Anti-Procrastination Challenge

When I first started my Anti-Procrastination challenge I made a list of things around the house that were bugging me.  My plan was to work on something each day and one by one knock out all those annoying little projects that I never seem to get around to doing.  I've been pretty faithful to sticking with my challenge, but lately I've had some more long-term things come up, and I've been putting a little time into chipping away at finishing them rather than actually finishing one thing every day.

One thing that has been on my list almost since day one of this challenge was this pillow:

Yes, you can see why it's been bugging me, can't you?

But the problem is – I loathe sewing by hand.  I hate it.  I despise it.  I've done every other project on my anti-procrastination list without too much complaint, but I keep skipping over this one.

The thing is – wasn't this the whole point of my Anti-Procrastination Challenge in the first place?  To challenge myself to “just do it” whether I feel like it or not?

So, I finally quit procrastinating on doing one of the very first items to make it on my Anti-Procrastination list.  That pillow has been crossed off my list!  And I'm glad.  I'm glad I don't have to keep looking at that horrid hole.  I'm glad I don't have to keep dreading sewing that pillow.  I'm glad I accomplished something.

Your turn!  What is it that needs to be done, but you keep skipping it because it just makes you wrinkle up your nose and say “Ugh.” 

Do it!  I took my turn; you take yours!  You'll be glad when it's all over.

This post may be linked to one of these parties.

Blender Pancakes

Well, here it is!

 Ingredients: 
1 cup milk
3/4 cup whole wheat berries  (purchase here)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:  In a glass blender, blend milk and wheat berries for 4 minutes on high.  Add baking powder, brown sugar, eggs, and salt and blend for 1 minute on low.  Pour batter onto hot griddle and cook until bubbles form on the surface.  Flip pancakes and cook for an additional 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Can I just say that this is great?!  I loved the fact that I used only 3/4 cup of my wheat berries rather than a whole bag like I used when I made bread!     The wheat berries ground up so much better when they were combined with a liquid, and the pancakes were delicious!  I also loved the fact that I could just dump everything into the blender and pour the batter directly onto the griddle.

I'll definitely be making these again!

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: More Inbox Organization

It wasn't been too terribly long ago that I posted the Anti-Procrastination Challenge to declutter your inbox.  In spite of doing a lot of cleaning out and unsubscribing, I've still felt very overwhelmed with the massive amounts of email I receive.  Many times things go unanswered just because I have too many emails to deal with.  I came across this post yesterday at Simple Organized Living about organizing email using Gmail filters.  Wow!  I attacked my inbox and started organizing it, and I feel about 10 pounds lighter!

Photo from Simple Organized Living

 I can choose specific emails to not even come into my inbox, but to automatically go to a specific folder.  I have already seen increased productivity in checking my email.  When I open my inbox, I don't have 300 emails staring me in the face, making me feel behind before I've even started.  Instead, I can open up the folder with the most important things and deal with those first.  No more wasted time sifting through and sorting emails every day!  The sorting is done for me already!

I will warn you, though, that if you start setting up your filters, make sure you stay focused.  There are lots of shiny gadgets on Gmail that I was tempted to explore once I started looking around at the settings.  Just follow the directions Andrea's post  to help you stay on track. 

If you don't use Gmail, your job today is to do some research on how you can keep your own email inbox more organized.  You'll save time in the long run!

This post may be linked to one of these parties.

30 Uses for Coconut Oil

There are so many uses for coconut oil!  If I could only have one natural thing in my house I think I would probably choose coconut oil just because it is good for so many things!

Here are 30 ideas to get you started:

Beauty Aids:

1. Skin Moisturizer
2. Lip moisturizer
3. Make-up remover
4. Under-eye treatment for bags and wrinkles
5. Prevent or treat stretch marks
6. Treat nails and cuticles
7. Smooth rough and cracked heels
8. Natural sunscreen
9. Treat dandruff
10. Reduce age spots
11. Tame hair flyaways
12. Dry hair treatment – leave in hair for a couple hours, then wash out
13. Make homemade body scrub – mix with sugar and essential oils
14. Natural deodorant
15. Shaving cream
16. Homemade toothpaste – mix with baking soda


Baby care:

17. Treat minor diaper rash
18. Treat cradle cap
19. Treat or prevent nipple irritation for nursing mothers
20. Increase milk flow in nursing mothers

Health and medicine:

21. Soothe bee stings or bug bites
22. Soothe sunburn
23. Energy boost
24. Prevent nose bleeds

Cooking:

25. Use while cooking in place of vegetable oil
26. Butter substitute
27. Use in place of shortening or pan spray
(For tons more ideas for using coconut oil in cooking, go here)

Around the house: 

28. Mix with lemon juice for natural furniture polish
29. Homemade Goo Gone
30. Leather moisturizer

This is by no means an exhaustive list.  If you use for coconut oil for something that's not on this list, would you mind leaving a comment and letting us know?

You can order coconut oil from Tropical Traditions.  Theirs is the highest quality oil I know of.

Anti-Procrastination Challenge: Company’s Comin’!

Inviting guests over may come easier to some of you than it does to me.  I always have some reason why I don't want to have anyone over.  I love spending time with friends and family, but it just feels like it's going to be too much work to make it all happen.  The excuses come flying through my thoughts at an incredible rate.  “I don't have time to get my house as clean as I want it.”  “Have you seen my living room?  It is in such serious need of re-decoration that I'm embarrassed to let anyone see it!”  “What in the world am I going to cook?  I don't have stuff on hand, and I really don't feel like going to the grocery store.”

Let me tell you, whenever I just go ahead and invite somebody over, all of the excuses seem to take care of themselves.  I suddenly have motivation to get my house clean; we end up with something to eat (maybe nothing gourmet, but food nonetheless); and my living room does not get re-decorated.  But, I am always so glad I decided to just invite somebody regardless of my embarrassing living room.  Time spent with friends or family is so enjoyable, and as a bonus I get a clean house and a good meal out of the deal too! (Maybe one of these days I'll also end up with a re-decorated living room.)

Are you procrastinating on inviting someone over because you're waiting on your house to be perfect or you've mastered gourmet cooking?

You're missing out on some priceless times with people you love.

Just invite them!  Once you've obligated yourself, you'll suddenly find yourself motivated to get your house clean and cook a decent meal.

Are you going to take the challenge?

I'm letting my crockpot do the work for me as I wait for my guests to arrive.  They'll be here any minute.

When are yours coming?

This post may be linked to one of these parties.

Spring Cleaning for the Easily Overwhelmed

Spring cleaning and I don't get along too well.

Don't get me wrong, I'm ready to get rid of the germs, dust, and cobwebs just as much as anyone else, but I get overwhelmed way too easily.  I march into a room ready to attack it full force, but before five minutes have passed I'm already ready to give up.

I want to empty every drawer, scrub it out, then re-organize it.  But before I can do that I have to try on clothes to determine what still fits and what I need to get rid of.  “Oh, goodness.  Is that a hole in that shirt?  I need to get that mended.”  
 Before I know it I'm sitting in the middle of a room full of empty drawers, piles of clothing, cleaning supplies, and now mending supplies.  I have a mess bigger than before I started, and I'm getting nowhere fast.

That is a rather drastic example, but honestly, I do have a really hard time not getting overwhelmed.  I want to do everything, and I want to do it all at the same time.  That approach gets me into a lot of trouble.

This year will be different.  My Anti-Procrastination challenge has made sure of that.  Instead of leaving every cleaning or organizing project to be a huge ordeal that takes a week to accomplish, I have been plugging away day by day on one thing at a time.

Instead of “spring cleaning” having the meaning of washing windows and curtains, moving furniture, scrubbing baseboards, and organizing drawers for a week straight, all it means to me is that I continue on doing one thing each day.  To be honest, there's really not even that much that needs to be done since I've been working on things since the beginning of the year.  We're nowhere close to 2013, but I've already decided the Anti-Procrastination challenge will be going on again in my life.  While I may not always feel like tackling one thing every day, it sure makes things easier in the long run!

What about you?  Are you dreading spring cleaning?  Are you easily overwhelmed by all that you want to accomplish?  For many of you it seems impossible to get that much cleaning done in a week's time, especially if you work or if you have small children.

Maybe you need to re-think your definition of spring cleaning.  Pick one thing to accomplish each day.  Just start with whatever it is that's bothering you the most.  Is it the cobwebs you see in the corner every time you sit down on the couch?  Or maybe the window you can't see out of because it's so dirty?  Just pick one thing and do it.  You'll only spend about 15 minutes, but you'll feel like you've accomplished so much!

Come back and tell me what you worked on today, okay?  In the meantime, I'll be spending a few minutes sucking some cobwebs out of the corners, then spending a fun-filled day enjoying my little ones!  No stress for me trying to keep them out of my way while I scrub for hours on end!

I'm linking this post to the Spring Cleaning Challenge at Amy's Finer Things