I'm not allowed to use the P word, Flylady hates it and I have to say so do I. It's an unrealistic expectation that makes us feel guilty, overwhelms us and causes us to procrastinate (because we don't have time to do it perfectly right?) But today's babystep is to practice the things we've done so far.
I was quicker off the mark this morning. I did come downstairs in my dressing gown to make breakfast for the kids but went straight back up to get dressed as soon as they were settled. Having tackled the hair and body last night it was an easy job to straighten my fringe instead of letting it run wild on it's own and tie my hair into a neat pony tail. I put on my moisteriser and some make up. I always feel better with a little light skin covering foundation to even out my hormone riddled complexion. Interestingly, as I had set this time aside I relished the 10 minutes peace and quiet to prepare for my day. I even said prayers as I was getting ready and it felt good to have this start to the day. lace up shoes in place I headed into the day.
My sink, shined the night before, smiled at me as I went to empty the dishwasher and again, I admit defeat at FlyLady's wisdom, it does feel better to start your day with an empty, clean sink rather than the detrius of last nights dinner. The shiny sink thing seems a bit bizarre to the uninitiated but for the easily side tracked mind it is a beacon of hope. I was less of a perfectionist about my sink today although I was sure to wipe it out after every use. After dinner, for the first time in a long time, I immediately washed up the pots in order to restore my sink to the glory of an hour earlier. All of these things seem quite commonplace but to me they really helped the day go more smoothly.
The lace up shoes are interesting. As I stated yesterday this is a habit I'd had for a while so I tried to keep in mind today what difference it made to my life. Small things, granted, but life is made up of the small things isn't it? My mother popped round today and I'd been meaning to return a book to her. She'd left just as I remembered to gice it to her but with shoes on my feet I was able to run out after her with it instead of having the burden of it either on my mind or in my house. Bear in mind that in my family they call my house "the blackhole" if somebody lends me something it maybe a while before you get it back, usually because I've forgotten I have it or it completely slips my mind to give it to you when I see you. That's the crux of the problem isn't it! Because I have no system in place I'm constantly fire fighting whatever comes up during the day which means other things get neglected. I get by but I feel exhausted at the end of each day and my mind is always racing over what I have to do - and it's a long list.
I've appreciated the focus these small steps have given me and promised myself that I won't race ahead or feel guilty about that. Despite the fact that there are enough toys in the playroom to provide for a small country or enough paper in the study to start a forest fire I will take this one day at a time and establish a routine that will bring peace to myself and my family and turn my house into a home.
Thursday 26 May 2011
Wednesday 25 May 2011
Day 2 - Get dressed.
Today's assignment was to get dressed to shoes, including hair and make-up, as soon as I get up. Oops, there's my first error. I overslept this morning. It was my own fault as I stayed up late watching Prison Break and when your spending time with Michael Scofield time passes so quickly. The upshot being that when I woke I threw my dressing gown on to make DS sandwiches for the day and get breakfast for both kids. At 9.30am I was still in said dressing gown. Getting dressed is the easy bit but I think the point is that this step is supposed to make you feel ready to work, as well as make you feel good about yourself, and just throwing on yesterday's sweats is not going to cut it on either front.
Still, Flylady says "jump in where you are" but if she knew exactly where I am she might shudder too. My hair was last washed 4 days ago - in fact yesterday's "hair do" included talcum powder to take the shine off (come on! you've all done it) and my legs look like the Amazon rainforest. A bit like my sink yesterday, this is a big job but once it's done it's only a matter of maintenance.
At 10am I got a call from DS's school saying he was sick and my best laid plans were sidelined as I tended to my first priority. However, I was determined to at least make myself presentable and did keep my lace up shoes on my feet all day. It'd hard to say how this affected me as this is the only habit from my many forrays into Flylady that has stuck. It does help when I have to run out to the bin or to put the recycling out and does stop me from procrastinating about those jobs and it does stop you kicking up your feet on the sofa with a good book. I was still determined to take myself in hand though and after I'd tucked both children safely in bed I headed to the bathroom to do battle with my unruly hair and unpolished body. I washed, scrubbed, shaved and moisturised and for the first time in a long time didn't rush it or feel guilty about it. OK, a little late in the day but as Flylady says "your not behind." Tomorrow's babystep is to practice what we've done so far so I will make sure I get up, get dressed to shoes and do my hair and make-up in the interest of fair experimentation to see if it does really impact on the way I feel throughout the day. Wish me luck.
PS - My sink is still sparkling.
Still, Flylady says "jump in where you are" but if she knew exactly where I am she might shudder too. My hair was last washed 4 days ago - in fact yesterday's "hair do" included talcum powder to take the shine off (come on! you've all done it) and my legs look like the Amazon rainforest. A bit like my sink yesterday, this is a big job but once it's done it's only a matter of maintenance.
At 10am I got a call from DS's school saying he was sick and my best laid plans were sidelined as I tended to my first priority. However, I was determined to at least make myself presentable and did keep my lace up shoes on my feet all day. It'd hard to say how this affected me as this is the only habit from my many forrays into Flylady that has stuck. It does help when I have to run out to the bin or to put the recycling out and does stop me from procrastinating about those jobs and it does stop you kicking up your feet on the sofa with a good book. I was still determined to take myself in hand though and after I'd tucked both children safely in bed I headed to the bathroom to do battle with my unruly hair and unpolished body. I washed, scrubbed, shaved and moisturised and for the first time in a long time didn't rush it or feel guilty about it. OK, a little late in the day but as Flylady says "your not behind." Tomorrow's babystep is to practice what we've done so far so I will make sure I get up, get dressed to shoes and do my hair and make-up in the interest of fair experimentation to see if it does really impact on the way I feel throughout the day. Wish me luck.
PS - My sink is still sparkling.
Tuesday 24 May 2011
Day 1 - seriously? shine my sink?
Well according to Flylady's beginners babysteps today's task is just to shine my sink. I'll admit to being sceptical but as Flylady says "my home didn't get messy overnight, and won't get clean in a day" The whole point it to establish routines that you build on. Most experts agree that it takes about a month to establish a habit and I can see the logic in taking babysteps to get there. However, I'm not known for my patience. I tend to jump in and do everything full on.
So I decided if my only job today is to shine my sink I will do it the very best that I can. It didn't look too bad so I started by filling both the sink and a half with hot soapy water and leaving it for 10 mins. I emptied it out and scrubbed around. Pretty good, except for the plug and plug holes...eeugh! Seriously, what on earth has been going down there. My favourite mold and mildew spray next. A spritz all over and leave for 10 mins. When I came back there were silver shiny streaks all down my sink...what! Oh, no that's the colour it's supposed to be, the rest of it was actually what i refer to as tea stained silver. It only goes to show when you look at something often wnough you stop seeing it. Ok, toothbrush out, behind the taps, down the plug hole, scrubbing the plug, I can't believe how stained it actually it. Worse, there are paint splatters behind the taps and the kitchen was painted over a year ago. I have just the tool! My mum (in an attempt to make me a better housewife) bought me a load of cleaning tools and products. I confess to never having used most of them (does anybody know what soda cyrstals are for?) but there was a small scraper with a sharp, flat blade that took the paint off in a jiffy.
I had to give it a couple of goes with the mold and mildew remover and a few vigorous scrubbings but eventually the sink was all the same shade of silver. Sparkly silver. I did in fact feel a small sense of pride and gave my beautiful sink a light misting of windex and a gentle massage with a chamois leather to bring out her twinkle. I guess I fell foul of the perfectionist tendancy as when I looked I'd spent half an hour on the sink. I try to justify this by telling myself that I'll only need to do this once, after this it'll just be maintenance. My sink looked so pretty I overstepped the make and had a quick wipe round of the kitchen and place some flowers on the windowsill to show her off to her best advantage. I was like a pushy mum presenting her child at a pageant! When I figure out my camera I will add some pictures.
So proud of my sink was I that I spent the rest of the day patrolling it like a guard dog. NOTHING was to go in there. Half finished cups of tea were uncermoniously dumped on the lawn (isn't tea good for it?) I even contemplated rinsing the dinner plates under the outside tap until DH (darling husband) reigned me in. Still I was proud of my sink and made sure to wipe her down and tuck her in nicely before I retired to bed. Tomorrow I face and even bigger challenge - getting dressed to shoes. Its not the getting dressed that worries me but I may have to dig around at the bottom of a few drawers to find some make-up.
Night night all x
So I decided if my only job today is to shine my sink I will do it the very best that I can. It didn't look too bad so I started by filling both the sink and a half with hot soapy water and leaving it for 10 mins. I emptied it out and scrubbed around. Pretty good, except for the plug and plug holes...eeugh! Seriously, what on earth has been going down there. My favourite mold and mildew spray next. A spritz all over and leave for 10 mins. When I came back there were silver shiny streaks all down my sink...what! Oh, no that's the colour it's supposed to be, the rest of it was actually what i refer to as tea stained silver. It only goes to show when you look at something often wnough you stop seeing it. Ok, toothbrush out, behind the taps, down the plug hole, scrubbing the plug, I can't believe how stained it actually it. Worse, there are paint splatters behind the taps and the kitchen was painted over a year ago. I have just the tool! My mum (in an attempt to make me a better housewife) bought me a load of cleaning tools and products. I confess to never having used most of them (does anybody know what soda cyrstals are for?) but there was a small scraper with a sharp, flat blade that took the paint off in a jiffy.
I had to give it a couple of goes with the mold and mildew remover and a few vigorous scrubbings but eventually the sink was all the same shade of silver. Sparkly silver. I did in fact feel a small sense of pride and gave my beautiful sink a light misting of windex and a gentle massage with a chamois leather to bring out her twinkle. I guess I fell foul of the perfectionist tendancy as when I looked I'd spent half an hour on the sink. I try to justify this by telling myself that I'll only need to do this once, after this it'll just be maintenance. My sink looked so pretty I overstepped the make and had a quick wipe round of the kitchen and place some flowers on the windowsill to show her off to her best advantage. I was like a pushy mum presenting her child at a pageant! When I figure out my camera I will add some pictures.
So proud of my sink was I that I spent the rest of the day patrolling it like a guard dog. NOTHING was to go in there. Half finished cups of tea were uncermoniously dumped on the lawn (isn't tea good for it?) I even contemplated rinsing the dinner plates under the outside tap until DH (darling husband) reigned me in. Still I was proud of my sink and made sure to wipe her down and tuck her in nicely before I retired to bed. Tomorrow I face and even bigger challenge - getting dressed to shoes. Its not the getting dressed that worries me but I may have to dig around at the bottom of a few drawers to find some make-up.
Night night all x
Well begun is half done
Hi, I'm totally new to the world of blogging so you might be thinking why I'm doing it. I love my life; married for 10 years, 2 beautiful children DS (darling son) aged 9 and DD (darling daughter) aged 4. I work part time, 2 days a week, term time only, and the rest of my time is spent at home. Now I'll be the first to admit I'm not a natural "housewife" - just ask my mum - I'm more of a good enough kinda gal. if you can't see the muck it's not there! As well as that I like to read parenting books and try to apply different techniques to the way I parent. My kids are well behaved and I'm very proud of them but how could I live with myself if I didn't do everything in my power to do the best job I could. As well as parenting books I'm a self help book junkie. I guess I'm always looking to improve myself, not because I'm unhappy but beacuse I'm a big believer in always being the best person you can and doing the best job you can do; and right now my job is being a mum and home maker.
Well despite reading these books by the dozen I struggle to implement the lessons in my life. I'm easily distracted, I can always find something better to do. Don't get me wrong, I don't live in a hovel and scream at my kids. I think (hope) I'm a good mum and wife but I'm a procrastinator. So, no more procrasinating. Today I pledge to try one of these systems that I've been half on half off for a few years and to keep you informed about my progress, you will make me accountable. I'll begin by working through the beginners babysteps from a site called www.Flylady.net. Flylady.net is a home organisation system aimed at getting you out of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) If you, like me, always have the words "Sorry about the mess" on the tip of your tongue, or can only have people over after a whole days crisis cleaning, this system claims to help. In the past I've jumped in and tried to complete the whole system in a day, flopped down exhausted at the end of the day and that's been the end of that. Clever FlyLady is all too aware of this "perfectionist" tendancy (me? a perfectionist?) and deliberately makes new Flybabies take babysteps when starting out. So we'll begin at the beginning and see how we go.
Once I get into the swing of one system I might try others; parenting techniques, simplyfying your life, make me happy in a week kind of things. Do they work? Will they make my life easier? Will they make me happier? How much will it cost, both financially, physically and emotionally? I'll try to answer these questions as we go. I'm not afraid to admit my mistakes and laugh at myself in the process. I hope you can join me, laugh along with me and then see for yourself if any of these systems could work in your life.
Much love
Well despite reading these books by the dozen I struggle to implement the lessons in my life. I'm easily distracted, I can always find something better to do. Don't get me wrong, I don't live in a hovel and scream at my kids. I think (hope) I'm a good mum and wife but I'm a procrastinator. So, no more procrasinating. Today I pledge to try one of these systems that I've been half on half off for a few years and to keep you informed about my progress, you will make me accountable. I'll begin by working through the beginners babysteps from a site called www.Flylady.net. Flylady.net is a home organisation system aimed at getting you out of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) If you, like me, always have the words "Sorry about the mess" on the tip of your tongue, or can only have people over after a whole days crisis cleaning, this system claims to help. In the past I've jumped in and tried to complete the whole system in a day, flopped down exhausted at the end of the day and that's been the end of that. Clever FlyLady is all too aware of this "perfectionist" tendancy (me? a perfectionist?) and deliberately makes new Flybabies take babysteps when starting out. So we'll begin at the beginning and see how we go.
Once I get into the swing of one system I might try others; parenting techniques, simplyfying your life, make me happy in a week kind of things. Do they work? Will they make my life easier? Will they make me happier? How much will it cost, both financially, physically and emotionally? I'll try to answer these questions as we go. I'm not afraid to admit my mistakes and laugh at myself in the process. I hope you can join me, laugh along with me and then see for yourself if any of these systems could work in your life.
Much love
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