Tuesday Ten: Wasting Time

This week's topic: wasting time. I wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be just the I-am-supposed-to-be-doing-something-else-more-important-but-here
-I-am-doing-this kind of wasting time or if I should include the kind of wasting time that one does when they don't have anything better to do. I have decided to do both, since I don't have a lot of time to waste.

1. Computer games/Video games. Number one because I waste quite a bit of time on these things.It's relaxing and I enjoy puzzles. My current favorites are: web sudoku, word whomp on pogo.com, notpron riddles (kind of like qwyzzle), Myst (an adventure/puzzle solving computer game), and Katamari Damancy on the PS2. Actually Katamari Damancy isn't a puzzle, it is just fun. The katamari is a sticky ball that gets rolled around picking up stuff. The object is to either roll up items until the ball is a certain size to make a star or roll up specific items in relation to whatever constellation is being made. It is a great game for the kids-a change from anything violent and gory. Well, until the katamari gets big enough to roll up people, that is. Heh heh nevermind.

2. Watching tv. I watch too much and I should be doing other things in the evenings. It just sucks you in and pretty soon you can't live without The Amazing Race or Survivor, or The Apprentice, or ER, or... I should be sewing or working on the shelves I want to put up or a billion other projects.

3. Blogging. Let's face it. No one cares in the least what my pigs are doing, or whether my husband got stuck in the mud, or what my 3 year old is wearing today. Except maybe my mom (one of the 4 people that read my blog) and I could just email her if I wanted to. But it is fun to write about it anyway so I do it. What I am supposed to be doing is working on my dad's website or homeschooling my children.

4. Making lists of household chores I want to do but probably won't (therefore making it a waste of time). I am feeling like I am just maintaining right now and there are a ton of heavy cleaning tasks that need my attention. I know this because I made a list of them all rather than doing them. So now, not only did I waste time making the list, it is sitting there making me feel guilty for not being able to cross anything off it. I should just throw it away-- but, one, then I will just stare at the cobwebs guiltily, and two, there won't be a list to cross anything off of once I do get my rear in gear and get the chores done.

5. Going to the gym. How can that be a waste of time, you ask? If you are sitting and watching kids do gymnastics, I answer. I spend a lot of time at the gym watching my 11 year old daughter do her workout. It is fun and I do enjoy it but I often think I shouldn't go so much. I just hate missing it when she does new things. And not just her, most of the girls on her team have been together for several years so I enjoy watching all of them and chatting with the other moms. I probably spend 5-6 hours a week sitting at the gym. Maybe I should take up knitting socks, a nice portable project.

6. Answering the phone when a salesperson calls. If you are looking to waste time, this could be good. I always hang up immediately, myself. What I want to do is hand the phone to my 16 month old or just set the phone down on the counter and walk away but I don't have time for such a silly waste of time.

7. Sudoku puzzles. What a great way to waste some time. I have a book that I keep in the car for when I am waiting to pick up oldest son at the bus drop off. I often take it when I go into the gym. Wow, wasting time while wasting time. Multitasking! I have made my way through the easy puzzles to intermediate, challenging, and now--tough. It takes me several days of bus stop pick ups to finish one of those.

8. Collecting eggs. With 30 some odd hens there are always eggs to collect. I could spend copious amounts of time going out to the hen houses and collecting eggs.

9. Telling my kids anything. I am just going to have to repeat myself. I have been telling my 4th grade son about capitalization and punctuation since he was in first grade and he still doesn't do it unless I make him go back and correct his papers. Oh and "check your work before you give it to me" how about that? Do they do it? No. And apparently actually reading the science chapter before answering the questions is a waste of time as well.

10. Building stairs. Don't do it. Hire someone to do it, it will go much faster I assure you. We are coming close to the end but the amount of time we have wasted on putting things up, taking them down, figuring, refiguring, re-refiguring, going to the home improvement store for a piece of plywood we didn't need because the measurement that was thought to be wrong was indeed correct, could have been better spent.

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Cathy's Time Wasters