Why I Multitask

As I was brushing my teeth with my timed, electric toothbrush, I was thinking of all of the recommended times everyone has for all the things we're supposed to do each day. I wondered if it was possible to actually do everything everyone tells me I should do for the length of time they all tell me I need to do them. So I made a list. Here are some of the things I've been told to do each day (or things I need to do each day) and estimated times it takes to do them:

Things I should do each day:

Wake up at 6

Brush teeth - 2 min................ 2

Shower - 15 min.................... 17

Face - 1o min................... 27

Dress - 5 min................... 32

Hair and make-up - 20 min........ 52

Make breakfast - 15min............. 1:07

Eat breakfast -15........................ 1:22

Devo - 15 min.............................. 1:37

Drive to work - 15 min............... 1:52

Work - 8 hours............................ 9:52

Drive home - 15 min................... 10:07

Exercise - 30 min......................... 10:37

Cook dinner - 30 min................... 11:07

Eat dinner - 30 min ......................11:37

Make tomorrow's lunch - 30 min......12:07

Call family/talk with friends - 30min...... 12:37

Wash face - 15 min........................ 12:52

Floss - 1min.................................... 12:53

Rinse - 1 min................................... 12:54

Brush - 2 min................................. 12:56

Quiet time - 1 hour........................ 13:56

Wash hands (during the day) - 4 min....... 14:00

Bed by 10

If you count the 8 hours of sleep I need, this allows me 2 hours in my day of free time to watch tv or read. Now this does not count the fact that on each day of the week I have a different activity planned that usually takes at least 2 hours (on Wednesday it's 6), that I tend to work once I get home, that I have usually committed to planning or preparing for some thing at work or church that requires sewing or shopping or creating, that I need to check email (or facebook), or allotting for any other emergency that might come up. So I've determined that I cannot make it all happen.

And yet...if I talk to my mom on the phone while preparing dinner and if I brush my teeth in the shower...and if I choose not to style my hair or wear makeup... and if I exercise while at work... and if I eat breakfast while in my car on the way to work...and if I use my cellphone while driving... and if I only get 6 hours sleep... and if I talk to my roommate while we watch tv as we eat dinner and I'm grading (or sewing or creating), then I can save hours!

So I must multitask. I cannot cut out the things I love just to do silly things like "be healthy" or "well rested". Ha! I defy time by efficiently spreading myself too thin and overworking my brain by performing in mediocrity on several tasks at once. Take that, twenty-four hour days!

Free time

What do people do with free time? I recently have had an after school schedule change and it means that I get two days every week where I don't have set plans. So I've made some phone calls, reread some books, cleaned my patio, did my laundry, cleaned out my email inbox, checked facebook so many times. I've wrapped birthday presents, written letters, watched my favorite guy lose on Jeopardy! (so sad, because I had the highest respect for him and he lost to an easy question on final Jeopardy! He was the Ken Jennings of my generation.) I've gotten the mail, gone to the dentist, cooked dinner, and talked to my mom.

Now I'm sitting at home in the quiet and I wonder what I should do for an hour before Heroes is on...write a blog, I suppose. And what better way to spend one's free time than to blog about what to do during one's free time

What to do during free time:
1) Blog.

2) Read Twilight, again.

3) Check your email obsessively.

4) Read that chapter in Twilight where Edward sparkles.

5) Clean something that you didn't know existed let alone needed to be cleaned like the space underneath your screen door on the patio.

6) Read Midnight Sun online. That's Twilight from Edward's perspective.

7) Do yoga while listening to swing music.

8) Bake.

9) Read something non-Twilight related.

10) Alphabetize something.

11) Do your hair in a funky style that you would never wear in public.

If you have any ideas for things I can do with my free time, let me know. It's a new thing for me and I'm totally excited to be able to just be at home. I think, now that I've completed number 1 and 2 on my list, I'll skip down to number 8. I'll let you know how my cookies turn out.