I’ve been doing lots of things this past week and weekend, running here and there, even though I haven’t been writing about it much here. Somehow, I don’t feel a sense of accomplishment. I’m tired. I’m daunted. I don’t feel like doing anything today, and I don’t have anything urgent that absolutely needs doing. As a friend of mine would say, “I’m slap wore out.” I’m too tired to celebrate right now. My batteries need recharging. I think I’ll go soak in a hot tub for awhile. That sounds like celebration enough. Then maybe things will look better, and I can decide to take another babystep or two before this afternoon disappears.

It would be nice if I could at least shine my sink this afternoon, because it is definitely not shining right at this moment. But first I think I’ll shine myself up a bit.

...after spending the afternoon and evening searching through paperwork. Please excuse me while I scream out loud…

::Arrrrrggggghhhhh!::

I think I’ll go celebrate with a nice long relaxing bubblebath.

It took all week, but I sorted through one box of old papers.

Making this entry helps me feel more like celebrating. Re-reading my last entry from a month ago, I can realize that I have made some progress, even if it is painfully s l o w.

Tonight my office floor no longer looks like this.

Instead, the papers that were on the floor, combined with some other papers, are sorted into 6 cardboard boxes.

One of the boxes has some hanging file folders in it, so that box is further sorted into about 6 files right now.

There’s a lot of purging yet to be done. That’s a hard thing for me. I hope to work on it tomorrow. But right now, it’s time to celebrate.

I’ve had problems with procrastination for a long time now. That’s why I’m here on 43-Things.

A couple of years ago, a friend was trying to help me become more accountable and procrastinate less. She suggested that I write down 3 goals each morning and report them to her via a phone message. Then, in the evening, I was to report on whether or not I’d accomplished my 3 goals. I tried the experiment for a couple of weeks, and by the end I’d failed miserably. Some days I wasn’t getting anything done on my list, and some days I wasn’t even bothering to make a list. Finally, greatly frustrated, my friend (who appears to be very well-organized) suggested that we end the experiment, because she felt I was wasting my time and hers, and that I wasn’t really committed. I felt upset and frustrated and ashamed. She is still my friend, but we stopped discussing my daily goals and my procrastination for a long time.

Then a year ago, I created this goal of Each morning write down 3 goals for Today
here on 43-Things, so I could be more accountable to myself (and to my friends here too). Obviously, I haven’t done it every single day. And there are many days when I fail to do any of my 3 goals. And I now better understand my friend, because I can become greatly frustrated with myself, and accuse myself of wasting my own time. It often doesn’t feel like I’m making much progress, if any. But at least I’m still doing it a year later, and making the effort more days than not. That seems like a babystep worth celebrating.

with a cheer break on 43-T. I’ve set the timer. I don’t want to be here all afternoon. I want to go back and finish the job. But I decided to give myself a break.

I don’t know why paying bills is such a particularly daunting thing for me. It just is.

Anyways, I’m giving myself a cheer for the progress I’ve made so far today.

Item #1 on my list for today is done. Whew! I’m so glad. What a relief to cross that off my list.

OK, celebration over. Onward to item #2!

I had set some rather daunting (for me) house-cleaning goals at the beginning of the week in order to prepare for the arrival of my brother and sister-in-law.

I’ve now finished a little bit over half of my goals. The living room looks reasonably good. Except for the paperwork clutter on one counter, the kitchen looks better than it’s looked in years. And I made a small start on the dining room.

Time to celebrate. Time to enjoy my company. The rest of my list still needs doing, but can wait until after they are gone.

The bad news: I’m so tired tonight. I had a stressful day yesterday, and didn’t sleep well last night. I’m trying to stay up until midnight to check in with MamaKitty about her progress on the pay-five-bills-today challenge, but I’m not sure if I’ll still be awake by then.

The good news: I’m celebrating! I paid 5 bills today! Hooray! Cheers!

Thanks so much, MamaKitty, for suggesting the pay-five-bills-by-midnight challenge here this morning. I brought a tray of delicious chocolate truffles for a virtual reward. Even if you didn’t get your bills paid today, you deserve a reward for helping me to get mine paid. But I hope very much that you did get your five bills paid today. And I deserve a reward too! Let’s dig in. :D

I got the rosebush “trees” on either side of the front porch pruned this morning. And the impatiens, begonias, and petunias that I planted in the plastic urns on either side of the front door are blooming and looking really good right now.

Even though there is more to be done, I can see some visible progress. :)