More Things to Read

Thursday, 12 September 2013

It takes a sick day

Let me begin by clarifying that I really am sick: congested, coughing, phlegmy, sneezing, tired, head-achy, sick.  And I was napping, but a jackhammer outside my window rudely woke me up, and I'm afraid  to lie down again until I know for sure that he's finished.  A jackhammer and a congested, aching, tired head are not good company.

So, in addition to responding to a handful of emails for work, totally ignoring the mess of toys in my basement and dirty dishes in the kitchen, and watching some daytime talk shows for the first times in years (Maury is still on the air - really?), I thought maybe I could pay some attention to my ignored-for-far-too-long-blog.

I used to hate it when people gave the excuse of being 'so busy' for not calling or keeping in touch.  Or that there's 'never enough time' for getting something done.  Isn't there some expression about making the time to do the things that are really important to you?  

But now I'm making the same excuses.  Cliche?  Yes.  But seemingly true.

Even on some kids-free vacation days last week, I wasn't able to get around to some of the projects I had hoped to.  My list of things to do was just too long, and everything always takes longer than I think it should.  Even without kids in tow.

I started a Never-Gets-Done List a while back.  But I haven't even been able to keep it up-to-date.  Amazingly, after 2 years, I am starting to make progress on some of the items on the list.  But there are also many more things I could add as things I can never seem to find time for.   

Like taking the kids for bike rides more often so my eldest can get more comfortable riding without her training wheels.   

Making more trips to the beach, which is just a twenty minute walk away, and yet, we only made one trip this summer. 

Weeding and pruning my untended garden, something that I actually enjoy doing.

Getting out for some runs and exercise.  Note to self: start my up-early in the morning routine again as soon as I am healthy.

Visiting more of the beautiful places and campgrounds in our province.  When driving home from our one camping trip this summer, I was inspired by the pictures and descriptions of other park grounds in the Ontario Parks brochure and started to think about how we could manage to travel to more of our province and country in the years to come.

Taking my kids to the library, and just spending more time encouraging and practicing their reading.

As I'm reading over this list now, I am noting how different these activities are from the to-do items from before.  Much more about taking time for myself and spending time with my family, instead of getting things done.

Is this progress on my part?  I hope so.  Maybe I'm finally learning to let the to-do items slide and focus more on the things that are truly important to me.  I guess the next step is make the time to do them.

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