Things To Do With Your Extra Hour

Who knew it was daylight savings time?

We admit: we kinda forgot. How were we supposed to know? Nobody talked about it this time. We don’t remember seeing any news coverage, and so when we woke up and saw the time on the microwave (which was five minutes before we were supposed to be at the farmers market picking out pork shoulders) we freaked out. And then when we saw the time on our cell phones, which changes automatically through invisible air waves that we cannot understand, we were greatly relieved.

In general, having an extra hour to do anything is a good thing. Most people use the extra hour to sleep, which is great, although ever-so-slightly unoriginal. Heck, you’ve got an extra hour of life! Don’t just lie there. If you didn't already sleep through your extra hour over the weekend, and can’t think of anything else to do with it this week or weekend, here are a few ideas:

1. 30 sit-ups while watching one hour of TV.

Why not head into the winter with a strong abdominal core? 30 sit-ups per hous is only one sit-up every two minutes. You can handle this. Sure, it sounds lame, but let’s face it, it’s probably 30 more sit-ups than you did yesterday.

2. Turn your embarrassing book titles around on your shelf so the spines face the wall.

Qualifying books include self-help books, most memoirs, bodice-ripper romance novels, SAT test prep manuals, and your journals. If you’re really brave, you can box these up (not your journals) and take them to a used bookstore. You might even get money for them. That is, if you can bear having the clerk stand there going through them slowly, looking at the books, turning them over in his hands, and then looking up at you over his half-glasses with an expression you can’t quite make out. This may take more than an hour, but you can break it up over two days and be just fine.

3. Brush your cat/dog/horse/whatever.

Remember when you first got your pet, and you went out and bought a brush and were actually kind of excited about this aspect of pet care that you assumed would deepen your relationship and lead to permanent bonding and mutual understanding? Now take a look at that matted cur taking up the whole couch, eyeing you with suspicion. How did things get so out of control? It doesn’t matter, you’ve got an extra hour now. An extra hour for second chances. Wear gloves.

4. Make breakfast.

There are so many ways to make breakfast, and so few of them actually happen. Mostly people just open a box and shift the contents of that box to a bowl, and then shift the contents of that bowl to their stomachs. Some even shift directly from box to stomach, with no milk in between, which, sure, is more efficient, but where does it get you?

How about you slow down and make some pancakes. Drizzle a few blueberries in there. Put them on a plate first, don’t just grab them off the griddle; you’ll burn yourself. Eat them with a knife and fork. And now your hour is up, but Look What You Did!

5. Surf the internet aimlessly.

Sure, you could do this, but don’t you spend most of your days doing this anyway? How about something else, like:

6. Get some binoculars and watch your neighbors.

Not sure if this is illegal or not, but who’s gonna know? Only you and the cops, if the Johnsons find out and call you on it. Make a checklist: when do they wake up? What do they eat? Where do you think the shower is? Are they also watching you with binoculars? It’s very possible, since you’re not the only one who got an extra hour.

Happy Daylight Savings!

Related Post: 50 Ways to Spend Your Sick Day