Among the blogger reviews for Get a Hobby!, I noticed a general theme: We all had hobbies that we enjoyed greatly before we had families.  Some of us were certified hobby addicts:  “For gifts, I would create fabric-covered boxes or personalized gift-wrap with matching gift cards, and I really thought my customized picture frames were the cat’s meow (if you received one and didn’t like it, don’t tell me, I’ll be crushed). I took classes in subjects like life drawing (OMG naked old men models with wrinkles everywhere and I mean everywhere), belly dancing, and Ukrainian egg decorating.”

(Her name is Mother Bumper, and she’s a hobby-aholic.)

But one by one, we’ve been ”abandoning them in favor of Deadwood marathons and that most precious of all pursuits, sleep.”  What we DO do now often does not qualify as a hobby: ”Potty training? Not a hobby. Reading library books on the [train]? Not a hobby. Making my own ice cream and topping it with melted peanut butter and Hershey’s syrup? Somehow it didn’t make the cut.”

It’s not that we don’t still have our own interests.  But as one blogger astutely pointed out: “I think mothers in general are guilty of this: if we’re not multitasking and having projects lined up back to back then we feel like we’re not accomplishing anything.”  When we do pursue our hobbies, it makes us happier and healthier people:  “But it is taking that extra time, forcing myself if need be, to do something for myself that really saves my sanity. A little photography? Check. A little blogging for myself and the Parent Bloggers Network? Check. A little singing? Check.”

And sometimes we’ve got grandiose ideas but no idea how to make them happen:  “I’ve been saving my daughters’ clothes that they’ve outgrown and cutting them into large pieces so that I can make them into quilts for the girls…But I didn’t know where to begin.  Thanks to Get a Hobby!, now I do.”

One blogger, a rather literal type, found the quiz limiting:  “The questions were so absolute. I love history yet somehow it didn’t factor in because I didn’t know the answer to the question.  Maybe that was me reading it wrong, but a ripple of annoyance spread through me.”  But other bloggers took it in the tongue-in-cheek manner that it was intended.  One commented, “This book is a scream. I don’t know if I’ll actually start a new hobby after reading it, but I have to say I’m a tiny teensy weensy bit closer to understanding rabid show dog people and historical re-enactors.” Another (pictured at right, ready to pursue all of her hobbies) quipped: “According to the book’s quiz (who doesn’t love a quiz?), I am adventurous, animal-loving, musical, nature-loving, nurturing and outdoorsy, so I should pick out hobbies that go along with these traits: falconry, caving, deejaying or storm chasing, the book suggests. Hmm. Can I keep a bird on my arm while I strap a headlamp on my forehead, spinning some records in a van outfitted with tornado-monitoring equipment? Cool.”

In other words, you know what you like better than any quiz does.  But even so, it will get you thinking and “discovering avenues you hadn’t even thought to look down.”

But even the blogger who wasn’t impressed by the quiz enjoyed the history of the various hobbies: “Being the history nut that I am, I started leafing through the book just to read the historical sections listed with each hobby.”  And again, a few bloggers spoke of how the book appealed not only to them, but to their families as well:

• “My son and I also have a hobby of sorts and that is finding some time to bake together. We both enjoy the time together that we are able to create something delicious for the rest of the family.”
• “…it is just as exciting to my kids. They’ve been gleefully flipping the pages and egging me on to set up Urban Animal Husbandry - which…no. My quiz revealed I would do well raising African Violets, not chickens.”

All in all, the Parent Bloggers Network loved Get a Hobby! - not just for the entertainment value of the book itself, but also for the much-needed reminder that parents are people - with their own interests - too.

Congratulations to our winner - Franny from Minding Mizz!  She will receive a copy of Get a Hobby! and a $100 gift card to Michael’s Arts and Crafts.  Thanks to everyone who left comments to be entered into the giveaway!