Just do it

Check out this article on procrastination. I read somewhere that procrastination has been termed one of the worst evils of society. Pretty strong words.

Overcoming Procrastination

I thought it was very helpful. I would add making lists as possible ways to overcome procrastination. There is something about being able to cross it off as complete.

So don't wait: Just Do It.

Daisy

Meet Daisy:

I've spent the last 5 out of my 7 1/2 adult years living alone. I had one roommate in college who was randomly paired with me in the dorms. We lasted 6 weeks before she moved out. We never really fought, we just didn't talk for 5 weeks. Then the next year I lived with a girl who at the time, was my best friend. We fought. We fought a lot. After the summer, and some nice time apart, we got back together and were friends again. It was never, however, quite the same. While in Brazil I lived and worked closely with several different girls, and for the most part we all got along. But, really, I think I prefer living alone.

Here is another picture of Daisy before I continue with my story:

When you live alone, no one steals your food. You don't have to clean anyone else's mess. You never have to fight for the shower or washing machine. I'm usually so busy and tired of dealing with people by the time I get home that I'm not lonely.

Another Daisy shot:

I've had Daisy now for the last 5 years. She is perfect. She is very soft, pretty friendly. She never scratches my furniture and she doesn't eat very much. She meows a lot and let's me pick her up. Whenever I sit on the couch she comes and sits on my lap.

Now you've met my cat, Daisy. Here is one more cute picture to finish us off.

Unbee-lievable

Growing up in Oklahoma, football is a big deal. I attended a high school which has won seven out of the last ten 6A state championships. My college (Go Sooners!) won a national championship when I was there and have been ranked for close to the last 7 years. While growing up, my mother was a huge Dallas Cowboy fan during their glory years with Troy Aikman. What I'm getting at is we are really, really into football in my family. I can't count the number of football games I've been to in my life.

I can however, count the number of basketball games I have attended. If you count up high school, college, professional and even the Globetrotters the number totals around 5. This weekend, my friend scored some tickets to see the OKC Hornets play the Lakers. The 4 of us (my friend and her boyfriend, me and mine) braved the weather and took a little trip down there. I had very low expectations. In fact, I almost thought about not going. But I'm glad a had a change of heart. It was seriously some really good entertainment. There is some major fan involvement. They were always doing different contests and challenges, they had dancers and preformers, music and clips from movies. I was able to learn more of the rules and some of the players names and numbers. Plus, they had a jumbo cotton candy which I ate almost all of.

While I hardly think that basketball will ever occupy the same place in my heart as football will, I think I'll look into going to watch the Hornets play again.

One small step...

I made my bed today.

OK, so it really looks more like this:

But that's okay. It's all in my effort to be more responsible.

Use It or Lose It

I've been wanting to move out of my one-bedroom apartment for sometime now. Realizing that it could be many more moons before I'm able to do that, I want to make some more space here. I'm tired of the clutter. Call it a New Years Resolution, but I've been trying to make a mental inventory of the junk which is in my possession. Now I look at everything and think "when was the last time I used that? Will I be using it anytime soon? How much could I get for it on Ebay?"

It was during that process that I stumbled across my George Forman Grill. It was a gift from my grandmother about 5 years ago and I've used it about 5 times. I was just about to look for the box and start calculating shipping for my newest Ebay auction when I had a great thought: PANINI!

I threw together some turkey, pepper-jack cheese and regular SaraLee bread and...PRESTO! My very own panini. I've had one for lunch every day this week.

Benefits of at home Panini:

*It's about $6.50 cheaper than Panera Bread's Panini's

*It takes about 2 minutes to make

*It is zero mess, just wipe down the GF

*It's hot and healthy and pretty filling

Too Much of a Good Thing

When it started snowing on Friday afternoon and gymnastics practice was cancelled I was excited. I've always said "if it's going to be cold, it might as well be snowing". It was pretty to watch the snow (okay, so it was ice and sleet) as I sat wrapped in a blanket drinking hot chocolate with my boyfriend.

I had him to drive me around on Saturday night when we went to dinner. I had him to take me around on Sunday to see friends. I had him on Monday to take me to the grocery store. It wasn't so bad the weather, I thought.

Then on Tuesday he went back down to school and I had to be a little more self-reliant. Tuesday it took me 30 minutes just to get the 1 solid inch of ice off of my car. Since I hadn't moved it since Friday afternoon, there were 3 or 4 inches of ice surrounding the car. It took me about 20 minutes to rock myself out of that mess (no thanks to the not-so-nice folks in the apartment complex office). I was slightly annoyed. As I've driven around yesterday and today I feel like I'm a little kid at an amusement park in those fake car rides. You know, the kind where there is a little rail on the bottom between the tires to keep the car on the track? Except, now it's not so fun to swivel back and forth and hit your tires on the rail. Now that rail is 6 inch deep ice and the cars aren't conveniently delayed to keep them a safe distance from you. Now big cars and trucks driving oh-so-fast are in the next lane and in front of you hitting their brakes for no reason. Occasionally, you'll be lucky enough to hit a road that's cleared. Just as often however, you'll hit a road that's pure ice.

And now, they are predicting 4 to 6 more inches of snow for the weekend. It looks like schools will be out all week this week. There is a likely potential that area schools will have more than 7 full school days off. Businesses are closed. Sales are down. Car wrecks are up. Kids have scrapes from falling on the ice on their knees, elbows and faces. Old women and men (and not so old women and men) have broken tail bones. Everyone is suffering from at least a little cabin fever.

I have always liked the snow. I've always thought it was pretty and fun and it usually happens so rarely here. But now, I'm sick of it. I'm ready to take a tropical vacation to Malibu. But you know what? It's even snowing there!

Training the American Husband

I read this article last night by Amy Sutherland and thought it was really interesting. It's titled "What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage" and it's about how one woman "trained" her husband. She learned certain things that trainers do with their animals while collecting information about a book. She talks about the key things that they did with the animals to train them to do certain, usually uncharacteristic things (like teaching dolphins to pirouette) by responding (or in some cases not responding) to the animals behavior.

I have been pondering what I read all day. While I don't have a husband or children, I am constantly interacting with many different people. At work, the girls I coach, at church, my family and friends. I feel as though I am always talking to someone about something. Could I really accentuate characteristics in people simply by the way I respond to them?

The author mentions that the effects were far from an over-night transformation. I don't think that I'm in contact with any one person frequently enough or for a long enough time span to have any kind of drastic impact on their behavior. But, I think the principle is the same: people like being appreciated and acknowledged when they do things right. It's been said that it's best to "catch people doing right". I think that is going to be my new goal. Take time out to appreciate when people do something right and make sure that they get attention for it. And, maybe if I start practicing on the boyfriend now, by the time we get married I'll have a perfectly trained American Husband! (or maybe that is just wishful thinking)

The Beginning

Ok, here we go. The idea is that when we're young, we have our lives all mapped out. When I was 15 I just knew that I was going to go to college, graduate and start working. I was going to meet someone who was going to sweep me off my feet and we would get married in a beautiful outdoor ceremony. We'd wait a few years and then start having perfect little children. Now, 10 years later I see that life never goes according to plan. In fact, I find that it usually (at least for me) goes completely opposite of what is planned. That is when we exercise faith. We all have a mental image of what life should be. Mine is encapsulated by the thought of a clean blue house surrounded by a white picket fence. But most of us are dealing with life as it really is. So for all of you interested, welcome to my world that I live in, one day at a time.