I may need a hobby

I've been home with my kids now part-time for two years and full-time for a year and a half, and I've enjoyed it so much more than I ever would have thought. I absolutely loathed my job, which made my decision to quit a lot easier, but I was still nervous about spending all of my time devoted to home and family. One of the biggest surprises has been how busy I am, just keeping the trains running reasonably on schedule.

Most changes have been for the better. I think I'm a better mother now that I'm less stressed and have a less externally driven schedule (of course, I also have twice as many children now, so my time is a bit divided even without a job). My house is usually cleaner and better organized than it used to be. I've learned to cook, and been shocked to discover that I love it. Unfortunately, I've also learned that I love eating what I cook, which has lead to some serious weight gain - one of the less positive changes in the past two years.

But, as usual, I digress. My girl twin is making a concerted effort to change the tone of this post by driving me batshit with her incessant fussing. This is either a 3-month growth spurt or the emergence of a very unpleasant facet of her personality. My point (I swear I had one) is that I'm a very content stay-at-home mother most of the time. I don't miss my old job - in fact, the further I get from my old job, the more I realize how awful it was and how unhappy I was. It was an environment much like that on The Office, only without the redeeming humor.

So, I don't want to go back there (ever, no no no), and I don't see myself working full time anywhere for at least a few more years, but lately I've been spending evenings looking things up. I pick a topic and google it for an evening, imagining possibilities, and then, a night or two later, I move on to another topic. Some are areas of study - continuing education, tax prep classes, cooking school, law school, economics masters programs. Some are current events - I'm sure you're all getting tired of where that leads me.

Most recently, I've been reading about woodworking. Yes, woodworking. I missed out on shop class in school because I was in the choir (stop laughing, everyone who's ever heard me do karaoke). I'm dreaming of a fabulous extension dining room table. Our immediate family is huge (9 people), and we host most of our extended family gatherings, and our current table only seats 6. See how the rationalization begins? I've seen a couple tables I like online, but they're pretty expensive, and wouldn't it just be too cool to make my own table?

Clearly, I need to find something to broaden my horizons a bit. What should it be? A part time job? An enrichment class? An actual writing project? A dining room table?