be the bird

This is why I never get anything done.

My heart was full – to the brim – with good intentions. I was gonna sit down and pay my bills. NOW. No more procrastinating.

Check list. Computer, stack of bills, pen, jacket because I was chilly, let the dogs out on the deck, music on, leftover coffee warmed up, porch windows open, cell phone (texting my kids), new pen (out of ink)… check, check, check

Hmmm. I’m out of my “bill payment sheets”. No problem; just need to run a few copies, so this isn’t an excuse to procrastinate next month. Ya. Right. What is a “bill payment sheet”, you’re wondering…? Well, short story – my organized alter ego coming through. A little Excel thingie I created years ago that I fill in each month with each payee and the amounts, dates, confirmation numbers… I love charts and graphs and columns. You see, in my mind I am a very organized person. Somewhere in the follow ,through, is where it seems to fall apart.

So off I go into the hubbies office where we have our printer. This stupid machine seems to take forever to warm up. I decide to spend my waiting time getting a closer look at our bird families that are currently renting space on our front porch. So off I go in search of binoculars. Surprisingly, this proves to be a rather simple step. For some reason, they are exactly where they are supposed to be. Weird.

What happened next was quite unexpected. Above the right column was our mama dove. She is a regular. Must have about 100 babies by now. Poor exhausted thing. As I focus in on the nest I see little pieces of my front porch planter, woven throughout… You’re welcome, Mama Dove. Just help yourself. “A mamas gotta do what a mamas gotta do.” (Feel free to quote me) As I divert my gaze over to the left and focus in on the second column, I see the other mama bird. But she is not a dove. She is a little sparrow…? I guess. I dunno. She is tiny, and definitely not a dove. I think she is a sparrow. Whatever. Here’s the point of the story.

It was at that very moment that I envisioned world peace.

Here were these two mama birds, living side by side, coexisting peacefully. They were not the least bit concerned that they were different colors, or had different markings. One was 2-3 times the size of the other. No worries. Their voices; their songs – so very different. Not a bother. No judgement. No prejudice. They were simply and respectfully doing what God had asked them to do with their lives. So the “take away”? I dunno. Maybe “Be the bird”. Ya. I know. I hear your thoughts. It’s simplistic and ~~a bit~~ naïve, I admit -But, OH, what a beautiful thought…

The printer is screeching and spurting ugly sounds, catapulting me back to the here and now. The printer is warmed and ready for action. I, reluctantly, set down the binoculars and move forward. I simply must stop procrastinating and pay these stupid bills. But first… I need to take this jacket off because I’m sweating, let the dogs in and close the porch windows because it looks like rain, re-warm my coffee that’s now stone cold – Oh, and lookie – a text from the kids…

“Be the bird”

live happy… cathy

thanksgiving dinner; repurposed

12 / 4 / 14

Thanksgiving was about a week ago. The glasses and dishes are washed and (finally!) back in place, the extra tables and folding chairs are stacked and stored away and the fall decorations are securely wrapped and packed away for next year (or, at a minimum, “carefully placed” in grocery bags and random boxes on the floor in the unfinished part of the basement; strategically placed so that you are forced to climb over them to retrieve 100 bags of Christmas lights??? Hmmm…) OK. Ya. New subject.

So do you know where your turkey leftovers are…? I will admit that I do enjoy Thanksgiving leftovers. It’s so relaxing to re-heat a plate of turkey and dressing and sweet potatoes and gravy… and then plop yourself down on the floor, in your ratty pj’s in front of the TV, with a glass of wine and no timers going off. Tastes SO much better the next day. But for me, that thrill lasts about, well… once.

Ya – I’m not one of those who can do the whole “Thanksgiving leftover thing” – day after day after day…! But I don’t want to waste anything, either. So what to do??? Simple. Repurpose that Thanksgiving meal! So earlier this week, that’s exactly what I did. I challenged myself to “get creative” with what was leftover.

I started with the roasted sweet potatoes and onions. A little chicken/turkey broth and some sort of milk (in our case, a mixture of coconut milk and almond milk for dairy free) plus a handful of fresh herbs… Voila! Sweet potato soup. I mashed up about half the potatoes with a potato masher which thickens the soup nicely without any additional thickeners. Delish!!

Next came the dressing. I started by forming it into little patties, kinda like a burger. I then made two little mixtures. First, an egg beaten with a little ground sage and thyme. Second, the leftover crunchy onion thingies that you put on top of the green bean casserole mixed with some Panko bread crumbs.

The next step was to heat a skillet with a little oil, dip the “dressing patties” into the egg mixture , then the crunchy topping and, finally, into the skillet until crispy on the outside and warmed through.

Last up was… the turkey. For starters, we did not have a lot of turkey leftover, so I decided to make a light little “turkey salad”. I cut up the turkey into bite size pieces and mixed with a little light mayo, some leftover fresh cranberry/orange relish, a handful of toasted pecans and a little green onion.

I decided to top the little dressing patties with the turkey salad and garnish with a little extra fresh cranberry relish, toasted pecans, green onions… Whatever floats your boat. So easy!! No recipe, just a little creative thinking. And that, my friends, is Thanksgiving dinner; repurposed!! Gobble, gobble!

monday morning

11 / 3 / 14

Today was your typical Monday morning. 18 things on the “to do” list. The first item was a priority for today – Collect all the dead plants from the planters. Two reasons. First of all, we had a hard freeze over the weekend and everything that was alive on Friday was not alive on Saturday. (Luckily I had the sense to move all of my potted herbs inside and cut the last of my sweet little blooming hydrangeas on Friday, right before the freeze.) The second reason to do this today – Tuesday is trash day. Gather up the dead plants today; get them out to the trash tomorrow. Simple enough.

Ya; right.

I gathered up all of the dead stuff in pots. It took longer than I anticipated. It always does. As I was doing this, I couldn’t help but notice the annoying little voice in my head that kept nagging. And nagging... “Look around you. There is certainly a lot more to do around here than the dead pots. What about the dead peonies. And daylilies. And hydrangeas. And clematis. And roses. And…” “UGH!!! STOP TALKING!!”, I wanted to scream. But that stupid voice just continued. “It’s a nice day today. Tomorrow IS trash day, you know! What are you waiting for? Don’t be a procrastinator!! And (this is the biggie); if you DON’T do it… Who will?”

Ya. No one.

So what if I just decided not to do anything at all? What if I just left all of the dead stuff there for now. And said that I was gonna get to it. Soon. Real soon. But I didn’t. And then winter came. And there was snow. And cold. And all of the dead stuff stayed right there through winter. All, well… dead. I’m not saying that I would EVER do that, of course. I guess it could kinda… accidentally… sorta happen. Maybe?

OK, Ya. It did. And when springtime finally came around, all of the new growth started coming in. Or should I say, TRIED to come in. Around the dead stuff. Not a good plan, really.

So, in the end, I decided that today was THE day. For yard work. All day. Five HUGE bags, cuts and thorns, a couple band-aids and an aching back. Upon completion, my reward was a hot cup of tea and an Aleve. I sat down (Ahhhh…!) at the kitchen table and admired the vase of beautiful hydrangeas that had been in full bloom just days ago. Time. Where does it go…? The “to do” list from this morning was sitting there on the table. I grabbed a pen. Task #1 “Remove dead plants before trash day”. Check. Alrighty then. Guess I will just carry those other 17 items over to the Tuesday list… And Tuesday is trash day, you know.

procrastination gardening

4 / 11 / 14

Procrastinating is, by far, one of my favorite pastimes. I consider it a skill, really. So I saw something on Pinterest the other day that left me feeling inspired. “20 genius ideas for BACKYARD DECORATING”. After a long, dreadful winter – we are finally feeling the hope and promise of warmer weather. Spring has sprung.

So let’s talk about the yard for a minute. My “spring” was still covered by “winter”. All that dead stuff that needed to be trimmed and raked and shoved into bags… Ugh!! It made my back ache just thinking about it. Which is EXACTLY what I did about it. Think about it.

I thought about it for ~~weeks?~~ days. What did I do about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There was always a good excuse why that particular moment, day, week wasn’t going to work.

So yesterday morning rolled around. I was outside with the dogs for morning potty. It was a beautiful morning. No rain. No snow. No tornadoes. Aha!! But what about dinner… plan the menu, hit the grocery store, send out invites, starch the linens (ya, right) Oh wait. It’s leftover night. Dang it! Even the dogs seemed to be looking at me with judgement in their eyes. Ok… WHATEVER!!! I give!

Out came the trimmer, and the gloves, and the rake, and the bags, and the…… GEEZ! This is SO not my thing! As much as I love pretty flowers, I would definitely not list “gardener” in my resume!! Truth is, I’m just too cheap to hire someone. And the hubster’s not exactly the “gardening type” either. His solution is to let his fingers do the walkin’, and his checkbook do the talkin”.

About halfway thru this earthly experience, I had to stop and laugh at myself. Looking for my shears was like something from the pages of a “Where’s Waldo” book. Remember my post the other day when I talked about making a mess when I cook? Well, apparently I am very consistent. There were piles, and equipment, and tools and dirt and grass… everywhere!! I looked at the clock on my cell phone, making a mental note of how many more hours it was until 5:00.

My arms were cut up and bleeding (stupid barberry bushes) and my back felt like an elephant was standing on it… but the reward was sweet. The bags were crammed full, the sidewalk was swept, the pansies were watered. I shut the front door behind me. Ahhhhhhh…

And that’s when it hit me. UGH!!! We have a backyard…..!!!

eventually… maybe.

9 / 4 / 13

I’m p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-n-g. Yep. Gotta clean the laundry room – Don’t wanna do it. Everyone has that space in their house that becomes the catch-all for this, that and everything. Ours is the laundry room. Now for all practical purposes, we are fortunate in the sense that we have a fairly large laundry room. Cabinet space (more room to shove “stuff”), counter space (more room to pile “stuff”) and floor space (for people to throw their shoes, dirty laundry and everyone’s I don’t know where this goes… “stuff”) It’s kinda like the unfinished part of the basement. The bigger the space, the more “goodies” you save. Blessing…? Curse…? Hmmm… We had a big family get-together last weekend, and I never quite got to the part of my “to-do” list that said “clean the laundry room“, somehow. But let’s be honest here – It had the priority status of about a -14. My solution? I closed the door and put a post-it note up that said “off limits“. Ha! That kinda thing just makes you wanna look, doesn’t it…? Some did. I just laughed. I used to be a real freak about that kind of stuff. Guess I’m kinda over it.

So I did get in there the other day. Found the floor, the counters and a few items that had recently “gone missing”. Vacuumed, sprayed. It was a great feeling, and it lasted all of about three minutes. Yep. As I stood there, basking in the (temporary) glow of a perfectly clean (looking) laundry room, – I suddenly felt a dark sense of reality wash over me. Ya – this room looked clean on the outside, but I knew the real truth. I knew what was lurking inside those cabinets. Or did I? I decided to start purging – Cleaning out, clearing out and reorganizing the cabinets. Before I knew it, the room had returned to a complete state of utter chaos. Stuff piled absolutely everywhere. And that, my friends, is the end of the story. So far. Haven’t done a thing about it. I did clean out the refrigerator yesterday, which was also in need of some real attention. I hung out with friends and family all weekend having fun – xo. I made my bed. Every day. Took the dogs for walks. Went to the dentist. Drank wine (not with the dentist). Basically everything under the sun EXCEPT clean the stupid laundry room. And that’s OK. The reality is – It’s not going anywhere. It will get done.

E-v-e-n-t-u-a-l-l-y…

maybe later…?

4 / 23 / 13

P-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-o-n……

Hate to brag… but I gotta say, I’m pretty good at it. I’ve got a garage sale/sample sale starting on Thursday. It’s Tuesday. Is that a problem? Yes. It certainly is. So what to do? Eat some chocolate. Dark chocolate. Ya, that’s it. It will give me endorphins… those “feel good hormones” that make you feel like you can do anything.

Or maybe a cup of coffee? With caffeine. Perfect! Instant energy once that caffeine kicks in! (Those who know me limit my intake to one cup. HA!) So last night the hubbie “tried to help”. Kinda... He suggested that we watch an episode of “Downton Abbey” (We’re trying to “catch up”) so that I could “price stuff” while I watched. (Notice how he said that… “WE could watch: I could price…” Hmmm.) Well, that didn’t work. You cannot watch that show and “multi-task”. You miss stuff. Important stuff. So what to do??? We watched TWO episodes. I don’t need to tell you whose fault that was now, do I…? He is, obviously, an enabler.

OK… really. Need to do this. You know, “Nike” kinda stuff… “Just do it”. Fine. I will. Right after I wrap up a couple of loose ends… Figure out what’s for dinner. Make my bed. Empty the dishwasher. Rearrange my closet. Organize my Pinterest boards. Buy a guinea pig. Solve world hunger. Write a blog…

about p-r-o-c-r-a-s-t-i-n-a-t-i-o-n…

Seriously – Some great advice from Marie Leslie – “The Perils of Procrastination —11 Ways to Put an End to Putting it Off”. Definitely gonna read this. Right after I make another cup of coffee. And clean out the guinea pig cage…

Do it first thing in the morning Mark Twain is reported to have said, “If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” If that task is showing up on your to-do list every day, make it the first thing on your list and get it out of the way. Sometimes the dread of a task makes it seem worse than it really is. Getting it over with first thing in the morning will free up both your time and your mind for other things.
Get an accountability partner Find someone who is willing to hold your feet to the fire and keep you on task until it’s done. Sometimes all it takes to end the procrastination is knowing that you have to keep telling that other person you aren’t done yet. After a while, you just feel kind of silly, don’t you?
Be prepared ahead of time If you know it’s coming, gather everything you think you will need as soon as you know. Having it all there and ready makes the project a little less overwhelming and will make you less likely to be late or miss a critical deadline that could cost you both money and reputation.
Break down an overwhelming task into smaller, more manageable ones Does it just feel like it’s too much? Look at the task and see if you can’t divide it up into smaller, manageaable pieces. A bunch of little tasks often seems simpler than one big one. Plus, if it doesn’t have to be done all at once those little tasks can be spread out over a series of days.
Delegate If you are procrastinating something because you either don’t feel like you have time or just hate to do it, find a way to delegate it to someone else. If it’s a school project or a medical procedure, you’re stuck, but if it’s something else, there is almost always a way to delegate or outsource and have someone else do the deed.

Re-think the task Is this something you really need to do? If you’ve put it off this long, how important is it really? Re-evaluate whether it is something you need to do at all. Sometimes we procrastinate things because they aren’t all that important to us. Check your motivation and your need to get this done. If they aren’t there, perhaps you should just scratch it off the list and move on with your life.
Avoid Distractions Do you find yourself checking your email, visiting Facebook, doing the laundry, scrubbing the toilet or just about any other activity but what you need to do? Eliminate the distractions. Shut off the internet, send the phone to voicemail or go to the library and get rid of the things that distract you. Some of my writer friends will even check into a hotel for a few days so they work without any interruptions to meet a deadline or finish a project. Rid yourself of the reasons NOT to get it done.
Reward yourself Give yourself some incentive to get the job done. Reward yourself with something you really enjoy—and then stick to the deal. As soon as you’re done, you can go get that massage or have that cheesecake—or that afternoon off.
Be realistic Are you putting off this project because you feel overwhelmed or inadequate to the task? Step back and evaluate those feelings. Are they valid? If it really isn’t something you can do yourself then get the help you need. Is it too big for the time frame or for just one person? If the answer is yes, then adjust the time frame and your resources accordingly and relieve that stress.
Give yourself a deadline This one works for me. As I said before, I am deadline oriented. Whether the deadline is set by me or by someone else, knowing I have a drop-dead date to get a project finished means it will be done by then.
Suck it up and get it over with Most often, the best way around a problem is right through it. Just suck it up and get it done and remind yourself that the sooner it’s done, the sooner you can move on with life.

fall =apples

10 / 27 / 12

Oh my goodness … over a week since you heard from me. Shame, shame. Please. Let me explain. Here are my excuses (in no particular order)…

Have a big holiday show coming up in less than two weeks (yikes!) AND my (naughty) computer has been giving me SO MUCH grief!!! Frustration at a new level. And just when I need it to be my friend. Murphy’s Law… right?? We’ve all been there. And then there’s that “P” word… If you are “in the club“, you know what I’m talking about. My mom knows. My daughter knows. They are in the club. The word, my friends, is P-R-O-C-R-A-S-T-I-N-A-T-I-O-N. Yep. See – I even procrastinated by typing it out that way; therefore taking longer. I have a (bad?) habit of getting sidetracked. Really sidetracked. I think creative people are just born that way. Yep. That’s it. Anyway – those are my excuses, and I’m stickin’ with ’em..

Anyway – it’s fall – but it has been cold the last couple days like WINTER! Ugh! Not ready for that. OK – NEVER (ever) ready for that. But it IS still fall, and I think that apples = fall. Don’t you agree? Well, our friend, Martha (Stewart) sure does. She hs over 50 recipes to share with you that all revolve around the beloved apple. OK – confession (yes… another one…!) I realize this is very un-American… but I (gulp!) don’t like apple pie….. I know, I KNOW!!! What the heck is wrong with me?? But for those of you who do, there are a ton of variations of the “all-American apple pie” in this link. Along with some super yummy treats for those of us who prefer the “other” goodies. Like BBQ Pork & Apple Kebobs, Apple Cheddar Frittata and Quinoa & Apple Salad with Curry Dressing…! Hungry now? Ya – me too! But no time for eating now, my friends. I have got a “things to do” list for my show and I need to FOCUS!! And I will. Right after I make some apple muffins…