone in my immediate family. We made up a little song to help me remember my sister’s number and it still makes me smile when I think of it (and it worked!).
Oh my goodness Joanna – love your hilarious new hobby! I have written many limericks for friends weddings and they are indeed addictive. But I am so glad you linked to ‘Do it for Larry ‘ – re-reading that and subsequently crying with laughter was just what I needed this morning!! Here in the sunny southern hemisphere, where life feels like it is ‘back to normal’ I’m thinking of all of you that will be isolating over the holidays and wishing everyone a magnificent 2021 after all everyone has endured this year. To you, Caroline, Kim and Jenny, a huge thank you for being daily companions on this beautiful blog, and thank you to the readers and commenters who make this community such a refreshingly smart and fabulous group to be a part of.
I wrote this months ago after spending yet another day on hold to our IT team….
There was a young lady called Jo
Her laptop ran frightfully slow
With a fast building rage
She went on a rampage
And it landed in the garden below.
hahahaha
I like to write haikus. Here’s one I wrote about showering with your partner:
A sexy idea
Is now but cold, wet, shivers
Please pass the shampoo.
hahahaha I’m dying at all of these!!
lolllll this is amazing Micah!
Hahaha, this is funny!
I’ve started writing daily mantras and reflections on Instagram. It began as a way to keep me accountable to sticking with my mediation practice, and now it has become just as powerful part of my morning routine as the actual meditation! Pour a cup of tea, mediate, reflect, and share it with my small corner of the world!
The punctuation you used made me laugh SO HARD, thank you for sharing
Oh, I love this! I set out to look for more whimsy in life last month, and this is definitely some.
Also, I had to quietly chuckle that 2020 is the year that we all play chess (because of the queen‘s gambit), do puzzles and bake bread instead of going to bars and parties. Who would have thought?
No way! This makes me so happy! I started writing limericks too last month.
My husband and kids give me the weirdest looks when I start snort-laughing halfway writing.
But I simply love how easy and light limericks are. It is a great way to find that part of lightness / creativity back in my thinking. Something that gets lost so easy when I’m worrying or drained.
Feeling way more confident now I know I’m in awesome company being my weird self :)
should we have a limerick club???
I wonder if NPR is taking guest limmerick writers for Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!? It’s my favorite part of the show. SO fun!
I’ve only written one limerick in my life, maybe give years ago, which was about running out of medication and multivitamins before the end of my finals. (Clearly I was procrastinating).
I will run out of pills in my dorm
Before I can make it back home
So here I will be
Lacking vitamin D
For no reason at all here’s a poem
I’ve been working at the office since June, but my quarantine hobbies have been lots of cooking, splits and handstands, and most recently embroidering old photographs and postcards (inspired by the extremely talented Han Cao on instagram)
omg that is so cute, constance. love picturing you procrastinating and being like, and now for a limerick!
LOVE it! My favorite was taught by an English professor years ago:
There once was a man from McFlue
Whose limericks ended line two.
There once was a man from McFlun
………….
Always gave me a chuckle.
hahahah is limerick humor the best humor?
i love this! my new hobby i guess is house plants. i have never liked house plants and have not had them in any of my previous homes. but i found myself drawn to them when i would go grocery shopping during the pandemic. i now have nine in my home. i adore them.
I read this as “house pants” and I was like, “right on!” I think we’ve all embraced house pants this year.
I love to rhyme!!! I joke with my husband that I’m a rapper deep down. It makes me feel my bad self 😎
Joanna, this is so random but we hit Stage 43 at the same pandemic moment! I have been going through an extremely tough few months with my sister, and am also getting ready to move next week… it’s a stressful time, to say the least. On Friday night, I started writing and couldn’t stop; it was dark but also deeply cathartic. Perhaps I’ll try limericks next. Happy rhyming! <3<3
A couple excerpts…
I moved across the country,
Took another bar exam.
I thought you were my sister.
I thought you gave a damn.
It's difficult to wrap my head,
Around this family rift.
It seems to me that you're dead set,
On cutting us adrift.
oh my gosh, that sounds so cathartic, Gretchen! amazing that you turned to poetry.
Dorky things are the best! (I say with a newfound gnome sense)
I started art journaling in March. I still do this. But I change what my art is .. right now its pretty much mandala / zentangle doodle. I also took up tap dancing and it has been great.
Heh. We wrote a limerick as a family about our cat Poco when I was a kid.
There once was a cat named Poco
Who was a little bit loco
He jumped on a mouse
From the roof of a house
And now he’s with the husband of Yoko.
In good taste? Perhaps not. But it made us laugh uproariously for years.
PS — Poco didn’t die like that. He lived to a ripe old age.
My stages:
1. Mask
2. Baking bread
3. Baking cookies
4. Consistent workout routine (see #2 & #3)
5. Propagating my house plants
6. Trying to sprout seedlings from literally every food in the house with a seed
7. Researching at-home pottery (see #5 & #6; deciding that, um, it’s expensive)
8. Bird watching! (Investment: two feeders and three books. Species spotted: 15)
9. My current phase: Crochet! I’m on week 2, though, and can’t master the turn, so everything I make is a triangle. Back to YouTube for me!
amazing!!
For those who don’t know, CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates. Essentially you fight on behalf of children who have been abused or neglected and help to ensure that their forever home is one where they are cared for and safe. A wonderful organization. I went through the training at the beginning of quarantine and it’s been a great way to do something positive during dark times.
Sad to say, there are children in need
Some are abused, some with no feed
So I joined up with CASA
Hoping to give them some laughter
And for the holidays, something to read
Thanks for posting about this, Kimberly! I’m going to check this out, it looks really interesting. So amazing that you’re an advocate for those who need it.
As someone who owns a rhyming dictionary, I wholeheartedly endorse this hobby!
Writing Haikus. My office has a once a week zoom meeting and my boss feels compelled to give us “assignments”. One week it was to write a haiku. I’ve written several since then, it’s a challenge and kind of fun!
I am the midst of rereading stories I wrote in my twenties and cringing. I am thankful that I went to college when I was 29 and learned to write properly. My stories are still captivating, but the grammar and formatting is awful.
The pandemic must have Limerick back into style. I’ve found myself writing a bunch of them this month.
I’m rolling on the floor! As far as new hobbies go, this is tops.
There once was a writer named Jo,
Whose family you feel like you know.
On blogspot no longer,
She keeps getting stronger
Her warm, cozy blog could melt snow!
Ha! Xo from a fellow dork :)
omg hahahaha I’m so touched! :) :)
so lovely!
Hard sign on to Tovah’s comment! Happy holidays everyone!
These are SO beautiful! I’m hooked and have already written one for my husband and two best friends, but it does not come naturally for me! I sat here struggling and just ended one with a line about hunting grouse for my vegetarian friend hahaha. What fun!
High five for that
TOVAH WINS!
There once was a blog about Jo!
Not coffee- but cups of inspo… ?
It makes readers feel seen,
they chat life, style, and dreams…
A warmer place on the web, there is no! ?!?!
Oh god it’s like getting a song stuck in your head except they’re puzzling and now my thoughts are all very short and rhyming.
This also reminds me of the scene in The Crown where Margaret just destroys everyone at free-styling raunchy limericks.
I am tempted to tell my family that I will only respond to limerick text messages from now on. Would slow down the group chats while increasing my interest in catching up on them!
I AM OBSESSED. NEVER STOP, JOANNA. Also this one here ^ is brilliant, Hali. Now you’ve got me going:
For such a long time did I pine
For community and content online
Then I found this here blog
Soon my heart was agog
For to witness such hearts, lives and minds!
MARGARET! LOVE!!!
hali, you are a dream. and I agree — my thoughts this weekend were all in aabba structure lol
😂 I love it
Margaret-
AGOG!?
I bow down!
Hah! Jo, I read AABBA as ABBA structure and didn’t question it…
I am in such a strange, grin-y mood.
This post is quickly scooting towards Top 10 territory. High praise!
Who is Connell???
Oh boy. Fall down that rabbit hole, stat.
This is just the best <3
Poems for me too! I started writing and they are such a release. Here is mine about having baby in 2020:
I buy a strobe light and we blast Bruce Springsteen after dinner every night. You wiggle in my belly and your dad throws your big brother in the air. We’re all laughing but I struggle to fight back tears every time I hear “you can’t start a fire, worrying about your little world falling apart”
You are born at home on a day of international protest. People are angry, standing up and fighting for what’s right, but we’re focused on you. Snuggled in our sunny bedroom, trying to stop time, feeling so lucky that it is you.
I’m sad that other people aren’t getting to love you and hold you, kiss your dimpled chin and pet your perfect hairline, but I can fill you up with more love than you’ll know what to do with
I know what each family member is getting for christmas this year!!!! forget COJ gift guides- personal limericks for all!!!
Here for the dorkiness!
Back at the beginning of the pandemic, I wrote a haiku on my instagram which is mostly design and DIY…. it was well received, and I loved writing it so much that it became a weekly feature on my feed. Playing with words is how I have fun! And it’s more fun when you get to share it, so thank you for sharing your wit here.
I LOVE this, Joanna! And doing weird, new, dorky stuff has been a fun part of this year. Here’s what I’ve tried in 2020
-Adult coloring books (got very bored in 20 minutes, never picked it up again)
-Jigsaw puzzles (Got briefly hooked and spent many hours angrily trying to force pieces together, realized puzzles make me angry not calm, abandoned)
-Chess (still going! Hard but surprisingly fun)
-Baking (on and off, sometimes frustrating sometimes wonderful)
-Meditation (obsessed, immediately became a daily thing, I think 2020 will go down in memory as the year I became a meditator)
-Various video games/apps I can play on my phone (Jury is still out, some games are good but nothing has really hooked me yet, I’m very open for suggestions! The one I’ve liked most so far is Monument Valley)
I once dated a gentleman for longer than was necessary because he ONLY TEXTED IN LIMERICKS. It was so charming! Love this new trend!
You dated him for TOO LONG because he ONLY TEXTED IN LIMERICKS?? This is easily the comment of the week.
I once had a coworker who would send a quick haiku as a reply to an email and it always made my day – I love these!
Please! For Larry! Hehe
You should check out the Twitter account @Limericking ! They’re the best and have made this year of grim news somewhat less depressing haha
This is so awesome. I will try!!
By the way, I used to do it before Larry and I now I do it for Larry!! Cheers!
My beloved grandpa (turning 95 this year!) has a mind that is as sharp as a tack and a boyish sense of humor that still makes me belly laugh every time I see him. He has a TROVE of knock knock jokes and limericks and I make him recite this one to me always. I’ve even recorded him saying it on my phone so I have a video of him giggling at himself after he says the last word, which he describes as ‘unseemly.’
“A wonderful bird is the Pelican.
His beak can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak
Enough food for a week!
But I’ll be darned if I know how the hellican?”
LOL! that is awesome.
I always thought this clever limerick was written by the great Ogden Nash, but recently learned the author of “The Pelican” is Dixon Lanier Merritt, an American humorist/newspaperman.
Well, this is adorable.
Such a fun new pastime! Have you read The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio?! It’s about a housewife in the 50’s/60s who supported her family by writing jingles/limericks and it’s a great read!
I thought of this book, too! I rented the book on CD for a long drive and it was perfect.
Ooh I saw that movie years ago and didn’t realize it was a book! Adding to my list now
I don’t have a Limerick to share, but I will definitely be coming back for the comments! :)
this. is. the. best.
For the record: I would put money down RIGHT NOW on pre-order for a book of your limericks.
…just putting that out there.
There was once a lovely lady in New York
who started a blog for a lark
She was an instant hit
and thought ” I can do it!”
Now its my fav to read while walking my dog at the park
;)
omg hahaha I LOVE that, Julia!!
This is amazing!!! I say keep them coming! As for me, the odd hobby I’ve started is making book safes. I’m addicted. I’m giving some away as gifts and as for the rest…I have no idea! All I know is it’s cheap, mindless and makes me feel creative and productive. My husband has been looking at me like what are we doing with these stacks of hollowed books?!
Ahahahahah this is SO random and awesome. I love it! After 6 months of crushing burnout I suddenly started drawing again, which is great but has nowhere near the weird cache of limericks. But in all seriousness I think rule-bound poetry is such a great way to stimulate your creative muscle!
I want to see those drawings!! What kinds of things do you draw?
haha – I got into limericks early for a laugh … then slid into haiku for peace, but some not about nature …
issues, conflict, stress
keeping me awake at night
peace enter my heart
wow beautiful xo
There once was a girl stuck in LA
Hoping to pass time in a new way
A sewing machine
From her wife came in keen
Now’s she’s churning out tank tops almost day-lay
(An attempt was made! I think writing poetry (even short-form comedic poetry) is a fantastic quarantine pastime. I wish I could write poetry without being overcome with self-consciousness. Also, if anyone has any recommendations for non-tank-top, beginner-level sewing patterns, link ’em my way?)
haha LOVE!
Pj pants!!! All the pj pants. You can do it! Also. Curtains. Easy yet so FANCY.
Check out Peppermint magazine from Australia! They have a bunch of free patterns that are beginner friendly (and hashtags so you can see various versions of the finished product on Instagram). Also, Core Closet Patterns has a capsule set of three patterns that are beginner friendly with comprehensive instructions. (Plus you can pay extra for Heather’s video tutorial if you want a ton of tips.)
Pillowcases! Even very young kids can do it. I sew them for the nonprofit Ryan’s Case for Smiles which provides cheerful pillowcases and emotional support to ill and injured kids and their families. They have very simple instructions on their site. Plus they’re always looking for volunteer sewers so you’ll have something to do with all your excess production!
https://caseforsmiles.org/get-involved/
I 2nd “burrito” style pillow cases and scrub pants. Another idea simple is easy pouches you can make in any size… great for leftover fabric… easy zipper tutorial here… https://blog.treasurie.com/zipper-pouch-tutorial/
This is a great way to learn how to put a zipper in and the technique is brilliant. I’ve been sewing on and off for over 40 years and found this technique just last year.
This is hilarious! I have also taken to writing funny poems! I write them on the windows, leave them under pillow, on the mirrors, in their pockets! Anywhere where they can find them as a surprise right now. They are super silly but my kids are young enough to laugh along with me. Keeps me feeling light and silly in a time where things feel anything but.
Just here to say that this is absolutely adorable.
Laughing so hard right now. Just here to say that you are the best–THANK YOU FOR BEING YOU! :)
My young nieces and nephew got me into Animal Crossing! We visit each other’s islands while on Zoom, and it is the cutest interaction that makes me feel like a kid again (don’t worry parents, they are only limited to 1 hour of play only on the weekends). I’m happy that the Animal Crossing Nintendo is exactly my aesthetic too with the pastel green and blue controllers, haha. There’s something so soothing about doing these little chores like chopping wood and planting flowers to make my virtual island so pretty!
Okay, second Animal Crossing SO HARD, and also your thoughts about the controller colour aesthetic.
I too, was lured in by kids I know who play, and now it’s me and my pals, a bunch of women i their 30s and 40s, crafting on our islands and planting flowers.
That’s a great hobby and these will make great christmas présents!! You could embroider them. That s my new hobby. A sentence I like? Embroidered right away on a handkerchief. A poem by k baer ? Embroidered on a kitchen cloth. Any fabric is a target, any sentence, a subject. I feel i see words embroidered now. Weeeiiird.
That’s awesome!
Just went nuts picking out embroidery thread for this same reason. It’s started with finishing my husband’s name on his stocking, but now it’s taken over and jumping onto pillows and clothes! little hole in a sweatshirt? pop a heart or flower on it! Help! My parents are getting sweatshirts with their fresh grandparent titles on them this year… i’d pay big money to see them wear them in public though hahahaha.
Hali that’s great; you might want to get the book The art of mending; so satisfying.
I embroidered a design I made on sweatshirt this summer and also my boyfriend’s name on the stocking I made him. I might tackle more things this winter because I enjoyed it.
Haha these are great! If people make you think writing limericks is dorky, they just don’t appreciate sophisticated humor ; )
Before the election, when people were having signs stolen, and then posting heartfelt screeds about it on Nextdoor, I thought, what would I do if someone stole my sign? What could I say, to make people care? And then I wrote a limerick about it. No one ever stole our sign, so I never got to use it, until today:
There once were some hooligans from Menlo Park
Who came into my yard under cover of dark
They were way out of line-
Stole my Biden/Harris sign!
And I don’t care one bit if they think I’m a narc
Mine just got stolen last weekend!
For a new one I chose not to re-spend
So I gathered supplies
And wrote a snarky surprise
A sign that with me they shan’t contend
Legos. I have gotten deeply into building very complex Lego kits. Currently working on the Crocodile Train set.
Ahahah
ME TOO! I cannot get enough of building complex LEGO sets!
Too funny and spot-on! Nope, nothing out of the ordinary over here!
hahahahahaha
LOL JO!
Oh my gosh, these are just great! Lol! Thank for sharing!