My desk is covered with magazines that I've not taken the opportunity to even look through...the table is covered in mail, gifts, lunch boxes and everything else...(it's a hot spot for dumping!) The couch has empty boxes sitting on it and the cats are pouncing on the bubble wrap on the floor. I really should be cleaning or the one of the other 99 items listed on my "to do" list for today but I have 30 whole minutes to do what ever I want.

I found this NUGGET today in O magazine and it gave me hope:

"Procrastination isn't always a bad thing. It can keep you from working on tasks that ultimately turn out to be less important than you though. Or as Calvin Coolidge put it: 'If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will run into the ditch before they reach you.' The Marines have a saying too: 'Plan early, plan twice'. By which they mean, put off planning for an event as long as possible, because if you do it well ahead of time circumstances will probably change andrequire replanning."

-Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman, In a Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder (Little, Brown)

Labels: procrastination

I'm sad today. I've just heard that a beautiful lady that I admired died not today, but actually several weeks ago and I'm just hearing about it now.

We have been attending the same church for the last three years. People tend to sit in the same "pew" week after week and so it happened with us. We found ourselves sitting behind Juanita and Ralph. I know their names are Jaunita and Ralph because we talk to them every week and used to tease that when they weren't at church that we never knew where to sit.

Juanita has been battling ovarian cancer for as long as I have known her. I've seen her with fancy scarves on her head when she lost all her hair to chemo and I sat behind her and commented on how pretty her hair looked when it grew back in.

My own sister went through this same battle so we had common interest and as I nurse I always asked how she was doing. Miss Juanita gave me the honor of really telling me how she was really feeling and how I could pray for her. The last few months I've seen Miss Juanita looking paler, her feet so swollen that she could barely put on shoes and I knew we were losing her. I would give her a gentle hug, rub her shoulders and tease Ralph that he should be taking better care of "our girl".

Three weeks ago, I saw Miss Juanita's name in the bulletin asking for prayer and urging people to send cards. I made a mental note that I really needed to do that before we left town but unfortunately I let it slip by. So today I'm regretting the missed opportunities the Lord gave me to tell her how much I admired her courage and contagious spirit. I'm regretting the missed opportunity to sit by her bedside and let her know the impact she had on my life through our brief exchanges before and after church.

It's hard to see her husband sitting alone now. He looks much older, sadder, and definitely alone. It makes me hug Mr. Wonderful a little tighter and a little longer and take every opportunity to tell him how much I love him.

Labels: Friends, procrastination

For those of you who have emailed me wondering where I've been.....I'm still here just buried in paper work.

As the Christmas season approaches our work load increases rapidly with end of the year reports and newsletters for the mission as well as our own personal mailings.

We are thrilled to be able to go to Canada on the 18th of December but in order to go we need to get all the month's work done in advance. So....life in the daisy patch is moving much too fast for me to keep up.

Mr. Wonderful is an "A" type personality so any spare moments we've had together has been filled with "To Do" items on his never ending list of home improvements or obligations. (....and you thought Santa had a big list !)

So I may be deglecting you terribly for the next few weeks but you know I'll sneak over as often as I can.

Labels: Christmas 2006, procrastination