Mid way through the day I thought about what I would do if I had a lot of free time. But I do have a lot of free time. Daily chores and obligations do not take up all of my day. Sometimes I feel busy, but that is by choice not obligation. My time is mine to spend as I want. Generally my only limitation is involving the children in what I do.

Today in my free time, that I enjoy in abundance, I started to organize some books. I played with my children. I planned for an upcoming vacation. I took a nap. I continued to work on a landscape design for a client. I finished reading a book, and I put together a new necklace. Towards the end of the day, the only thing I thought was missing was other people, so I went and visited a friend.

Peter perfecting a block tower with his free time

This kid loves to read. Chapter books now! I found an Encyclopedia Brown and he loves it. 

I filled my free time with purposeful activities that I enjoyed. I’ve been caught up so much in what I think I have to be doing that I often forget to enjoy the free time I have and do things that I want to do.

My laptop came today too. I’ve been sharing a desktop with the rest of my family, and it wasn’t very flexible. I haven’t actually had a laptop for about eight years. I’m not sure why it took me so long to get one. I think I thought it would cost too much, but it wasn’t hard to find a good deal. (I ended up getting a Lenovo Yoga 11e, cost right around $300, and so far I’m very happy with it. The only thing I’ve done with it is install Microsoft office and write a blog post though.)