A Wrinkle In Time.

In order to be an elementary school teacher, you need: apple earrings, red pens & multi-tasking superpowers. I haven't found stylish apple earrings yet, but I own a plethora of red pens & I can multi-task like there's no tomorrow. I have to plan lessons, attend meetings, schedule conferences, keep up on emails, grade papers (or "sticker" papers in my case), manage an assistant, keep my classroom organized, tie shoes, and oh yeah...teach 25 people how to read. If you can't multi-task, you ain't makin' it in this profession. Because there isn't any time to waste. Luckily for Teaching, I love to multi-task.

I don't believe in wasting time. Unless it's a rainy Sunday afternoon & then I have no choice but to put on my husband's big baggie shorts, lay in bed with a good cup of coffee & watch movies.

Here are some things that I consider to be the biggest waste of time ever.

Cleaning.
I know, I know..cleaning isn't a waste of time because a clean house is a happy house. Yes, I agree. I love my house to be clean, I just don't like wasting time doing it myself when I could be doing so many other fabulous things. *MAJOR CONFESSION ALERT* In high school, one of my chores was to sweep the upstairs. I considered that the biggest waste of time ever so I came up with the brilliant idea to take the sweeper upstairs, turn it on so it sounded like I was sweeping & then go do something else (ex, read in my closet). Oh, pretty please don't read this, Mom & Dad. I'm really sorry. But, I think it worked because I was never caught. Until now. Eek. DC is a great cleaner & I don't think he minds wasting his time doing it so I like to leave him chore lists.

Driving.
I drive for my job. Literally. 50 minutes, each way, to & from school. Now, I know I chose to teach far away from where I live & I'm fine with that. I love my school & my homeland & I don't want to give up either, so I will drive until my right foot falls off. But man, oh man, it gets old. And, there are no multi-tasking opportunities in sight when you are driving. Just a big 'ol chunk of wasted time. Recently, however, I became intrigued with a friend's suggestion to buy books on cd & listen to those. I don't know, though. I just started using my ipad to read; I don't think I'm ready for another reading tool at the moment. But, at least my driving time wouldn't be totally wasted, right?

Nail Drying.
Another cringe worthy waste of time. I love to get my nails done. There is no better feeling on a Friday evening than to walk in a nail salon with a new polish in hand, a good magazine & a McDonald's diet coke. But, about half way through I start dreading the drying machine. It stares at me with a "haha, you have to sit under here & you can't multi-task at all" look. And it's true. You can't do ANYTHING when your nails are wet. No texting, no reading, no making lists, nothing. It's pure time-wasting torture.

Newspaper, newscast, basically anything with the word "news."
Except E-news, of course. The last time I read the newspaper was...oh yeah, never. I have never opened a newspaper because 1) I think it would get my hands dusty with black stuff & 2) I can tell you what it going to say anyway. Murders, rapes, robberies, child-abuse...should I go on? Same thing for watching the news on tv. I don't need to waste my time feeling depressed & sad. Now, when the newspapers/newscasts start reporting positive happy stories then it will be taken off the list. But, I still won't be able to watch because I can't add anything to my tv show schedule. It's jam packed.

I'm sure most of you are thinking, "Well, writing a blog about your extremely ordinary life is a huge waste of time, too." You're probably right. Oh well, though. You win some, you lose some.

We never know when our time is going to be up, so go out there & waste yours wisely.