too much to do to go to work

Having a job pays the bills, takes care of the insurance, puts food on the table and gas in the tank … but, it really interferes with all the other things I need and want to do.
I need to do the housework – clean, dust, wash and iron. I want to read books, study the Bible and work on my plethora of projects piling up around the house or developing a consistent routine of exercise.
The craft cupboard overflows with intriguing, cross stitch projects and stacks of material to re-arrange into quilts and shirts for my sons. Whole walls of books, magazines and audio books vie for my time, attention and hands. Depending on the mood of the day, I could theoretically read serious books about social issues or scientific studies, grow spiritually with a Bible Study, visit Never-land immersed in a complicated 600-page novel or be delighted and entertained with a simple chapter book for children.
My sister, who crochets, found a way to tackle both projects and books: She listens to audiobooks. The bigger the project the more hours of books on tapes that she hears. She reported that it took her 80 hours of audio books to make an American flag afghan as a gift for my daughter’s red, white and blue wedding.
Personally, I maintain a stack of audio books in my car. One week of driving back and forth to work is enough time to complete a three-hour abridged book. Every trip to Little Rock includes a quick grab of three or four books on tape and – if my husband is driving – a basket of needlework.
And, I still had not begun to put a dent in my stock pile of reserves of either one.
So, recently, I faced the television against the wall to insure I would concentrate on my handwork, turned on the CD player and listened to the unabridged audio version of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.” I was stitching up a storm when I fell asleep – needle in hand – at 8:30 p.m. Several other incidents of nodding off have forced me to replay at least a third of the CDs to get the whole story.
I do not, however, go to sleep when I double up on exercising and reading. Long ago I concluded that there is nothing more boring than exercise – and nothing more intriguing than a good book. With a bit of judicious balancing, I can get in a half hour or so of reading in while working on the elliptical exerciser – if I have a page turner, and – if I can find the right pair of reading glasses.
Reading glasses regularly, definitely pose a problem. I have about eight pairs of them – some for working on the computer, others for cross stitch and still another set for reading books in bed. But, half the time, I am lucky if I can find one pair, let alone one that fits the task’s required depth of vision.
No matter how fast I work at my projects and my reading, it is never fast enough. My husband tells folks the urban myth that I read books while ironing the laundry. He says I’m the only person he has ever seen do that. It’s not true, I only did it once or twice when I was younger and unraveling an Agatha Christie murder mystery.
Several years ago I interviewed an octogenarian who said she would have to live to be 500 to finish everything she wanted to do.
I know the feeling – and I only have enough projects to last another 100 years. Give me retirement from my job, another couple decades and the length of my to-do list will undoubtedly match hers.