when i was much younger, i worked my hospital job full time, had three kids and hubby, at one time had 22 pets around here, had a huge garden, canned and froze produce, made jam, took night classes, sang in the choir at church, taught sunday school, was a deaconess, and headed up the monthly birthday cake donations for a nearby institution for mentally ill long term patients. now, i work .9, have no kids, one hubby, one ancient cat, and no time. i don't know how i used to do it. now time is sucked up by some hungry hole in the universe that just plain sucks it in like a tornado. more and more i do less and less. i wonder if my generation is the one that's finding out the hard way that you can have it all--but you get too tired to do anything with it!

now after work i sit and catch up on the computer, and take a nap so i have enough strength to put on my jammies and do it all again the next day.i buy fabric, sew a little now and then, and wish i had energy to do it all again. i will die with one more project on my mind, and one more quilt laying by the machine...

At 68, I tell my kids I've gotten selfish in my old age. I did the wife/mommy thing for 22 years. When it became 'just me', I continued doing it all for a long time. When I discovered quilting, I decided that I could do what I wanted, when I wanted. Now, I'm still working full time, but if my house isn't as clean as it should be and there are some weeds in the yard, 'oh, well'. It's my life and I should be able to enjoy it.

I guess do one than if your get tired of it do the next thing on your list. There is never enough time. but maybe there is a good reason for it.

YES !!

I used to be you also and I have tried to find that one dream I still have left that could help me make a living. I haven't yet and until I do I just listen to my heart and try what it says "that's interesting or I really like that pattern for pillows." Maybe you have a favorite pattern for pillows and a new interior designer that's looking for fresh talent." There's usually one area of sewing/quilting/designing we all like best. Find out what makes you come alive and do it. Even if turns out to be floral or garden design. {{{{HUGS}}}} :-D :-D :-D

I can't do a fraction of the things I did now that I'm in my mid 60's. I fall off into never never land while reading emails and try not to beat myself for all the time I should have used more wisely today. I have to leave should at the door mat and be glad I can still do what I do. If we fail to listen to our bodies God just unplugs me and makes me rest. Welcome to Twilight of our lives."

Oh definitely. I try to have just one project going at a time or I go crazy. I work full time. Then there is dinner to fix, yard work, cleaning the house. I am lucky to get into the sewing room. My friend wanted me to get into beading, but I said No. I just don't have the time to start another hobby. I want my hobbies to be relaxing and if there are too many then it will only be stressful.

I used to try to do it all and did a pretty decent job of it, ran my own secretarial business, baseball for son and daughter, Girl Scouts, church, VBS, sewing, etc., etc., but when age and arthritis caught up with me my husband calls me lazy because I can't do it all anymore. My fault. Now I leave the housework to him, it bothers him more than me if the apt. isn't magazine picture perfect, I sew, quilt, read, pamper my kitty TJ, and do what I can. I figure since he can't drive - I have to do it all-even when I'm in a lot of pain - and he doesn't have arthritis in his back, hips, knees, ankles, feet, plus fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, that he can do it. I think it's only fair, but not to hear him tell it. Men!!!

Maybe that is why they died at such young ages.

I also used to do it all, work full time, have a child at home, take care of the house, shopping, errands, cleaning and for those of you who remember the days, starch my husband's shirts til they could stand up on their own! And I still managed to find to crochet (my hobby at the time). Now I am a stay at home wife on the road, living in a motorhome, and it seems the place is never clean enough, always cluttered and we are packing up and moving just about every week. When my DH is at work, I'm too tired to do anything. Gotta get some motivation, cuz I do have some time in the evenings. It seems the busier you are, the more you can do.

YES!