I don't have a lot of blogging time this morning, so I'll just fill you in on how "No Procrastination Day" went. I got to everything on my list except for the Worship Team project (I decided to relegate that to travel time tomorrow). Also, I was only able to start on the kids' bookshelf. I think I did pretty well considering that Shawn wasn't here and I had to get us ready for church by myself. Hooray for "No Procrastination Day"! (Can I really be saying that?) Of course, this morning Todd undid everything Korrynn and I did with cleaning up the bookshelf, so we'll have to start again. ARRRGH! Oh, well!
As for today, I'll try to gather stuff from my list to pack so we'll have something to wear while we're out of town (can't go around naked at the in-laws!). I can't do much actual packing till Shawn gets home, though, because the suitcases are in the attic and the attic door is jammed. So, I'll have to let him "man-handle" it (heehee). I also need to finish the laundry (as if laundry is ever finished), get another round of dishes done, and try to structure in time with the kids. My life is CRAZY! (As though your life is totally boring and you never have anything to do. That's a big fat NOT! Am I right?) I certainly wouldn't have it any other way, though. My kids make my life crazy and I am beyond grateful that they are a part of my life. Hard to imagine that there was a time without them. Now I don't ever want to know a time like that again. Okay, I'd better stop all this sappiness before I start sobbing uncontrollably. Have an amazingly blessed day!
Showing posts with label No Procrastination Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label No Procrastination Day. Show all posts
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Thursday, August 6, 2009
No Procrastination + Soap Nuts = SUCCESS!
"So, how did 'No Procrastination Day' go, Steph?"
Thanks for asking! I feel like it was a success. I got several things accomplished yesterday that I could have let myself put off till later. I even emptied the dishwasher! This is something that I usually leave for Shawn to do. I would fill the dishwasher and he would empty it. But yesterday I didn't just fill the dishwasher. Oh, no! I emptied it, too! Of course, the extra motivation of people coming to the house today may have had a tiny influence. ;) There were a couple of incidents of procrastination yesterday, however: in the afternoon while the kids were sleeping I finally got my lunch and sat down at the computer. I needed to take my shower before church (naptime is the best time for me to accomplish this), but I did allow myself to linger at the computer about 30 minutes more than I should have. The other incident was at bedtime. Shawn was out of town last night, so after I got the kids in bed I thought I would have my usual Stay-up-late-because-Shawn-is-out-of-town-and-I-hate-sleeping-in-an-empty-bed-nights. That didn't happen. After dosing off in the chair downstairs for an hour, I finally got up and went to bed. So for the most part I did well, and the little bit of procrastinating I did allow myself was relatively inconsequential. (Except that in my grogginess last night I forgot to make sure both of the cats were out of the house. I'm hoping I won't find a cat-pee surprise waiting for me downstairs. The cat also woke me up at 5:30, so I didn't sleep as long as I could have.)
I also got my NaturOli Soap Nuts yesterday. So far I LOVE them! The sample pack I got has a bottle of the liquid as well as a muslin bag with five soap nuts. I used the liquid in the dishwasher. I did 1/2 tsp in each cup because our dishwasher is TERRIBLE! The Soap Nuts liquid performed at least as well if not better than a commercial dishwasher detergent. I only found a couple of things that did not come clean (there were a few things that I needed to rinse or wipe off, but with my dishwasher, believe me, that's clean). On average we're usually stuck with 5 or 6 items that don't come clean (and sometimes even more). Shawn has taken the dishwasher apart and cleaned the thing out. It's just cheap. I think because the house used to be a rental, the former owners put in the cheapest appliances they could find.
After I did the dishes I worked on the laundry. I ran an empty load to start with, with 1/2 tsp of Soap Nuts liquid to clean out the washer and remove any remaining residue from commercial detergents and fabric softeners. Then I washed a load of clothes on warm using the soap nuts and no fabric softener. The clothes came out clean and soft! I checked something that had been a little stained before I put it in the dryer to make sure it was clean, and all the stains had come out! I'm going to wash a load of towels later today to see how it does with the softening. Whether you're supposed to or not, I always wash towels with fabric softener. You can always tell when a towel has been washed without it, and I HATE stepping out of the shower and wiping down with a scratchy towel.
On a final note, I decided I should add one more "Life Zone" to my change structure: financial. We've implemented a budget recently, and for the time being we'll continue working on adjusting it. We're having a hard time making room for unexpected things. We also are putting Todd into preschool two days a week to encourage his speech development (if it weren't for his speech we wouldn't even consider preschool), so we need to make room for his tuition. I'm looking into an online tutoring job to get some more income, I just have to brush up the subjects so I can pass the competency tests. I need to make sure to work some study time in every day.
Thanks for asking! I feel like it was a success. I got several things accomplished yesterday that I could have let myself put off till later. I even emptied the dishwasher! This is something that I usually leave for Shawn to do. I would fill the dishwasher and he would empty it. But yesterday I didn't just fill the dishwasher. Oh, no! I emptied it, too! Of course, the extra motivation of people coming to the house today may have had a tiny influence. ;) There were a couple of incidents of procrastination yesterday, however: in the afternoon while the kids were sleeping I finally got my lunch and sat down at the computer. I needed to take my shower before church (naptime is the best time for me to accomplish this), but I did allow myself to linger at the computer about 30 minutes more than I should have. The other incident was at bedtime. Shawn was out of town last night, so after I got the kids in bed I thought I would have my usual Stay-up-late-because-Shawn-is-out-of-town-and-I-hate-sleeping-in-an-empty-bed-nights. That didn't happen. After dosing off in the chair downstairs for an hour, I finally got up and went to bed. So for the most part I did well, and the little bit of procrastinating I did allow myself was relatively inconsequential. (Except that in my grogginess last night I forgot to make sure both of the cats were out of the house. I'm hoping I won't find a cat-pee surprise waiting for me downstairs. The cat also woke me up at 5:30, so I didn't sleep as long as I could have.)
I also got my NaturOli Soap Nuts yesterday. So far I LOVE them! The sample pack I got has a bottle of the liquid as well as a muslin bag with five soap nuts. I used the liquid in the dishwasher. I did 1/2 tsp in each cup because our dishwasher is TERRIBLE! The Soap Nuts liquid performed at least as well if not better than a commercial dishwasher detergent. I only found a couple of things that did not come clean (there were a few things that I needed to rinse or wipe off, but with my dishwasher, believe me, that's clean). On average we're usually stuck with 5 or 6 items that don't come clean (and sometimes even more). Shawn has taken the dishwasher apart and cleaned the thing out. It's just cheap. I think because the house used to be a rental, the former owners put in the cheapest appliances they could find.
After I did the dishes I worked on the laundry. I ran an empty load to start with, with 1/2 tsp of Soap Nuts liquid to clean out the washer and remove any remaining residue from commercial detergents and fabric softeners. Then I washed a load of clothes on warm using the soap nuts and no fabric softener. The clothes came out clean and soft! I checked something that had been a little stained before I put it in the dryer to make sure it was clean, and all the stains had come out! I'm going to wash a load of towels later today to see how it does with the softening. Whether you're supposed to or not, I always wash towels with fabric softener. You can always tell when a towel has been washed without it, and I HATE stepping out of the shower and wiping down with a scratchy towel.
On a final note, I decided I should add one more "Life Zone" to my change structure: financial. We've implemented a budget recently, and for the time being we'll continue working on adjusting it. We're having a hard time making room for unexpected things. We also are putting Todd into preschool two days a week to encourage his speech development (if it weren't for his speech we wouldn't even consider preschool), so we need to make room for his tuition. I'm looking into an online tutoring job to get some more income, I just have to brush up the subjects so I can pass the competency tests. I need to make sure to work some study time in every day.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Wednesday – No Procrastination Day
So here’s a little update on yesterday to start with. I did fairly well in the morning with my computer time, though I did allow myself to go a little longer than I should have. In the afternoon I was on about 30 minutes and then I crashed for awhile, so all in all I did okay. But it ended up being pretty easy to stay off the computer most of the day yesterday. I had an appointment for my volunteer job at 11:00 that ended up going for 4 hours! I’m the personal assistant to my church’s Worship Pastor, and we do most of our communication via phone, text, and email, so I feel like the occasional long meeting is fine. I do most of the work from home, which is one of the reasons I need to examine how to do the work more efficiently. I have to figure out how to fit my duties into my restricted computer time.
The reason I chose computer time as one of the first things to work on is that it is probably the biggest interference in my life right now. I know you all understand just how very easy it is to sit down at the computer for “a couple of minutes” and end up being on there an hour or more. Computer time definitely gets in the way of housework, family time, etc. Plus it doesn’t help that I’m an excellent procrastinator. (If you need tips on how to procrastinate better, just ask me. I’m an expert!) ;) The computer easily becomes another excuse to procrastinate, so I believe it’s vital that my computer time be one of the first things to change so that I can be more successful with the changes to come.
I’ve decided to establish every Wednesday as “No Procrastination Day.” I’m not going to be very successful at establishing changes in my life if I’m allowing myself to procrastinate. This will be a challenge, for sure. It means that every time I want to say, “I’ll do it later.” I’ll have to stop myself and do it right then (as long as that thing that needs doing isn’t waiting on a diaper change – the diaper change will have to come first, I suppose.) Hopefully I’ll get really good at No Procrastination Day, and I will be able to expand it to two days a week, then three, then four… I just reread the post I wrote last year about procrastination for inspiration. Back then I had a strong desire to stop procrastinating, but I failed to follow-through. I mean, why do today what you can put off till tomorrow, right? Hehe. Seriously though, I think by establishing a protocol and working it into the new structure for change that I’ve made I can nip this thing in the bud.
So what are your challenges with procrastination, and what have you done that has helped to procrastinate less or not at all? I’d love to get a discussion going about this. Have an awesome No Procrastination Day!
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