I’m a big fan of Paulo Coelho! You will love this! He’s the first best-selling
author to be distributing for free his works on his blog:
http://www.paulocoelhoblog.com

Have a nice day!

Aart

I also workout anywhere from 1 to 2 hours per day (yoga, pilates, weights, cardio, dancing especially – you name it!) and try to get a social life in whenever possible… my workaholic tendencies must be overcome by friendly get-togethers and the like.

I love to read other blogs or magazines, while listening to music, post-workout… so great.

I also recently started reading the Evelyn Wood speed-reading course… I’m hoping to move from about 400 words/min reading to speed to the 1500 to 3000 words/min range and above… then I think I’ll be dangerous . (That’s worth checking out too, by the way everyone! Many of us love to read, and all of us have to read quite a lot every day, increasing your speed is only going to make life better; I’m SO excited that the book arrived!)

And the summer is a great time to declutter… although the fun involved there varies .

I love playing with my kiddos — its the most fun and relaxing thing I could possibly do when downtime hits. Spend all my free time with them.
My personal pastime, away from the kids, is contesting. I *love* it! Unfortunately it keeps me on the computer — so now I tend to do that a wee bit less than I have in the past. Still, once the kids are in bed, if all the deadlines have been met — that is what I’m doing. Contesting and blogging about contesting.

Whenever possible, I try to get out of the house – hitting the beach, visiting friends, or whatever. When you’re indoors all of the time, you can get really restless.

Off the computer: I became addicted to knitting a few years ago. I began knitting sweaters for my ever-chilly Chihuahua (the sweaters available in the stores are junk). Then I decided to learn how to knit socks. MAJOR addiction there, as I cheerfully add the craziest, most wildly colored socks to my collection. Knitting while listening to books on tape or disc allows me to appease two addictions at once, as I’m a big reader, too.

I’ve recently become a foster mom for a local animal rescue organization, so for the past two months I’ve had kittens ricocheting around the house. Great fun, but not terribly helpful with the knitting. I created a blog about fostering, which I hope will grow, but right now it’s mostly silly antics and cute photos. I also have a small veggie garden that is somehow managing to hang on in spite of the drought. I dink around with polymer clay, tie-dye, making candles and jewelry. I’ve been making handcrafted soap for going on 20 years now, and absolutely cannot function unless I have at least 30 bars of soap in the house. DBF says I should list “getting organized” as a hobby, because I’m forever reading books/websites/watching TV shows on how to do that, and then attacking areas of the house that seem to defiantly revert to a disorganized state the instant I turn my back. I’m also a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock films and old horror films, so when I have nothing better to do, I’ll sit down with my knitting and watch an old classic.

I spend my downtime with my son. I have a day job so my time after is spent with him. After I put him to bed, I spend time online with my writing groups buds. I also play guitar in church on sundays and have a blast doing it. I love to read, too. I’m rereading the Harry Potter books right now.

For example, our city road crew has ripped me from my slumber no later than 7 a.m. all week long (I know many of you get up much earlier, but I haven’t been getting to bed until after 2 or 3 each day, so I am *tired*). This morning has been the worst so far. There are no fewer than three backhoes, two jackhammers, two utility trucks, and 10 workmen on the street. My first thought this morning was, “I don’t know what they’re doing, but for all this racket, it better involve paving the street in gold bars.” I’ve been having a hard time working when they are out there, which is why I have been up until 2 or 3 – trying to work when it’s quiet.

I read a lot. Usually at least one book per day for my review site and for a couple paid book reviewing jobs. Last night, I spent my “down time” working my way through a biography of Carly Simon, Carole King and Joni Mitchell. Long book but I learned a lot.

I also make sure I walk at least a mile per day. Not easy when just about every day this summer has been downpours, thunderstorms and even a freak tornado. (Vermont usually doesn’t see tornado activity, but in the past two years we’ve seen one confirmed and two that most likely were though National Weather Service is still deciding between straight sheer winds or tornado.)

I have a vegetable garden, which at this point has gotten way ahead of me, but I’ve been spending a lot of time freezing excess veggies for the winter and making a ton of zucchini bread.

The rest of my time involves catching up with housework, having a beer and kicking back with my husband and playing with my kids. My son’s a Guitar Hero addict and likes to have us join him, while I recently got my daughter addicted to the card game Milles Bournes, so we’ve been playing a lot of that when I can fit it in.

I started making an effort to not touch the laptop at all after 6 pm or so, and it’s made a huge difference. Life seems a lot more balanced now. I work like a mad woman during the hours I have scheduled for work, and then I get to enjoy the rest of my day.

I’ve also just gotten back into running and am training for a 5K. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed the feel of running in the early morning hours.

I also read, though not as much lately as I once did. We also are game players. I bought hubby a game called Mancala, which we enjoy. I also made a promise after my recent illness to spend some time with the kids outdoors, so we’ve been playing soccer, weeding, playing hide-and-seek, or something each day. That’s really enjoyable, and it lets them get out the overload of energy they have built up.

On a more daily basis, I like taking mind/body classes at the gym and getting in my daily workout. I love reading a good mystery and thumbing through health and lifestyle magazines.

I have to admit I often enjoy just watching tv too. It makes me laugh and gives me new ideas both which are important to me. Right now a lot of my free time is taken up by learning Portuguese which is proving to be very difficult for me even though I am living in a country where I hear it constantly.