Spare Time Challenge

I miss shopping at the mall. There, I said it. I admit it. I also miss shopping at little boutiques. Maybe it’s the thrill of the hunt. More likely is that I shop out of boredom. Whatever. I enjoy it. Shopping at the grocery store really doesn’t fulfill that yearning. I don’t get excited finding vanilla yogurt, or a can of Rotelle like I do when I encounter a cute top or an amazing pair of earrings. I could do yard work, I suppose, but it’s mainly housework conducted outside. I can only pull weeds and wild grass for so long before the old bod seizes up on me. I used to get sore the second day after yard work. Now the pain is instantaneous, and just gets worse for two days. That leaves indoor activities to occupy my spare time. I know I watch far too much TV. OK, who am I kidding? There IS no such thing as too much TV, but I do have to give my butt a break once in a while. The last time I went to heat up the oven, smoke pored out through the top. This told me I might want to acquaint myself with the self-cleaning function ASAP (or perhaps never cook again). I placed a giant fan pointing at the oven, and closed the hall door behind which lives a smoke-detector. I opened a window as well as the back door so smoke could go out through the screen. I was all set to clean Old Smokey. I pushed Clean, and turned on the giant fan. To my wonderment, blobs of dog hair went shooting across the floor and pirouetted through the air. It was a fun little game to try to catch the hairy blobs as they came floating by. I also felt a little ashamed that my kitchen was obviously so dirty. My dogs weren’t interested in what I was doing, once they figured out I was Not in the kitchen to get them a treat. I was left to race around my tiny kitchen, pretending the hair blobs were $50 bills like in some dream gameshow. My next project will probably be to Clorox the grout around my kitchen tile. I doubt I will find much interesting in the process. I will have to try really hard to come up with a different way to see the task. It definitely won’t be Hair Blob Toss, or shopping at the mall. I miss the mall. Did I tell you I miss shopping at the mall??? Yup, I miss the mall. Sigh…