Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Ten on Tuesday - I'll Do It Later

The Ten on Tuesday topic this week is 10 Things You Need to Do and Stop Procrastinating. This is a timely topic for me. John and I have been having an ongoing discussion about the things we both put off. Lately he has been starting many sentences with, "I should...", and I finally asked him why he didn't just do them instead of talking about doing them. I'm certainly a practiced procrastinator myself, but I keep moving the odious chores on my list further down the list without announcing my "shoulds" to anyone. I just hide my procrastination better! So, publicly, here are 10 things I need to do:

 
  1. Clean up all the oak catkins. We have two giant oak trees that flower, release clouds of yellow pollen, then shed their flowers onto everything (cars, driveway, patio, porch, and gutters), which then form tumbleweeds of catkins. I swept and raked several times last week, have four garbage cans full, and they keep on coming. I love the trees, just not at this time of year.
  2. Mow the lawn.
  3. Plant the rest of the marigolds I started from seed. 
  4. Start (and finish!) the small mountain of ironing I have stacked up.
  5. Try on some of the "dress-up" clothing I chose to put back into my closet, hem and iron as necessary, and decide what I'm wearing to Justin's graduation.
  6. Make sure I have shoes to go with whatever I'm wearing to graduation.
  7. Plan dinners for when I have all four family members here for a week, make my grocery list, and actually do the shopping. I haven't cooked for four people in a very long time!
  8. Complete all the necessary paperwork to transfer our Health Savings Account (HSA) to a new vendor. We have a High Deductible Health Plan, so the IRS says we can put pre-tax money into our HSA and use these funds to pay medical bills. I was thankful for this account when we had lots and lots of bills to pay related to this, but my husband's employer has decided to "transition HSA administration". So far, the list of do's, don'ts, and paperwork is much too similar to doing taxes.
  9. Take a risk (albeit small) and choose a book to read without endlessly researching or reading reviews ad infinitum. I haven't read a 5-star book in which I was totally immersed in several months even though I have been searching. As of right now, I'm done reading about books and am going to focus on just reading.
  10. Stop spending/wasting time on the internet. A long time ago, I promised myself that I would spend only twenty minutes in the morning checking email, blogs, making sure my kids haven't posted drunken photos on facebook, looking at Goodreads, reading the NYT, looking at Ravelry, etc. This time has gradually expanded far too much, to the point that I'm reading about books, knitting, and others' experiences more than actually doing these things myself. 
I may will revisit this list within a month and see how I've fared. What do you procrastinate about?

8 comments:

  1. I haven't even thought about what I'm wearing to graduation and now it's only 4 sleeps away. I guess I need to get on that. Also, I am with you on #10.

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  2. I know what you mean about 5 star books. One after the other has rated only 3 stars, but I think I'm in my first 5 star in awhile. I love my HSA, but transitioning anything is difficult. Good luck with your list!

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  3. Yes, just go to the library or a bookstore and grab a book that catches your fancy or speaks to you in some way. It may take some wandering, but one will leap out at you eventually.

    Susan

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  4. I learned something new today. I never knew that about oak trees. Now I am educated! Thanks. Your list sounds do-able. I'll bet you'll get it all done. visiting from Ten on Tuesday!

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  5. It's so hard to stay off the internet sometimes. I can't wait to see your marigolds grow!

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  6. I'm really happy I don't have any oak trees! (I used to have many - a whole mini-forest of them - at my former house, so I know well of the catkins.) I have an internet problem myself. In fact, my #1 procrastination distraction is the "rabbit-hole" that IS the internet. . . (If I stayed off the computer, I might actually get everything on my list accomplished.) :-)

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  7. I applaud your 20 minute rule. (and it's really helpful that no one in my family is on Facebook!) and re: the book question - I find I'm worrying a lot less about five stars now that I'm reading more... and a fair number of four stars. (also, Book Bingo starts soon). let's make a deal to revisit our lists mid-June!

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  8. I will read a book IF it is rated over 3.5 on good reads. I try not to read the reviews....they can be bias and quite persuasive one way or the other.

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