PROCRASTINATION

WHy do I always wait until the very last minute to clean my house when people are coming over to my house? It's the one area that I constantly procrastinate on. Of course then I start to stress out and yell at the boys and Eric. but it never fails.....I do it every time. I remember once the people actually showed up early, and I mean 30 minutes early. I was sweating, hadn't taken my shower yet, just finished vacuuming, and was still in my bare feet....It was insane.

If I actually stop to think about it,I procrastinate in cleaning the house at all times, not just when guest are coming over. I start to clean the house at 5 o'clock right before Eric gets home. I only do the laundry when the boys have no more pajamas clean....and then I pull them out of the CLEAN laundry basket for days before folding all the clothes. If I have to be somewhere, I usually wait until the last possible minute to leave to try to make it on time although having four kids helps you not procrastinate too much in that area.

I think I've always been a procrastinator. In college, I would wait till the night before to study for a test.....or sometimes even the hour before. I remember once that I had huge project due...and I mean huge. It had to be over 20 pages just to get a "B." And of course, I wait till the last minute to do it. Now remember, I had "light's out" at my college and it was 11:00. If you were caught up after light's out, it was demerit time. Regardless, of light's out, I borrowed my friend's word processor, yes, Word Processor, and snuck into the bathroomto sit on the nasty floor (realize, that 7-8 girls shared a bathroom) to start typing the project. (Hey, at least I had finished reading the books required for the project.) I typed so many pages into the word processor that it stopped saving them, and I had to print them out as I went which meant pages 20 and up were not on the disk. I think I finally made it to bed at 4:00 in the morning. Well, as I take the project to class the next morning, I realize that a page is missing.....and of course, it can't be a page that is saved...it's a page over 20. ARRRGGGHHH!!! SO I debated.....turn it in with the page missing......or turn it in a day late........well, I discovered a third option.....go to the teacher and explain that one of the pages didn't print out.......(there was no lying there!) It was truly a miracle because this was not the type of teacher that allowed for things like this..or so I thought. I remember his exact words (with a huge slow Southern accent), "You know, Marshan, I realize that accidents can happen like this, so you know what I'm gonna do?? Why don't you just turn that paper in to me before 12:00 and we'll call it even!" (Okay, now that I type it, I don't think those were his exact word, but you get the drift.) I ran frantically back to my dorm after class, skipped lunch, and typed that page from scratch all over again. In the end, I think I made a high B on the paper which I was completely pleased with.

This all said....I'm a procrastinator, and I don't think it's going to change anytime. Maybe one day....but don't get your hopes up!