I Think I Crashed and Burned

My sinks not shiny! There are toys and cheerios on my newly shampooed carpet! Ugh!

I tried to do too much this week on Wednesday. Then on Thursday I thought I'd rest at my mom's house. I did rest, but it made me lazy. Take-out for dinner that night. And I didn't run my dishwasher so now I have dishes in my sink. :)

I really, really, really want to get back on track today. I'm feeling a little down. Let's see how it goes!

Oh and I want to take pictures today. Hopefully I'll have some before and after shots up soon.

Baby Steps!!!!

Still Flying High

It's been a few days since I've posted. I came down with a little cold and then I was really flying yesterday so I haven't taken the time to write. Things are going really well! I've realized though that I need to take some more before and after pictures. They are so inspirational to me. Here's what I've accomplished over the past couple of days since receiving the Sink Reflections book.

1. My Control Journal - I bought a pretty lime green binder on Tuesday and have since redone it once. I have my morning, night, and after meal routines in there as well as a daily and weekly cleaning checklist.

2. I tried to start cleaning my zones, but I realized that I really needed to rescue the rooms first. So I took each room and wrote down what it would take to get it basically clean - throwing out trash, putting stuff away, cleaning counters and floors, etc. So I 3, 15-minute "room rescuing" sessions on Wednesday and my laundry room, bathroom, and family room look soooooo much better already. I can't believe how much I can get done in 15 minutes!

3. Laundry - I've decided that I need to do at least 1 load of laundry each day. I'm starting to bring the clothes into the laundry room and I have baskets in there to sort them. This way I can see when a load needs to be done. I've realized that I can only do whites and towels at night since if I'm too tired to fold and put them a way it doesn't really matter if they sit in the dryer overnight. I even managed to do a load of darks this morning before I had to be out of the house at 9:30. They aren't put away, but at lease they are folded and hung up.

4. Getting Dressed to Lace up Shoes - Okay this is definitely my weak spot. I am so tired in the mornings that even when I do get up before the boys I just mess around until they wake up. Also, I know that I really should take a shower at night to make my mornings easier, but by the end of the night all I want to do is put the boys to bed and lay around.

Well I hope I haven't bored you too death. But I realize that this blog is mostly for myself to look back on how far I've come. Hence the want for more pictures. But if anyone can get inspired by it then that's great.

Oh and here are some pictures of Johnny helping me to clean:


He just loves the swiffer so I figured I would put a wet cloth on it and let him do my work.



John decided to clean his office and he rented a carpet cleaner. Luckily, I had spent 15 minutes on the family room that day so it only took another 15 to pick up the rest of the stuff and vacuum so that he could clean that carpet as well.

Day #4

I got the Fly Lady book, Sink Reflections, in the mail today. As I stated yesterday, I'm alittle overwhelmed by the volume of email by being a part of the Yahoo! Group. I thought I would just go through the Baby Steps on the website, but even those at times seem slow. I need help now! I know I should not try to get ahead of myself, but I've got to do something. So I have decided to read through the book and create my own Baby Steps.

I now realize the importance of getting dressed to tie your shoes first thing in the morning. I also know that this is a huge step for me and I cannot just decide to start doing that every day and be successful. So for my first Baby Step I will start taking a shower each night after I put Jacob to bed. I've realized that part of my problem is that it is really hard to get up before my boys and I hate going to the trouble of taking a shower with them around and needy in the morning.

Also I have decided to start my control journal. I have already come up with some small routines to do after each meal. This way I can start to keep my kitchen clean at all times.

We'll see how I do tomorrow. :)

Baby Step #3 - Do What we have already done

Day #3 and my sink is still shiny - yea! I've also moved onto keeping my kitchen table and high chair clean at all times. I get so tired after fixing a meal and cleaning up the kids that before I would just throw the dishes in the sink and not clean off the table until the next meal. Well no more of that! Even today after church when I was so tired I cleaned everything and just ignored the whining for the 5 minutes it took. Tomorrow I want to start taking out the trash and recycling regualry. I feel that this should be John's job since my dad was always the one in my family to do this. John is not my dad. I can just as easily take it out myself. Also it would save a lot of bad feelings and nagging on my part. Just because John doesn't take it out doesn't mean he doesn't love or care for me. Strange how we think these things sometimes, huh?

I also managed to get up and dressed first thing today. Although this was a have to situation since we needed to be out the door to church on time. We'll see how I do tomorrow when my only goals are to go to the grocery store and the library. Oh wait, it's Memorial Day so the library is probably closed - ugh. Since staying at home I can't keep up with all these holidays.

I joined the Fly Lady group on Yahoo! and I'm a little annoyed with the amount of emails. Especially since I feel like most don't pertain to me right now. I might just cancel out and just follow the program on the website.

Now I'm going to prepare for Baby Step #4 - Write These Things Down. It's the beginning of my control journal. Now do I have any sticky notes? Where oh where would they be?

Baby Step #2- Getting Dressed First Thing

Sounds simple right? And I used to do this every day for work, but now I'm lazy. I don't get up until the boys do and then I'm so busy with diapers, food, and love that it'll be 10:00 and I'm still in my PJs. If I don't have any place to be then I get even more lazy and stay in my PJs all day. Well last night I decided that I would do this Fly Lady Baby Step #2. Well I failed. :( My alarm went off at 6:00 and I just went back to sleep. I did however get ready after breakfast. With two little ones under my feet I was ready by 11:15. Ugh. Well I have decided that I need to make a plan in order to get ready first thing in the morning. I also want to be able to get up before my boys in the morning so that I can drink my coffee and spend time with the Lord in prayer and reading. So here is my prayer:

Lord please help me to prepare tonight for tomorrow. Allow me to wake up in the morning with enough time before my boys wake up to spend time with you. Amen

Now onto Baby Step #3 - "Do what we have already done"

Baby Step #1 - I Shined my Sink!

I have completed my first Baby Step - Shining my Sink. This was a lot harder then I thought. I ended up using bleach, a scrubby pad, Bar Keepers Friend, many washcloths, a brush, a toothbrush, vinegar, a pumice stone, and Windex. I even had to have my husband help me. Without him I either would have a bald spot or my hair would still be stuck in the hinges of the doors under the sink.

Here is my sink when I woke up this morning:





This is actually pretty good. There are mornings that I have to move dishes out of the sink and onto the counters so that I can wash out the coffee maker.


And after all my hard work:




Isn't it pretty?

Now comes the hard part. I must maintain my shiny sink at all times. This means no stacking dishes - dirty or rinsed. So I must continually load the dishwasher, run the dishwasher, and most importantly unload the dishwasher. Jacob is at the age where he loves to get into things. I am the Mommy and I need to discipline him to stay out of the dishwasher. This won't be easy, but I can do it!

Check back tomorrow for an update on Baby Step #2 - "Get Dressed to Lace up Shoes"

Thanks Fly Lady!

Why I Have Decided to Fly

First of all I want to thank Barbara for turning me on to the website flylady.net. I feel like I have found a program that will help me accomplish my current goal - getting my house in order. I have several reasons why I feel that God wants me to get my house in order.

First of all, my prayers have been answered by being able to stay at home with my two sweet boys. Let me back up to 2005. Johnny was due to be born on Christmas Eve in 2005. John was working at DHL and I was working for SuperShuttle. We had moved to Surprise in the summer of 2005 so that took our commute to North Scottsdale from about 5 minutes to an hour. In October of 2005 we made the decision that John would leave his job at DHL to start his own business of server management. Needless to say this was a huge leap of faith. Also since I was the sole, steady breadwinner and I was the one carrying health insurance for us it meant that there was no way I could not go back to work after Johnny was born. To make things even harder, my company did not offer paid maternity leave. I had to go back to work 6 weeks after Johnny was born and leave him in daycare. God was good through it all. He met our financial needs and John's business began to grow. Then in April of 2006 I was able to change jobs and work for Bechtel. This was a much better work environment and the commute was only half and hour. Yea! Then during the summer of 2006 I became pregnant with Jacob. Almost immediately John and I started praying that after Jacob was born I would not have to go back to work. Even up until the 11th week of my 12 week maternity leave with Jacob in the summer of 2007, it didn't look like we could live off of John's income alone. We really felt that God wanted me to stay home, so we took another leap of faith and I quit my job. We still struggle financially from time to time, but it's usually with wants not needs. God has been so faithful to us. So here I am, a stay-at-home mom for a year now, and my house is a disaster. I was always such a good worker at my jobs, but I can't seem to keep up with this house. I feel like I'm not being thankful to God for all that he's done for me by having my house in a total disaster.

My second reason is that I feel led to home school my two boys. I cannot be a successful teacher in this environment. I need to be organized and provide a clean home for my boys to learn in.

Lastly, as a family we are facing some current struggles that are completely out of my control. All I can do is pray. Not that praying isn't important, but I feel I need to do something. God has been laying on my heart that I need to provide a clean, safe, and loving home for my family.

So this is why I've decided that it's time to get going and get my house in order. If you haven't checked out the Fly Lady site yet, please do. I am currently a fly baby and taking my first baby step today - cleaning my kitchen sink. I will report my progress tonight.

Thank you Barbara so much for giving me the idea to start a blog to record my progress on getting my house in order. Thanks for letting me copy you!