The life of an expat wife - Boredom

Hi all,

The other day I was reading through the new posts and found one that just read "bored" so I as usual replied to it saying that there were many things women could do to stop being bored. I discovered that it was not that the ladies were bored, but it was some sort of fun exercise.Well, I could not really fathom what that meant, and why these ladies kept the thread going. But it brought to me the
realization, that at one point of time I was well and truly bored and didn't know what to do about it. No doubt I had the kids to look after, the husband to look after!!!! The cooking and the house keeping, and the friends and the visitors, and the lunches, and the holidays, and the organizing various events.....so why was I so bored you may ask????
I realized it was not truly boredom per se. It
was,a feeling of not being fulfilled as an individual as a person, as me.
I had begun to realize that in the midst of taking care of everyone else, I had completely forgotten that I had a lot that I wanted to do for myself, a lot of ways I wanted to express myself. I am a creative person by nature, and there was this nagging emptiness inside of me
to want to put this creativity to use, not for anyone maybe, but just for myself.
It is amazing, what that little bit of what I call BOREDOM did for me, like a grain of sand that irritates, the oyster, and produces a beautiful pearl. So also I feel the irritation of feeling bored, of feeling unfulfilled led me to discovering so many talents, that I may never have discovered I had.
I first stated with pottery, I love working with my hands, and working with clay was an utter
joy. Of course when it came time to throwing pots on the wheel... That was a completely different story, the wheel and my pots seem to have minds of their own, and each was seemingly on it's own trip, so most often than not my pots literally ran away from me. But I enjoyed the experience never the less, and was satisfied that I had made umpteen pots and
vases, and ashtrays and mugs, all by hand.
Then came my painting. I have always loved drawing, and if I drew a duck or a dog it did look like one, so decided I had to try my hand working with oils, something I had never attempted in my life. Thanks to a truly wonderful teacher, today I can say I am a
fairly good artist, and have about 40 or so paintings hanging all around the house to prove it. I have been asked whether I would like to sell some of my paintings, but to me
each of my paintings is like my child, and I simply cannot bear to part with any of them.
Then I went into flower arrangements. Enjoyed learning the art of taking even just one leaf and one flower and making them look spectacular.....
My next foray into the world of creativity was
doing gift baskets. This I went into by sheer
chance. Like I said I loved creating things, so for friends birthdays, I'd bake, or get a few things my friend liked, and put them together in a basket or a bowl or a plate, and everyone always seemed to ooh and ahh over what I'd done. So one day decided to turn my hobby into a small business. I used to have different themed baskets, like a coffee basket, or a
breakfast basket, or Italian,or baby shower basket.That was really fun, got to use my flower decorating skills too, as I'd put in a few items and on the side a small flower arrangement.
Then my daughter left for university, and I had even more time to persue my creativity. My next venture was writing a cookbook for my daughters 18th birthday. It was a simple
cookbook, that took me about three to four months to compile, it was meant for college kids, or someone who was clueless in the kitchen. I even went and studied photography in between, so I could take pictures of the dishes I cooked to put into the cook book. The recipes were simple, with easy to get ingredients, and many of them were her
favorites. When my friends found out about
the cook book, they all asked I make copies for them too, since they had kids going off to college in the next year or so, or they were already in college. So I agreed, but first sent my daughter her copy on her birthday. Something that she will remember all her life. Don't ask how the word about the book got around, but before I knew it I had friends of friends calling and ordering books.To date I have sold over a thousand books, not for profit, but just to cover the costs of printing. I have been asked to publish it, and one of these days I just might.
I know you guys must be thinking wasn't all of the above enough? Actually it wasn't, because the next thing that got me going was designing
table linen. This was truly a fun project, three friends and myself got together and put together some fantastic, sets of table linen, like mats, napkins, runners, bottle bags, tray cloths, tea cosies,aprons.... And we had such fun designing, sewing and then selling our creations at the various exhibitions that were held around town. That venture with my friends will stay with me forever.
I come from a long line of bakers and confectioners, so it was only natural that I
went into baking, cake decorating, and chocolate making in a big way.
I still paint, and arrange flowers, and create some great gift baskets, but my passion I have discovered is baking and decorating cakes and confectionary, the more challenging the theme of a cake the happier I am.
If anyone has the idea that I must have or be making a lot of money from all of the above, you couldn't be further from the truth.Thankfully I've never needed the money, so it has always been for the sheer pleasure of creating something wonderful, and beautiful.
And to think I discovered so many talents and so much about myself, just because I thought I was BORED!!!!! And decided to do something about it.......