Friday, May 09, 2008

Clean fan blades are a sign of the Apocalypse

Yesterday when Josh got home, he looked at me questioningly and said, "It looks great in here?" The questioning look probably comes from the fact that while I've been in school the house has been descending to a state I like to call "frat boy chic" by the time he gets home from work, and I usually either have my nose in a text at the table or I'm on my way out the door for class.

But yesterday, he said, "It looks great in here?" and I exclaimed, "I KNOW! I DUSTED THE FAN BLADES! FAN BLADES!" And then I said seriously, "I think the Internet has run out of ways to entertain me, Josh. I DUSTED FAN BLADES. What am I going to do will all this free time?! I DUSTED FAN BLADES. And then I watched several hours of Top Chef reruns. I don't even LIKE Top Chef! I DUSTED FAN BLADES!"

As you might gather from all the capital letters and exclamation points, fan blades are not an item we frequently clean around here, and when they do need cleaning, I usually say, "Jo-ooooosh, will you clean them? It's easier for you to reach, you know." So it really tells you something if I did this voluntarily. Josh looked at me very seriously as I went on with the fan blades and he said, "You must have done something all day before starting school, right?" But the truth is, I can't remember.

Yesterday I cleaned the living room, bathrooms, bedroom, put away all the stuff that had accumulated on the table (it is the catch all) and scrubbed it down, and cleaned the darned fan blades, and still had copious time on my hands. My kids are ridiculously good at entertaining themselves and although I did sucker them into playing with me several times, I still had free time. I read through my Bloglines. Still had free time. I replied to almost all of my blog comments by email. Still had time. Was interviewed over phone by this guy. Still had time. Helped Josh with dinner (without complaining!). Still had time. Did several loads of laundry, and here's the kicker PUT THEM AWAY (another sign of the Apocalypse)! Still had time. Watched Grey's Anatomy. Still had time. Watched LOST. Still had time. Showered with hubby. Still had time. Found an alternate way to kill some time, ahem. STILL HAD TIME!

Did I really devote all this time to school? What am I going to do with all of the free time? What did I used to do with all the time before I was in school? What will I do for the month long break I have from school? If I got so much done yesterday, why did it feel so unproductive?

Any suggestions? I can't help but think this is going to be a very long month, and by the time I finally adjust to this new (lack of) schedule, it is going to be time to jump back into school with both feet, three nights a week rather than just two.

In case you are wondering, two out of three of my final grades are in. A! A! I'm having issues with my professor in the third course, which I could go on about at length, but I just don't feel like it. Suffice to say I'm actually leaving a message with the department head because my actual teacher will not respond to me and this is the last day of the semester. Ack. It isn't like me to do this, but I'm not the only good student having problems with him. I hope it all works out easily enough.

15 comments:

Becca said...

Hahahaha, "took shower with husband, still had time". Haha! This is going to be a great month for both of you!

Julie said...

You know, they say if you need to get something done, give it to a busy person!! You've been on warp speed lately and don't know how to shift down to cruising altitude!

BTW, I've got some gnarly fan blades over here, if you're willing to make the trip :)

~aj~ said...

I think you must be the best "time management" person I know. Please teach me how to find all this time! I'm drowning in laundry over here!!!

And our fan blades probably haven't been cleaned in...gulp...years. YIKES!

Mad said...

This is how I clean the fan blades: turn on fan; dust everything else.

Congrats on the double A's. We all knew you had it in you.

Mimi said...

Well, my fan blades are suuuuuper dusty. If you're lookin' for stuff to do ... um, but other ways to kill time with hubby sounds like more fun ;-)

Enjoy the time off. It really will go fast.

(if you're having prof trouble, email me: I've got the inside perspective on these things ...)

flutter said...

Dus-ted, fan bl-ay-des? I'm sorry, is that ENGLISH you were speaking?

Run ANC said...

Too much free time and you may end up with Tar #5. :-)

BrightBoy said...

Time off of the computer is good, though. We really need it.

painted maypole said...

you can come clean my house. seriously. my fan blades are gross.

i find that when i get a sudden glut of time i am super productive, because i'm so used to being beusy AND having to do things expediently. it wears off. ;)

cinnamon gurl said...

Give it a few days... you'll slow down to normal speed again.

Beck said...

Now that your place is clean, come do mine....

Woman in a Window said...

Send that blackhole of time along thisaway!

Anonymous said...

If you could bottle and sell that time (and your time mgt. skills) I'd stand in line to buy it right now. But I'm happy to say that my fan blades are sparkling at the moment. And the first couple to look at our house came back to day and "loved" it, so maybe the fan blade cleaning will have paid off!

I say pick up a great novel. Go to B&N for a bit. Start a scrapbook. Or just take a nap!

Family Adventure said...

Enjoy the time, say I!

Happy Mother's Day!

Heidi

kittenpie said...

You may learn to slow down a bit over time, as you don't NEED to fil every moment. It takes a few days, but it might be nice to ease up for a bit, breathe a little even, before going back to it! I always used to get sick after end of term from pushing so hard - it was like the adrenaline would keep me healthy, and then I'd crash for a week.