Procrastination

Oh, yeah! I am the Queen of procrastination! My son was born with a similar trait, however, genetics being what they are, he's more of a piddler dawdler than a procrastinator. The two aren't too far apart. Perhaps we are two peas in a pod, we're procrasti-piddlers! Why, you ask, is this relevant? Well, it turns out, that both procrastination and piddledawdling are better managed with good planning!

I know it seems contradictory to both procrastinate and plan ahead but as ridiculous as that seems, it is totally the coping skill to cultivate! Think about it, if you know you procrasti-piddle then planning ahead on the basics actually frees up the time needed to procrasti-piddle!

The best example for this is our morning routine. I like to walk around in my jammies drinking coffee in the morning, I read a little and tidy up a bit and play with the dogs. I procrasti-piddle! Marek likes to sleep late, take a LONG shower then traipse upstairs. Marek also can find a lot of "other" things to do when there is a task to be done. I have found that, while I still have significant room for improvement, if you spend a little time working ahead you will often be able to engage in guilt free procrasti-piddling.

One such technique is planning ahead for school day breakfasts. Since it turns out that our whole family is made up of night people instead of morning people, we have to be on the ball for a good morning to occur. I am becoming a quick breakfast master. We go for high protein plus fruit and dairy to get a good start. The easiest are Clif bars plus a fruit, with a glass of milk for Marek and a bunch of coffee with fresh cream for me! (The Clif bars are pricey but you can get them at Sam's Club at a bargin. Marek and i started drinking fresh, local, organic Jersey cow milk awhile back- more fattening but more health benefits as well.) While processed, Clif bars are still feeling like a pretty healthy choice-awesome protein and fiber. Our second easiest are three hard boiled eggs (we usually only eat one yolk) with fruit and a granola bar. These can all be eaten in the car on the way to the bus or school. We also love fruit smoothies. 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup yogurt (I either buy the big tub of vanilla or individual cups on sale.) Add 1 frozen banana and 1/2 cup frozen berries. Whiz! You can also substitute 2-3 Tbls of peanut butter for the berries and have a peanut butter banana smoothie (best with vanilla yogurt). I prep the milk and yogurt combo into small cups with lids and freeze bananas regularly. (In the summer, we use fresh frozen berries from our berry patch.) Easy! I also make muff-olettes. These are a new discovery but we LOVE them. We made up the name, too! Blend up About a dozen eggs with some milk. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste. (I add garlic to everything!) Then add at least one cup shredded cheese, and one box thawed frozen spinach and Whiz! Then pour into a dozen muffin cups and bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. We make these different everytime. Right now we are finishing a batch with cheese, sausage and salsa. You can pretty much throw in whatever you like then just make sure you bake them all the way through. I then freeze them into two packs. Nuke 'em for about a minute and a half and pair them with fruit and toast and you're set!

Freezing pancakes is also good but invarably slower than the other choices because you just can't not put on syrup! Hard to eat in the car! Well, I am working on some other techniques to streamline our necessary processes so that we will have plenty of time to procrasti-piddle!! Perhaps with time built in to accomodate our habits things will be less stressful!!

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