MomCat Tries a Hobby

I wanted to give Mom something new to do, to enjoy and maybe something that can help practice memory skills.    She's never really been a hobby person, she likes to work on what she calls her "quiz books" that are ring a word books, and she does pages and pages of them but is it really enough.  I was discussing the problem of what kind of hobby could she pursue with my friend, Pat and we'd talked about making bead necklaces because they could be part of a routine, follow a pattern and produce something that Mom could give away and feel that she was still a contributing member of society and then voila, Paint by Numbers.  In Baton Rouge, fittingly since that's her hometown, I found several reasonably priced paintings complete with paints, picked up some extra brushes in case we lose the kit and now it's off to Mom's apartment.  I offered Mom the canvas that looks like her deceased dog, figuring that would hold the most appeal for her.  I explained the process and then we begin.  We completed the process as I discovered I needed to do it with her because the attention would wane but she did remember to look for the number but didn't always remember that it correlated to a particular color or what that color was.  I've got a few more to do with her and I look forward to it.  I can't say if it was a success or even that she could or would do it on her own but the worst would be that I continue to do it with her and the best is that we get to spend time together doing it.    Of course the bead idea is not off the table and I'm certainly thinking about some other ideas like puzzles but if it does nothing else but offer us some more time together, I'm all for it.  I just forgot to bring some way of hanging it on her wall, or as we dubbed it, the Mom Cat Gallery.