When you have the time

What do you do when you have some spare time? I know it is a rare thing, but what do you do when you are alone and have some time and space to yourself? When you don't have a schedule to follow, or you don't have to be some place by a certain time. No one is around to talk to or hang out with. What do you do?

I have what I call my spare or "free" time every so often after school and how long that is time is depends on when I leave school. It is MY time. And how do I spend it, well here's a list from this past week and what I did with my "free" time after getting home!
1. Did laundry-caught up/started, gather it and sort, wash, dry, hang up, fold, iron, put away.
2. Start dinner or at least figure out something to make.
3. Clean up the kitchen-dishes, garbage out, wipe down counters and put stuff away.
4. Take a short nap because I've been up since 3 or 4 a.m. and I've had a 3-day migraine.
5. Clean-vacuum, fold laundry, mop floors, dust, pick up, put away. You get the idea here.
6. Get ready for tomorrow....pack lunch, get what I need ready and lined up to go. Pick out clothes for the next day.
7. Exercise-usually a combo of things, a workout DVD, treadmill, go outside for a walk/run, do yard work.
8. Talk to my daughter-love this!
9. Sit for 5-10 minutes and pet and brush my cats-they love this and often get goofy and funny! It's relaxing and fun.
10. Sit and read or relax for 10-20 minutes to re-group from the day-too much time to think is not good but so is not having any free time.
11. Run errands.

Yes, this is pretty much the order of priority for my life with my "free" time after school. Don't get me wrong, I love "free" time. But I also know when I walk through the door at home I walk right into one of my "other" jobs. I live at one job and go to another job everyday.  (And what drives me nuts more than anything is when people are at my house, the other people who live there and they act like a guest. They sit around and do nothing or even better stand around and WATCH me work. If you want to piss me off just do this.)

But going back to what I do with "free time" I guess I look at reading, talking with my daughter or exercising as fun and not work. I have figured out that if I workout each day my headaches are less likely to happen.  But having free time on my hands is both a good thing and bad thing. Often times I have so much to do that I go into shut down mode when I get to my "free" time. It's too much and I'm overwhelmed. If I have a list and goals then things go a lot better. If I have help that is even better. I can only do so much alone, regardless of how hard I try.

But having free time is always nice. And if I get a lot accomplished or if I take a nap or watch a favorite show as long as it recharges my batteries and gets my mind on other things then it is a good thing.

As we head into the weekend I have a list of things I'd like to get done. And then there is the list of things I have to get done. Regardless the weekend is quiet and pretty stress free so I will take that!

Positive thought of the day: May your "free" time this weekend be fulfilling and relaxing. Enjoy it regardless if it is 5 minutes or 5 hours. Enjoy!