Friday, June 18, 2010

What would you do with 40 extra hours?

Starting Monday, I am taking 5 days of forced vacation. I've acrued enough paid personal leave with my job that my employer insists I "use it or lose it" by the end of June. I'm going to have an extra 8 hours of free time every day for a week. Wow. That's almost as good as someone dropping me off at Barnes and Noble with a $1000 gift card.

So my dilema is, what do I do with all this free time? I could fritter away the whole week sleeping in, catching up on my "books to be read" pile, taking afternoon naps, and watching inane reality TV on cable. But I don't want to get to the end of the week and wonder where it went.

Should I duct tape myself to my chair and do nothing but write? Should I hack my way through the jungle that is supposed to be our yard and garden? Should I dive into some of those household cleaning and organizing projects that just never seem to get done? I suppose I could spend some time preparing three balanced meals for my family every day. But that might be too much of a shock to their systems. I'd better be careful with that one.

I need to come up with a plan.

What would you do with all that free time?