Accountability thread for the chronic procrastinator

[cariad]

I am starting this discussion because I am feeling so overwhelmed and need to set achievable goals every day and find a way to hold myself accountable for completing them. We will be so incredibly hosed if I don't get on a better schedule. I decided to do this after I wrote in another thread that I was going to finish cleaning the bathroom, and I so wanted to go to sleep instead, but I finished the job because I did not want to admit laziness. No one has to comment or anything (though of course those are welcome) but the act of publicizing this so to speak will hopefully give me extra motivation.

So.... my goals for today, which must be accomplished by 4PM (2.5 hours) before I take Liot to gymnastics:

1. Finish zesting and squeezing bag of lemons. (I did not do this right away and even though I only purchased them around Friday, one lemon had gone a full dusty green already. I guess turning the air conditioning off downstairs at night took its toll).

2. Chop entire bag of fresh cherries. (this takes forever....)

3. Clean out fridge. God, don't even ask how overdue this particular task is.

And off I go.... 

[cattlekid]

I am all over this.  With doing home hemo and working, things are getting dire around our house.   I have about an hour and a half or so each evening in which I can get one minor task done along with getting dinner prepped, eaten and cleaned up afterwards before I am on my machine for the night.

Tonight, here are the tasks that I have planned:

1.  Update laundry (fold what's in the dryer, put what's in the washer in the dryer, start another load washing if needed).
2.  Clean out magazine basket to only keep last two months worth of mags.
3.  Pull chicken off bones for chicken tamale pie for tomorrow night.

[cariad]

Yay! Thanks so much for joining me, cattlekid!

Ok, it's 5:30 and I'm watching Liot down on the gym floor. Progress report:

1.
2.
3  I sorted through all the stuff in the door and cleaned each of those drawers. I also threw away the dreaded chicken gloop that I forgot about for a month. Gwyn was considerate enough to chuck a full chicken into the pressure cooker, then fly back to SoCal. I have no idea how to carve a chicken and was cursing him vehementally. Then I made some concoction with it, and the boys said it was great (perhaps just being kind) but it made way too much for them to finish in time. As I don't eat meat and it all seems so gross to me I did not trust my ability to judge if it was still edible, so only gave it them twice. Anyhow, it's gone now!!!

We are out until 8:30 tonight but I will finish this task before going to sleep! 

[SugarBear]

This thread is a good idea, but I wouldn't use it for daily goals.  I would make weekly or monthly goals so I feel the pressure to complete them before facing the embarrassment of failing in front of all of you.     

[jbeany]

Geez, can I merge this with my house project thread?     I've been cheerfully stalling on working on the living room, partly because it's too hot to work inside, and partly because the next step is scrubbing walls, followed by painting trim, followed by scrubbing floors on my hands and knees.  The only household chore I hate worse than these 3 is probably running the vacuum.  (The noise makes my teeth grate.)

I was also procrastinating on job hunting, with the endless house project list as an excuse, but I finally knuckled down and did that, so at least that's off the list until next week.  If I haven't heard back by Monday from any of the 3 apps I have in, off I go again. 

I do feel better for not procrastinating on the job hunt.  I suppose I just need to tell myself I'll be just as happy when I'm done with the living room.

[cariad]

This thread is a good idea, but I wouldn't use it for daily goals.  I would make weekly or monthly goals so I feel the pressure to complete them before facing the embarrassment of failing in front of all of you.     

Hey, I say do whatever works best for you. For me, daily goals help me prioritize and ensure that am not sitting her end of August in tears, looking at spending tens of thousands to ship stuff overseas that no one actually wants.

Jbeany, you are so welcome to play along, although I sort of suspect you'll make the rest of us look bad! Well done jumping on that job search. I'll have to force myself to do the same once we're settled somewhere.

I must care quite a bit about what you all think of me, because we had such an exciting night, the boys were not in bed until 10PM, and then I was staring at the fridge thinking of the pitiful excuses I would be making on this thread, and just jumped in and did it. It took almost 2 hours!!! And I had already done the door!!! I wanted to make sure that any food I threw away was completely out of my house, so I also took out the garbage and washed out many, many glass jars in order to recycle them, in addition to washing out our glass storage containers after ridding them of old food. Then I ran everything through the dishwasher. The only thing I don't know how to discard is a glass container filled with used chip oil. (Yes, Gwyn reuses it. I have had to accept this as a British quirk.) I don't want to pour it down my drain, so it is just sitting on my countertop. I guess I need to find an old bag that won't leak and empty it in there. I don't want to use old plastic containers as those are recyclable.

So, I was up past midnight and now am feeling rather wrecked. I only have until 3:15 to get anything done. I will have a quick think about what I could reasonably tackle in the next 4 hours and return. The freezer needs a similar amount of attention, but no. I need to recover for a few days first.... 

[cattlekid]

Well, cariad, you did better than me last night.  I did update the laundry, but left a load sitting on a chair to be folded.  You would think that DH would have taken care of it while I was dialyzing but no such luck.  I also took care of some correspondence that arrived in yesterday's mail. Chicken did not get pulled but that was not a big issue. 

Today, I am getting out of work early for the holiday, so I am going to make the chicken tamale pie early and eat early so I can get started on dialysis right away.  We want to go see the local fireworks at 9PM so we have to be done and out of the house by 8:30.  I will also do more laundry and try to get through one stack of paper mail....I swear that it multiplies overnight.

[SugarBear]

No way am I near to completing what you ladies have accomplished in the last few days, I am way too tired to do all that stuff.  But there are things only I can do and have a hard time concentrating since the transplant.   Keep up the great work.

[MooseMom]

What a great thread!  LOL!

I am not the procrastinator in my household.  That's an honor held by my husband.  He leaves trails.  I know what he's been eating, drinking and doing because he leaves traces of his every move around the house.  We missed last week's garbage/recycling pickup, and since our usual pickup day is Wednesday (with tomorrow being the Fourth), we will have an extra day's trash.  Both recycling bins are filled to the brim and I have a further four paper bags filled with detritus like hubby's Jello pots, yogurt pots and soft drink cans.

He has been kind enough to do all of the laundry but he leaves me to put everything away.  He will rinse off dishes but fails to put them in the dishwasher.  I'm not sure why he can't go that one extra step.  LOL!  If something can be left for a later date, or if something is not fun, it's not gonna get done unless I do it.  Maybe it's just as well because it gives me the opportunity to exercise since it is just too hot for my daily walks, and I'm not allowed in the pool just yet. 

My floors are a disgrace, so I hope to get to those today.  My general plan is to do a few chores, sit down and rest and watch a bit of Wimbledon, and then do a few more chores.  And I can't wait until Thursday for when the garbage will be picked up.  Who knew that a visit from the garbage guys would be so hotly anticipated?

[cariad]

You would think that DH would have taken care of it while I was dialyzing but no such luck.

Yes, see MM's response for why this is almost always wishful thinking.

cattlekid, I don't have a job and I don't have to sort out dialysis, so I give you much credit for coming very close. If I were employed there is no way I could afford to stay up as late as I did, I'd be non-functioning.

I know I won't be able to keep up this enthusiasm for being organized and tidy long term, but I cannot afford procrastination in the next 6-8 weeks, so I will keep boring you all with the minutiae of my life until further notice.

Thanks, SugarBear!

MM, I love it when the recycling collector comes too - I feel lighter. Our garbage is collected every week, but cost cutting has brought our recycling down to once every three weeks, and then the day changes, so I need my electronic calendar to help me remember. Heaven forbid I forget to put the recycling out, I don't know how we'd ever recover. Wow, I am saving my floors for a day when I have more energy. Remind me, MM, didn't you just have some little operation recently or something?

In all seriousness, do remember to take it easy. My floors are not really fit to touch the bottom of our shoes, but we manage.

OK, I thought of some light-ish tasks I can get to before gymnastics:
1. clean the dining room, including actually recycling or filing all the papers down there (rather than just moving them to another room as Gwyn loves to do), *and* dusting the display shelf and the wall decor. I actually took a before photo for posterity, so I'll show you the results later.
2. Clean bedroom - vacuum, dust (including wall sconces as this is becoming desperate, and attempt to dust the entire bed with a view to sell it on Craigslist)
3. Make banana cake as overripe bananas are already thawed and sitting in a bowl in the kitchen, so this really cannot wait. (Won't get to this until we return home.)

[cattlekid]

When you have a spare minute, could you toss the banana cake recipe my way?  Banana cake is DH's favorite. 

3. Make banana cake as overripe bananas are already thawed and sitting in a bowl in the kitchen, so this really cannot wait. (Won't get to this until we return home.)

[cariad]

When you have a spare minute, could you toss the banana cake recipe my way?  Banana cake is DH's favorite. 

Absolutely!

Progress report:
1. (I did say floors were for another day, right?)
2. (about halfway there)
3. Soon, my lovelies, soon....

[MooseMom]

Oh lordy, I love banana cake.  Awaiting said recipe.

I recycle far more than I throw away in the regular garbage, so not having a weekly recyclying service would be devastating to me!  I can't imagine having to wait three weeks for it to be picked up!  You should see my garage...I can barely get to the car over the piles of stuff.  I'll have to brave the bazillion degrees heat tomorrow to put it all out curbside, but it will be worth it. 

I got my kitchen floor swept and mopped.  I have a special lavender concentrate that you mix with water for cleaning cabinets and floors, so my house is now quite fragrant.  The basement is much cooler than the upstairs, so I hid out down there and got some ironing done.  I'd let it go for months.

I can't imagine what I'd do if I had dialysis and work like you do, cattlekid.  You need a trophy! 

Cariad, I'm eager to see your "after" photos.

[cariad]

Here you go! I serve it with a cream cheese frosting. Keep in mind that if you are using a coarse grain sugar like turbinado or demarara, this might not be sweet enough and you may have to experiment with more sugar. I find it plenty sweet, though, especially with a frosting. Very simple, uses up those black bananas, and the kids love it after it's been refrigerated. I use unsalted butter and generally don't add all the salt, but I wouldn't skip it entirely. Apparently this is a recipe from the 1930s from the back of a container of Oleo. Frosting is from the Food Network, although they suggest a 1:1 ratio of butter to cream cheese. (madness!)


Banana Tea Cake
Cream 1/3 cup butter and 2/3 cup sugar
Beat in 2 eggs and 3 mashed bananas.
Add dry ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix to combine.
Pour into buttered and floured pan and bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 1 hour (50 minutes works best for us).

Oh, forgot to mention it's one of those square pans, 8x8 or 9x9, something like that. I have a pyrex dish that I bake it in with a rubber lid for after it cools.



Cream Cheese Frosting
Blend together:
8oz cream cheese
4oz butter
Confectioners sugar to taste (about 1/2 – 1 cup)
1 tsp vanilla

Hope you enjoy!

[cariad]

OK, progress report from yesterday.

1.
2.
3. (Yes, I admit it - banana cake was not made until this morning. After dusting bed I had to change sheets last night and I was just so tired, I was worried I'd burn the house down if I had to wait an hour to take something out of the oven.)

Goals for today. It's a holiday and the kids want to go to the splash pad and possibly the fireworks, so these are very light:

1. change sheets in boys' room
2. begin thread on here about moving to England
3. make scones for tomorrow morning
4. Put laundry away

Happy 4th!

[WishIKnew]

Just found this thread and I sure need some accountability for household chores.  I'm in!

Today I will:
1. wash and slice cucumbers hubby purchased so he can make pickles.  (He's the canner but I'm the slice and dice girl.  He's waiting for me!)
2. bag washed and frozen blueberries into 2 cup bags and get them back in the freezer.
3. get caught up with laundry - including folding which I'm terrible at keeping up with
4 wash and put away dishes - I'll have to do this before I can deal with the cucumbers/pickles

I'll be thinking of you as i do these tasks!

Diane

[cattlekid]

I have been outside since 9 am this morning cutting bushes. We have bushes on two sides of our house that are totally overgrown....well, we used to have bushes.  DH and I attacked them with the loppers and hedge trimmers and my FIL arrived with a chainsaw. I hired two neighbor kids to put the branches in bags.  We got about 2/3 of the branches bagged and the boys will be back tomorrow night to drag the bags to the curb for pickup.  I think the rest  of the day will be spent hiding in the a/c.  I wil have to do the lunch dishes and that's about it other than address any laundry that needs to be taken care of.  Otherwise, I may do some straightening up and that's about it.

[cattlekid]

Oh, and much thanks for the banana cake recipe!

[Poppylicious]

I must care quite a bit about what you all think of me, because we had such an exciting night, the boys were not in bed until 10PM, and then I was staring at the fridge thinking of the pitiful excuses I would be making on this thread, and just jumped in and did it. It took almost 2 hours!!! And I had already done the door!!!

TWO HOURS?!! How dirty was it?! I realise that fridges are a lot smaller over here (because we tend to have little kitchens ... damn, that was something else I should have added to your other thread) but still ... TWO HOURS?!!

I'm now going to enter my fridge and throw away some old lettuce. Thanks for the boot up the arse (English lingo ... getting you ready for if England happens.)

[cariad]

Well, my laundry is right off my kitchen and the boys had events the next day, and I am easily distractable, so some of that time was spent in the laundry. Still, when you refuse to just bin any glass jars (they will not recycle dirty containers), it takes a good long while to clean each one out. Then I have to hand wash and dry each shelf and drawer. One of the boys had spilled something in the fridge that morning, and I got as much up as I could in the rush to get out the door, but when I moved the produce bin there was quite a bit more to clean up, and one of the shelves had a sticky patch (spilled syrup) that took way too long to come up. Oh, and I believe that was the night of Aidan's pitching debut, so trying to work while relating every glorious moment to Gwyn (after he'd heard 1/2 hour of Aidan's perspective) slowed progress considerably.

I'd never survive working as a maid. Never.

[cariad]

Woo-hoo! Glad to see you signing on, Diane!

Progress report:

1. (this is more work than it sounds - bunk beds!!!)
2.
3. This is solely for my benefit as the boys are over the scones so if it doesn't happen, no one will notice but me.
4.

I still have time. If I can only convince Elliot that the fireworks are not worth it. Still, it may be his last 4th in this country for quite a long time.

[KAF454]

I fully intend to stop procrastinating... next week... maybe.

[MaryD]

I'll be in!

1.  Pick and preserve lemons in salt.  Jar for me, jar for my PD nurse, and jar for my daughter-in-law-to-be.
2.  Load of washing
3.  Unpack dishwasher
4.  Sew up neck band of my latest creation - I've been putting it off for weeks - and I'm wearing it to wedding on 4th August

[cariad]

Hurrah, welcome to the thread, MaryD! Please explain the lemons in salt bit? What is it used for? I use lemons and salt to clean and sterilize chopping boards, but sounds like you eat these?

Ooooh, you've given me a great idea for a task tomorrow - sew a button back on to my trousers. This will push me to the limits of my sewing ability, incidentally.

Will start England thread and put rest of laundry away. Scones will be delayed until tomorrow morning. They're better fresh from the oven, or so I say to make this look intentional and not-lazy.

[MaryD]

Preserved lemon.

Line the bottom of a glass jar with pure unadulterated salt.  Slice lemon into quarters and squish down into jar.  Squish so hard that as much of the juice as possible comes out.  More salt on top.  Another lemon.  More salt.  When jar is full, fill the cracks with lemon juice till lemons are all covered.  Put on lid and store in pantry for 2 -3 months before you use it.  It will change colour and the texture of the flesh of the lemon borders on disgusting.

Use in savoury dishes where you would use lemons,  eg roast chicken with garlic and preserved lemon, maybe in a casserole.  It is a bit north African-ish, and has a very distinctive flavour.

To use preserved lemon.

Take out as many pieces as needed.  Scrape the inside out of the lemon and discard.  A quick rinse of the skin under running water here will get rid of excessive salt.  Chop finely and use.  Yum!  I'm sure if you google 'preserved lemon' it will have lots of suggestions for it's use.

Last year I put a cinnamon stick in each jar.  This year I think it will be a bay leaf.