Woah. This post made me stop and think long and hard, just like when you bleepblooped. I, too, cannot remember when I last did something fun! I think it's the nature of our to-do-list-sticky-notes-everywhere-on-the-go-fast-food-nation.

Fooey on the fast-paced lifestyle! I, too, pledge from this day forward to have a little fun everyday. Not only that, but to take life a little slower.

I may have mentioned this before, but (back when I had a car) my license plate used to say "JAM2DAY"

In "Through the Lookinglass," there's another mad teaparty, and Alice asks for jam. She is told that the rule is jam yesterday or jam tomorrow, but never jam today.

Lewis Carroll is poking fun at people who always PLAN for fun, but never DO it, and those who spend all their time thinking of how much fun they had in the past.

My motto throughout life (well, since I was 17 and read it) has been jam today (check out my blog URL).

It's a catchy phrase for what you plan to do.

Watermelon can be fun or at least spitting the seeds at sibling/cousins/very young relatives.

Excellent birthday planning. Have fun with it!

Hello! I just found you when I Googled shea butter foot cream. I kid you not. Now I've been reading here for the past hour.

It's true that you do lose a lot of the fun, especially in this day and age of stress! Something that my significant other and I do is hide funny things so the other will find them. Bear with me here. We passed one of those little cans of tomato paste back and forth for about 3 weeks. It started out in my overnight bag and made its way (mysteriously!) into one of his slippers, then into my purse, then into his refrigerator, and so on until disappearing after it replaced his bottle of shampoo in the shower. I think that it got wet. (knew I should have bagged it first!)

Sure, it may sound lame, but we think it's funny - and if we weren't silly sometimes, we'd be crazier people than we already are.

Fun for me is receiving email. It means someone thought of me and wanted to say hello.

Fun is being in charge of my own life and getting to do exactly what I want to do.

Fun is reading your blog and looking at the pictures (that is a VERY cute puppy).

I think of fun as something that you can do, and don't HAVE to do. I like to read for fun. I also like to scrapbook.

Fun could be going to the zoo and not taking any kids. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Your post made me pause for thought too, and has made me think about keeping a daily record, maybe on my blog, of what I've done that has been fun - it would nice to be able to look back in six months, or when I'm down, and see what fun things I'd been up to.

Today I splashed through puddles in my wellies with some friends. That was fun!

Fun is driving late at night without much traffic while listening to a great radio station. (Maybe that is hard to do in Los Angeles?) I guess this is the kind of fun you cannot always plan for, but these are the moments I can remember that were pure joy...

Dear Laurie,

How about thinking of three nice things that have happened to you each day? Like reading your posts... for me.

Well I think you can't go past bubble mixture and ring (or pipe, or bit of wire, or cupped hands. A few moments reverting to the sheer joy of childhood (a good few decades for me!). Also entertaining for the cats.

WOW!Just when I clicked on your blog Cheryl Crow came on XM radio singing "All I wanna do is have some fun...." Isn't that fun-ny? Rock on.

I miss my dog that died. She knew about fun.

Be here now & enjoy. That's fun.

Whoa. Bleepblooping over here, too. What a timely post (the synchronicity with my life sometimes amazes me).

I haven't had fun lately, either, due to financial restrictions. For some reason, I developed a belief that I am only "allowed" to have fun when all the "important" things are done, or I have "extra" money to spend on frivolity. So, no fun for me for quite awhile.

Last night I was supposed to play a patio gig. It was raining. My friend and I arrived to find the gig was canceled--here we were, all dressed up 20 miles from home with an entire evening before us. I think the Universe lured me out on pretense because She realized I needed to have FUN for a change, and I did.

Fun for me is:

--a good meal at my favorite haunt with a good friend, a beer, and scintillating conversation.

--playing with my horse, or cantering along a pine-scented trail.

--jamming with connected, talented musicians.

--a summer day spent in the sun on a floatie in a pool, then BBQing and enjoying a few beers on the deck as the sun sets.

Yep, I need more fun in my life. Happy Birthday!

I have not commented in a long while but this sparked me as it is something I have been working on for some time....Our favorite fun thing to do in the house is to play in the sprinklers with the dogs. My teenage girls and I find it fun to torment the husband/dad with the words vagina, boobies and penis. You try working that into a conversation. I also have fun just sitting and thinking...maybe listening as well. There are many facets to fun.

Mz. Purl, as long as you are eating watermelon by yourself or with people who love you no matter what, it is all manner of fun! I actually just re-discovered this camping/going to a mountain man rendezvous with my dad. I was sitting around with friends and family and making a complete mess.... and having a great time! And I think this fun can be had alone, too, if you don't take yourself at all seriously while eating it!

I knew there was a reason I like you! My birthday is Tuesday, and I always make resolutions on my birthday rather than new year's. I also like zucchini. But the opposite thing is that I am living in the South wishing I was back home on the west coast. Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday!

A friend of mine sent me to your site last week and I have been diligently reading all your posts... from the beginning. I thought a birthday greeting would be a timely way to say hello :)

Reading about your journey has been funny, thought provoking, motivating and sometimes so very sad. (I'm still broken up about Roy...)

Hope you don't mind a crocheting stalker :) I can't seem to make the knitty sticks work for me... unless you really like knots.

Adding bouncy music (iPod anyone?) makes almost anything fun!

LOLcats are fun! http://www.icanhascheezburger.com

1.Taking my pit bull Angel to the dog park
2.Wandering through used book stores
3.Running around the back bay
4.Spin class
5.Swimming
6.Jazzercise
7.Golf
8.Dancing by myself to disco
9.Museums/Aquariums
10.Hanging with my sons as a family
11.College football in a sports bar
12.Angel baseball games
13.Driving in my clean car with the sunroof open on a beautiful So Cal day and a great song on the radio
14.Skiing
15.Singing in church
16.Making mosaics
17.Sudoku
18.Crossword puzzles
19.Dinner and conversation with a good friend
20.Kissing

I totally like to do paint by numbers. Good, silly, busy fun.

I hope your having a simply FANTABULOUS birthday today, sweetie! There's something that I try to do at least once a month (but you could probably do once a week because you're not on a doctor-ordered diet) is to eat something forbidden and delicious. Today is the day that I get to eat a big bowl of ice cream and not feel guilty about it! Next month will be a big bowl of grits with butter and salt!

Happy day with lots of love, Liz R

I still jump on the bed. I'm an adult now, and it is MY bed that I paid for, so I don't have anyone telling me I can't do it!

Happy Birthday! Great Resolution. I hope you exceed your 3 minutes every day and have a wonderful year!

-Sarah

I agree that the best kind of fun is something easy. Having to shave your legs, put on make-up, and get dressed stylishly (always a problem for me) to go out somewhere is work, not fun. On the other hand, I love talking long walks late at night in the summer. The heat of the day has finally blown off, there's no traffic, no people, just myself and the lightining bugs. I love curling up with one of my pets and reading a good book. I find ordering in much more wonderful then i probably should (Food! At my house! That i didn't cook!). Digging around in my garden is fun. Doing the crossword from the paper. Knitting (of course). This probably makes me a huge dork- but i think it's fun to rearrange my furniture. It tricks me in to thinking the house looks fresh and new, which gives me some pep, but i didn't have to buy anything (I'm on a tight budget too) to make that happen. I'm also learning to spin, which I'm finding really challenging but also a lot of fun (and cheap too- a spindle was just $5). Just a few ideas...

I think it is fun to read your blog, but that doesn't help you that much. You have a significant number of folks giving you lists and stuff, but I like to go outside and watch my garden change each day and playing/spending time with my grandson is fun....most of the time unless he is in a funky mood. :) That can be sort of fun, too.

Anyway, hope you have a fun birthday and actually a fun year and rest of your life. You have set goals and I know you will keep them.

Coasting down a steep hill on my bike - way fun. And so is not moving at all, if I have my knitting in the lap, a podcast of "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" on my iPod, and a beverage at my elbow. Hey, I've had lots of fun this weekend! I hope you do, too.

Happy, happy, happy birthday to someone who has brought a lot of joy and a lot of thought into this world.

Hi Laurie,
I'm a long time reader, first time poster. You just showed me that I haven't had fun in a long time. I have two young kids, with a third on the way and I find that I am always thinking abotu LISTS of things I have to get done or things that just can't wait another day. I have two experts on fun in my very own house and I don't take advantage of them. Thanks for the reality check.

I think tomorrow we'll go pick strawberries.

Happy Birthday! Yay on you for realizing how important is to have fun every day! =)

I try to squeeze some in every now and again...but I mostly relate fun to hanging out with my munchkins...and they know how to have FUN like nobody's business! So, I just copy them. Today it was playing with Sculpy clay and watching skate videos with my big munchkin.

Sitting around the house fun...watching videos of singing cats and dogs on YouTube...knitting...watching my turtle grab food out of my hand...wandering around the yard taking pictures of random stuff...fun is everywhere!

I think the key to having fun is to just stop being serious. I guess that's where the work part is. =)

For 3 minutes of easy fun, try turning out the lights and have the cats chase a flashlight beam. We have a laser-pointer-thingy the cats go crazy for - even the old matronly one.

I do a lot of things I enjoy in the doing, but to qualify as fun, there needs to be laughing. We just came back from a trip with a lot of laughs with friends, but home again, not so many.

Must to find some laughs!! Your blog often has them; thank you!

Fun? Anything that makes you laugh.
Floating down a river in your lifejacket and tennies. My nephew likes to go to the park and swing. What did you like to do as a kid?

woo eee - do i ever relate to this -- i carry a very small green notebook in my purse and whenever i think of something fun to do (feasible or not!) i write it in my book - even looking at the book makes me a little bit excited...

love,
dana

I'm all about the fun! Playing with my hounds is fun. Trying to trick them about which way I threw a ball is reeeeealllly good fun ;-) Bubbles are also good.

And stupid jokes. They're fun too.

Forgot to say - Happy Birthday Favourite Auntie.

I also struggled with the fun thing. I've found lots of ways to get me some. Mostly, its about being playful for me. I hope you enjoy some on this list:

blowing bubbles
bubble baths
coloring, painting or drawing
playing with dough
going to a toy store getting a fun little toy
talking with the neighbours
swinging on a swing
batting a beach ball around

Happy Birthday!

try roller skating! My kids had a last day of school field trip at a roller rink, and I convinced another mom to skate with me. We were horrible, and sore and looked like fools, but we laughed and it was fun!
I struggle with finding fun in the every day, so your post was really meaningful and thought provoking to me.

Laurie -- Happy birthday. What a great resolution. But I think you are too easy on yourself. I think that three minutes of fun for someone of your ambition is just too easy. I think you should make sure that -- at least once a week -- you stretch yourself like a marathon runner, and go for 33 minutes of fun. It should be 33 minutes because that is a random, odd number, which is in itself pretty funny, and perfectly sets up the fun atmosphere.

Friend: "What are you doing now, Laurie?"

Laurie: "I'm having my 33 minutes of fun."

Friend: "33 minutes? That is so random. But it is sort of funny."

Laurie: "Exactly! That's what makes it fun."

I hope your birthday was fun for all 24 hours.

I put a bird feeder outside the window by my work area. The cats and I *all* have fun watching the birds and squirrels. Right this minute there's a very young squirrel looking in the window at me - too cute!

A fun activity for even a few minutes: dropping a fishing line in a body of water. for me, it's "bait optional," but don't tell anyone - they'll think it's nuts ;)

After my dad died I was able to stay with my mom for 6 weeks. After a week or so, she told me we were going to do something fun every day. And we did!

Sometimes it was big things, like going to the hometown Mardi Gras parade and throwing beads to the old shriners who didn't have any on their float or going to see the Ten Tenors at the Civic Center. Whoo-hooo! ten hot guys from Australia singing Bee-Gees and Queen (Mom kept asking me if it was "The Beatles" and telling me to sit down!) - oh yeah and a bit of opera - Good times.

Or it cold be something simple like doing the crossword in the paper together every night or making "special flavored coffee" for a treat.

One night Mom asks me "Did we have any fun today?" After thinking, the best I could come up with was that we had gone to Prayer Meeting/Bible Study at church that night. "Does that count?" I asked. "Oh no!" Mom answers. Oh that Mom.

For me, I find that having fun usually involves other people. It takes the focus off our selves (heaven knows I'm too self absorbed as it is). If I can make someone's day, THAT's fun.

I LOVE hanging out with my 17 year old daughter and her friends. Last night she had two of her guy friends over and we watched Camp Rock (total Disney chick flick). Now THAT was fun.

I also love to play Dutch Blitz. I think it must be a local card game very popluar here in Lancaster County, PA. It is one of those wild games with everyone trying to play their cards at the same time and first one out wins. Teenagers and Dutch Blitz - the best time ever!!!

OK, I also got a Facebook account to keep up with my 17 yo when she was in South Africa for 2 months last year. Yeah, lame that this old lady is sending the kids in her youth group Flair and posting on their wall. Yeah, but boy is that fun!

What about knitting? Don't you think of knitting as fun? :)

For me, the idea (or the ghost of the idea) that I might get to sit down, drink tea, and cross-stitch is my idea of Eden. (Well, sort of.) :)

Watching classic movies (I know you love the Thin Man movies like I do!) - believe it or not, if I have laundry to fold, then I get real excited 'cuz it means I can put on an old movie and watch it. And the more laundry to fold, the more of the movie I get to watch. :)

I'd also add sitting on my porch swing, but I live in Maryland and you live in California. Probably not the same. :)

My girls think it's fun to chase squirrels and ducks. :)

You DID ask for advice, ya know. :)

Love,
Dawn

I hope you have a wonderful birthday. Thanks for making me realize I need more fun in my life.

another wake up call! Must have more fun!

Things that are fun for me:

Watching cooking shows,

Having a fancy breakfast somewhere a bit special, for an occasional treat (like your birthday,

Watching a favourite DVD that cracks me up and/or has good music, Tootsie, Billy Elliot, Groundhog Day, Clueless,

Going for a long walk with upbeat music on the ipod, The Fratellis (Scottish), Abba, Mika, Kaiser Chiefs (UK) The Grates (Australian), soundtrack to '10 things i hate about you',

A lazy afternoon, laying on the sofa with a doona on me reading a book that i am really enjoying, something by Marian Keyes, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Catcher in the Rye, The idea of perfection by Kate Grenville, something by Carol Shields such as Republic of Love, Larry's Party or Stone Diaries

Tenpin bowling with a friend and a couple of beers

Cooking biscuits or cake to take to work the next day

Going to a farmers market, early before the crowds, walking around with a coffee,

Book in for a class in something fun, for me that's a food class, breadmaking or something

Have a good birthday day!

One fun thing that takes very little time. Go outside and just listen for three min. It's fun to figure out the source of the noises you hear. Grandma

Another yay for Lolcats! I do that for myself every day!

Man, I was just sure your song was gonna be "Carrie Dupree".

Here's one to get stuck in your head... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEQxEJ5_5zA (I like this one for the message) and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOvFaef41iw&eurl=http://darkoakwoman.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-im-listening-to-these-days.html (and this one because it is FUN!!)

I love fun!!

wow.

i don't think i know what fun is.

maybe that's why i am so... i don't know the word. but yeah. i don't think i remember how to have fun.

i do things that might be considered fun, but i don't think i end up finding them fun.

(i apologize for using the word "fun" too many times in such a short post)

Some random thoughts on fun...

My boyfriend scootered to the store last weekend. I'm meaning those kid push-razor-scooter things. It was fun...but don't go too, too fast, because falling is not fun. Even more fun was watching everyone stare at the two thirty-somethings scooter by. Also, you know those big colorful stability balls at the gym? One of the aerobics instructors at my gym has her class bounce them around the track. It's impossible not to smile when you're doing it PLUS you can count it as exercise.

Enjoy!

oops. meant to say "My boyfriend and I". I really ought to proofread.

Loud Country or Classic Rock music does it for me. Singing AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS to The Eagles, or Clint Black ... just makes me happy. "Brother Loves Travelling Salvation Show," by Neil Diamond? Oh, I'm smiling thinking about it.

LOLcats -- I do read it every day; if I need more fun I hit the archives.

Walking or running with a book on my iPod -- also fun. Well, actually, folding laundry with a book on my iPod is fun!

Thanks for yet another thought-provoking post!

Sew.

Fun...in no particular order...

Playing with my dog
Playing with my cat
Sitting on my front porch with a glass of coffee, tea, wine or cocoa
Sitting on my front porch with a friend and one of the above beverages
Walking in my woods with my dog
Cooking something I love
Cooking something new
Dinner in front of the wood stove
Laughing
Looking at the changing sky

Have fun! - however you have it ... wonderful that you made that committment!

I put "have fun every day" in my wedding vows. Some days, the best we can do is pretend to steal the dog's face, but hey - we love it, the dog loves it, I think that's plenty good some days.

Some of the ways I have fun:

* Singing in the car to a really good song - - REAL LOUD - - with the windwos down and the wind in my hair. In my own head, I sound damn good! And it such fun!

* Playing "bed monster" with the cats - - moving my hand under the covers on the bed, and when they go to 'attack' it, the "bed monster" rears up and gets them! It's hysterical, and starts my day off on a fun note.

I have found that the days when I don't do anything fun are the days when I come home from work feeling totally drained . . . so I try to incorporate a few minutes of fun time into each and every day.

Happy Day, Laurie - - and many, many more!

Back again today with something else, found this list:
'50 ways to celebrate life every day'

http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com/?p=153

Some of it is similar to what some have already suggested.

Enjoy!!

Isn't it obvious? Start a new knitting project?
Sara

Laurie, you have the best posts. So very thought provoking.

I co-worker once shared a tidbit for making things more interesting and sometimes even fun. Instead of saying "I need to do x", say "I want to do x". Very helpful...when I remember to do it!

Duh. I meant "A co-worker", not "I co-worker".

I love to cook, so some nights instead of just making dinner I take the time to really enjoy it while talking like I have my own food network show. It's totally fun and in the end you have dinner!

Plus, Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Srsly.

You bring me fun. I enjoy the new music you share with me, and for me, music is as essential as air to breath.

I have a small bottle of bubbles at my work cube farm. Every once in a while I blow a stream of bubbles up and over the the cube walls and out into the corridors. That is fun.

Skinny dipping by moonlight is fun, but I have not been able to indulge in that for some time. I'll have to look for ways to make it happen this summer.

Happier Birthday to you!

I was looking at scooters, due to our $4.49 gas prices and really wanted one, but ultimately decided to get a bike. Now, I am 49, overweight, and not an athlete in any sense of the word. But I ordered myself the coolest bike ever, and when I ride it I feel like a big happy puppy with it's tongue hanging out in the wind. It is fun, and I love it. It is a cool kind called a comfort bike, or cruiser. Electra Townie 21. I got a bell. The whole shebang is electric lime green. No one is more surprised that me at how much I love that thing,and how cool I feel on it, even though I am just a big dork!
SO, happy birthday and have yourself some big fun.

Well, today's fun is that I went for a walk with a friend I hadn't seen in about 5 months. It was great to catch up and we're going again next week.

Things that brighten my day (pretty low key but I like them):

Get on the floor and play with the dogs

Knit or spin, either at home or socially

Blog-hop on line

Try to get the guy in the cube next to me to crack up (it's pretty easy)

Walk around the back yard and check out what the garden's doing

Catch a Red Sox game if there's one on tv (not too easy on the west coast, but it happens)

Visit/hang out with my nieces

Turn on good music, and pour a glass of wine or port and enjoy

On the weekend, I like having a glass of wine while I put dinner together

Eating something I just picked from the garden

Crossword puzzles & Sudoku

As I said - pretty low key!

Fun is anything that makes you smile or laugh. It's supposed to make you feel good.

Crafts. Cooking. Gardening. Playing with your pets. A good phone conversation that elicits belly laughs over silly things. A good drink with friends. Trying to come up with the most ridiculous bumper-sticker ever. Dancing around your living room with soapy hands because that song on the radio forced you take a break from dishes (did that one this weekend!).

Happy Birthday!! May the coming year be full of fun and good things for you!

Happy Birthday!

Mine's Wednesday. Cancers represent!!!

I first "met" you in December after I finished my first semester back to college in 10 years. I decided to cruise down the book isle over to the WalMarts to find something that I actually WANTED to read that wasn't a text book and your book caught my eye. And the title and illustration on the cover made me laugh. out. loud. Alone in the WalMart book isle. Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair pretty much described me! I ran into one of my friends in the check outs (I'm from a TINY town) and just had to show her. She died laughing.

That was fun!

Girl, I have laughed with you, cried with you, grown with you. I hope that you have way more than 3 minutes of fun per day and have a wonderful birthday. You give me at least 3 minutes of happiness each day. Thank you for being in our lives and for being cheaper than therapy! Hugs!

Happy birthday, whenever it is!

I'm only 22 but sometimes I realize that I am not having fun anymore, and I am way too young for that!
I just played mom to three girls under the age of 11 and their two new puppies for a whole weekend!! Talk about FUN! We played tag, canoed, chased the puppies, played board games, did arts and crafts, argued over which Jonas brother was cutest (Joe, duh.) and had dance parties on the back patio and just giggled a LOT.

When their parents got back, I had forgotten how to be a serious 'adult', because I had been having so much FUN.

I feel sooo much better now.

God help me, I get my best belly laughs from torturing my cats.

Not that I'm a sadist; it's payment for the times my stomach gets jumped on in the middle of the night when I am dead asleep. I mean, it's only fair, right?

My cats are scared of bubbles. So, I keep some handy when they are being particularly odious. I also like to blow up balloons then let them go so they fly around the room and drive the cats nuts.

Sometimes, I squirt them with the thingie on the sink if they are trying to trip me while I'm cleaning in there.

I balance out the cat karma with plenty of Pounce and Greenies and even fresh grass, so fret not about my soul.

But you have now inspired me to find NEW ways of having FUN! in my life. [Do vibrators count? Because that could be fun every day, but I'm not sure I can make it for 3 minutes.]
.

that sounds like a fantastic idea.
i think i should pledge to do that as well.
starting today. even though it is 11:30 at night, and i worked an 8 hour shift, i KNOW i had at least 3 minutes of fun. i danced with my co-workers, and some customers..

I think fun can be whatever you want it to be.

My list includes:

--Reading a good book
--Yarn shopping
--Knitting
--Dinner with good friends
--A snuggle with a pet (I'm getting two kittens soon and have really missed this)
--A good game of Scrabble
--A good talk with a friend
--Going someplace new
--Going someplace old and discovering new things
--Listening to your mp3 player and going for a walk
--Taking pictures

How ever you find your fun, I hope you have a great birthday and have exactly the type of fun you need.

Happy Birthday!
My favoritist funnist thing ever - riding a bike!

I am in the process of ending a long and unhappy relationship and I realized not long ago that I didn't know what fun was either. I am about to be 42 and I have just joined a roller derby league. And it is SO FUN!
You have a great blog. I wish you much fun.

Knitting! knitting is fun, fun fun!

I hear someone else say that recently, about making sure you have a little bit of fun everyday. It's so true - lifts your spirits even if it's just for a few minutes. Life should be joyful, not a drudge.

I so love your blog!

What I love about you is the fact that you take such manageable bites out of problems! At first I read three minutes and was like "HUH?!" But it makes total sense! My problem is always that I try to do too much too fast. Need to lose weight? I'm going to lose 20 pounds in the next 6 weeks. Need to clean the house? I'm going to bury myself in the entire process rather than tackling it room by manageable room! Your system makes so much more sense, and it's not my birthday for months, but I make a random Monday vow: I will NO LONGER bite off more than I can chew!

Have FUN!

here's one of my fun songs you can dance to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zad2H2uwOGM#

some things on my fun list:

angel game with my son
dog beach with son and dog
happy hour
walking around the best garden store ever: roger's garden.
gardening
playing upwords
disneyland, especially the buzz lightyear lazer ride.
playing on a swingset
watching hummingbirds
watching babies laugh
walking barefoot
driving a curvy road kinda fast
chewing bubble gum

happy soon to be birthday! cancer gals ROCK!

mck.

Learn to juggle!!!

It's even more fun when you have cats who will either a) want to play or b) freak out and stare at you or c) run away, fast. And once you get the hang of it, you can juggle cat toys and really flip their little minds. Hee.

Oh, and I heartily second (or maybe even third) the suggestion of going on the swings. That was my big fun stress-reliever this year, even though all the kids thought I was nuts.

Happy Birthday, Laurie! I have a tradition that I do something I've never done before on my birthday (except anything that involves falling ... like out of a plane, or off a bridge with an elastic thing tied to me somewhere). I've had a golf lesson, a fencing lesson, gone to the batting cages, had a belly dance lesson, gone to a paint-a-plate place, and traveled to pretty places that I've never seen before -- to name a few. And I have to do it on the day ... none of this weekend before or after stuff.

I'm going to continue add fun/joy/gratefulness to my daily consciousness, too. I've been working on it, and am really inspired by all of these creative and wonderful people who leave comments!

Happy Birthday!

Fun = knitting!!

Happy birthday!

My New Year's resolution for 2007 was to do something fun each month. (Visit my blog and search on 'resolution'.) Activities included knitting classes, concerts, a play, an art opening, a writer's conference, Women's Weekend (three of them!), fiber festivals, my daughter's wedding(!), etc. This year's resolution is to manage my vacation days better, which I must be doing because I haven't used hardly any yet this year. But I have a week off scheduled in July, and have a do-nothing vacation penciled in for the fall.

Laurie--sometimes the week before my b-day, I get kinda down...took me years to make the correlation. Now I try to up the fun ante the week before, the week during & the week after. It works...of course, since it's around Yuletide, decorations abound!

Just reading the comments here was fun last nite!

Planning a trip is almost as much fun as taking it (but, as I recall, you know this!).

Cats = fun (note to self...must finally, after 10 yrs. without one, get a kittie!!)

Baking is fun for me (hence my moniker) but eatting the result can be fun & fattening, so I try to give away the products...maybe one day I'll sell the most popular ones!!

Blowing bubbles while floating on my back in the pool and observing butterflies is totally fun & de-stressing...if this doesn't work, I just take a nap!!!

Wine is fun; of course it is!! Singing along to a song...a happy song...singing really loud is fun...add a few happy steps, waving of arms, etc.

Today is my day off, so I'll squeeze in some fun...hope you do the same...actually, I hope you took the day off...b-day celebration thingy!

Cheers, K.

Oh, I love that song. It is definitely one of my favorites. I also like 'These Words' by her.

A song that I've been dancing around like a lunatic to lately is a Mash Up (which are so awesome!)...
http://www.soop.ca/bootie/top10/Michael%20Jackson%20vs%20Lucilectric%20vs%20FYC%20-%20Rockin%20Maedchen%20Drive%20me%20Crazy%20(DJ%20BootOX).mp3

If the link gets cut off, you can check my blog and search for Mash Ups. I've got a bunch of links to my favorites on there.

I guess I could actually just leave the post about mash ups as my url so you don't have to search around. Seriously, they're packed full of awesomeness. (However, I'm a complete dork, so take it with a grain of salt.)

Girl, where to start. My fun: your blog and large doses of chocolate,coffee,cats and the men of LOST. And Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart.

Buy a mini-trampoline. You'll have so much fun bouncing on it for three minutes you may up it to five.

Play in the tub like when you were a kid. Bubbles, rubber duckies, soap crayons, the whole nine yards.

I just did a giant puppy puzzle with a first grader who was crying for his mom. That was fun - the puzzle - not the crying....
for me:
hanging laundry on the line on a summer day.
kayaking in a river (free of charge)
picking raspberries from the bush and immediately popping them into my mouth.
Playing with my dog Buster (all about unconditional love).
Watching and hearing the sound of the hummingbirds as the come to the feeder.

Your post was a revelation, not just an inspiration. And I think the "3 minutes of fun" was key in re-orienting my thinking. I thought, when was the last time I had fun? What was the last fun thing I did? And I always think I don't have fun because I define it as some big event. Then, I thought, did I have fun for 3 minutes yesterday... and I realized I did.

I played with this new toy that I gave my kids for 3 minutes yesterday. I love this toy and I think it's a lot of fun and I got to play with it. Yes, the kids were bored and whiny and my husband was feeling very sick, but in the middle of all that, I had this little island of fun. And then the kids rediscovered the toy because I had fun with it and started playing again and were less bored and whiny and I sat in the cool evening air with my husband. Not at all bad.

It's the 3 minutes I need to remember and focus on, not the rest of the day that was so exhausting.

My heart stopped a little when I clicked on the link to the youtube video of Unwritten. I've always loved that song, and one of my best friends used to call it "her song." She tragically lost her life in a motorcycle accident in April of this year. She lived her life with her arms wide open, just like they mention in the song. Your song choice is so fitting to your dedication to have fun. Life is incredibly short, fun must be had every day, for you never know when the fun will stop.

Let the fun begin!

Happy Birthday! If it was the 22nd, it's the same day as my boss's-Mr. McGrouchyPants. If it's the 23rd, it's the same as my sister and she's practically my clone except for the yarny lifestyle. Fun for me is getting to sit with a new pattern and some new yarn. Today I am going to the library book sale-$2 gets you a bag full. I get together with friends every other month and we craft and eat and yak and eat...

I think fun is whatever you decide is fun. For me my fun things are playing with my kitties, gardening (where else can you actually play in the dirt and end up with something useful/edible?),spending quality time with the love of my life, talking and/or emailing friends, catching and releasing fireflies, and watching butterflies flitter and play that is my list of fun things. I also enjoy singing along to songs, dancing, and just in general acting as goofy as I can to maybe get others to smile and stop being such sour pusses.

Putting out stale bread & sunflower seeds and unsalted peanuts and watching all the birds and squirrels flock around is a hoot. And cheap.

Act like a kid. As a Mom two and a teacher of one year olds these can never fail.

1. Tickle someone (preferably someone you know) Just a little poke for them to jump makes me smile. If it's a kid then full blown tickles can go on forever.

2. Play with paint, playdough, shaving cream (more fun then you think), make bubbles in sink.

3. blow bubbles, especially again around little kids. You can buy tiny bottles like you'd get at a wedding and keep it in your purse. bubbles make people smile.

4. Playing music loud and singing

5. play games, even a fast computer game or solitaire

Ok, so you won't be able to do this but it just shows that you can always find fun. Right next door to our local McDonald's, there used to be an adult book/toy store. The entrance was in the back of the building. Well, you know how when you special order at the McDonald's drivethough, they make you park and wait? Well, you'd be facing the parking lot for this store. One time as I was sitting there waiting for my food, a man came out the door of the bookstore looking around like he was afraid someone would see him. I just happened to have my camera on the seat next to me and picked it up and aimed it at him. When he looked over at me, he actually put his arms up over his face and head and ran to his car. Made my day. Of couse, now that I've watched way too many Law and Orders, I wouldn't do it because I would be afraid he had just committed a crime and would kill me for my camera but at the time it was fun.

hmmmmm a couple days ago i went to a kids bday party with my 7 yr old, and had fun watching THEM have fun. there was a rock climbing wall that came in and set up, as high as their 2 story house. i wanted to try it, but kept the thought to myself. it looked fun, but the other mommies had no interest.... finally the mommy of the bday girl tried to climb the wall, and i said,"f it, i'm going to try!" it was FUN and i made it to the top. I never tried that before.

i think i get bits of fun and enjoyment on and off all day. perhaps it, "FUN" is a matter od definition. are you looking for delirious silly fun of childhood? i dont have to DO something to have fun. i can watch something or someone and have fun. as in the kids at the party, or a great comedian on the tv... cracking jokes at work is fun. making people laugh hard is fun.

perhaps make the definition of fun more broad, and you'll see all the fun you already have in your life!

Get a Wii or an I-toy or Guitar Hero and rock out in your own living room. Fun! I think anything that makes me laugh and snort is fun. Television blooper shows or "most outrageous moments" make me laugh too. An internal monologue that ends with "More Flags, Six Flags, More Fun" is fun to me; so is making faces at babies and little kids. More Flags! More Fun! Have a Happy Birthday!

It's hard not to dance to Unwritten. I love the three minutes of fun, it should be a golden rule.

I think a prerequisite of fun is that it requires you to live in the moment...I mean, can you really have fun if somewhere in you're mind you're dwelling on something that happened, or worrying about something that's going to happen? But one of the great things about pets is they force you to do that sometimes...i mean, how can you dwell or worry when you're watching your cat go bezerk of the laser pointer?

For fun I:

make up silly songs about our cat and puppy and sing them at the top of my voice.

dance in the kitchen wearing pot holders while waiting the last minute or so for the timer to go off when cooking.

play with my puppy who can make just about anything (besides cleaning up poo or barf) fun!

read until I fall asleep at night.

watch Best Week Ever and The Soup with my husband because we love laughing at people making fun of silly television shows and celebrities.

plan our meals around what we get in our CSA every week. We never know what it is ahead of time, so we've started calling it "veggie christmas."

Happy Birthday! Thank you for a laugh-filled year and a half of reading your blog.

Most everybody said stuff I would have already said, except coloring. Yeah, I know sounds weird. But it feels great - and it's super cheap to do. Seriously, just smelling a box of crayolas can be such a de-stresser for me. And finding a really good quality coloring book is also great fun. I highly recommend it.

One of my great delights in life is watching my tiny nieces figure things out for the first time, like how to turn the page of a book or successfully sip out of a cup or put a shoelace through the grommet. No matter what it is, when you're that young, EVERYthing you do for the first time is So Exciting! It's so fun to watch a baby learn!

Also fun-- eating a Kit Kat by eating all the chocolate off the sides, then peeling all the layers apart. It keeps me occupied, for like, 15 minutes. Noone else I know does that, but it's the best!

Hi again---I almost forgot one of my favs: reading funny greeting cards in the store & laughing out loud...now, mind you, they either used to be funnier, or I've lost my sense of humor lately (probly the latter)...1 of my favs:
"If you're happy & you know it, clamp your ham"..drawing of a piggie with a clamp around its middle. Of course, I'd had a bit of wine when I bought this card; but, even 10 yrs. later, it still makes me laugh...I know, 10 yrs., pretty pathetic...but we gets our jollies however we can.

Cheers, K.

Great post!

I also had to stop for a second and ask myself what was "fun".

I loved Rosie's comment, and agree Facebook flair is fun! (A total time-waster, but isn't that part of the point?)

Thanks in large part to Laurie, I am also doing some writing now - which is FUN (with a capital F, U, and N!) and I don't care if it's any good, I enjoy doing it!

I'm also trying to do some fun reading - instead of always reading technical books and articles on the way to/from work, reading some FUN books - some Kathy Reichs and Laurell Hamilton and other fictional fun books!

LOLCats and the Crazy Aunt Purl blog - very FUN!

Have a really wonderful birthday, Laurie!

Dancing in your living room is the PERFECT way to have fun in 3 minutes!

ps- I love the BLEEPBLOOP noise that Tivo makes. I wonder how many engineers it took to approve that one.

Not so very long ago, I discovered just how fun it is to lie down flat in the grass. Do you have grass in back? Get some, lie down on your back and look up at the sky, on your stomach and peer across the grass. It's suddenly childhood again, you have a whole different perspective of the world. Hum if you like.

Wait until it cools down a bit.

Hi Laurie - I'm a lurker and love reading your blog. I'm new at it myself and wish I could write like you! You really draw me in and make me literally laugh out loud - and sometimes in not a very ladylike manner. I love it. I can SO relate to so much of what you write about. I was born in the valley (Northridge). I also think I had a mind meld moment when you said you don't like to knit competitively or when there's pressure. I don't knit YET, but I do crochet and your words were exactly how I feel about it. When it's not fun I have no desire or inspiration. Oh, and June 22 would be the anniversary of my 1st marriage in 1979. I have a decent memory for long ago crap and now instead of thinking of a failed marriage I will only think of it as your FUN birthday day! I hope you had at least 5 minutes of total unadulterated fun. I like to dance to Hey Ya. Oh, and Bob is so cool. I know, long comment - sorry! Happy Days!

Is it a sad comment on me that as I was reading your post I was looking forward to reading the comments to find out ways to have 'fun'?

But I think fun is always spontaneous and for moi the moments I enjoy are mostly when I'm doing something (sudoku, knitting, web-surfing, the list in endless) when I should be doing something else (housework, homework, boring calls, this list is also, alas, endless). The playing hookey is crucial for my fun.

Happy birthday - may you have hours, not mere minutes, of fun, both planned and 'to-do'-ed

Some Fun Options that have often worked for me (some orignal some stolen, most involving costumes)

Option 1: Nun's habits. This should be done with a friend. Two nuns are much funnier than one. You don't have to do anything special here, just act like your normally would at a bar, only remember to call each other "Sister".

Option 2: Cheap tube cocktail dress + pregnant belly pillow + drinks @ bar = Really Fun. Especially good if you only feel like drinking club soday, and/or do not want attention from guys.

Option 3: Wedding dress + smeared mascara + fake crying in a bar = Very Strange Fun. I think this one explains itself. Crying is not really necessary, but the smeared mascara is a nice touch.

These, however are not things that can be accomplished in 3 minutes/day. You might want to save up your minutes for these.

We have something here in my town (very small town in the Northeast) that happens every Friday afternoon in a small local dance space (dance as in Professional Serious Dancers, not Dancing Like a Club). It is called "Dance Dance Party Party". It is the most fun you can have for $5. You show up at 5:30 in your comfy "workout" gear, and take feather boas, magic wands, glow necklaces, etc out of the Box. They play crazy-fun slumber party music and everybody dances. it is the MOST fun.

Good luck with your fun-times! And remember too, not to pressure yourself into having fun. It's about as much fun to do that as it is lying in the bathtub with cucumbers on your eyes, your fists clenched, muttering "Relax, Dammit!". I think you have more fun than you think you do. I think that's the case for all of us.

OK forgot about this one until today but the MOST fun video ever. I can't get the one to run on youtube but found this one. 6 minutes of total fun.

Evolution of Dance!!!
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1688437

He's my hero......

A few years ago I was at an Irish Pub for my birthday, and I was told the following (was handed down from someone's grandmother I believe):

How you spend the New Year, is how you will spend the rest of the year. New Years foretells the joys and the pains your year. Birthdays are a new year as well.

I remember waking up one morning sometime ago and thinking that certain aspects of my life had made me old. (Mostly my husband's disability, which he has no control over, and isn't happy about either.)

I decided that day that I had to take control and make sure I started enjoying life again. So, I take time every day to go outside (one of my favorite things) and take pictures; or watch a favorite movie; knit; paint; write; play with clay; or whatever comes up that I can laugh and feel good about.

I do think that sometimes, with the pace of life and commitments, that it's important to make time in your life to recharge your soul.

You know, that was a very inspiring post. What a great resolution!

abusisng kittiepersons is always fun. Buy a live lobster for dinner one night, take it home and put it down on the floor for the cats to investigate for a while before cooking. Cats + giant bug = big fun.

Some kitties go crazy over raw sheep's wool. Ask a spinning friend for a chunk of greasy, raw fleece. Watch kitties believe they have captured a sheep.

Check at toy store for annoying battery operated toys that will bother kitties. Also little wind up cars, especially if you tie little strings of yarn to the little cars.

Singing and dancing in the living room while WEARING A CAPE. Or a really, really short dress like Tina Turner. Couple yards of silky lame can add a lot to fantasy karaoke time.

Turn cartwheels in the back yard at least once a week or so.

Lots of fun to be had. Wave at the people who aren't having any.

Llinn

Well, my B-Day was yesterday. Celebrated in the traditional way, with some good old Cancerian Crustacean Cannibalism - OK, it was lobster, not crab, but it counts!

I need to make my 3 minutes of fun more about activity, and less about food. Went out today and bought a bathroom scale that calculates all kinds of stuff, and pretty much does everything but slap the donut out of your hand.

For my knitting fun, if I EVER get the socks finished, I'm going to contact a local group I've found, and start some charity knitting. Simple patterns, big yarn provided, contributing to needy kids - sounds great to me!