7/25/08

An Hour Out of the Ordinary

Sometimes we get stuck in a rut. We have the same things for supper, we watch the same old shows, we let the comfortable routines we have take over. Life becomes mundane. Don't get me wrong, it can be relaxing to have "nothing much" going on. Downtime is necessary. We need to unwind and just be.

When the downtime gets us down, though, we need a little kick in the pants to get out of it. We need to just get up and do something we normally wouldn't do. Today was one of those days for us.

It was the middle of the afternoon and the weather was beautiful. I had shooed the kids outside to play after lunch, but everyone had one reason or another to keep coming back in. I felt like installing a revolving door and I got tired of hearing myself saying things like, "this is the last time I'm going to tell you to get back outside." I couldn't get a single thing done around the house myself with all of the distractions and constant requests for things. Before long, they were trying to weasel their way back in to play video games.

Oh, no! That wasn't going to happen.

Since I wasn't making a lick of progress on what I needed to accomplish, I made everyone hit the restroom and put their shoes on. Off we went on a walk to the park. The park is just down the street, but we rarely make it a destination. It is right next to my In-laws' house, so the kids often just run over there for a few minutes while we are visiting them. We hardly ever just, "go to the park" to play.

Now, we didn't have a long time for this little trip- maybe an hour or so- but it was nice to just have a change of pace in the middle of our day. It was exactly the remedy for the boredom that had set in.

So the next time you feel the mundane creeping up on you, take a short walk or go for a drive. Pick some flowers, read a book together, play a game or go window shopping. You'll feel refreshed and renewed by the small change of pace. I know we did!

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Need some new ideas for supper? Check out The Fat Bottomed Girl or myrecipes.com!

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