You Procrastinate Your Way, I Procrastinate Mine

**Note: This entry was supposed to be posted Sunday, but I put it off until today. Sorry

Heck yeah, I've got loads to do! Tis the season, isn't it? Gifts to wrap. Suitcases to pack. Messages to return. Cards to send. Oh yeah, and writing . . .  

In 2 days I'm leaving Trinidad for the month. First to California for the Big Sur Writing Workshop.  Workshop means preparation. Make copies of projects to focus on. Decide which projects those are. Gather my tools.  Instead . . . 

The Big Sur Workshop is the delicious carrot I'd been dangling just beyond, ever since September, when I quit writing to focus on L&R's wedding. I'll refocus on my writing, then, I'd promised myself. I'll commit to finding a new agent. Polish my stories. Finish revisions on my chapter books. 

After the workshop, I'll fly to Reno to visit my mom and brother's family. Reno means cold, not Trinidad tropical.  After Reno, I'll fly to Westhampton Beach, more cold. I need to dig out my woolies. Instead . . .  

We'll spend the holidays in Westhampton Beach with M&M, L&R and Baby B.

Latest Baby B news: he's flipping front to back and sometimes back to front. And surprise, surprise, like his father before him, loves to be held...all the time!

Holidays means sorting out gifts I've already bought. Wrapping for folks here. Thank you envelopes. Cards. Packing my suitcases. Instead . . . 

Reno in Winter means dressing like this

Curtis loves his woolies!

Trinidad means dressing like this:

Me and John ready for the beach!

After packing and hauling this mound of baggage for L&R's wedding, I was not excited about packing all over again . . . 

I could have, should have, tackled this To-do List last week--or at least made a stab at it. But last week was Thanksgiving. And cooking a  Thanksgiving Feast seemed more pressing. And more in keeping with my 2013 resolution "Live in the Moment" which I haven't been especially good at keeping.

My post Thanksgiving Feast plans has been for us to continue eating our way through the leftovers while I sorted, wrapped, packed today & tomorrow.  (No hardship; "leftovers" is our favorite part of Thanksgiving.)  Post dinner, Tuesday, I'd sort the fridge, freeze, repackage whatever remained of the feast.

This morning, pouring rain stopped me from keeping my other 2013 resolution "Exercise Regularly," too.

Maybe if I had said "yes" when Curtis asked if I'd like some coffee, I would have stuck to my plan.

Maybe if freibor, Brian, hadn't sent those recipes on ways to use Thanksgiving leftovers, it wouldn't have been on my mind. 

But somehow, when I opened the fridge to pour milk into my coffee, the bowls and platters of leftovers called to me. 

"Take us out!"

"Don't leave us like this!"

 "We want to be used!"

"Mixed!

Blended!

Baked!

Transform us . . . PLEASE!"

And so, leftover mashed potatoes, chopped onion & parsley, butter & fresh grated Parmesan became "Potato Puffs" 

Leftover marinated mushrooms, picky-platter pickles & olives and a couple of cans of beans--kidney, garbanzo & pinto--became "Bean Salad".

Leftover turkey, green beans, broth, gravy and the rest of the mashed potatoes became "Turkey Shepherd's Pie"

Leftover cranberry sauce, chopped pecans, and milky whipped cream became batter for "Cranberry Pecan Oat & Buckwheat Muffins", some of which I dropped into mini-muffin tins for now, the rest of which--thanks to a quick Internet surfing and instructions from Heavenly Homemakers.com, I froze for later. 

Potatoe Puffs, Turkey Shepherd's Pie, Cranberry Oat Pecan Muffins, Marinated Bean Salad (not shown)

The Tupperware saleslady from The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarity would be so proud!

And everything else that remained of our Thanksgiving 2013 feast was sorted into tidy plastic containers. 

Then, because all the freezing muffin batter postings--I did say Internet Surfing as in ongoing activity and instructions, plural--suggested freezing them as muffin blogs, either in cupcake papers or directly in the tin, and I got to thinking "wouldn't it work to freeze the batter en mass?" I decided an experiment was in order. I spooned half the leftover muffin batter into a greased tin, as directed, and poured the rest into a small contain and froze it that way. My thought is semi-thawed I should work just fine. Procrastination? Ney, I have another work for it: Experimentation. 

Oh yeah! And then, because I was so excited to share this brilliant frozen muffin batter idea here, I left the heaps of crusty feast dishes, pans, bowls, mixing and measuring utensils--not soaking--and raced over to my computer to type up this blog entry. I'll wash the dishes later. Right now, I better get started on that to-do list . . . 

You procrastinate your way; I'll procrastinate mine. . . .