nothing to busy

BUSY 

            [...]We're skittering about like hyperactive gerbils, high not just on caffeine but on caffeine's luscious by-product, productivity. Ah, the joy of doing, accomplishing, crossing off.  

As kids, our stock answer to most every questions was nothing. What did you do at school today? Nothing. What's new? Nothing. Then, somewhere on the way to adulthood, we each took a 180-degree turn. We cashed in our nothing for busy. [...]

-Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, pg 46