Those Girls With Arthritis

Girls Just Wanna Have Hobbies

• Bri & Beka | Arthritis Warriors • Season 4 • Episode 11

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Last week on Instagram Bri & Beka asked their followers what hobbies and activities they love to do that might help their arthritis OR are arthritis friendly. On this week's episode they share some of these suggestions and some summer fun activities!

We encourage you to get social with us on social media by liking our Facebook page, “Those Girls with Arthritis”, and following us on instagram @thosegirlswitharthritis. Send your questions to us on Instagram or to our email thosegirlswitharthrits@gmail.com.

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Disclaimer: Those Girls with Arthritis was created by two friends hoping to share their personal experiences and learn from others. We are not medical experts. Please contact your health professionals before making any choices to change your medical plan.


Bri:

Hey guys, welcome back to those girls with arthritis as always this is Bri and I'm here with Beka

Beka:

Hey y'all, it's Beka, Bri another week another episode. So good to virtually see you and start catching up I feel like I've been seeing you more and more lately, which I'm not complaining

Bri:

I know. I know. It's so nice. Did you finish your, like, listening to the entirety of Tortured Poets at this point?

Beka:

Oh, oh, that's all I'm listening to right now. I know. I can't stop.

Bri:

I literally can't

Beka:

stop. And every time I listen to it, I get a new favorite song. Yeah. You know? So, Down Bad's been consistently one of my favorite songs. Mm hmm. Like, when we first, when I first listened to the whole thing, like, I was like, okay, I like that one and so long, London. I love So Long London. Announcing her performing it in the concert. That was wild. Oh my god. It was wild. Wild. I've been joining them on Instagram live while I'm working.

Bri:

I know. I saw, I got a good like TikTok one that was pretty clear. Yeah, like

Beka:

mine. They're all yelling and it's all, you know,

Bri:

I just can't imagine because I know that the Paris shows like the floor is like a pit. Oh, wow. It's like there's no seats. So like, people are lined up for like hours waiting. I just can't imagine that. I

Beka:

just. Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

Bri:

Literally. Good for

Beka:

them. Yeah. I like my seat.

Bri:

For reals. I like. Hey. To the

Beka:

bathroom.

Bri:

Oh, yeah. I know. And you wouldn't be able to like move. Like, you wouldn't be able to like. Savory spot. I don't know. I don't know how that works. As it is. Oh, yeah. Okay highs and lows Beka. Do we have do you have anything? I feel like we just did this

Beka:

Yeah, I know. I guess I'll start my low, I hate doing stuff that's body related. I'm really trying not to, but not necessarily arthritis related, but the pollen up in Georgia has been awful. And I feel like it doesn't really bother me until there's a bad rainstorm. And then all of a sudden it bothers me, you know, like it stirs it up. So I feel like I've been dealing with that a lot. And it's been kind of rainy and yucky, like random rainstorms and bad rainstorms, like power's going out for an hour or two, heavy, heavy, heavy rain. The dogs won't even like go near the front door. If we try to take them outside, it's like crazy rain. But I think the weather's finally taking a turn. It's starting to feel better. My high is my husband and I got a new bookcase. We have been looking for a bookcase for a while now. I feel like that's so lame, but we've had the same like to target bookcases for a few years now and nothing wrong with these bookcases. We just wanted something a little bit more sturdier, more officey, more fitting that sort of vibe. Yeah. So we finally were Able to find one. And actually his office was moving furniture and they were just giving away bookcases. And so we got like a nice heavy, a cherry wood and it's like perfect. And it was free, which is my favorite. So I was setting that up and I'm looking at it and it just looks so good. He was laughing at me because, of course, I set up all my stuff first and then I was like, Now you

Bri:

have a home for all of the book club books.

Beka:

I was going to say there's a whole shelf of book club books.

Bri:

That's wild. I know. I'm on like book, I think 12 of this year, which is like wild.

Beka:

That's awesome. I feel like you have to go check my grades. I feel like I've been reading. I keep getting these books that are like 600 pages. Not just the one that Kara picked out, but other books. I'm on 16 right now. Not

Bri:

us calling her out. I'm reading number.

Beka:

We love you, Kara. I'm on number 17 now. Dang, that's crazy. Yeah, and I'm flying through this one. So This month's book

Bri:

club

Beka:

book. I haven't even started that one yet. I'm on another. I'm in like three or four book clubs. I can't keep track. I just read a new book a week and hopefully it's the book club book.

Bri:

It's crazy. I know. I'm trying to make like time for my other books and like schedule it in between book club books. It's like tough. You know what's

Beka:

helped me a lot? Is deleting Tik TOK. I have gotten so much of my life back deleting it. I feel like I've cleansed myself during the Taylor Swift concerts. Definitely. But instead of scrolling for two hours, three hours every day, I'm reading a book. I'm hanging with the dogs. I'm, you know, crocheting. I feel like I'm doing so much other stuff.

Bri:

Okay, do your

Beka:

highs and lows first and then we'll jump into.

Bri:

Okay my low, I guess it's like a low. I started back, I took like a four week hiatus from my methotrexate for like various reasons. It was my sister's 21st birthday, I was traveling for work, like there was just a lot of things. I took a break. And I was also like performing my own experiment, which I don't recommend you do. But I literally told my rheumatologist, I was like, it was half like, I had things and then half me doing an experiment. And she like laughed at me because I was like, I'm just gonna be honest with you, like what's happening. But so I'm starting, I started back on that this week and it went really good actually. Like side effects weren't too bad and stuff. So Gonna keep trying and see how that works with me feeling, how I'm feeling and all of that, but my labs were good at my recent appointment. Just like a little bit of inflammation, but improving inflammation. So it's trending in a good place. And Max

Beka:

dancing is back. Before you guys, I'm so glad I love Max dancing in the background of all the videos. It's a good way to like make it fun, even though taking medicine is not fun, but yeah,

Bri:

no, literally it's like, it makes me. Look, we were like, it was funny this week. We did two different videos, one for Instagram and one for TikTok. And we like do them and he goes to like sit back down on the couch and he was like, Oh wait, you actually have to do the medicine. Oh yeah. But I feel like it is a fun way. And like methotrexate is kind of one of those scary medicines out there. With like a lot of potential side effects and things like that. So I hope that. Some people might see my videos and not be as scared, maybe. Anyway, they're fun. I don't know my high. Oh, I had I am in a few book clubs. Well, two book clubs, our book club, and then my local book club. And we had our meeting this week. And it was just so much fun. Like I walk in to the house with like these girls that I've known for like six months, I guess now. And they have like on their TV, like, Torture Poets playing like on the thing like everyone's listening to Torture Poets and like everyone brought stuff like brings food and drink and like I like did not know these people at all before I showed up to this book club and now it's just like something I look forward to like every single day. I

Beka:

love that. Yeah. I'm proud of you. I remember you were so nervous going and you were like, I'm just gonna do it. I'm going for it. And that's what you need to do. And look, I can't believe it's already been six months of you doing it.

Bri:

I know. I think it has been. Well, maybe it was like, it might've been January. So maybe Like four or five, maybe four. Well,

Beka:

still that's super close to six. Yeah. Super close.

Bri:

So yeah, that's my high for this week, but yeah. So going into this week's episode, we I posted some questions on our Instagram stories this week about hobbies that you do, like, not like to help your, like, Either to help your arthritis or things that you think, like, are arthritis friendly hobbies, I guess. And then some, like, summer activities that might be sun friendly. So, Beka, what? Because I was I was in Disney World when Beka posted this on our Instagram story, and I was like, Oh, yeah. I was like, what is happening on our Instagram right now? It was like going wild.

Beka:

I went rogue one day, you know, it was so funny though. Usually Briis the one who is more social media savvy than I am. And I was just at home and I was super proud of, I crocheted a fox. So I've done crocheting on and off for a lot of years. I actually started as soon as I got diagnosed. It was a couple years later, maybe middle school. There were these women at my church who went up to my mom and they were talking about how they crochet and knit and they meet once a week and they would love for me to come because they would just, you know, help. They thought it would help with my needs. Fingers and the functionality and just like, you know, moving by hands. So I tried it and I was really nervous and they were all so nice and so, so sweet. I was the youngest in the room by at least 30 years, but that didn't bother me. Cause it was like women I've gone to church with, like, for many, many years. So I would start doing like blankets and little washcloths and things like that. I never really done really big projects. And one of my best friends is having a baby. And for some reason, I just decided I was going to Crochet a fox. And one of my other best friends, Delia, she crochets and makes such cool stuff. And I was kind of talking to her about it. Like, she just made a bunny for one of her friends who was having a baby. And I was thinking like, Oh, this might be a fun project. And I have a couple months until the baby shower. Let me just dive right in. So I found a YouTube video to watch it and I was able to do it. And my first fox had kind of crooked eyes and nose and ears. And my husband's like, it's super cute. And he was like, but you got to keep it. You can't give away your first one. I was like, okay. And I was like, well, since I made one, I don't have to spend as long. And all of a sudden it's like the week of haven't started the Fox yet. I'm like, Oh no. So I ended up making it like last, like the night before I finished it and she loved it. And it kind of looks like a bear too. I posted it. I'm calling it, we're calling it boxy. We're calling it bear box, boxy, but it was really fun to make. I'm going to take a little break and I think I'm going to try and do like another animal. I'd love to start like maybe this summer. I have a lot of friends with little ones. Try and find like a Christmas themed animal one. So if I kind of start now doing small ones at a time, like maybe by Christmas I'll have a couple. So if anyone has any like Christmas animal, Themed ones, feel free to send them to us. I'd love to see it. And yeah, I was just thinking I was like, you know, what else could I do again? I deleted Tik TOK and I have so much free time now between reading and crocheting. I was trying to think of something else to do for a hobby. So I posted it and we got some really cool responses. We got so many responses. I was so there's A lot of reading. There was some swimming and water aerobics, which I've done water aerobics. I do it twice a week with my mom and I love water aerobics. It's such a low impact activity to do. My body always feels so much better. It's funny. Like my husband, sometimes I'll be aching. I'm like, I don't know if I can go tonight. I'm had a rough day and he always pushes me and I'm so glad he does. Cause I always just feel better after I do it. Yeah. So, so it was cool seeing those responses because I've already done some of them. Were there any that stood out to you?

Bri:

I was saying I just started like doing little water watercolors recently. I've tried crochet and it's like It's hard for my for me to grip the needles But I also have seen like some people put like a pencil Like or like get like thicker ones Because it's like

Beka:

the beauty blender. Have you seen you know, the booty the boot not booty beauty Blender, is that what it's called? It's the thing for makeup that you use. Yeah you just slide that right on the needle and use that

Bri:

really? That's so cool. Okay. So maybe I'll have to try it again. Cause my mom always crocheted growing up. So I've like tried it many a times and it's just like, maybe it's just not my thing. But that's okay. But I like, that's okay. So many

Beka:

other things.

Bri:

I had this random watercolor set in my closet. So I'd like first picked it up around like Easter time and I made like little Easter cards for my family. And then I've just been like doing little doodles. Sometimes when I'm bored, I don't know, just like sometimes you just need like a creative outlet. Like I love reading, but like I like having something creative too. And watercolor like is less pressure I think than coloring for me at least. Oh yeah, I definitely cannot color. Like, Like the water and just like, I don't know, the flow of it is just easier. And a few other people wrote that they were watercoloring too. So I was like, Oh, it's not just me.

Beka:

Oh yeah. I one that I saw that was really cool. Someone said sit skiing. They were talking about, they do have late stage joint damage in their lower body, so it's perfect for them. So really cool being able to find something that works for you and for your. body. I did a deep dive into sit skiing because I was trying to find like a photo to like post with it. And oh my gosh, it still looks kind of hard, but it looks so fun too.

Bri:

She posts she posts videos on TikTok. I'll have to send you one.

Beka:

Oh yeah. Yeah. Okay, cool.

Bri:

Or maybe it's on her Instagram, too, since we don't have TikTok anymore.

Beka:

I know. I was gonna say, I can open TikTok, I just can't, like, scroll on TikTok.

Bri:

My sister doesn't have it either and we always make fun of her. It's kind

Beka:

of best of both worlds. Baking, there was some baking, too. I, you know, it's funny, I was saying this to someone, I'm just not patient enough for baking and everyone laughs because they're like, you just crocheted a fox or you read, like, what do you mean? I'm like, I'm I'm I'm I just want that instant, like, okay, I made it. I don't like the waiting. I don't like the churning and until it's a certain smooth finish. I don't know. Yeah, I

Bri:

feel like with baking, like, at least, like, like, I get something out of it. Like, I eat something.

Beka:

Oh, okay. I do like my no bake stuff. Like I do this really great no bake peanut butter pie where I make it and I stick it in the fridge and like kind of let it sit. And that's, I mean, the patience of waiting for it to sit. But,

Bri:

I feel like there are two, there's a lot of frustrating Gadget kitchen gadgets for arthritis people like there's a lot of there could be potentially a lot of roadblocks in the kitchen anytime i'm baking I end up having to call max over to do something for me Yeah,

Beka:

There was a photography one a lot of photography ones And I had no idea that you Used to do photography I

Bri:

dabble. I like I feel like I like I like did the camp. I did camp stuff. I've done like my friend's graduation ones. I did like a work event one time. It's just like, I like doing it. So

Beka:

I did it for my when my little sister graduated college. It was like COVID time. So there we're trying to find photographers for her. And then me and my older sister suddenly decided. Like, why don't we just fly up and take them for you? So we were able to kind of be photographers for her, but we really lucked out one. She's beautiful. So it was super great to be, you know, Have a great model who knows how to pose and stuff because I know i'm like super awkward and I don't know how to pose but the, we lucked out on the lighting and we looked at on the time that we went, cause we're trying to like avoid people and it all worked out so well, like we didn't even have to do that much like editing to it. It just, I love when that happens when

Bri:

the lighting

Beka:

works and all that, but props to the people who do photography, because again, with my patients, I do not have time to figure out the lighting, figure out the settings, but I just want to like take the picture. Make it look good and move on. So props to those people for that.

Bri:

Yeah, no, I love that. It made me like, feel like I want to start doing more things like that too. So it was fun to see what everyone was saying.

Beka:

Yeah. And just to wrap that one up, there were a couple of people who talked about playing music, like someone played, plays cello, someone plays piano. So I think the biggest thing is just. Staying active and keeping yourself moving. I feel like a lot of the stuff people say are their hobbies and activities help them keep moving. So yeah, I think we're exciting finding a variety.

Bri:

Just like, sorry, I keep cutting you off. Just like finding, you're like excited about, I know like one of the girls in the Florida area, like instead of she stopped doing dance, but now she does like, it's like a ribbon. Like, like in Cadet Kelly, like ribbon aerobics, like she

Beka:

like, like

Bri:

Cadet

Beka:

Kelly.

Bri:

I don't know. I don't know what that is. Oh,

Beka:

you've never seen Cadet Kelly from Disney Channel 3. You are showing your age. You're showing your age. I feel like Disney Channel meeting. I feel like Kelly. I've already done. I heard I've seen what's her name. Romano, Christina Romano there. And she has to go to the military school and they're doing the, the the competition and then she brings out her ribbon twirling. You need to go on Disney plus tonight. Okay. Not

Bri:

ribbon twirling. She like hangs from. The rope thing. Oh, and like walls in the sky. Aerial aerobics. Oh,

Beka:

okay. That's it.

Bri:

Aerial. Okay. Well

Beka:

you still need to go watch Cadet Kelly. That is your homework. I'll watch Cadet Kelly. That is your homework.. Bri: I've definitely I just don't know what I can't. Like it's a Disney Channel Classic.

Bri:

Okay. SOS Lizzie McGuire original movie. Lizzie McGuire is my fave.

Beka:

Well, so this was like Hillary duff branching out of Lizzie.

Bri:

Oh, oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.

Beka:

What? I bet. And then it's the chick from even Stevens, the older sister. Okay. Is like okay,

Bri:

I know what you're talking about now. I'm caught up. No,

Beka:

you still got to watch it though That's still your homework.

Bri:

Okay aside from hobbies We talked about like summer activities. I was like, I know Like, I have really bad, it's getting, like, I feel like it's been more apparent recently, like sensitivity to the sun just like getting super fatigued and stuff from the sun. And I know a lot of us with these different autoimmune rheumatic diseases experience this. So I was, I threw out their summer activities and I said if it was a bonus point, if they were sun friendly. Again, a lot of reading. A few people called out arthritis camps, which are fantastic. Coloring, hiking, which I feel like hiking could be fun. I'd like, depending on where you are right now, it's getting super hot here already in Florida, so I am going to be inside a lot, but yeah, that's it. Is it really hot there already, Beka?

Beka:

It's getting there. It's like 70s, 80s. It's feeling nice, but it's, it's creeping. It's creeping, creeping up.

Bri:

Yeah. Outdoor play night, which is like so fun. We'd like just put a TV outside. So I definitely want to do that.

Beka:

I wish there was a, there's gotta be a drive in close to me. I need to figure that out because I would love to take the dogs and like sit on the truck bed with my husband and the dogs and Yeah, we have one

Bri:

really close

Beka:

I know that's a fun summer activity. And then a lot, a couple of people said aquarium, we being in Atlanta, I feel very fortunate to be near our land aquarium. It's amazing. There's so much different things here. I know. There's also a lot of state parks in Georgia. So my husband and I know this summer we're going to try and branch out a little bit and visit the different, there's different waterfalls, different mountains. There's a lot of them that have shorter, easier trails. So we could go with the dogs. I don't feel that pressure of trying to like hike up a mountain if I'm not feeling good. So just a good way to get out of the house. Enjoy. Kind of that fresh air of summer.

Bri:

Yeah, for sure. That's awesome.

Beka:

I also love someone put morning coffee Outside on rocking chairs and we had rocking chairs at our old place And I don't have like a porch or room for rocking chairs at the house. I'm at now but Goals is rocking chairs on the porch. I loved just I don't even drink coffee, but just Sitting outside with my husband, rocking away, just talking to each other about our mornings or wrapping up in the evening with some wine, love, love the relaxing rocking chair. So that, that was really nice. And they also have a hot tub. So you have rocking chairs and a hot tub and I'm very jealous of you.

Bri:

Yeah, that's awesome.

Beka:

I mean, I couldn't use a hot tub here in the summer, but, Oh, I could use it all the time. Just like I use my heated seats in my car all the time. It's always on. Yeah, I've literally been using a heated blanket all week.

Bri:

Yeah, some people have like some of the similar things like trying new recipes,

Beka:

new restaurants, you know, this spring, so not quite summer, I feel like we're in that end of spring, early summer, and there's so many garage sales right now, which my husband and I have been learning The area by garage sale shopping. So we like do a set price. We don't use our maps. We just turn out of our neighborhood and follow signs and it's so much fun and we give each other a set time and we usually always go to lunch afterwards too. So depending on what we buy determines if we're like just driving through somewhere for lunch or we're like actually sitting down and like eating. Yeah. Make like a set price. So we found some really cool like decanters for our bar area We found we never found a bookcase. That's okay. Now we have a bookcase We've just found some little things like here and there and it's always just so fun. That's so much fun You never know what you're gonna find and you never know where you're gonna end up either

Bri:

for sure Yeah, that's a good way to like learn the area too. Oh, yeah and a fun summer thing, but Yeah, I'll be spending lots of time at the pool and in the pool because I go to the pool and I just get in it to cool off. But yeah, it's getting really hot here in Florida, so it's about hibernation season, I keep saying.

Beka:

Where you stay inside, I love that.

Bri:

Yeah, literally.

Beka:

Oh man.

Bri:

Yeah, anything else on hobbies and activities, Beka? This was fun. Everyone had so many good suggestions.

Beka:

Yeah, no, it just motivates me even more to like put my phone down and just enjoy myself and others and just, you know, feel good. I feel like you feel good physically, mentally, emotionally, like it all connects somehow, some way. So, whatever you can do to get up and moving, I feel like is always a good thing.

Bri:

Yeah. We love getting fun, easy movement into our routines. Well, thank you all for being so active on our Instagram this week. We're so excited that you have so many responses and want to keep doing some more episodes like these with different questions and things like that. But for now, just follow us on Instagram at those girls with arthritis and we'll be back again very soon.