Midsomer and ice cream o'clock

Seems fitting to write a blog post about a procrastination article. More time-consuming, at any rate, than just sharing it on Facebook or Twitter (although time can certainly go into deciding which of those is right for which articles). But given that the alternative activity I had lined up for 10ish Tuesday evening was finishing an episode of Midsomer Murders (an amazing one starring the actress who plays Diana Trent on Waiting for God and a whole bunch of llamas), I'm not sure this qualifies.

Anyway. Philippa Perry's advice about procrastination is... I can't decide what it is. Either it's KonMari-like in its brilliant simplicity (oof, she called out pet-Instagramming specifically), or it's akin to the health advice that begins and ends with, maybe don't eat so much ice cream during the evening Midsomer. The central point:

"When I first became a parent and only had 30 minutes of baby’s nap time to complete a chore, I found I could complete it, whereas before baby, the same task may have taken me hours. When I had a finite amount of time I somehow found the extra focus to make that time count."

This is how life should work, and sometimes does, but doesn't always. There's a way in which being a bit too busy can encourage creativity - all work that isn't the usual/daytime work feels like a break, but the mind will be sharp from having not spent the day, I don't know, riding a shuttle to a suburban US supermarket in the middle of the afternoon because you haven't yet learned how to drive, to use a totally theoretical (obscure pun intended) example. But if you only have 30 minutes to spare, and the thing you need to do is (let's stay within the realm of the theoretical) clean the bath? What if the activities that have left you with little time - professional, domestic, whatever - have left you sort of, you know, tired? What if the urge to procrastinate strikes not so much when a task seems daunting as when your body is saying Midsomer and Haagen Daaz, but some part of you thinks it's more productive to still have that computer out?

Immigrant glamo(u)r

I would like to be better-dressed. Fabulously dressed, even. But there are obstacles. One is the whole new-immigrant credit limit thing, and the thing where Canadian credit cards are confusing (can't the site just say what I've spent???), and just generally the thing where I have a credit card but am wary of using it, and thus never get close to the limit in the first place. The other obstacles are similarly glamorous. (No time!) But the work-in-progress that is moving my look from something Stacy and Clinton would deem intervention-worthy to something Scott Schuman would photograph is underway. Recent and recent-ish (post-move, that is) additions:

-One navy v-neck wool-silk sweater and one indigo-striped button-down shirt, Muji. As far as I can tell, Muji clothing here is basically the same stuff as Uniqlo, but more expensive, but also less expensive because you don't have to first fly to the States.

-Matt & Nat bag (the Tia in Petal). A major improvement over the NYU tote bag/EMS backpack predecessors.

-Same vegan bag company, the Vera wallet in Midnight.

-New heels on the Frye motorcycle boots, from a shoe-repair place that includes a polish. They look new (the woods-mud is gone!), so this counts.

-Two whole, entirely new, pairs of pants: black jeans from Levi's (via the mildly intimidating Aritizia) and perfect '90s-but-better regular ones by Cheap Monday (via the perma-sample-sale Catwalk-2-Closet).

-A gray wool (-looking) skirt from Zara, of a style I always like, and that's always unwearably unflattering on me, except this once, so a style craving I've had since my junior year of college has, at long last, been met.