If you had a week with nothing to do...

11 posts / 0 new

Mon, 2008-12-29 07:56

Michelle

I have an entire week, this week, with no responsibilities whatsoever. I'm off work all week (except for babble after New Year's Day), my son is with my ex after being with me for the past 10 days, and my family holiday visiting is finished.

I am planning to just stay here in the city (went away last week to visit family), and I have a whole week ahead of me in which I can do anything I want, as long as it doesn't cost much. :)

It's been a long time since I had this kind of time to myself! At least a couple of years. Not sure what I'm going to do with the time, but I'm going to enjoy it, that's for sure!

What do the rest of you do when you have a few days completely to yourself? Or, if you never have that, then what WOULD you do if you did? Inspire me!

Mon, 2008-12-29 09:22

jrose

I would bake and cook, especially since I didn't make the time this year to do any holiday baking! And I'd do it while blasting music, and singing really, really loud (and most likely off-key). And when I was done, I'd curl up on my couch, under a fleece blanket, and catch up on reading, while eating the baking that I just finished. Sounds simple, but that's what I'd do!

Mon, 2008-12-29 09:43

Sven

I have ten days (seven days remaining) with nothing to do. I love it.

First, I've shut off my cell phone.

Next, I've tended to things that I have wanted to do that take extended periods of time to work on. For example, we're at our lake cottage for this ten-day period and, for a year-and-a-half we've not had even a single rod in our master bedroom on which to hang clothes (it's just been a bare room). So, I spend two full days installing a closet system that I designed online. With no cell phone or work demands (especially the latter), I can work on something that both needs to get done and, once done, gives me satisfaction. As another example, I'm in the process of sorting through, discarding, and organizing over 4,000 photographs that I've taken over the last several years.

Ms. Sven and I are watching lots of movies, napping, going for walks, reading, eating...and just enjoying the solitude and quiet of being away from the city (and from work) for ten blissful days...

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Eleutherophobics of the World...Unite!!!

Mon, 2008-12-29 10:33

Michelle

Sounds great, Sven! And good idea, Jessica. I was thinking about doing some cooking today, perhaps making some "chestnuts" for tonight's get-together (those are little peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate with the top of the peanut butter ball left uncovered so they look like chestnuts). But I don't think I have time, because there is freezing involved.

So far this morning, I have: filed and buffed my nails, and talked to my best friend on the phone for half an hour. :)

Oh, and also listened to my iPod while singing out loud. There may even have been some air guitar, but I'll never tell. :D

Mon, 2008-12-29 10:36

lagatta

Living in Toronto I'd do some urban exploration, depending on the weather www.spacing.ca Taking trams (NOT during rush hour) can be fun as well.

Michelle, do you enjoy going to the cinema? Often seeing a film in a theatre with other people is a different experience from renting a video - there are probably some matinées and other specials that aren't too expensive.

Our big treat here is La Grande bibilothèque. It has actually become a meeting place; one can view and borrow DVDs and CDs as well as books, and read magazines in many different languages. And that costs nothing! www.banq.qc.ca

Mon, 2008-12-29 10:45

remind

I have this pretzel recipe Michelle, that is easy and the results are wonderful, and one pretzel stops that salt sweet cravings that one gets. Super easy to make and your friends will think you spent hours making them.

1 lg bag of pretzels

1 box of white bakers choc

1 cup of chopped mix nuts in separate bowl (food processor does wonderful job)

1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries in separate bowl

Wax paper on counter top

Melt the white choc in double boiler, simply put a glass/metal bowl in a pot of boiling water, but have the bowl larger than pot so no water splashes into melting choc.

When choc is melted, lightly dip front part of pretezel into the melted choc and then dip half of it into mix nuts and the other half into dried cranberries and place bottom side down on wax paper to harden.

When not enough melted choc is left to dip pretezels in, spatula it all together and dump leftover nuts and cranberries into it, then tsp blobs of it onto waxpaper to make home made nut cranberry clusters.

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"watching the tide roll away"

Mon, 2008-12-29 10:46

Wilf Day

I'm reading "White Mughals" -- the story of the romance between the British ambassador to the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1798 and the Mughal princess Khair un-Nissa, their Muslim marriage (including his conversion to Islam), and its consequences over the next 40 years.

If I was stuck in Toronto and still in my thirties, I'd find a friend who was heading to Montreal for New Years' Eve, and hitch a ride. At least, that's what my son and his friends used to do, and why not?

Mon, 2008-12-29 10:55

Michelle

remind, that sounds amazing! Of course, if I do that, then the people I'll be seeing tonight will know I didn't spend hours on it...because they're babblers! :D

Wilf, I think I'm going to stay in town - my travelling is done this vacation! I was thinking more along the lines of lagatta's suggestion - urban exploration, taking lots of pictures, maybe some videos, etc.

Anyhow, I'm off to take a long, leisurely bath with a chick lit novel I got on sale for $1, followed by a walk along St. Clair to some small grocers to stock up on some groceries (I've been away for 10 days, after all!), and then maybe I'll do some sort of baking or goody-making this afternoon for tonight. :)

Mon, 2008-12-29 11:08

jrose

That sounds delicious, Remind! That's exactly what I need on my first day back at work after the holidays!

Mon, 2008-12-29 11:14

#10

Timebandit Timebandit's picture

A week with nothing to do....

That's the stuff dreams are made of here at Chez Bandit.

I would probably do a lot of reading and sleeping.

Mon, 2008-12-29 11:14

#11

remind

They are actually more than delicious, so much so, that that one is actually surprised when one tastes them.

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"watching the tide roll away"