Monday, April 14, 2014

Life

I had a plan going into the A to Z Challenge to write and schedule a lot of my posts for the week on the weekends, and have everything scheduled to post on its assigned day of the week.  It takes a really, really long time for pictures to upload, and I thought that would be easier in addition to allowing me more time to visit other blogs during the week.

Sometimes life gets in the way of plans, though.  That was the case for me this weekend.  Nick was off, the weather was beautiful, we had a class Saturday morning, and we had plans with Nick’s grandparents to attend a nearby festival.  We took advantage of the beautiful weather to get a lot of yard work done.  We put in our first raised bed, which I’m extremely proud of (probably more on that in a later post).

This made me think about the things that make up our lives, and how much time we spend doing them.  Life is busy, and it seems like we’re constantly juggling to fit everything in.  Obviously, some things are more necessary than others, and some have a much higher priority than others, but they’re all part of our lives. 

Here are the major things that make up my life:

Work.  I imagine this one is a biggie for most people.  It’s 40 hours a week, probably for the next 40 years, unless we win the lottery or something.

Fur kids.  We have six of them right now, so taking care of them and spending time with them takes up a lot of time.  It’s time we both feel is time well spent, but still a lot of time.

Volunteering.  For hubby it’s at the Fire Department, usually at least one day a week.  For me it’s something involving animals.  Today it will be driving to a kill shelter in South Carolina after work to pick up kittens to bring to the no-kill shelter here.

Home and yard work.  The dishes and laundry (and sweeping and dusting) seem to be never ending.  No matter how much we try to streamline it, they still take time.  This is also the time of year when yard work becomes a major thing.  At least we get to be outside for that!

Cooking.  This is how I spend a lot of my time.  I love cooking.  Most of our socializing seems to involve having people over to out house to dinner, and I’m in the process of writing a cookbook.   I spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Spending time with family and friends.  This one is so easy to push to the side, but so important to make time for.  Because Nick’s work schedule is pretty crazy we have to be very conscientious about blocking off time for the two of us.  I also think it’s very important to spend time with family and friends, even if it’s just meeting someone for coffee to catch up.  


Of course there are other things, but those seem to be the main daily and weekly things that make up my life.  

What about you?  What are the main things that make up your life?  

8 comments:

  1. I'm going to copy that list and say that's what I'm up to also. And finding a way to squeeze novel writing in there. :)

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  2. My life is about balancing kids (one that hasn't started school yet and two in elementary school), my writing, the usual errands and chores, and trying also to stay on top of reading and watching the shows I enjoy, etc. (Recreation & leisure I suppose.)

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  3. I think you have described life for most of us. I no longer work at my nursing job 40 hours a week, but I work at it 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I don't have any fur babies to care for but I am raising two teenage grandchildren. Life does have a way of getting in the way doesn't it?

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  4. Yup a lot of the same things though 1 and 2 (and a little 3) are all combined in one since I run a non-profit animal rescue. Also ups the hours since I'm the herd mama and if anything goes wrong with any of the animals in the group I'm the one called no matter the hour. Makes for some long days for sure. They're definitely my biggest time commitment.

    Then the house and the blog.

    And some other volunteering--the USO mainly.

    Family is the smallest for me these days since I live about 500 miles from my closest family member so in person time is very limited but we talk every day at least :)

    Glad yall had a great weekend enjoying the weather and family! I worked on my raised beds this weekend too :)

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  5. Sounds like a fun weekend though and good that you got out and did something fun with Nick and his grandmother.

    I bet when the flowers bloom, that will be pretty too!

    My life is a lot like your life that you described; work 40 hours a week, taking care of Koda, which doesn't take up too much time, volunteering at church on Sundays, chores, but not many of them since I'm on a house cleaning strike, laundry, reading when I can, and way too much computer time :)

    betty

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  6. Good Post. I like how your thought process about the letter L led to life which led to what makes up your daily life. That’s what writing does for us.
    We are retired. You would think that would free up a lot of time for us. Herein lies the problem. Too much time. Or at least we think we have all of the time in the world. The day just seems to get away from us. But I love the leisurely pace we have settled into.

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  7. We totally understand, Danielle. We spend lots of time doing work, caring for and loving our fur kids, volunteering about 7 hours per week at the animal shelter, maintaining our blog (it's kind of volunteering, too, since most of the content is for the animals at PAWS), cleaning and maintaining our home, reading and cooking when we are able, and spending time with friends and family. We kind of wish we had more hours in the week! :)

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  8. I've been thinking about making a raised bed myself. They're a lot of work to put together, but the upkeep is so much easier than a ground level garden. Maybe I'll get the gumption up at some point. :) I can totally understand wanting to soak up that sunshine over the weekend. Coming out of winter always makes me a little stir crazy. Elle @ Erratic Project Junkie

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