The Books. . .

I am a procrastinator/slacker. 

If you are reading this and know me, you are probably laughing and rolling your eyes at me, but I really am. (At least in my head I am.) In the 7 school days since the end of school, I am behind on my "To Do" list, but that is normal for me. The fact that I am only 7 days into break and have actually crossed several items off it, is pretty amazing. But to be honest, I put some pretty easy things on there to make myself feel like I actually accomplished something.

So you need an example?

Example 1
Well, about six years ago my father-in-law helped me wallpaper a wall in our kitchen (by the way, I am never buying a house that has wallpaper again). When my dad helped install the "floating" countertop about 18 months ago, a section under it had to be redone. I didn't do it until yesterday. It had been bothering me a great deal since then, but I didn't want to do it. So that is done. (It has been on the "To Do" list for awhile.)

Example 2
My best friend's sister gave me the task of designing the place cards for the upcoming baby shower. I want to say I was given this task in March. I have ideas. (M, don't panic. I really do have ideas.) I have even sketched out ideas, but in March there was still plenty of time. During Spring Break in April I ordered "special paper" for the place cards. (Sorry, the theme of the shower is a surprise, so I can't say what type the paper is until June 25th.) The paper is on back order, which has just added to the procrastination. So tonight, maybe tomorrow during the day, is craft time to turn the sketches into reality. M, again don't worry, you will get to see samples on Friday.

Example 3- The whole purpose of this post.
I am currently reading Attaching in Adoption. I have been working on it since the beginning of May. Since starting this book, I have also read maybe four other books for fun. I have difficulty getting through some of the recommended adoption books because they are so textbook-like. At times I feel like I am back in Dr. House's psych class my junior year where we looked at the DSM-IV too much. (I diagnosed myself with all kinds of things we read about.)

So like any good special ed teacher, I have tried to use my  knowledge to help myself get through this book. I broke the task up to smaller bits. I set deadlines for myself. I set up a reward schedule. Yep, the problem with this is I tell myself, "Kara, you know you are trying to manipulate yourself. You don't have read the chapter before ________."

I know what part of the issue is, I don't have an endpoint that has a date attached. I am great about getting stuff done, when there is a set date. Right now I know we are 11 for boys and siblings, 19 for girls. Plenty of time. Which is something I need to stop telling myself. I still have other adoption books I want to get through before Lando's referral, let alone before we bring him/her/them home. I don't have plenty of time. I need to keep reminding myself of this. I don't have plenty of time.

So what did I do today instead of read Attaching in Adoption? Well, I went to Jeffery Alans, Hobby Lobby, and Michaels. Joey and I played with his green ball (his favorite toy). I also made a list of all of Lando's books while watching the Monk marathon on "Sleuth." I think I have all of them, but there were some heavy boxes stacked up in the basement that I couldn't move. At the very least, I have a good list to work with when it comes to knowing what books we have for him/her/them. I am also thinking we need to get more diverse books. This has also been on the "To Do" list for bit, one more thing I can cross out.