Hobbies

I have recently re-discovered the importance of having a hobby. I live a busy family life with my partner, eight-year-old stepdaughter and 14 month-old daughter. I also work as a registered nurse at two different locations, both requiring a one hour commute. On the surface this looks wonderful and it is exactly the life I always wanted, minus a few tiny glitches. One of these glitches is that I haven't been getting a lot of work lately, thus limiting my funds and creating the common stress of unpaid bills, etc.
With all of these "life" things going on, I was invited by one of my good friends to a card gathering. For those of you who don't know, this is a gathering of friends or people with the common interest of creating beautiful cards using stamps, embellishments and other goodies. As I was at this gathering, I remembered how much I really love doing this and thought of all the stuff I've hoarded over the years just sitting at home collecting dust, except for the few times I've taken it out to make Christmas and birthday cards. This brought me to thinking of how I could get into this hobby again without it depleting my already empty bank account.
I called a lady I know who sells the product and talked to her about becoming a consultant for the company, Close To My Heart. It turns out that there was actually a promotion going for anyone signing up to be a consultant at that time - what luck! So I signed up.
Since this time (only a couple of weeks ago) I have been working on my scrapbook and my cards almost non-stop. Every spare moment has been spent in the midst of papers, buttons, ribbons, and stamps. My hands are always covered in ink. To emphasize the level of enjoyment this gives me, I must first tell those of you who might not know me so well how much I LOVE my sleep. My day generally revolves around when I am going to get a nap. Unfortunately I have been catering to the same sleeping schedule as my baby girl, Nevae, for the last 14 months and only get about an hour and a half of sleep in the middle of the day now but I still think about sleeping all the time. I drink at least two cups of strong tea every day to keep my lids open. What can I say other than I would rather be sleeping than doing most other things. So with this in mind, I will tell you that in the past two weeks I have not only not been having a nap, but have been staying up until all ungodly hours of the night, even knowing I will be forced out of my slumber somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30am each morning, ugh!
So with less sleep one would imagine me to be a little bit of a grumpy pants (ok, or a lot) but the funny thing is, I have been so happy! I have been happy, energetic, and surprisingly more patient with everything and everyone. I am on cloud nine!
I did my own first card gathering last night and one of the girls mentioned that hobbies are so expensive. I agreed but it led me to questioning what all the benefits of hobbies might be to make such an expense worthwhile, especially for all those people out there (me) who tend to feel guilty spending ridiculous amounts of money on something that is so enjoyable but seemingly unproductive. With a little bit of internet research I found that hobbies can be good for stress-relief but also good for providing the kind of stress that makes one excited about being alive. Hobbies can also provide a great social outlet, pleasure and gratification, stave off burnout and even have physical health benefits. To read in more detail please visit http://stress.about.com/od/funandgames/a/The-Importance-Of-Hobbies-For-Stress-Relief.htm
So my question to you is: What's your hobby?