I can be a pretty bad procrastinator. I mean, I have been putting off a trip to visit my family back home (Dominican Republic) for 14 years, because I wanted to loose 30 lbs. before I go there… Not only did I NOT loose the weight, but I have waited and waited for so long that my nieces and nephews are almost grown up, and don’t even know me. That, my friends, it’s procrastinating at its best.
Now, I wish to talk about my favorite person in the whole – wide – world: My Dear Husband. When we moved to the Atlanta area over 2.5 yrs ago, my DH had a stressful job that paid more money. We felt we were moving up in the world and that we needed to go ahead and buy a house a bit pricier than the one we had. After all, I also had landed a pretty decent job and we were doing okay financially.
Then came the heart attack. Nope, seriously, my DH had one a year after we moved here. He was only 37. After his recovery, he proceeded to change jobs and get a more manageable job, which – of course – did not pay as much money. It was actually a starting up job, so it REALLY did not pay enough. But he was healthy and he was happy, so it was good.
Then, after about 6 months, I realized that our expenses exceeded our earnings (surprise! *gulp*) so we started to “borrow” from our savings, and we have not been able to replenish the pot.
A year ago, with my husband health almost normal (sans taking tons of medications to regulate everything from head to toe, and many checkups and follow ups, and thousands of dollars owed to hospitals and doctors), I gently nudged my husband into looking for a second (part-time) job. My hours and commute are brutal, so there was (and still is) no way I could have been available to a second/part-time job and still be able to get 4 hrs of sleep. But we had to do something!!!
Sooo, this is where all the procrastination (on my DH’s part) came in. He agreed to look for a part-time job. This is the kicker: he really believes that he could get a part-time position using an online job board, and that this job would pay him good money (***sigh***). And I’m like, Dude, reality check here! For the kind of job you are looking for, you need to get your ass out there and apply in person, so people can see you are not a crazy homicidal maniac, or worse like a pest control person who has been up close and personal with all the chemicals! – Duh! I’m wrong – he says – and proceeds to apply online for two or three customer service positions that he found.
Now it’s the time to reveal that my husband is not very computer savvy. He types using only two fingers (I’m not telling you which ones!). To this day I’m not sure what happened to the applications, but he NEVER got a call. Did he ever follow up with a call himself? Nope. It was always “tomorrow” and then tomorrow never came. Did he pursue other opportunities or tried anything else? Hell, no! He swiftly swept it under a rug and left it there. Instead of continuing looking, he talks me into putting the house up for sale. Which we did, and it still remains unsold.
It is now 11 months later and I brought up the subject again, very gently like “Hey, We have NO MONEY and if you want to be able to shower with hot water and watch Sunday Night football you better BEST get BUSY right now! If my happy ass had to break down and signup to sale for Avon (which I love), so you need to do something too in order to bring in extra money until the house is sold.”
His butt goes from the living room to the computer, and proceeds to google “part-time jobs in Newnan, GA” I feel the anger shooting up from my toes to my head – and I said (screamed) “ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME?” at which he gives me a dumbfounded look and replies: “what?..” I turned around and walked out of the room. It was either that, or knock him upside the head with the (4 inches thick) metro Atlanta phone book that was sitting next to him on the desk.
I should not have procrastinated over the phone book choice.

4 comments
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October 1, 2008 at 11:35 pm
andij1967
Men!!! Don’t they drive you crazy sometimes??
PS – I’m a super huge procrastinator too. I have to work under a deadline about every 4-6 weeks, and each time, I find myself scrambling to finish the job at the last minute. Why? I have no idea. I know the deadline is coming a month in advance, yet I wait until the last minute.
Glad to know I’m not the only one who suffers from this illness!
October 2, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Michelle
I know this must be a stressful situation (and one many of us can relate to), but the phone book comment had me laughing out loud! Good Luck. Try not to kill him.
October 9, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Audra
Yara, you are so funny girl! I tried to be mad at you because I came to work today to catch up, and I spent the last 30 minutes reading your blogs instead, but what could be important than your ant episode, right?!? No one but you could tell about an episode like that and make it funny – ants with lockjaw!! And, procrastinating with the phone book – too funny!!
I just happened to see your email because something is making them route to my junk folder, so then I realized there were several blogs I haven’t seen. It is nice keeping up with ya since we don’t get to see each other.
October 9, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Lynn
I’m sorry you are having it rough. I think everybody is these days. We are in so much debt ourselves, I’ve just decided not to stress out about it anymore. We can only pay what we pay, and I can’t work anymore that I already do. I don’t have time to keep up with my kids and house as it is, and my husband already works side jobs on his days off from TSYS, soooooooo…just hang in there. I’ll keep you and your family in my prayers!!