Sigh. I am seriously so lost... not to mention bored!

Glen recently got a promotion at work that came with a new schedule. He works 11am-7:30pm three days during the week and then works 3pm to midnight on Saturdays and Sundays. I am used to him being home by 5:30pm at the latest and being off on the weekends. Needless to say I am completely lost! I have no idea what to do with myself.

I am usually in bed sleeping by 11pm, and he is usually there with me. I have done everything I can think of... laundry, dishes, other random cleaning, playing with the dogs and cats. I've exhausted all of my usual activities, websites I browse or games that I typically would play online whilst waiting for him to come home. And I can only watch so much television before I go crazy! I can't count on myself falling asleep before he gets home because well, I just can't when he's not here. 

I need some serious entertainment! 

What do you all do when your significant other is working the late/night shift to help pass the time?
Any good websites or games you would recommend?


Any suggestions would be awesome! I'm going out of my mind! 
 

How about trying to learn something new in a hobby? Paint or knit or something? Cooking and baking is a great way to pass time too

Draco said:

How about trying to learn something new in a hobby? Paint or knit or something? Cooking and baking is a great way to pass time too

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A new hobby is a great idea, I would love to learn a new language or something (though I have no idea when I would use it lol). I do have some restrictions, the biggest being a bandwidth limit each month on the internet usage. Glen's mom crochets, I suppose I could learn how to do that. However she doesn't really have the time to teach me lol. I used to be an avid painter/pencil sketcher. Never really lost interest, just kind of stopped doing it after high school. The only problem with picking it back up again is purchasing supplies. Something I could possibly look into next pay. 

Sounds like you need to find your passion. 

I bake when I'm bored. I will bake cookies or something for the freezer. I love to bake bread. I will cook soup or pasta sauce for the freezer. Try new recipes. Prepare meals for the freezer. 

I love to read and, once I'm done with whatever I need to do, then I'll bury my nose in a book. 

Rick goes away several times a year and in September, he will be in Vegas for almost a week for a union convention, followed by a week in Portland to go over financial books. I do work during the day, but will probably take a couple days vacation. During that time, I'll clean the house for fall, wash the curtains, wash down walls, all that good stuff. That's when I clean out cabinets and closets (because he's not home to say, "Oh, you don't want to get rid of that now, do you?"). I get a lot done when he's not here. I'm probably online less when he's not here (weird, eh?)

As others have mentioned, a hobby. Perhaps painting, working on ceramics, plants, an aquarium. Go out for some walks, maybe explore your city a little bit more. Invite friends in for dinner or snacks and a movie. Paint your apartment or house. Take some lessons in something you might be interested in. Volunteer at a shelter. 

I forgot to mention I don't drive.[emoji]128533[/emoji] It terrifies the living crap out of me. I live out in the country as some of you know by now. Only time I can get out of the house is if someone else is here to help MIL with FIL (he's on in-home hospice care for end stage cancer). So the majority of the time I only go places with Glen when he is off. This is another limitation to what I can/can't do...

I go on walks almost every day but am limited to how long I can be gone. MIL can't be by herself with FIL for too long incase he has a fall, she isn't capable of picking him up herself. So, my walks are short and quick paced, never gone for more than an hour maximum.

I could probably find some other things to clean around the house, but for the most part I've done that already. (I already vacuum, sweep, mop, do dishes, do laundry and take care of the farm animals daily. )

*sigh*

Definitely get into a hobby or something. You can find ways to idly pass time here and there, but it'll still feel like you're trying to kill time. A hobby will be something you enjoy and time will fly when you're doing it, and it doesn't have to be expensive or involve shopping or travel. Who doesn't have some pens/pencils and paper lying around somewhere? I follow an artist on Instagram who does professional style fanart, and he's admitted that even though he's a trained fine artist using the best of paints and materials during his studies, his fanart works are done with a black Bic pen and Crayola pencil crayon pack. Dollar store finds!

Language learning doesn't have to be through hour-long videos or Skype and such. Find some text-based resources and learn the basics of structure, definitions, spelling, tenses, and conjugating and toss some things into Google translate if you want to check the phonetics. Having more than one language under your belt will be handy whether you think it is now or not. If you want to travel, or if you encounter tourists who need help who speak that language, it's a bonus to have even if it's not an everyday use.

I actually take advantage of the time my SO is out of the apartment or even just sleeping in the morning to cook/bake, make cat food, make bird food, and do a thorough clean of the whole apartment, sometimes including the fridge and freezer. He takes advantage of the time I'm away from the apartment, like at work or in class or after I've gone to sleep at night, to get his freelancing stuff done. Like @Winchester I spend more time busying myself around the apartment than glued to the computer when I have the place to myself. We seldom even go to bed at the same time. We're far past the honeymooning "your heartbeat fits perfectly in my ear drum and it lullabies me to sleep".

One of my favorite things to do is make soap! You can start with Melt and Pour soap. Base is already made, all you need to do is create!! Plus, everyone needs soap

If you are in the US, Brambleberry has amazing stuff! I'm in Canada, and always take a hit when I order from them, but they do have great stuff, and lots of resources!

Chopping firewood is quite nice, as I these days cook and heat house and water with wood, there is lot of wood to be chopped and it really is quite relaxing, but still interesting once one get into it. There is lot to know how to get those difficult ones to split well, also different axes and making them to work perfectly + maintenance of axes too, that is whole own world to master.

As I need to chop so much wood, there is no time to get bored, but if I ever happen to get enough wood chopped, then I can start doing carving with axe. Also it is quite natural to move into woodworking from there, working with axe teaches lot about a grain of wood and that helps a lot in woodworking.

I have met few really good woman carpenters too, so don't ever think woodworking being a man thing, it suits well no matter what age or gender person is.

First and most important thing to learn is proper sharpening, from there rest is much easier, anything shop bought will not be sharp, properly sharp is far more sharp than anything you get from the shop/store.

Look from Youtube videos of Paul Sellers, he teaches things really well and from his videos one can see what woodworking really is like. Just few days ago I learned how to sharpen scissors from his videos, I have never had scissors that work so well than what I now have. Just watching his sharpening related videos will get one to be able to sharpen all things in kitchen so that cutting tasks will be a lot easier

how about making some jams/jellies and canning them? i did that for the first time last year. i learned to do it by reading about it online. it isn't hard to do, just takes a decent amount of time to get done. i made enough jams/jellies (as well as some very good zucchini relish -- tastes just like sweet pickle relish) to last me into this fall, and was able to give some away for christmas gifts. these days, receiving a gift of homemade/canned jams/jellies is a real treat. so they made very nice gifts for christmas last year.

mickNsnicks2mom said:

 
how about making some jams/jellies and canning them? i did that for the first time last year. i learned to do it by reading about it online. it isn't hard to do, just takes a decent amount of time to get done. i made enough jams/jellies (as well as some very good zucchini relish -- tastes just like sweet pickle relish) to last me into this fall, and was able to give some away for christmas gifts. these days, receiving a gift of homemade/canned jams/jellies is a real treat. so they made very nice gifts for christmas last year.

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Did you happen to bookmark the links of the pages you read? If so, I'd love to take a look!

yes, i did bookmark several of the websites about canning that i read from. here's some links --

canning 101 -- http://foodinjars.com/canning-101-archive/

simply canning -- http://www.simplycanning.com/home-canning.html

canning across america -- http://www.canningacrossamerica.com/who-we-are/

ball's website -- http://www.freshpreserving.com/

about dot com's food preservation -- http://foodpreservation.about.com/

i'd just pick a website that you find comfortable to use and that explains the canning process in a way that makes sense to you. then look around for recipes you're interesting in making/canning. i made recipes using fruits and vegetables that i knew i'd be buying locally or that i grew myself. i also found it helpful to know someone who has experience canning, so i could ask any questions that might come up. one really good tip i got was that it's better to process longer (using the water bath canning method) than to not process long enough.

one thing to keep in mind -- if you have a glass top/flat top stove, there are some restrictions for the canner you use. i currently have a glass top stove (came with the house when i bought it, and will be replaced with a gas range when the kitchen is remodeled), so i'm familiar with the restrictions for my brand/model.

Additional tip for choosing what to do, if one thinks something is certainly not something one would like to do, try it, it is challenging oneself thing, sometimes things that appear unpleasing are actually most interesting when trying.

I have 'disliked' garlic for years for example, mostly because of the odor, but then I decided to try it, now I can't cook without it

I don't quite know all words, but we somehow predict things wrong, what we think really is not, when trying things one feels most against, one can find incredible bigger and richer world.

It works with tastes, activities, really with anything, but it takes a lot to take that first step to actually experiment, especially with things one has that strong feel of them being not something one would like.

I don't mean that you should not do what you find most interesting, I mean as addition try things you think you don't like

Aw. I hope you can get back into drawing and painting.  If it's too expensive then maybe you can get supplies little by little?  I also enjoy drawing and painting though I don't do it as much as I'd like.  I would like to learn how to crochet too but since I am more into knitting, I do that, but haven't done it in awhile either.  Knitting supplies are expensive, too, so I was only getting them little by little or secondhand if I could.    I'm sorry about your FIL.

For languages, are you interested in French maybe?  I actually want to study it more even though I've been out of school for awhile.  It's such a beautiful language.  I enjoy it when my French friends post FB statuses in French.  It's fun to see if I can actually understand them since I know "un petit peu" (a little bit ) but not a whole lot. 

flutenotepoet said:

For languages, are you interested in French maybe?  I actually want to study it more even though I've been out of school for awhile.  It's such a beautiful language.  I enjoy it when my French friends post FB statuses in French.  It's fun to see if I can actually understand them since I know "un petit peu" (a little bit ) but not a whole lot. 

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I actually took French in school (Canadian second language, mandatory and such) from Kindergarten to 9th grade. I can understand basic French but that's about it. I haven't practiced or used it since then.

Whoa, you started French in kindergarten? Were you in a French immersion school? We didn't have to start French till grade 4.

pinkdagger said:

 
Whoa, you started French in kindergarten? Were you in a French immersion school? We didn't have to start French till grade 4.

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Nope, just regular Catholic school. It wasn't very advanced, but we had a French teacher who brought in puppets and taught us basic words like cat & dog, up, down, in, out and the days of the week via song. It was that way and a bit more progressed up until I think 4th grade as well. Most things were taught with the puppets and through song. It really helped us enjoy the lessons and the language. 

The way elementary school has changed since then it wouldn't surprise me if they don't do that anymore.

Cool! I am a Canadian and we started French in kindergarten, too!  I went to public school. 

Interesting!

@AlyssaM I think we're the same age (24) but I went to public school in Ontario and I don't recall any introductions to French any earlier. The only song I remember is Louie la Grenouille, hahaha!

pinkdagger said:

 
Interesting!

@AlyssaM I think we're the same age (24) but I went to public school in Ontario and I don't recall any introductions to French any earlier. The only song I remember is Louie la Grenouille, hahaha!

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LOL, yeah I remember that one too. And, close! I turned 23 in March. I think the reason I have such vivid memories of French that early is like I said, everything was taught through song. As we got into the higher grades we played games too. My French teacher had flash cards and it was sort of like "war". I don't remember what she called it, but one person would start and make their way around the class room, standing next to a person and she would show a card with a picture on it. First person to shout the correct name en Francais of what was on the card would advance until they lost against someone else!