So This is What You People Do

For two nights in a row I've gotten off work at a somewhat normal time. Early enough to watch jeopardy and maybe catch a Dr. Phil before primetime. With so much time to kill, I've had a whole new set of options for ways to spend my time open up to me. Here's some things you can do when you get home before 9:30 at night:

1. Make dinner. Apparently they have these things called grocery stores, and they don't hand you the food out the window. You have to go inside and pick out food items, and then take them home and cook them. Work-intensive, I know, but surprisingly rewarding.
2. Do dishes. I guess those cupboards are more than just decoration. You can keep dishes in them!
3. Check the mail. And it's not even midnight!
4. Take out the recycling that is slowly expanding like a paper and plastic blob under my kitchen sink.
5. Go to stores, because they are still open!

You may think that doesn't sound like a very exciting evening, but let me tell you, it was a whole new shiney world for me. And I realized that if I had a grown-up job, I could do other exciting stuff at night. Stuff like:

1. Read books. Okay, I realize I could do that at 10 at night as easily as at 7. But I would have more time to both read a book AND do other stuff.
2. Do a puzzle. Not that I own any. Or want to. But I could. I enjoy a good puzzle at the appropriate time.
3. Learn french. Je m'appelle holliberry. J'aime les cadeaux. Ou le cadeaux. Je ne sais pas, mon petit chou.
4. Do a budget. Like one of those crazy ones where you enter in everything you spend and everything you take in and then color code it and determine that you are spending too much on puzzles. Not that there's anything wrong with that, Brent.
5. Sand and repaint our end table. Because I think K is waiting for me to do that. And there it sits, in all it's wrong-shade of brown glory.
6. Knit. I've always intended to knit something.
7. Hang the shelves I got for Christmas that are sitting on my floor. It's very hard to commit to hanging something like that on the wall. What if I choose the wrong spot? Holes in the wall don't undo themselves, silly.
8. Read my scriptures, pray, meditate, and work on Being a Better Person.
9. Blog.
10. Create a new mix take. Perhaps one with the all time best stalking mix. I know you are hoping I will blog about that. Just you wait.

Of course, most of those things I could do when I get home at 9 or 9:30. But it's so late.... And yes, I could do these things in the morning, since usually I only work 8 hour days. But that requires all kinds of energy, and (and I don't know if you're aware of this) I am not a morning person.

I think this is the part where the self-help book tells me that it's all about priorities and I can do ALL those things if I make them a priority and stop lollygagging. But 9 o'clock is not 5 o'clock and things you do at 5 o'clock do not belong at 9 o'clock.