Top 50 Things I’ve Been Doing Instead of Writing

1. Sleeping.
2. Babysitting other people’s kids.
3. Deep cleaning seven years of grime from the sofas using my Bissell.
4. Ordering replacement parts and more cleaner for my Bissell.
5. Lying in fetal position for 24 hours with a nasty stomach bug.
6. Laundering master-bed sheets.
7. Finding a large hole in the master-bed fitted sheet.
8. Buying new master-bed sheets at Costco.
9. Buying new pillows from Costco.
10. Cleaning all the bathrooms.
11. Visiting with dear friends.
12. Wiping dog-poo off the kitchen floor.
13. Wiping dog-poo off the bottom of my slipper.
14. Rinsing dog-poo from the dogs’ paws.
15. Laundering sheets soiled with baby-barf.
16. Cleaning carpets soiled with baby-barf.
17. Cleaning baby soiled with baby-barf.
18. Preparing meals for other families.
19. Night-time potty-training Ellie.
20. Changing and laundering Ellie’s bed sheets.
21. Mopping three-months of grime off the kitchen floor
22. Wiping six-months of grime off the family room windows.
23. Vacuuming mosquito corpses from summer off the living room window sills.
24. Taking Ellie to a classmate’s birthday party attended by people entirely new to me, but who have known each other since grade school.
25. Daydreaming about how I’m going to spend our first-ever PFD.
26. Paying the VISA off with our first ever PFD.
27. Daydreaming about how I’m going to spend our second-ever PFD.
28. Making a spreadsheet on Excel to track the number of bags of leaves Jack has raked.
29. Taking Jack to ToysRUs to spend the $25 he earned raking leaves.
30. Taking Sabrina to on a surprise visit to see her best friend Abigail.
31. Returning books to the library.
32. Checking out books from the library.
33. Staring at the library books I’ve brought home that are going unread because I’m trying to get through a couple of my own books.
34. Making lists and daydreaming about all the things I wish I had time to write.
35. Reading and filing away yet another rejection letter from a publisher.
36. Crying on the shoulders of my Writing Group buddies.
37. Preparing a devotional for M.I.L.K.
38. Preparing an activity for M.I.L.K.
39. Preparing a breakfast casserole for M.I.L.K.
40. Going to M.I.L.K.
41. Listening to Bruce vent about work.
42. Encouraging and advising Bruce in regards to his work.
43. Rejoicing with Bruce over improvements at work.
44. Checking the weather forecast for snow.
45. Daydreaming and making lists of all things I’m going to do when it snows.
46. Yelling at the kids for being disobedient.
47. Yelling at the kids for being too noisy.
48. Yelling at the kids for being too slow.
49. Yelling at the kids for being too messy.
50. Hugging and kissing the kids for being so gracious and forgiving.