Post Christmas Procastination

I could hear it on the roof -- torrential rain in January. Fritz's persistent antics finally succeeded in coaxing me from beneath my cosy down duvet. His enthusiasm was short lived once he stepped out into soggy. He did his business in record time!

I surveyed the kitchen and sun room still adorned with festive garlands and Christmas decorations. As per tradition, my signature procrastination ruled supreme and I found myself facing the unpleasant task of deconstructing Christmas alone, just in time for Valentine's Day. I exaggerate but it's a ritual that I truly dislike.

By noon the springlike gray and thaw gave way to a blustery winter blizzard. Temperatures dropped below zero, snow danced and winds howled. Winter blew in to accompany me as I packed up delicate little decorations into well worn cardboard boxes and rolled garlands and lights into tangled tresses. Nice of you drop by, but where were you when we needed you?

Life is like that -- tranquil one minute and a blazing storm the next. You're never really certain just what's next in store. It keeps us on our toes and reminds us to appreciate the good times, for change is inevitable. The good news is that storms don't last forever and once they've blown over, things are a little cleaner and fresher, and optimism restored.

Polepole

Polepole (pronounced poll-ee-poll-ee) is swahili for "slowly" and that is exactly what my approach to my Christmas cleanup has been. I made a little headway today -- stripped the mantels, banister and windows of garlands and stockings and rounded up the ornaments on the dining room table. I stumbled across my Christmas stocking, tucked away in the corner, still stuffed with chocolate bars and Nibs. This of course put a halt to the clean up efforts as I stuffed a few bars of KitKat and handfuls of Nibs into my mouth. Darn that stocking (or at least the chocolate in it) - it totally negated the sugar snap peas and fresh peppers I ate for lunch!

So there you have it. Progress is unsteady - but there has been progress. But what's the big rush anyhow? Next year I'm throwing an un-decorating party complete with Chinese take out as the carrot. For now... we have a stocking to empty!

Couldn't resist one more lighting... before the stripping

Piled high in the pre-packing zone - AKA dining room table

Sunday Situation

I had something very important to write today but it didn't come easy. I was blocked. How did I break that block? Did I persevere, stimulate my creative juices, search for inspiration?  I suppose so, if you would consider procrastination any/all of the above. With this impending deadline breathing down my neck, I proceeded to:

• check my Facebook updates
• eat some popcorn
• change up the music on my Dell jukebox (no, I don't have an iPod and even I can only listen to John Denver for so long)
• stare at the second paragraph
• clean out the second drawer of our buffet (found some toffee  from my Christmas stocking)
• eat a piece of toffee (softens if you suck it a really long time)
• make a sandwich for tomorrow
• chat with my daughter on the phone
• stand at the window and wish for sunshine on my shoulders
• roll on the floor with Fritz
• make yet another mug of tea
• chat with my ex husband on the phone (our version of co-parenting)
• stand and stretch while singing Perhaps Love.

I finally finished my piece and I think I consumed about a 6,000 calories in the process and stayed up way too late. Oh well, some days are diamonds, and some days are stone.  And if you hadn't already notices,  I definitely listened to way too much John Denver today!

Dodging Bullets and Shots

As predicted, I got my articles written and submitted on time. I used to get myself totally worked up when I hit a creative block or was running on empty. But no more. My breathing stays even, my heart beats at its same old pace and I don't test my antiperspirant. No way. I live on - supremely confident in the knowledge that IT WILL GET DONE! No use sweating it.

My arm is a little stiff from the shots Kidlet and I got yesterday in preparation for our upcoming Africa trip. But the good news is that we are covered! Yellow fever. Typhoid. Hep A and B. Bring it on! The nurse warned us that if we get a reaction to the yellow fever shot, it won't hit for about five days. That would take us into our upcoming long weekend. Boo to that.

Anyway - just thought I would share the fact that I dodged another bullet; pulled that wabbit outta the hat - again. And all is well in my world.

So it's a Little Late

Procrastination is the name of the game tonight, and for Kidlet too I think. I had a few articles to bang out and she - an overdue English essay. (Yup - I outed you Kid!) Procrastination and I go way back; we've been inseparable for as far back as I can remember.

I was the kid pulling the all nighters to get my essay done the night before it was due. "Shut off the lights when you go to bed Hon," my mom would say to me as she kissed me goodnight and left me to the cold and dark hunched at the dining room table.  I was the master negotiator, eking out a few days extension on the assignment, although that didn't fly in university. When my college roommate Jilly would be truddling off to bed, studying done, fully showered, I would be just starting to crack the books. She even put me on a motivational program. If I finished X number of pages by X o'clock, we could walk up to the Burger Shack for meat. I apparently thrived on the pressure or the clunk on the head it delivered.

As a professional, procrastination and I became somewhat estranged to my relief, and I cleaned up my act. But now and then I revert back to that comfort zone of mine that is organized chaos. And then again, sometimes the disgust builds to overflowing and I just have to regroup and organize. At work that means shaking the crumbs out of my keyboard (I swear I dumped a week's worth of nutrition out of that thing), tossing out my pay stubs from 2004-2007, creating a clear spot on my desk amongst the mystery paper, and stripping away all of my Christmas decorations from my cube. Yup - I am ready to roll.

So tonight even though work on the articles gave way to phone chats with my little brother and daughters, it will still be there tomorrow... and I will just have to pull a wabbit out of hat ... again.

Ready or Not

I've only known that I have this business trip for 2 years ... so why am I waiting on a dryer full of clothes, hunting for my missing camera charger, downloading driver updates from the Canon website ....etc etc.?

Because I am a classic procastinator. I thrive on the thrill of "just in time", "by the skin of my teeth", "by a hair's breadth". I loathe the peace of mind that comes with having everything organized in advance, the suitcase packed and ready by the door. Where's the fun in that? No last minute body searches for plane tickets, no repeat trips from the car to the house to retrieve that one last thing ... It's a walk on the wild side, not for the faint of heart!

OK, now that I am done justifying my disorganized chaos, I have to run and finish packing. This post was just another exercise in procastination. God I'm good .... Off I go - for real this time.

My flight leaves in nine hours! Ready or not.

procrastination: Why Do Today What You Can Do Tomorrow

[flashback to 1976] TV is tuned to some non descript show providing the prescribed ambient background noise. My project is overdue and I am hitting a wall. A big one. Many cups of tea. Another piece of pie. [wall is still looming before me] More Internet browsing. Fritz needs his belly rubbed. Time out to post to my blog. [haven't I learned anything? ] I can feel that old familiar tingle creeping up my spine. My old friend Procrastination is here for a visit.

I should be in full panic mode, running shrieking into the night ... Funny enough, I am deeply calm - probably past the point of hysteria. Or maybe because I know this old friend well, and I always seem to come through. Things always turn out just the way they are supposed to.

f a i t h

Procrastinating Can Be Fun

So today I was supposed to take down the tree and put away the Christmas decorations and say my final farewell to the holiday season. I had good intentions but I also had a conflict -- with my new approach -- taking it as I like it. Instead I lounged in bed for an extra hour this morning, remote in hand, surfing channels to find out what happened in the world overnight. Funny enough, CNN (the Cable NEWS Network) doesn't cover more than one story at a time! I tried HNN (Headline News) but they were just goofing around and seemed more like TMZ than a news channel. Thank goodness for the CTV Newsnet and BBC. Journalism lives! However, I digress.

Had my self-prescribed 2 mugs of coffee and a big bowl of Cheerios and then puttered some more. I surveyed the situation and Hubby even brought up all of the crates and boxes out of the basement for me to fill. Decided we needed food and went grocery shopping. Called eldest and youngest daughters to invite them for spaghetti tonight (which Hubby makes so well - with big, spicy meatballs). Yum. I can smell them cooking as I write this procrastinate.

Made the mistake of logging onto my computer and flicking on the TV when I got home. Of course I had to watch Step Mom for the tenth time ... especially that part when Susan Sarandon is singing Ain't No Mountain High Enough with her kids. But again -- I digress, or procrastinate. Or both.

As I sit here contemplating if I should have wine with my dinner (even though tomorrow is a work day), my tree is lit up, my garlands and banisters a ablaze in white light for the final time and I have decided to defer undressing the house. Rather, we will enjoy the beauty one more day (or two) or until I get my backside in gear.

What is that quote? Don't put off 'til tomorrow what you can do today.
I think I prefer Mark Twain's version: Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.

And so the tree will wait. But the spaghetti won't, and a little glass of wine never hurt anyone. Cheers - and here's to taking it as it comes - or as you like it.