I have run out of my 1001 things to do, when I have time-list. What do I do now?

SuZir

Well-Known Member
After getting my garden beds turned over I found my self thinking, what to do next. Then: What to do during this summer? That I could still come up a lot of things but then: What will I do next fall?



Okay, I do have a full time job. I like it, like my workmates, find it very worthwhile but I did choose that work to best accommodate my family life. It is not challenging me very much. But in today's job market it is a dream job. I could probably find something more challenging, but pay wouldn't be much different and work times would probably be much less convenient.



I have always had a busy lifestyle and last 19 years it has been mostly around my kids. And I did had this huge mental list of things I would so like to do, if I just had a time. But now that difficult child has been out of home over a year and easy child isn't keeping me busy even that much he used to do, I have found myself bored. Our family life used to be so busy we had very clearly cut responsibilities and huge calendars hanging in the fall to keep it organized. And now my column in there is almost empty (easy child and husband are still busy.) It used to be so that I handled difficult child's sports A and B (driving him, all the volunteer work etc.), school related matters with both boys and music hobby with both. husband handled easy child's sports A and B and sport C for both. He also has a much more busy job. House work,everyone did their part.



But now difficult child is away, easy child is changing schools and in next stage only thing parents are really expected to do is sign a paper here and other there. easy child is also quitting his sport B and quitted C already a year ago and is also begging a permission to stop with music and we are letting him do so, he will be busy anyway with school and sport A. husband is very involved with easy child's sport A and it is very time consuming activity so I will not be seeing them a lot come fall. I could of course volunteer myself to that also but after all those years doing it to difficult child's team it really doesn't sound something I would like to do now. So I will have even more time in my hands.



That list of things I would like to do when I have time was indeed long and I haven't done all yet, but I have noticed almost all of those things were something that involved peace and quiet and having alone time. Things I was really missing while busy and dealing with people and being social and active all the time. So I think I need to come up with something that would be social, active but preferably not having a fund raising component (I'm still totally over all kinds of fund raisings after being part of that kind of things for sports, music and school all the time.) If I really wanted to be a cafeteria worker, baker, door-to-door salesman, direct seller or many of the other common fund raising work specialists I would do it for work.



I have been looking our family dogs and thinking of going back to volunteer search and rescue work that I was involved before the kids. But I'm not sure if either of our dogs would be suitable. We chose them for their family dog qualities, not for working. And while it is a volunteer thing, if you are able to train a dog to the level it can be used in real life situations, it is usually matter of life and death (most common situations here are elderly with memory problems getting lost in woods and there is only that much time to find them alive in our harsh climate) and dog really has to have that stamina to work hard. But it would indeed be fun to work with animal training again more. I even found myself dreaming about having a horse again (I haven't have one of my own after sons were young, I have had no time for one.)
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
How about signing up for your local no kill shelter as a volunteer and help them train their dogs for their new forever homes? You could help assess their temperament too because sadly in many situations there are untrained staff doing a pretty lousy job of this. Many dogs come in abused/neglected and could use some basic manners and someone to work with them rebuilding trust with humans. It would help increase the odds that their forever homes will indeed be forever.

You never know, while helping to save so many other dogs, you may come across the special one perfectly suited for search and rescue.

Our no kill shelter is always begging for volunteers for everything from dog walking to cleaning them up and washing out their areas. I know first hand they really would benefit from a trained person doing some basic obedience with the dogs and assessing them for whether or not it would be a good idea to actually adopt them out into a new family. Sadly they let far too many leave their facility that should never have been rehomed.
 

SuZir

Well-Known Member
How about signing up for your local no kill shelter as a volunteer and help them train their dogs for their new forever homes? You could help assess their temperament too because sadly in many situations there are untrained staff doing a pretty lousy job of this. Many dogs come in abused/neglected and could use some basic manners and someone to work with them rebuilding trust with humans. It would help increase the odds that their forever homes will indeed be forever.

That really isn't a possibility here. We don't have abandoned dogs a lot. Shelters, even in our biggest cities, usually have only few dogs looking for the new home at time. And those dogs are usually not kept at the shelter but they have volunteer's who temporarily keep those dogs on their own homes and train them. Unfortunately other of our own dogs would probably not be a fan of having 'foster siblings' so I can not do that. Shelters are mainly there so that runaways can be kept that day or two before the owner is found. If people have to give up on their dogs they usually re-home them through websites or with word of mouth etc. Because there is so few rescue dogs here there are in fact several organizations that bring rescue dogs from other countries so people who want to adopt a dog can do so. And those dogs are only brought here after the home is found. But mostly people here just have their dogs as a puppies and buy them from the breeders (and most are pure breed, we have much less mixes than most countries do.) That may play a part for so few getting abandoned. After you pay around 1000 dollars (or double that for the most expensive breeds) for the puppy, you are less likely to abandon it. Especially when the breeder sends you a Christmas card and wants to hear how your dog is doing once or twice a year. Unfortunately the cats are the different matter. For them it is difficult to find new homes and many are abandoned.
 

TerryJ2

Well-Known Member
Very interesting, that the things you craved involved peace and quiet, andnow you are looking for something more social. It surely changes the dynamics when our kids are out of the house!
You could get your dogs advanced CDs and visit retirement homes. Seems like Search and Rescue would require a new dog, since yours are family dogs.
A horse sounds great but it's up to you whether the time and money and distance to drive are worth it. I am so glad you are taking things into your own hands to enjoy your life, with and with-o g'sfg!!! Bravo, Su!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Terry's idea of a "therapy" dog to visit hospitals/nursing homes ect is good. I know they're a huge hit around here, and I don't know of any facility that won't let them in. Actually here, they don't even have to be CDs. I used to take Molly to visit mother in law.........and while she was at it she visited many other residents who just couldn't resist her. It didn't bother Molly a bit, even with the walkers/wheelchairs ect because she'd been exposed to them her whole life. :)
 

SuZir

Well-Known Member
Very interesting, that the things you craved involved peace and quiet, and now you are looking for something more social.

I think that is your basic human behaviour 101, you always want the most, what you don't have at that moment. :wink:

And I did enjoy my peace and quiet for the some time. It was very nice to read all those books, make all those crafts, renovate those furnitures that had been waiting that for years in the garage etc. But after that I did notice that I'm still too young to sit down on my rocking chair and just start knitting mountains of socks. :bigsmile: (I do knit them. I used to do that while at times sitting and watching difficult child's practises or while waiting boy's from their instrument classes, but I have a limit, I only knit one pair of socks for myself and husband and two pairs for the kids per year.)

"Therapy/company dogs" are a hit also here. That could be something I should think about. Other of our dogs would be perfect for it. He really loves everyone, but is not too enthusiastic.
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
Come get me - I'Learning Disability (LD) love to do search and rescue. I'm an easy keeper and a fast learner. I have a cadaver dog. And a budweiser hound. At this time - he only finds dead dogs and empty beer cans. But he's a work in progress.
 
Top