Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Happy Holidays!

Interestingly I read something just this week on MSN about procrastination. The proverbial "they" think they've figured out one of the reasons people procrastinate. It has to do with thinking of things in terms of concrete verses abstract. For instance if I keep saying to myself "I need to redo the living room, I need to redo the living room, I really need to redo the living room" that is too abstract and it will never get done. Whereas if I think to myself "I need to strip the wallpaper in this room, and then I need to paint it a nice shade of forest green, and then I need to put up new lights..." and so on and so forth, that is concrete and it is easier to focus on doing and you are more apt to get it done on time.

Too bad I didn't read that artice a month ago. I have SO much work to get done before Christmas it's slightly nauseating. And it makes me just want to grab the pups, crawl back into bed, toss the covers over us and not get back out until at least December 27th (just to be safe). PJ and I started stripping wallpaper in my living room one piece at a time a few months ago. When we had the urge we'd pull a piece off. We managed to get the whole top layer off, but then it sat as such for another two months. About a week ago I said we either have to do it before Christmas or just leave it as is. I really wanted to do it. But I also really wanted to do the dining room too since it's practically one room. And I was very excited. Until we started doing it. Now there is no turning back. My kitchen, living room, and dining room look like a paint supply stroe exploded, my dogs are stuck in the kitchen and spotted with paint, and we've only finished priming. So before Christmas we have to finish painting, put it back together, get all new accessories and put those up, put the pictures etc... back up, get Christmas dinner, send out Christmas cards, buy Christmas gifts, finish putting up lights, and oh yeah, put up a Christmas tree. In addition to cleaning my house from top to bottom and setting up for 16 people in my normally too cramped house. Its December 16th. Eight days left. I'm only slightly panicked. Is that a problem?? I don't care what they figured out about procrastination, they need to figure out how I can think something and make it happen with my mind... then there would be no procrastination and I would have had the living room done months ago!