Before Al Gore, bless his heart, invented the computer, we had to find hobbies to occupy our spare time. I've had some doozies!

    I started by trying my hand at furniture refinishing. I began with an antique mirror frame and when it turned out nice enough to keep, I moved on to a marble-topped old, old 3-drawer chest. After painstakingly slow work of removing coats of black, white, and green paint, I had a lovely piece of furniture.

    Alas! A teething puppy gnawed on one of the original drawer pulls and had a meal on one corner of wood. Many dabs of permanent black marker disguised the marks (but not the shape) on the pull, but no amount of stain could hide the missing wood. So much for furniture!

    I decided to make 3-D pictures next. For this craft you begin with 4-5 copies of a picture (1700 Dickensonian street scenes dominated the market). After gluing one complete picture on the cardboard backing you then c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y begin cutting out individual parts of the remaining copies. Liberal amounts of silicone sealer allow you to build up and reassemble a complete 3-D scene. Fun to make, interesting, but four is three too many!

    I next moved on to crewel embroidery. It's like paint-by-the-number with colored yarn instead of paint. You do this while watching the Ed Sullivan Show. It was only when it was bedtime that you discover that with your inattention you have taken a stitch through a wool skirt. It wasn't much fun pulling out an hour's worth of embroidery thread before you could disrobe and go to bed!

    Deciding that I needed to do something with an embroidery hoop, I moved on to cross stitched hand towels. Merry Christmas, everybody! Since no one seemed too thrilled, I quit THAT hobby.

    I haunted garage sales, auctions, and antique stores for years collecting copper pots and pans and cooking utensils. Paint remover works well on really, really green pieces. It also removes corroded metal and your sauce pan is now a sieve. Oh, well, we live and learn!

    Long ago, a calendar had a beautiful foil picture made from a Lionel Barrymore painting. I had it framed and I was on a quest. After scrounging in my favorite junk places, I now have a guest room decorated with thirteen foil 'paintings.' Guests sleep in the Barrymore Room. Shades of the Ritz Carlton!

    Jigsaw puzzles next took my fancy. I worked the 1,000 piece ones with regularity, coated some with puzzle saver, even framed some. But how many places can you display puzzles? My vet shares a passion for Wysocki completed puzzles, but then, she has a home and office to decorate! I enjoy my contribution to her collection whenever my dog needs to see her.

    I've decoupaged, collected toothpick holders, brass candlesticks, and brass bells. what do I do now! I have a little electronic dictionary/thesauras that helps with with crossword puzzles. But free cell on my computer now has most of my attention. I'm doing it to combat Alzheimer's!