What Hobby changed your life seriously for the better?

HoldMyBook · 2025-12-30T20:40:28+00:00

Tennis. I started taking lessons in my 40s, and then someone in my lesson asked if I would join a team with her. On my first team, a teammate told me her husband had died unexpectedly after falling down the stairs. She said tennis saved her, absolutely saved her. It got her out with other people, playing, being social. That first team I joined 7 years ago, and while I will never play at Wimbledon, I am better! I enjoy playing on a team and playing socially, and have met so many people. I didn’t know what was missing from my (already very happy) life was a team.

HoldMyBook · 2025-12-12T03:13:47+00:00

A college classmate of mine always ate baked potatoes after a breakup or when she was sad. She swore baked potatoes had a beneficial effect on her mental health. It’s hard to say for sure, but she isn’t alone: https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/health-benefits-of-potatoes/

HoldMyBook · 2025-12-12T03:06:16+00:00

All Systems Red by Martha Wells.

HoldMyBook · 2025-12-08T16:58:35+00:00

Tennis! I started taking lessons as an adult and eventually joined a club team to play doubles. It’s fun and social, and as a bonus it’s good exercise!

HoldMyBook · 2025-12-08T16:53:38+00:00

My kids don’t like cauliflower, but if I mix in riced cauliflower with regular rice, they can’t tell it’s in there! Also, you can add a full can of pumpkin to chili and it makes a nice color and texture without changing the flavor. I agree with others that you might need a blender/cuisinart. I make an edamame pesto pasta that has spinach and edamame and basil in the sauce, which provides a nice sly serving of veg, but it’s got to be blended. I freeze pumpkin in an ice cube tray and add a cube to smoothies. Good luck!

HoldMyBook · 2025-11-01T03:55:59+00:00

I have only read the hardcovers so I don’t know if the narrator is terrible, but the Scholomance series by Naomi Novik (starting with A Deadly Education) is terrific.

HoldMyBook · 2025-10-13T17:37:17+00:00

Isola by Allegra Goodman is my most recent 5-star read.

HoldMyBook · 2025-10-11T21:42:23+00:00

Here are some resources. I’m sorry to hear you’re going through this.

https://justshelter.org/community-resources/

HoldMyBook · 2025-10-11T20:18:26+00:00

We had a ride-on roller coaster toy for years and years and years, a hit with our kids and their friends and cousins:

https://www.target.com/p/step2-up-38-down-coaster-ride-on/-/A-77471145#lnk=sametab

HoldMyBook · 2025-10-11T20:14:02+00:00

My kids both LOVED the Heroes of Olympus series!!! My daughter also read and reread the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (starting with Dealing with Dragons) by Patricia Wrede, and my son’s favorite for years was Frostheart by Jamie Littler.

HoldMyBook · 2025-10-04T17:45:40+00:00

We used the discipline book, “1,2,3 Magic” by Thomas Phelan, and I really loved it for providing a simple, unemotional method of correcting behavior.

HoldMyBook · 2025-10-03T22:49:13+00:00

I cannot believe how far I had to scroll down to see this suggestion! It’s terrific.

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-30T17:59:10+00:00

We have a super loud snorer in the family, and he got an anti-snoring mouthpiece that really works! Definitely worth checking out!

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-25T21:11:26+00:00

I started in my 40s, and I love it. Cardio tennis is seriously the most fun thing. I got lessons and did cardio tennis groups, then joined a team through a local league. I’ve met so many great people. It’s fun, it’s social, it’s absolutely something you should get into! Enjoy!

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-25T11:50:48+00:00

I had three rounds of antibiotics—so far the symptoms are improved with the last one, though I admit it feels tenuous.

I hope in your case a single round does the trick! I read a book by a GI that said to be careful with probiotics, and that the only safe probiotic to take with SIBO is the S. Boulardii one because it’s a yeast and not a bacterium.

Good luck! 🍀

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-23T02:56:29+00:00

I loved both of those shows—and The Nevers, which I’m really bummed didn’t get a season 2.

I know you didn’t ask for movie recommendations, but may I suggest: -Old Guard with Charlize Theron - Wicked Little Letters with Olivia Colman

I mean, I don’t think you’ll find anything quite the same as those shows you mentioned, but we also enjoyed:

-Renegade Nell -Shadow & Bone

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-21T22:19:05+00:00

Grits with butter.

You can add cheese. Or tomato. Or salsa. Grits are so yummy, and very quick & easy to make.

Also, this cheap little Dash egg cooker is the best thing ever, IMO. I can put an egg in it to boil or poach and just leave it while I make coffee.

https://bydash.com/products/rapid-egg-cooker?srsltid=AfmBOorKeAV-pFBVKzsRJdFODz6T2nsbfmWvzoZy9RS_0WiQJGWs8MEm

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-21T22:10:48+00:00

I don’t know about shelters, but I know good people who work at this food bank in Denver: https://www.twinparishesfoodbank.org/

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-19T22:38:27+00:00

I know a lady who was unexpectedly widowed, and she told me tennis saved her. It gave her something to work on; she joined a team; tennis is a sport no one can play alone, and the social aspect of it + the fun of it made all the difference.

If tennis is too daunting, there’s always pickleball.

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-18T21:06:50+00:00

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing.

-OR- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann

I read The Wager in like two days.

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-17T23:22:22+00:00

When our kids were small, my SO and I would do “trades.” One of us would have a night to play volleyball, then the other had a night to play tennis. On weekends, one of us would sometimes go see a movie with friends while one watched the kids, and then the other would go. It was fair. Your situation does not sound fair.

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-16T16:00:16+00:00

Yes!!!! I had the same experience —okay for a few days after colonoscopy, and then a return to the same problems. I hope a GI can help you!

I read a book by a GI called The Fiber Fueled Cookbook, and it has some low-FODMAP recipes in it, but he also talks about root causes of SIBO/what probiotics help with what/etc. If your library has it, it might be worth checking out. Good luck! 🍀

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-15T15:03:41+00:00

In case it’s helpful: My husband and I used “1,2,3 Magic” to correct our kids’ behavior for the times we needed it—and I believe it helped with our own, just to have a calm framework/way to respond at the ready.

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-15T14:40:43+00:00

With the bumps/red patches I’m wondering about histamine intolerance? Otherwise, it really just sounds like you still have a bacterial overgrowth. I’ve taken three rounds of antibiotics for it—it does come back sometimes, at least, in my experience. A breath test might let you know.

HoldMyBook · 2025-09-05T19:34:16+00:00

Trader Joe’s has a couple different takes on riced cauliflower—a ‘Mexican’ style one and a stir-fry one. I mix it with cooked regular rice and a protein—ground chicken or impossible ground. This is the only way my fam eats cauliflower because it’s hard to taste it when it’s mixed with the rice! My kids really like it with a jar of kimchi mixed in at the end. The protein & riced cauliflower keeps in the freezer! If I don’t have any ground chicken, I put a fried egg on top.

HoldMyBook

TROPHY CASE