Procrastination

I learned the word "procrastination" while still very young.  Now I have developed procrastination to a fine art.  I just finished reading an entertaining "Mommy blog" at http://jamsandpickles.wordpress.com/ .  Not until I spent an hour reading the blog and comments and anzlyzing the blog did I realize I just spent my precious writing time doing the easier thing of reading.  Yesterday I promised myself that I would at least start to dig out the grass where my friend is going to build a deck in front of the house.  Instead I read lots and got caught up in watching TV; all the time hoping the few drops of a shower would turn into a torrent so I would have a good excuse.

I'm glad everyone does not have this problem of procrastination or nothing would get done in this world.  I'm glad I don't put things off all the time - like I am writing this blog right now.  I love retirement.  Lots of freedom.  When Hensie phones up and says, "I can get only Thursday off so can we go to the Armstrong Fair then?", Carroll and I can say "Yes, what time would you like us to pick you up?"  When Sianne is getting baptized we can say we will coordinate our coming to the temple at the same time.  When my new friend says he would like to go kayaking with me my first reaction was, "Oh you have to work during the day don't you.  I'm available only Tuesday or Wednesday evenings."  We are going tonight.  (His wife is encouraging this because she bought him the kayak and he is not using it as much as she would like.)  So not digging the grass out is not so much avoiding exercise (I even enjoyed aquafit/watercise yesterday morning), as it is committing to this project that I do not feel confident about.  Saturday morning I phoned into the garden show for advise but didn't feel comfortable with Don Burnette's answer so I phoned his usual partner at home (on vacation?) and said, "Can you pretend this is Saturday morning and I have a question for you?"  He was very gracious and agreed to use his expertise as a landscaping expert to tell me what to do.  No more excuses. 

 One of the problems of retirement is that I always have tomorrow.  A very active friend of ours, Traudi Kane, surprised me when she said in her sacrament meeting talk that an enemy of retirement is the seduction of comfort and ease.  I agree.

No more procrastination.  Right after breakfast I dig up six by 21 feet of the front lawn.