Wednesday, May 18, 2011

So that's where my week goes....

“Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” H. Jackson Brown Jr-author
You may recall I announced my intention of doing a time and motion study of my life last week.  I didn't solve that pesky world peace issue  and I didn't invent anything that will ultimately benefit mankind. In fact I should have picked a quote that contained the words sleeping , eating,  internet,  and the phrase "sitting on my fat bum stuffing my face with salt and vinegar chips "  because according to my carefully collated research that would have accurately summed up my week.  

I start every week with a clean slate and 168 hours to fill. Every week I vow to make the most of every minute. And every week I wonder where the  time goes  and now that I  know -I'm kind of horrified.

Last week I caught Rip Van Winkle disease and wore a dent in my lounge cushions from falling asleep there most nights.  I went  from having a midnight bed time to falling asleep at about the same time as Little P, who goes to bed about afternoon tea time. Just when I was booking myself in for tests to determine whether or not I was suffering from narcolepsy,  I managed to stay up past 9.30pm. Last week I managed to clock up about 49 hours of bedtime which is pretty much unheard of for me. Last night I fell asleep at 7.30pm again which gave me plenty of time to write this post when I woke at 3am.

Earlier in the week I was patting myself on the  back because I managed to cram an entire working week into 4 days. How efficient is that? Strike off another 38 hours for work and give me a resounding clap thankyouverymuch. Let's hear it for superior time management. Wait until my boss gets my time sheet and sees that I've managed to clock up a whole new load of flexi.

Apparently I spent  three whole hours showering, dressing  and making myself beautiful last week which seems kind of ridiculous. I don't know how I manage to knock out the vision of loveliness that is me in a mere 25 minutes a day but apparently I do. Obviously running through the shower with a cake of soap and calling it bathing helps. Wearing my hair in a constant pony tail helps. And  slapping on  moisturiser and calling that "makeup" is a massive time saver.

Under the housework/cooking heading which covers pretty much everything that isn't sewing/quilting/picking lint out of my belly button  I logged 16 hours last week. I'm not sure how -since Mr. P actually cleaned the house but numbers don't lie people. I did spend a load of time cooking meals for the freezer because I'm scared I'm going to get to the point where I'll be wanting to go to sleep at 6.00pm right on dinner time.

I spent 3 hours talking on the phone last week and another 2 hours gossiping randomly in person.  Don't worry - I wasn't gossiping about any of you. And  I re-acquainted myself with television which reinforced why I gave it up in the first place. I'm going to say outright that Jersey Shore which started on free to air TV here after heavy promotion for what felt like months  is the worst show EVER and I only lasted 15 minutes. How can ANYONE watch that rubbish?  I wanted to punch Snooki at about the three minute mark. I did however log 6 hours of Melrose Place episodes for a total of 12 hours of TV because that's quality TV programming from the 1990's.  It would have been more but I kept falling asleep. I fully intended to stitch in front of the TV but since I  was falling asleep at the drop of a hat I thought I'd cut my losses and keep myself safe. There's nothing funny about poking yourself with a needle.

I got 14.5 hours of crafting done. That included a quilt finish, sewing half of two other tops together and fluffing around getting mad with one of my stitcheries. Some weeks I really enjoy the creative process and some weeks it's just a means to an end. Last week was the latter. I bombed on doing 15 minutes a day ...again. I feel like an abject failure.




Sadly all these figures add up to one thing. 30.5 hours left- all of which I apparently spent on the computer and since Blogger was down for a good 32 hours of the week that's just sad. I realised that despite all my attempts at being uber cool I really am a geek girl after all. And that I don't really have a life. And that I spend a huge amount  of my "free" time   meandering round the internet. Blogger and Google (and you lot ) are a bad influence. On the up side it's not like I'm off smoking crack or something in my recreational time so the internet is relatively harmless in comparison. Does it sound like I'm in denial?




PS. Pop on over to Kate's to see what people got up to that didnt spend 37% of their life on the internet this week in the 15 minute challenge.

27 comments:

pwl said...

Don't feel too bad - I'd say you're in good company, but since that includes me you might not agree. LOL

If you want to watch something totally geeky - try Big Bang Theory (if you are able to see it there).

seabreezequilts said...

That's scarey I don't want to know how much time I waste on stuff. I think I will live in blissful ignorance. I did mop floors last week and did the washing and ironing but as for housework that would be it. I Shudder to think how long I spent on the computer the least said about that the better.

Sometimes the body just needs a bit more sleep and you are catching up on 12 months worth of staying up to late.

Lisa said...

Don't be too hard on yourself, now you know where to try & make adjustments. =)
I'm scared to know how I spend/waste my time too, but worst is that my kids are watching and learning to do the same. Might be good exercise for me to try!

take the cake said...

what do you think we did with that time before we all had computers? I ask myself that question often, my house is no dirtier now than back then and I dont think I do any more or less crafting, yesterday I told myself I would check eBay for five minutes and an hour was stolen from my life, I think these computers are like time machines, they steal our time and leave us nothing to show for it. It also took $93 from my Pay Pal account and you know I will probably have the same groundhog day again today and wonder the same things all over again

Jennifer said...

Only 37% on the internet? I could swear it was longer than that......

Kate said...

OK, I'm definitely not doing a time and motion study. So chalk up one thing you accomplished this week! I'm going to ignore all your comments about the computer, because I'm pretty sure they all apply to me too.

One thing about the people in your qoute, none of the women had children (neither did Michaelangelo or Leonardo da Vinci), so that is not a fair comparison.

Maybe you're in hibernation this winter?

Lorraine said...

I hadn't even taken the time to think about how many hours there are in a week.....so no time and motion study for me anytime soon! ...I wouldn't know how to do one...so if you spend an hour watching TV and stitching at the same time how do you work that out? Cooking and cleaning wouldn't take much out of my week time wise....I do know I spend at least 7 hours a week walking so if I saved it all up I could probably get to your house and back on a given day - maybe....work and sleep take up most of my time (not necessarily in that order!) Have a great 168 hours (or week - whatever)

Pat said...

Without doing a study, I can tell you that I lose quite a bit of time to the internet. And as far as getting things done, I used to get more done back when I worked full-time and had children at home than I do now that I'm retired. My blog posts sometimes show a couple of blocks or flowers and I find myself wondering, 'Is that all I did today?' Time flies!

Unknown said...

Boy, I never thought to add up the hours that I spent doing stuff. I might be afraid to see the truth of how much time I waste during a day. I always run around saying I am so busy, but can't ever put my finger on what it was I was "Busy" at!

Hope you are not getting ill. Perhaps you just have life overload. Hope you get back to "normal" soon!

Leanne said...

You amaze me ........ being dislexic words frighten me to write a post with that many words is beyond me(just had to ask Tony how to spell beyond my attempt was so bad even spell check wouldn't touch it)
I often get to the end of a day and wonder what I did with it. I think that is just life really.

thea said...

yet again you amaze me. I know I waste so much of my time. My big culprit is watching TV usually -- but I double up and play on the internet at the same time -- so for every hour of TV I waste two hours. I don't think I'm brave enough to do the study -- and if I were brave enough to do it, I don't know that I'd be brave enough to share!

Thanks for giving me something to think about. I like the striped quilt and the bright colored strips. Very pretty. Can't wait to see what the finished product looks like.

Mistea said...

glad you figured out where all those lost hours have disappeared to.

gorgeous work on your quilts even if they are not going fast enough for you!

Hope this week is a little less sleepy.

Paulette said...

Fascinating time and motion study. I would like to know where my time goes, but on the other hand, I'm afraid of what I might find out.

Brenda said...

Don't beat yourself up - I need much more sleep and spend about hour extra per night that I don't sleep lying around, day dreaming... (getting in the mood to sleep). P.S. Your gossipping comment is hilarious and I think those reality tv shows are TERRIBLE too.

Sara said...

I usually sleep between 9 and 10 hours a night, which makes up a whopping 70 hour per week, and with work taking up 30, that leaves 68 to spread between driving to and from places, staring gormelessly at TV shows I'm not even interested in, bathing, eating, internetting and quilting. An actual breakdown of the hours would probably give me... well, an actual breakdown.

Kirsten said...

You did a lot better than me. I gave up on my time and motion study after about 36 hours. I knew the results would scare me and frustrate me right into a huge depression.
And look at al the things you got accomplished. Whenever i see your list or look at last years blog entries I am amazed. You are a very busy person, with a whole lot more energy anyone of us has.
And about social life...well I am trying to have one - it´s not working when you have a husband, kids, pets AND 40 hours of paid work to do.

circle retreat quilter said...

Your Blog always gives me and no doubt everyone else the best laughs around. So dont despair, loads of people need to smile and you do that for us. Cheers n Moet to you.

Rachaeldaisy said...

Good on you for taking the time to record all your activities, that must have used up an hour or two over the week.

Kirsten's Cooking said...

I, for one, found this very fascinating.

I'm with Sara - I need at least nine hours of sleep a night. I realize this is probably a time-waster, but I'm hardly ever sick.

I think you get a heck of a lot done with your at-home hours. The fact that you work hard (I know you put your all into your job) and then come home and accomplish anything is impressive to me.

thanks for the intriguing blog post! loved it

Baa-Me Kniits said...

Very brave of you to do this....I don't watch TV and I know most of my spare time goes on the internet but its mostly chatting and not shopping so I'm giving myself a pat on the back for the restraint :-)

PS thanks for those photos of your quilt, it really is special. I would be having second thoughts about giving it away....you will have to make yourself another one!! ;-)

Regina said...

I wonder how many of the people in your quote had kids? ha ha

My time loves to vanish on me. I swear I'll be going about my business and suddenly an hour has just disappeared from my life.

Marg said...

Hmm I'm sure you miscalculated how many hours you are at the computer and only 3 hours on the phone? Hmmmmm.
I agree with Amanda, I prefer blissful ignorance, as I really don't want to confirm how much of a time waster I am.
14.5 hours of crafting is still pretty good in my book, I think I spent that much time unpicking.
I'm beginning to think that the computer is just as addictive as crack. I'm sure I was suffering from withdrawal when I was without it for the weekend. I was constantly checking my phone for email updates.

Michelle said...

I am NOT, repeat am NOT, going to do this study on myself! LOL!

Kristie said...

Oh, I applaud you for giving this a go, I am sure my life, by the hour, would not do well under inspection. Maybe better to continue with denial? A very interesting experiment in human nature, though....I have spent 10 minutes reviewing it, so add that to my computer tally!

Elizabeth said...

I seem to remember that you and I had a deal that we need to stop kicking ourselves in the hiney for not being able to walk on water. You are much, much, much too hard on yourself.

However, I do like the idea of a time and motion study. I'd like to know where all my hours are going, so I'm going to get a little notebook and keep track of how I spend my time. I'm going to use that cute clock picture (btw, did you pull that off an on-line shop b/c I'd love to actually buy one) and use the quote in my post to report my findings.

On a completely different subject, I LOVE that red, white & black quilt. That is just fabulouness itself. And once again, congrats on finishing the snowballs. It is GORGEOUS! And the zig-zag quilt is really fun too. I'm going to have to do one of those too, I think.

xo -E

Terri said...

I'm sorry, Shay, but I didn't read any further than the quote at the top. The guy is wrong - way wrong. I doubt any on the list did laundry, cleaning, cooking or anything other than their own thing. That's what has held us women back for so long - we don't have wives to keep all that going.
I did my share of all that junk when the kids lived at home. Now I clean if visitors are coming. I cook in the oven and microwave so I can craft while cooking. Most of that housewife stuff is really not that necessary, but creating is.

Vesuviusmama said...

How interesting! I wonder shat I'd come up with if I logged what I did for a week. Not much sleep, I can tell you that! In fact, I was going to go straight to bed after posting tonight, but I realized there are a couple of blogs (including yours) that I haven't read in ages and curiousity got the better of me. Time on the internet has been at an all time low lately, and the time I have spent on the internet has been booking travel for work - boring! I'd much rather read your hilarious blog!