Procrastination: Motivation to Stop

 I have to watch this video a bit to stop me from procrastinating today. I am overdue to finishing my e-learning for work and here I am at home trying to finish it. I would say I am at least somewhat motivated. 

Looking Back Last Month and Beyond

I revisited this blog after many months of abandonment. Somebody had to check it. It is still here. I had been occupied with work, family, and volunteer nursing activities. In my little free time, I admit, I tried and did escape to the tropics. I am thankful for that that because back home in beautiful Colorado, the red rocks had been covered with snow. It has been a cold, white winter. There is beauty in it, somehow. Cold, simple, and pure.

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My stevia plant died after I have not watered it enough for many days too often. I have the backup, no-care-needed sweetener in a herb-like container. It does the job to sweeten my drink.

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I had been drinking more hot drinks lately. More, I mean twice a day. This cappuccino from home is as good as some famous coffee shops. Paul and I invested in a small frother and cappuccino for home.

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I have been cooking more at home, as both my husband's and my blood pressure were higher than we want. We are lessening our sodium intake. Here I added some kale to our breakfast. It is delicious--husband approved. I was trying to stretch our last few eggs here :).

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I added some meat and vegetable from a simple, ready-to-cook (heat-up) dinner. The kit has enough sauce and flavor in it that the whole dish is still very flavorful. Another quick, easy, and somewhat healthy meal I was able to cook after a long day of hospital work. The cooked chicken added is a real-time saver too.

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To celebrate Chinese New Year, I thought we should have something red. The husband suggested lobster. It is a special occasion so we splurged a little. I added some corn. 

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Here he is enjoying our dinner. 

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Farmstand from Lettuce Grow

This hydroponic planter does not disappoint. It gives me greens all year long for almost three years now. 

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I changed the template, fonts, color, and some images of this blog. Most links from previous years are still here. Come to think of it, I still use many of the same things and recommend them. 

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I reviewed the about page. It reminded me of why I started this blog. This is a therapy blog for me. I hope I can inspire others, and in a few ways, teach others what not to do, maybe :). 

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Do not be lazy, Carin. 
Make time for journaling, blogging, or writing.
Let yourself be surrounded by positive people.

 

Time Together

          Do you have those moments when you just don't feel like getting out of bed? I had that day today. I kept thinking I should get up and start my day since 7 a.m. but just could not imagine that energy until 10. I was in bed for ten hours. My body felt heavy. My muscles were not sore or achy. 

          I got up, ate brunch and looked at social media for a long time. This is a lazy habit that kills time. It does not necessarily make me feel good but it is a habit that is hard to break. I ended watching the short videos and ads with a purchase of an e-book on my personality after answering a long questionnaire. I am a mediator, an introvert, an artist, a like-to-write, and a like-to-help kinda person. I bought it in hopes that I will learn how to improve based on my behavior. I am just so lazy lately that I disappoint mostly myself.

          I had a good week, actually. Many little good things happen. Last Saturday was my birthday. The following weekdays, I got to celebrate with my son with a lunch date and had a gym time with my daughter. With them being young adults, it is not easy to find a common schedule to do little things together. They also do not enjoy picture-taking when it is me taking their picture. But with selfies, they don't have a problem. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the time with them. The gym we frequent gave me free bottled water for my late birthday gift. What a surprise. 

          I do have apps on my phone, inspiring Podcasts to listen to, and that book that I purchased for self-improvement. FlyLady sometimes inspires me to be like a fairy, flying around the house making cleaning magic. Many days, I wish I can just buy the fairy to do the tasks for me. Why do I have to be the fairy? Or can I just buy the wand? I know, I should not be complaining. At least I have a house to clean. This reminds me of the incident last Wednesday night. when a toxic fume, headache, and nausea woke me up at 11 pm. I found my daughter spray painting the furnace room wall on a winter night! I screamed and she stopped immediately. We then aired out our house with fans and opened windows on a 20-degree winter night. We are lucky our house did not explode before I woke up. 

          Anyway, should I be thankful we have intact bodies, a house, heat, and each other? I think I should be.

Fill-In Sunday

I believe I can deal with procrastination.

I need to go "Marie Kondo" my desk to reduce distraction.

It does not do good to lose my attention.

(And do other things that just cost me tension).

I find self-caring to be a walk in the park

(Well, not really)

But when I get started self-caring gives me this spark

It opens my eyes, I can see in the dark

I can fight my anxiety and put it in a halt!

          It is a late morning for me getting up from a late evening from doing homework last night. I should say from the early morning because I went to bed past midnight. Part of me is thinking, "what am I doing?" I decided to go back to college to advance my degree. It has been a year now, and here I am still going. I am two subjects away from going up a level. Doing school work gets my mind off the stressful situations around me--family, work--which I love. 

          I made instant Pho and added ground meat. My friends would be shocked, as I switched to non-meat diet since last May but it is veggie meat :) so it's okay. I plan to do some work after this blog post entry, then go to church. I will go to the gym for an hour workout, longer than my usual and try to do about 10,000 steps of the treadmill and other machines. Yesterday, I only did 8,000 :( because I buried my head doing homework and it is just not easy marching in place as I type while my head was covered with books and papers. Can you imagine?

          Good Sunday to you all! May your day be restful or productive or both. 

Wave a Wand

A cluttered house where clothes are not put away

My house today is just like yesterday

I think I will be organized someday

Paul with a grin says, "That's what you say"

Overcoming Procrastination Project 1

I went outside and thought, "It's not so bad." There is beauty outside.
I just have to choose the way there and capture the moment.

I'm trying this free app on my phone, Dragon dictation, for the first time for my post. The first sentence worked great so far.