Forty More Minutes

What if it were possible to be given more hours in the day? Or, even, forty minutes? What would you do with that extra time?

Some ideas that have crossed my mind are:

1. Spend more time with the family.
2. Spend more time reading or writing.
3. Spend more time exercising. (Yeah, right.)
4. Spend more time in Bible study and prayer.

And why, you may ask, am I thinking about this? Because this week is has happened to me. I have been given forty more minutes every day of the week (not including weekends). My drive time to my new work location is twenty minutes shorter each way, which means I was given the gift of time. Only, I don't know, yet, exactly what to do with it.

Last night, it was number one from that list. I spent at least forty minutes on the floor building spaceships out of Legos, and then proceeded to play a bad guy, attempting to destroy the city my two oldest boys had built out of blocks. I managed to knock out two of their buildings before they shot down my ship in a spectacular crash. My little Lego man managed to survive a bit longer by defending himself with not one, but two light sabers at the same time a la Darth Maul, only to lose an arm, and eventually forced to retreat.

Tonight is a writing night, so it means I'll have forty extra minutes before I head out. Some of that time, however, will be spent cutting the hair of my kids. (Have I mentioned that I absolutely love the FlowBee? I've saved literally thousands of dollars in haircuts with that thing, given I use it for myself as well as my three boys.)

Where was I? Oh, right. More time.

There really is only one downside to this. I typically use my drive time to read a book. I've gotten really good at balancing the pages precariously atop the steering wheel while still able to see the road with my peripheral vision.

Okay, not really. Instead, I listen to a lot of audiobooks. (I just finished listening to one of the Charlie Bone audiobooks by Jenny Nimmo, in fact, and before that, I listened to Holes by Louis Sachar.) This means that I'll have forty minutes less time per day "reading" one of these audiobooks.

Aside from that, though, I'm anxious to see what I can do with forty minutes. And I'm curious to know what you would do with an extra forty minutes a day. And be realistic, here. What do you really think you would do? Not what do you think you should do, but most likely wouldn't.