If I Had an Extra Hour...

"A man with a watch always knows what time it is, but a man with two watches is never sure." I don't know who first said that, but I believe it. I can leave home in plenty of time according to the white clock on my kitchen wall, then get into the car and realize I don't have as much time as I thought according to the dashboard clock, and then walk into the office even later than I feared according to the clock there. Good grief! I suppose this also explains why, at the end of the day, I seem to arrive home almost before I left the office. Time is just weird that way.

     And the whole switch-over from Daylight Savings to Standard Time doesn't really help. Some brainiac decided that one day a year our planet could take 25 hours to rotate, as long as it also takes a day a year to do so in only 23. Weird.

     At least this month, it's the "good" switch, when we get an extra hour. What will you do with yours?

     You could be like the majority of us and simply get an extra hour of sleep, always a good thing. But if you're not particularly sleep deprived, you might want to do something more productive than mindlessly watching another 60 minutes of TV or web surfing. Be pro-active! Think of the hour as a gift and do something you can actually look back on and say "Here's what I did with my hour."

     Below are a few ideas to get you rolling. You should be able to do any of these in an hour or less. Let me know how you did.

1. Play a round or two of Scrabble.
2. Call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while.
3. Bundle up and lie on your back to look at the stars.
4. Clean out your closet.
5. Go online and sponsor a child through Compassion Canada or World Vision.
6. Go for a nature walk in the park and collect a few acorns and pine cones for a seasonal centerpiece.
7. Tighten any loose buttons on your winter coats and jackets.
8. Start on your family Christmas newsletter.
9. Have a living room dance marathon.
10. Take a bubble bath.
11. Pack a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child.
12. Re-aquaint yourself with the names of the planets in our solar system, in order.
13. Go for a run or work out.
14. Order prints of your favorite photos.
15. Write your parents a letter.
16. Find a quote or a Bible verse you can live by. Memorize it.
17. Give your dog a bath.
18. Clean out your fridge.
19. Learn how to say “I love you” in five different languages.
20. Go ice skating.
21. Get a haircut.
22. Re-read your favorite childhood book (bonus points if you have a kid to read it to).
23. Contemplate time and eternity.
24. Make a Christmas gift for someone.
25. Sort through your clothes and pack a bag for MCC.
26. Sort through your movies and pack a bag for MCC.
27. Make breakfast for someone you love.
28. Sort through your plastic containers and recycle any unmatched tops and bottoms.
29. Pray.
30. Delete numbers 1-28 and just do #29. The one who keeps our planet in orbit loves to hear from you. It will do your heart good, too!