Life is what you make it: Staying Busy Doing Nothing

My title is a little but cynical and a little bit play on words. The meaning here is that I'm trying to stay busy while I'm not working for a paycheck. It's starting to take it's toll. It's hard to stay in good habits after all that time. I try to get up early every day even though I have no place to go, or much motivation to face the day when I feel like I have no purpose sometimes.

Even if I know it's not really like that, I've been struggling to maximize all this free time with things that are meaningful, fun, fulfilling, or practical. Naturally, I spend part of the day doing housework, laundry, and cooking meals. But that still leaves way too many hours to fill.

You can only watch so much TV, scroll so much Facebook. So what else have I been doing to fill the time the last couple of weeks?

1. Online education: I got a package deal on about 70 various online entrepreneurial classes, e-books, videos, etc. Some of them teach you how to sell your creations on Etsy, and how to make things in Canva. There are courses to help you write your memoirs, get over procrastination, set up a blog, marketing on social media, and lots more. I didn't access the things I knew I wouldn't use, but I got tons of information that would have cost thousands full price. So now after registering and downloading all the good ones, it's a little overwhelming. It's information overload. So far I've watched a bunch of videos, read some articles about how to Eat for productivity, how to be confident, how to change your negative inner voice to a positive one. I started a course on how to "Build your digital Etsy Empire" and "nifty notebook creation". Wish me luck!

2. Making Time Lapse Movies: I have a new app on my Kindle that allows you to make Time Lapse Movies! It's pretty simple, just put the camera where you want to film, make sure it's facing the right way, hit record. So far I've had mixed results. You need about at least a half hour of running time to make about 45 seconds of finished film. That's with a shot every two seconds. So far I have made one that was a view of the back yard with barely noticeable wind blowing leaves, Clouds rolling over blue sky, a better one of back yard woods with big puffy clouds, and last but not least a view from upstairs window of cars going by the house. This was the most visually appealing. with cars appearing and disappearing! I also did a sunset that wasn't colorful enough and a sunrise that didn't happen on camera because the camera was facing the wrong way, even though it seemed like it was right. I wish I could post one here, but I'm not able to transfer the files as of yet.

3. Organizing my photos: I do have to pat myself on the back for how nice my albums are coming along. Since the advent of digital photography, people are less apt to print out hard copies of pictures, and that's a shame. I love high definition slide shows of my pictures on the computer, and I have dabbled in having my cell phone pictures made into miniature photo books. But there's something to be said for good old fashioned photos that you can pick up, and arrange in a photo album. It's something you can save for posterity and leave to your ancestors after you're long gone from this planet. Just be sure to include information about who is in the pictures and where the places are! It's a little astounding just how many photos I have in envelopes, just the ones I took. I have a separate project going on with older pictures, but I'll save the details for another time.

The small one that says "memories" on the binding has a spot to write about the photos. I will have to make an index for the other ones.

4. Yard work: we inherited nice tall hedges at our new house. Presumably because the house next to us is fairly close, and the hedge is a privacy screen. And the view of the side of a gray house isn't that appealing. I'm sure the neighbors aren't thrilled about the side of our beige house. Even so, the hedges needed to be pruned, if for no other reason then because they were looking shabby, overgrown, yet the leaves looked dead. So I got a new pair of pruning shears, that are quite excellent considering they aren't very big. I had made the mistake of ordering an electric hedge clipper that had an extension that was adjustable. I envisioned an easy job with it. Boy was I wrong! It was so heavy I could barely get it out of the box, much less lift it. I knew it would be dangerous to even try using it. So I had to bring it back for a refund. I'm about 75 % done with the trimming, and I have a lot of branch disposal to deal with! I need barrels and more paper lawn waste bags. Yard work isn't as easy as it used to be, but I still enjoy it. I was going to hire a landscaper to do it, but I decided I'd at least try to do it myself first, and the $400 I saved I could use for lawn furniture or garden supplies. Here is a before and after!

You can see the parts I was having trouble with look a little silly. But the hedge will look better when it grows back, I hope!

5. Crafts: I've been working on little fun painting projects. Nothing profound. I painted some old wooden things I had on hand, and pieces of cardboard that would normally get tossed. Then I decorate and gloss. It's fun and relaxing. I've also started working on glass jars and tin cans. It's amazing what a little paint can do to transform a piece of recycling into a useful pencil holder!