Punk time

By Beckie Carlson

I saw a post on Facebook today where a woman announced she had been married to her husband for 10,547...(or so) days. It caught me off guard. I thought we had moved on to months or years for big stuff like that. I did make me think though, what if we did keep track of everything in days or hours or even minutes. I wonder if we would be more conscious of how we spent our time?

A week isn't such a big deal to spend on a project. But what if we said we spent 168 hours doing something. Much more impressive. Looking back on my life, I had to wonder how much more impressive my accomplishments would look/feel if I changed the measurement device. These are all approximate.....Enjoy:

I was pregnant for 38,880 hours of my life.

I was married for 170,820 hours.

I did laundry for 2600 hours.

I went to school (college) for 5460 hours.

I was in the kitchen for 54,600 hours.

I didn't want to add up the hours on Facebook or other pointless social media because I was afraid I would go into a severe depression and jump off something high.

I also didn't add up the hours I've spent at the gym...it would be embarrassing. I don't even know the hours my gym is open. I feel more like I should write the money I spend on my membership off as a donation. I pay, but I get nothing out of it.

When it comes down to it, I don't think the time we spend doing something is really the point. I'm much more concerned with the quality of how my time is spent. I may have spent way too many hours/days/weeks watching movies, but I was usually with my kids and we were laughing together. I may have spent an obscene amount of time reading, but now I am extremely well versed and seemingly clever. I may have stayed up for hours watching netflix, but now I'm...well, tired. I don't think there is really a benefit to that one, except I do leg lifts to justify it.

How ever you spend your time, it is yours. It's really all we have, til it's gone. So, use it!

Cause I said so.

Photo credit: ashleyssuperiorcadproject.wordpress.com

Spring Cleaning is not just for your house—or spring time.

Recently I have had the opportunity to help my sister in law move from a 3 bedroom home to a 2

 bedroom apartment. All of her furniture didn’t fit into her new home—to be honest, I don’t know how it fit into her old home. Every time I walked into her home I wanted to turn around and run. Everything was big, bulky and in my face. Finally, I took a deep breath and told her it drove me crazy to come visit her. She was a good sport and agreed to let my husband and I rearrange her living/dining room. After hefting a piano, a couch, an entertainment center, dining room table, a display cabinet I could breathe again. The room was open and inviting.

She called me up the next day to thank me and asked if I would help go through some of her boxes. I agreed and the next weekend we turned 11 boxes into 5—no need to keep cotton pasted to a piece of paper her son did 15 years ago. I made her promise to call someone to pick up all the things she decided not to keep or throw away. I got another call a few days later after her extra piles were picked up, thanking me again.

This motivated me to go through my house and make sure it was open and inviting. I became the world’s meanest mom and made my kids clean out their rooms and get rid of things they didn’t use anymore. I rearranged rooms, and got rid of bulky furniture. As I sat in our game/library room—my new favorite room—I was soaking up all the positive energy in it and thought to myself, “I love this feeling. What else can I clean and declutter?” My WIP came to mind.

So, I sat down and cut 5 chapters. No need for an overstuffed chapter that tells not shows. I also got rid of an entire POV. Too many voices your head can make you feel unwelcomed and Closter phobic. Then I spent time cleaning it up—adding a bit of back-story here and throwing in an extra death, just to keep my readers interested. As I have been working on this I have felt a huge lift happen to me. My story is stronger, inviting and cleaner.

If you know me, you know organization is something I struggle with, but when I do it, I find peace and joy in it. Now I’m on a kick and I want to get rid of anything that clutters my life and drags me down. There are more things in my life than I realized that effect my happiness and I’m ready to take back my life.

-Tiffany