I haven’t picked up the needles in ages, but someone in this house reminded me that knitting is good. Someone else’s crotchety look reminded me that crocheting was also good. 

Commuting to work and working long hours mean that I lose a lot of free time to chill. I used to be able to read and stitch (knit, crochet, embroider) before and after work when I worked closer to the city and when I freelanced. 

Finding down time now is a lot more difficult. Finding ways to drag a hobby on your panier to do on the way to and from work is not easy either. I had stuck to just reading on the train, but, as Fabian clearly demonstrates, taking time to knit a bit is necessary. I don’t need my eyes as much as I do when I read, and those orbs are buggered after nine and a half hours in front of a computer. 

If that isn’t hard enough, how do I squeeze in exercise other than the bike? 

All of this has made me a keen organiser. In my bike bag(s), I have an embroidery project (usually something from Sublime Stitching such as this one I’m calling Chained Melody), a knitting or crochet project (something small so that it doesn’t take up too much space–granny square dog blankets are my thing now), a book (nothing thick–space is pweshiss), and my laptop (because even after a day in front of the computer, I need another computer to socialise with my homies and e-homies). 

Oh, and I forgot. I’ve taken up karate. Yes, start running now. Hide your wook planks. Hide all of your bricks. Hide all your building equipment, my three little pigs, for I soon shall be able to huff and puff and go all forehead on your residential dwellings. I have nearly mastered straw, so the rest of you should be nervous. 

Karate is in the evenings. Yes, because my schedule doesn’t annoy me enough. Now I must pack the sexy white jammies, too, once I figure out how to get there from work in time. Until then, those days are my driving days. I feel so dirty. 

So when do I play with the dogs? From 4am to 4:50 in the morning and when I get home. One added bonus of commuting by bike is that I’m already nasty when I get home. Playing with the dogs might make me cleaner. Lick my face? Sure. Go for it. Who’s your salty beeyoch? I AM!

No matter what your schedule is, you can find time to do what you want–usually. Ironically, filling up the days like that doesn’t stress me out. It did, but then I remembered that much of what I can’t do, I don’t have to do or can do later (thank you, DVDs of shows I miss, for the weekend is for you). If I get too stressed, I can always take a nap with my boys. Sometimes I just relax at someone else’s house and sleep around with their dogs, too. The photo with the blue dogs is at Brooke’s and I’m in a blue orgy with Otto, Iris, and Gracie: 

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 One benefit of having a dog with only one front leg? Better snuggling.

It’s time for the hop bits as hosted by Life With Dogs (and Mrs A), Two Little Cavaliers, and Confessions of the Plume–all of whom list the rules neater than I could. I tend to blather on. No, really. I do.