My first thought was what would I like to do if I had free time, but that sentence is dangerously close to making the forbidden joke about having none.
I suppose I generally work my leisure time into my other time. I’ve been listening to audio books any chance I get. Usually in the kitchen while cooking or cleaning or making lunches for the next day, but I sometimes take my audio books with me into the kids bedrooms while I tidy up or into my bedroom while I get dressed and make the bed. I never just sit and listen.
All of my TV watching happens while folding laundry or feeding a baby. Since putting Ila to bed earlier, I haven’t kept up with my shows as well since I’m trapped in my chair for less time while the kids are in bed. I can never just sit and watch TV, I get ancy (sp?) that I should be doing something productive. If I had time to do whatever I pleased, I wouldn’t be in front of the TV.
I used to have some time when I picked Isaac up for school each day. All of the kids were trapped in their seats and I couldn’t do any housework. I would often get the mail right before leaving so that I could sort mail while I waited, but by the end of the school year I started using that time as my phone call time. Krista always knew that if the phone rang and it was close to 1:00, that it was probably me.
If I get a moment or two to sit down during the day, I usually check my email, Google reader, and Facebook. I sometimes check them from my phone while feeding Ila in the living room. I rarely do more than that during the time the kids are awake.
Once the kids are in bed, I have a little more freedom over what I do, but I still have a list of chores in my head each night. I like to write about things so blogging has become an important “free time”activity. I love pictures so I sort and upload them in the evenings, but to be honest, it almost seems more like a chore these days.
I used to enjoy scrapbooking. I don’t have enough kid free time to get to it anymore and it’s not something I want to leave out because of the danger that it would get destroyed. I have told myself that right now I just need to collect things and take lots of pictures and one day I’ll have the time to compile it all. I do my best to keep a record of memories through blog and through my funny-things-kids-say log. I also use Facebook sometimes to type up something amusing the kids say and I’ll go through my old status updates and copy them into my log later.
I do like to organize, but I don’t know if that can be counted under the category of free time.
Some of my favorite things to do are spending time with family. I love to sit and talk for hours with my mom or Krista. I enjoy playing games, not console or computer games. I like card games or the type you play in a group. Playing games always makes me think if my Grandma O’Bryant because she loved to play games.
If I was given a few hours to do anything that I wanted to, I think I’d want to spend it taking one of my kids out for ice cream or playing a game with one of them. The thing I crave the most and don’t get enough time doing is spending time with my kids one-on-one. I honestly can’t imagine ever getting enough of this.
Zach thinks I’m boring sometimes because I don’t have grand dreams of things like sailing the seas on my own yacht or any real hobbies that interest me. I think I’m a fairly boring straight forward person. What I like the very most is spending time with family and being a mom.