Singing the "Back Burner Blues"

I used to be a pretty good housekeeper and cook, until I started taking creative writing and poetry classes. I found I loved writing, but it took a lot of time. So, housekeeping and cooking got put on the proverbial back burner.

Writing was emotionally fulfilling and mentally satisfying. But then I got my first digital camera. I couldn't stop clicking the shutter long enough to sit down and write, so my writing got pushed to that same proverbial back burner.

Taking pictures was challenging and fun, but once I bought my first edition of Photoshop Elements, I became so intrigued with editing, sharpening, brightening, cropping, embellishing and scrapbooking my old photos, that I couldn't find the time to take new ones. So my camera, also, got put on the proverbial back burner.

Then I found blogging. It seemed to satisfy, somewhat, my love of writing and of photography. But I found that writing the blog took so much time that I didn't have time to Photoshop (I know that's not a proper verb) my pictures any more. So Photoshop Elements was put back there, alongside the camera, on the now cluttered back burner.

Now, blogging is fun, and I hope to continue doing it. But I've been thinking . . . how rewarding and enjoyable would it be to volunteer my time doing story hour at a library or book store, once-a-week! I love children, I love books and, after all, my degree is in education! Besides, it would be a way to pay back a kindness, since someone else is doing it for Sweetpea. But to do it properly would take planning and research each week, in preparation for the hour spent with the children. If I do this, will my blog get put on the back burner?

I could quite easily convince myself that the solution to unpiling this cluttered, proverbial back burner is to quit my job. Then I'd have more time to clean house, cook, write, take pictures, Photoshop them, keep up with my blog, do research and planning, and read stories to toddlers. But I'm afraid the results of that could be pretty devastating. Call me spoiled, but I like having a roof over my head, a car, food to eat, and electricity and gas to keep me warm and/or cool.

So maybe I should pull a different thing, each day, from the back burner, dust it off, and use it. Clean house on Mondays, go on photo shoots on Tuesdays, edit my photos in Photoshop on Wednesdays, write my blog on Thursdays, read stories on Fridays, and so forth. But, where's the fun in that?! "Creativity can't be scheduled!" my psyche screams, in protest.

I don't pretend to know the solution, but one thing I do know . . . I'll never be one of those people who says, "I don't want to retire. I'd be so bored."