Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Time for a Break

I haven't been posting a lot of new challenges lately.  Honestly, I haven't really been doing any.  I have about a bazillion shortish longish term goals that I'm chipping away at every day, so I'm counting any work I do on those as my Anti-Procrastination task for the day.  I just haven't had time to work on any specific finishable task.  I haven't really even had much time to sleep.  I know this sounds like more excuses, but I promise it's not this time.  In fact, I've been running on too little sleep long enough.

My Anti-Procrastination challenge for the day is to go take a nap!  I've been concentrating so hard on getting these things done, plus running a household and taking care of three children, that I just need to stop and take a break.

Go do the same if you need to.  Or maybe sitting down and reading blogs is your break.  Either way, rest a while if you need to so you'll have more energy to get back up and get back at it!

I don't know if this post is even coherent; I'm just plumb tarred.  (That would be “tired”, but my southern accent really comes out when I'm “tarred”.)

So that's all for now, folks.  I'm outta here while the little ones are sleeping…or are at least in their bedrooms…not sure what they're actually doing…ignorance is bliss…for a while anyway.

If you're just now joining our Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can read all the details here. Be sure you're subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each day's new challenge!         

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Something is Better than Nothing

 I keep a scrub brush in the shower, and I normally try to clean it while I'm taking my shower.  Lately the hot water hasn't been sticking around long enough for my liking, so I've been ready to get out as quickly as possible rather than staying in to clean.  That hasn't done much to help with the cleanliness of the shower, though. 

Yesterday, I was taking another semi-cold shower, and I was getting disgusted with how dirty it was getting in there.  I figured if I stayed in long enough to clean just one section (maybe 30 seconds worth) it would only take about 7 or 8 showers before the whole thing was out of totally gross mode and back into routine maintenance mode.

I tackled just one shelf, but decided to do the other one on that side.  That wasn't so bad, so I did the other 2 shelves on the other side.  After that I figured I might as well scrub the walls down too.  After only1 shower half the thing was clean!  And I didn't freeze to death, either.  I was cold, but I survived.

And of course, now that I'm typing this out, I realize how lame of an excuse cold water was to not clean the shower.  That's how most of my excuses have ended up seeming throughout this challenge.  They sound so legitimate in my head, but when I actually start putting it out there for everybody else to see, it becomes obvious that I'm just being a sissy and need to get over it.

Anyway, the point of this post is that I was procrastinating because I knew I couldn't clean the whole shower in one shot (at least not in one warm-water shot!)  Because I couldn't do the whole thing, I didn't do anything.  But something is better than nothing!  Now I only need to take one more shower and the whole thing will be sparkling again!

So, my friend, what have you been putting off because you couldn't do it all in one shot?  Something is better than nothing, and if you just start you'll be further ahead on it than if you never start at all!

Set a timer for 15 minutes and see how far you can get before the timer goes off!  You might surprise yourself!  You might decide you have the time after all to do the whole project.  If not, that's okay too.  You'll have more done than before you started!

If you're just now joining our Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can read all the details here. Be sure you're subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each day's new challenge! 

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Easy Homemade Granola Recipe

1/4 cup virgin coconut oil (If you do not want a coconut taste, you'll want to use refined coconut oil instead)
1/3 cup raw honey
3 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup almonds (sliced or chopped)

Directions:

Melt coconut oil and honey.

Add oats and almonds and stir until coated evenly.

Spread into a thin layer on a baking sheet.

Bake at 300 degrees for 12 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Cleaning out the Clothes

Organizing my clothes has become a big ordeal lately.  It seems like my size is constantly change between having babies, nursing, losing weight, getting pregnant again and so forth.  Making sure I have the right size and the right season of clothing is becoming a challenge.  Right now I have plenty of clothes, but it's overwhelming to me to get them changed out at the beginning of a new season.  I have to try everything on, and I have to make sure I leave out some smaller clothes right now since I'm at the losing baby weight stage.  I've had a bin of clothes sitting in my bedroom floor for a couple weeks now, but I haven't felt up to getting myself involved in all that confusion.

I finally decided that I would just take a small bite out of it at a time.  The first day I went through just the skirts that were in the closet.  Those were the bigger ones that are now almost all too big.  I got out anything that was too big and put it in one place.  I'm hoping that putting all the similar size clothes in one place it will be easier to figure out what fits me next time I have a baby.  Next I need to get out the smaller skirts and find out what currently fits, what I need to put away until I lose more weight, and what I should leave out because it will probably fit pretty soon.  Ugh.  This business of gaining 50+ pounds with my pregnancies is annoying!  Hopefully now that I'm exercising regularly I'll be able to exercise through my next pregnancy and not gain as much weight.  (Or at least maybe keep myself toned up better.  I'd be happy with that too.)

I've got to keep working on those clothes a little bit each day until they're done.  I need to hurry up before my husband gets tired of having the bin sitting in the bedroom floor.  Actually, he's probably already tired of it, but he's being nice and not saying anything.

All right, it's your turn.  You may not have the same issues I have with your clothes, but you probably have some work to do on your wardrobe.  Whatever it may be – getting rid of stuff you never wear, mending stuff so you can wear it, changing out seasonal clothes, whatever – just do what you need to do.

And if you're just now joining our Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can read all the details here. Be sure you're subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each day's new challenge! 


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10 DIY Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

Mother's Day will be here soon, so I thought I'd do a roundup of gift ideas that you can make! Click on the link under each picture to be taken to the tutorial.

Tin Can Treats

Embellished Pencil Holder

Grandchild bouquet

Handprint board

Personalized Candles

Stamped Tea Towels

Pin-tucked Apron

Family Tree Word Art

DIY Jewelry

Framed Family Recipes

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Getting Rid of Stuff

We have a pretty large yard sale every year, and it's so nice to get rid of the junk and make a little money too.  But inevitably there is a least one thing (usually quite a few) that I come across while we're pricing items that I can't bear to sell for only a yard sale price.  I convince my husband that we need to set it aside to sell on ebay or Craigslist so that we can get a better price out of it.  That's great and all, but the problem is that those items go right back into the attic where I forget about them until the next year's yard sale. 

I have thought about getting the stuff down to list on ebay a few times, but there is always a reason why I can't do it at the time.  “I need good lighting to take pictures, and that only happens when the kids are up.  It's too hard to try to take pictures while keeping the kids from ripping the tags off of items I want to sell as brand new.”  “Optimum times to list are at night around 9 or 10, and I'm too busy getting everybody ready for bed at those times.”

Dumb excuses, I know.  I finally got up there and just did it.  I have several auctions going right now that are doing pretty well, and a bunch of other pictures taken that I can use to finish listing my auctions while the kids are napping.   

So, my challenge to you is this – What is it that you keep saying you need to get rid of, but haven't yet?  Maybe you want to list things on ebay like me, or maybe you're needing to pull together a yard sale, or maybe you just need to be honest with yourself and realize you're never going to do the ebay or yard sale thing.  Put the box of “Someday ebay” stuff out at your yard sale and just be done with it.  Or put the box of “Someday yard sale” stuff in the car to take to Goodwill and just be done with it.

If you're just now joining our Anti-Procrastination challenge, you can read all the details here. be sure you're subscribed to email updates or follow me on Facebook to receive each day's new challenge!   


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