Ice Cream Sandwich Day was yesterday (Tuesday). On my way home from buying our ice cream sandwiches, I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walking—it’s that hot in Chicago—so celebrating the food of the day with an easy-peasy, light-and-breezy ice cream sandwich could not have been more perfect.

Emily daughter celebrated ice cream sandwich day with gusto and a smile (picture above)!

*Rascal enjoyed the day too!

Before we muse-on-along….would you like a piece of watermelon?

I have rediscovered how useful my timer is—not for cooking but for getting stuff done.

Yesterday I had a list of to-do’s that had me whining, “I don’t want to do it, I don’t want to do it.” I never procrastinated when Joe was alive.

Do you want to know why?

Ok, I will tell you.

Joe was a first-class procrastinator; he seldom, if ever, finished anything until I turned into a honey badger. Well,  not really a honey badger but close enough.  I could not make him bad and wrong about not doing the stuff he promised to do if the laundry basket was overflowing. I had a dozen unreturned phone calls and the dry cleaner was charging me rent. So I would hurry up and finish checking things of my to-do list so I could nag him about all the things he needed to get done.

So you see, my procrastination is all Joe’s fault. If he were alive and not doing the things he promised to do, I would be doing the things I need to do. There are some relationship dances that you don’t fully appreciate until the music stops playing.

Now, back to how I use my timer to get things done. Mr. Hoppe, a wise music teacher, used to say, “Starting is the hardest part.” So true. I can easily put more energy into not doing something than it takes to do it. Can you relate?

The timer. Yesterday I decided to focus on my to-do list, without distractions, in one-hour intervals. I would set my timer and work my list for one hour and then take a 30-minute break.

Of course, before I could set the timer I had to post my timer intention on my Facebook status. Sigh… the very moment I sent my status, some friend commented, and then because I did not want to be rude I commented back.  Opps, I  just popped the avoidance pill: Facebook.

About 15 minutes later I wrangled myself away from Facebook, set my timer and began working my way through my to-do  list. It’s much easier to start something if there is an end in sight, and of course once I started, it was easy to keep on going. I often worked past the ding of the timer, and by the time I had to call it a day, my list was impressively shorter.

Speaking of time I must bid you a fond farewell and pick up Cole from camp. . Odd is hosting a “food of the day” contest; the details are below. I hope you will play with us.

What is your favorite way to procrastinate? Do share. Odd loves company.

♥
Kb

For those of you playing “food of the day” with us, here are the foods we will celebrate for the rest of the week.

August 4th: Thursday: Lasagna Day– Recipe for barbecued lasagna

August 5th: Friday: International Beer Day– Celebrate the beer of your choice.

August 6th: Saturday: Root beer Float Day– Summer Saturday Toast with the kids!

August 7th: Raspberries and Cream Day– My favorite way to eat fresh raspberries.

If you celebrate the food of –the day, send Odd a picture of your food!

At the end of August we will randomly draw from all the pictures and the winner will receive some home-made goodies specially prepared by Emily.