Procrastination Station

So my family is coming into town tomorrow. I have not yet finished my tasks before their arrival, but I guess that's part of my method. I wait until the last minute to get things done.

Things I have done include:

• make cookie dough and cookies, three times
• shred and sort through all the papers laying around the house
  
• move the girls into my room
• change the sheets and make the beds
  
• get pillows down
• vacuum
• washed dishes (yay dishwashers!)
• sweep
• read President Obama's Commencement Address at Notre Dame
• other things of lesser priority, but they are more fun or interesting, so I do them instead
  

Things I have yet to do but have had weeks to accomplish (in some cases months):

• patch the AeroBed that was chewed by plastic fanatic Buffy the rat last fall
• mop the first floor, which I haven't done in ages
• sweep again, because I have destructive girls and am a messy girl myself
• vacuum again, because I have destructive girls and am a messy girl myself
• clean sinks and toilets and showers

Basically I have had all sorts of time but because I'm lazy and a procrastinator I have not accomplished these tasks. I mean, don't we all prefer the drama associated with waiting until the last minute? In college, how many of us were studying for a test the night before, or writing the 15-page paper the day before it was due?

Some of us work better under pressure. You would think that, after years of knowing this is not an effective method, I would have modified my technique to a more adult, more responsible approach. But it's so much easier to put something off until tomorrow instead of taking care of it today, isn't it? I'm pretty good at doing laundry on a regular basis (the thought "I'm running low on underwear" is a big help for this one); I always pay my bills on time (say no to bad credit!); and I maintain my car when it is scheduled.

But I may have turned over a new leaf. As my body would not let me go back to bed for the last 30 minutes before my alarm was scheduled to sound, I decided to wake up and start getting things going for the day. As a result, I had 30 extra minutes to accomplish some tasks, which meant that instead of rushing to get myself ready before heading off to work, I did the following:

• prepared the third batch of cookie dough (peanut butter, deliciousness)
  
• put away the clothes that were apparently still in the dryer
• inflate the AeroBed to see if it would deflate, which it did :(
• washed the dishes from the cookie dough making

It could have been an epiphany in regards to procrastination, or it could have been a fluke. I'm still not sure which it was. I like to think I'll be more of a grown up and get things taken care of before they actually need to be done. I also like to think I'll remember things I need to do without having to write them down. That doesn't usually happen. I'll most likely go back to my old habits of shoving papers into bags and hiding them in a closet; of throwing clothes into an empty laundry basket because I'm not sure whether they're dirty or not and just washing them all; of not cleaning the sinks and toilets until the last minute because those are my two least favorite cleaning tasks; of vacuuming whenever I realize I haven't done it in a while.

And I don't really remember the last time I dusted. . .