What Do You Define as Leisure Time?

Ok I could hardly wait to do this post..I had plotted out my day like most women do pretty much the night before. I knew I needed to do a little bit of computer work before I drove my father-in-law to have his second cataract out-patient surgery. I took the book I have been trying to finish since my trip to Washington D.C almost a month ago so I could possibly try to finish it. My mother-in-law was with me and she usually never remembers to bring something to occupy her mind instead of sitting and worrying about how the procedure is going. After about 45 minutes she gazed at her watch and asked "Gee I wonder when they are going to come get me to see him?". I told her it had only been a little while (but I guess it seemed liked forever for her). Shortly after that they called her back and a few moments later she came out saying that I could go get the car to pull to the front.

As I turned the corner to exit the building my father-in-law is walking out the door with a nurse running out after him. Oh I forgot he has a hearing problem and refuses to wear a hearing device. I proceed to tell the nurse "can you please take him in so I can get the car?". She is trying to look at the situation as humorous while I am thinking he could possibly fall on his face because he still has somewhat blurry vision. Needless to say it was like trying to stop a three-ring circus but we managed to stop everyone in their tracks while I speedily got the car. (Thank heavens for handicapped parking plaques).

I managed to get them both out of the car at separate times, which is no small task. Got them inside and proceeded to tell them I had alot to get done at home. By now the first half of my day had ticked by quicker than I wanted.

The rest of my day was as follows:

Answer e-mails and phone calls from clients, stop at the Dollar Store for brooms to do sweeping that I hadn't done over the weekend, do some filing, pay some bills, do a load of laundry, pick up in the yard, plant some herbs, (yes I am on a quest to grow my own veggies and eat healthy, lets see how this one goes!) sweep and vacuum and try and plot tomorrows strategies.

Well it probably wasn't as busy a day as the day before was but it still for me took a measure of focus, to try to keep things running as smoothly as possible.

I happened to watch the episode today on Dr. Phil which was largely about how at home mothers have on average, according to a university sociology professor who I will not call by name in this post because I at first had a name for him that was very nice, approximately 40 hours a week of "leisure" time....Hummmm I thought is this guy from another planet?

After listening further, his definition of leisure time differs greatly from mine.. Leisure in my book is, for instance, reading a book for fun, sitting out in my yard on a sunny day, playing with my dogs, ok you get my drift...Some of his were: Having a root canal (going to the dentist), community work, personal care. I guess it is all in the interpretation but lets just say their were alot of extremely unhappy women in that audience.

I guess if you were to chalk my day up according to this gentlemen my whole day was leisure except for maybe the first couple of hours..and sadly the few minutes I took to watch the episode.

Well back to living my leisurely life, sitting on my lounge, eating my bon-bons and pointing at my royal subjects--yeah right...Well what do you define as leisure time???