Day 18 - Read FlyLady's Eleven Commandments and Day 19 - Read a testimonial.

Ok so the eleven commandments deals with not getting sidetracked and such and the testimonial is about the shiny sink.  I haven't read either in depth but I am busy and I feel I'm doing good with what I have.  So that is it.

I've been busy with school for me, school for the kids, and dealing with other aspects of life.  I haven't decided fully yet if I want to divulge that part.  We shall see.  Other than that...Cheers!

Day 17 - Think of a bedtime and stick to it.

This one is hard and I know I should go to bed around the same time every night but when the kids don't want to go to bed at their time then it pushes mine back because I do want to spend time with my hubby.  I guess I'll just start making him come to bed with me and when we get those extra couple of hours after the kids go to bed will be that much sweeter.  So I will try to continue and do this.  Bedtime is 10 p.m.

Day 16 - Read an email from FlyLady

So I do this everyday so...yeah.  So I've been slacking.  I forgot to shine my sink last night and I've been up for 2 hours, the kids for 1 hour and I still haven't made my bed.  Best get my butt in gear.  Kind of hard when certain things are weighing on your mind but alas I digress!

Day 15 - Make your bed.

This week add to your morning (if you can preferably as soon as you wake up) make your bed.  I get up before my kids and since we co-sleep with everyone I can't make my bed immediately as I wake up so....this one is going to be hard on me but I will try and make a conscious effort to do it.

Day 14 - Read an essay that Kelly wrote.

Kelly is a big part of FlyLady and her essay is about calendars apparantly.  So I will be reading it and joining in on Zone 3 tomorrow.

Here's the link if you'd like to read the essay...http://flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_UsingCalendar.asp

Day 13 - Pick one of Kelly's Missions and do it.

So this is about breaking your house into zones and working on one zone a week and decluttering.  Since I'm doing this so late in the day and church is tomorrow...I will be starting this on Monday when they start Zone 3.  The goal to this is to never have to spring clean again!  That is what I'm looking for.  So  I will post what Zone I will be doing Monday morning.  I will also post tomorrow but will get back into the swing of things on Monday.  Hubby and I needed some time away so that is why!  Cheers!

Day 12

Has nothing to do with anyone unless you receive FlyLady's emails.  So it is continuing what we are doing.

Yea!

Day 11 - Add an inspirational page to your Control Journal.

I need help on this one.  Send me your inspirational quotes otherwise this page will always be blank.  This may be one thing that I don't do as quotes don't help me accomplish a job.  We will see.

So that is it for today.  Continue doing everything from the previous 10 days.  My house is fairly decluttered to begin with but there are rooms to work on.  I may work on my office today or maybe the toy room.  We will see.        

Day 10 - You can do ANYTHING for 15 minutes.

Yes you can.  So since yesterday was a pretty bad day....I got nothing accomplished....today is going to be a new day.  I managed to get up before the kids and completely ready so the morning has been going good but now it is onto FlyLady.

Here is what day 10 says:

Morning Routine

- Get up and get dressed to lace up shoes; fixing your hair and face
- Looking at your posted reminders in the kitchen and bathroom
- Going to Big Tent and reading messages
- Recognizing the negative voices and changing them; YOU ARE FLYing NOW!
- Put out your Hot Spots for 2 minutes
- 5 Minute Room Rescue (pick any room in the house) set your timer and go!

Before Bed Routine

- Keep your sink shining
- Lay out your clothes for tomorrow
- Put out your Hot Spot (I have to do this twice a day) It makes me smile in the morning!

We have already been using our timers for 2 minutes and now 5 minutes. Today we are going to learn the power of just 15 minutes. You can do anything for 15 minutes. This is all about getting started and giving ourselves permission to stop when the timer goes off. You cannot restart the timer either. This is not a race to finish in 15 minutes either! The timer helps to keep us focused on what we are doing.

Now set your timer for 15 minutes and go gather up all the trash you can find to throw away and put it in the garbage can outside. Then set your timer for another 15 minutes and sit down and put your feet up and read a favorite magazine till the timer goes off (www.flylady.net).

So I'm off to finish my morning routine so I can have time to get my homework done!  Cheers and good luck!

Day 9 - Declutter a few minutes at a time.

To be honest I'm not really motivated today.  It took me half the day to get dressed and I chose to sleep in rather than get up.  School kicked my butt last night and when I got home all I wanted to do was lounge around.  Bad idea.  I didn't get to bed until almost midnight!  And today has just been an off day.  I don't feel very well so that isn't good.  But I digress.  So it is onto the days routine.

So we are still continuing everything that we learned from days 1-8 but we are adding a 5 minute rescue to our morning routine.

Here is FlyLady's lesson on decluttering
http://flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Declutter.asp

Good luck and I will be doing this one tomorrow morning as I am not getting around to anything today.  But hey my sink is still shiny!!!

Day 8 - Get a 3 ring binder and put paper in it.

Now I know you probably think I'm nuts but you will see I am not.  Over the last week my sink has stayed shiny, I've dressed to lace up shoes everyday and things are starting to come together even more. So just do  it!  Ever hear "There is a method to my madness."? Well this is pretty much a method and right now it just looks like madness or insanity.

So FlyLady breaks it down into morning and bedtime routines.  So here it is.

Morning Routine 

- Get up and get dressed to lace up shoes; fixing your hair and face
- Looking at your posted reminders in the kitchen and bathroom
- Going to Big Tent and reading messages
- Recognizing the negative voices and changing them; YOU ARE FLYing NOW!
- Put out your Hot Spots for 2 minutes 

Before Bed Routine 

- Keep your sink shining
- Lay out your clothes for tomorrow
- Put out your Hot Spot (I have to do this twice a day) It makes me smile in the morning! 

Over the last week we have been establishing our basic routines. As you establish habits, it will become easy to add another habit for you to practice. 

Today I want you to find an old three ring binder and just put some paper in it. Then at the top of one page write Morning Routine and on the top of another page write Before Bed Routine all in pencil. This is a working document; do not allow your perfectionism to interfere with the process. Now you can write your simple routines on each page. (www.flylady.net)


Remember....STOP BEING A PERFECTIONIST!  When you let that go things become easier and flow more smoothly!  Trust me I know first hand because I am a perfectionist and a control freak.  But I'm slowly learning to let the perfectionism go.  It has caused a lot of headache in my life in accomplishing things and I don't want that to be the example for my kids.  (By the way...first borns have a tendency to be perfectionists.)


So let me know how it goes.  2 minutes for a Hot Spot isn't hard and you can do a couple Hot Spots today.  I'll be doing my Hot Spot in my van today.  It just needs to warm up a little bit more because it is fuh-reezing!


Good Luck everyone.

Day 7 - Pick out your clothes.

Today before you go to bed, pick out your clothes and lay them out or hang them on your doorknob for tomorrow.  Also include your shoes that you will wear as well.

This one I struggle with.  I like to go straight to bed and lounge around in the morning.  So tomorrow, since it is also the start of a new semester, meaning I will be super busy all the time, I will make a conscious effort to not do any lounging and get up early.  SO I guess in all actuality I will be laying my clothes out for tomorrow.  Good thing I'm getting laundry done so I can feel good.

Now on to our list.  So far this is what we are doing:
- Getting Dressed to lace up shoes
- Keeping our sink shining
- Going to Big Tent and reading messages
- Looking at our posted reminders in the kitchen and bathroom
- Recognizing the negative voices; change them and FLY! 
- Put out your Hot Spot for 2 minutes; just pick one.


My Hot Spot for today was the kitchen. I threw away a couple of magazines and got my dishes put away.  Then I finished cleaning the sink and countertops and loaded dishes up.  


What's your Hot Spot for today going to be?  Remember to just pick one and not feel that you have to get it all done.  Do what you can in 2 minutes!  Let me know how you do.  I'd like to know!

Day 6 - Hot Spots

FlyLady defines a Hot Spot as

"an area, when left unattended will gradually take over. My favorite analogy is of a hot spot in a forest fire, if left alone it will eventually get out of hand and burn up the whole forest. This is what happens in our homes. If left unattended, the hot spot will grow and take over the whole room as well as making the house look awful. When you walk into a room, the hot spot is the first thing you see. Your eyes are locked on it. Over the years my hot spot has migrated. As a child it was a chair in my bedroom. I would pile it to the ceiling. Right now I have two hot spots in my home: the dining room table and the bed in the extra bedroom. The dining room table is a staging area. We put the unopened mail there, as well as any thing that needs to go to the basement. Some times you cannot see the top of the table. This is the first thing I see when I walk into the kitchen. Granted, the pile has only been there since last night, but if I don't deal with it first thing in the morning, it will collect many more items by evening. CLUTTER ATTRACTS CLUTTER. The Bed in the extra bed room is just the same. I use it as a place to put things that don't have a home. Do you have areas like this that continue to grow if left alone? Does the rest of the family see this as a place to put things when they do not want to put them where they belong? It is our job to NIP this in the bud. Get rid of that pile, find the surface underneath, and stop the Hot Spot from becoming a raging Clutter inferno! - FlyLady"

So now it is time to do that.  My Hot Spot is my office/craftroom.

So now this is what we are up to on day 6:

- Getting Dressed to lace up shoes
- Keeping our sink shining
- Going to Big Tent and reading messages
- Looking at our posted reminders in the kitchen and bathroom
- Recognizing the negative voices when you hear them and changing the words to be nice to you. That is what FLYing (Finally Loving Yourself) is all about.

New thing to add today is:

 Now I want you to set your timer for 2 minutes and lets practice putting out your Hot Spot. You don’t have to work till you have finished; just do what you can in 2 minutes. Put your bills in one place. This will keep you from having to search for them. (For me my bills are always in one place...they go from my purse to the office. LOL But from now on they will go straight to the office in my nifty bills binder I have)

How easy is that? So I'll be back in 2 minutes!

Ok I'm back.  Would you like to know what I got accomplished in 2 minutes?

3 soda cans trashed

hair accessories put back

office items stacked or put away

floor picked up

and trash taken out of the room.

Well that was really easy and very successful.  My computer desk is cleaned off and I like the feeling.

Now what Hot Spot will you take care of today?

Day 5 - Write down what you hear.

Yep.  Today is about fighting negativity. So when you have a negative thought creep into your mind...write it down and turn to yourself and turn those words into something positive.

Also continue what you have been doing...dressing up to lace up shoes, shining your sink, reading Big Tent messages, and reading your little post it notes around the house that remind of these three things.

Have a good day everyone!

Day 4 - Write these things down.

Get dressed to lace up shoes
Shine your sink
Go to Big Tent and read messages (if you are not part of FlyLady don't worry about this)

You can put these on post it notes all around your house.

I read my Big Tent messages at night when I'm putting the kids to bed.  The other two things have been really easy.  I just make sure the dishwasher is empty in the morning that way I can just load up dishes as I go and I wipe my sink out after I have used it.  That way if I forget to "Shine" it...it is still shiny.  Remember: One day at a time.  This is about making new habits and so you do have to take it slowly.  It isn't an overnight process.

Day 3 - Do what you have already done.

Yep.  Just continue to make your sink shine and dress up to your lace up shoes.  Today is a pretty easy day!

I'm liking this.  I feel very confident about all of this and am just taking it one step at a time.  I mean really that is all you can do!  Plus with 3 kids and starting school full time again on Monday I need the help.  Well everyone have a good day!

Day 2 - Get dressed to lace up shoes.

And so I did.

See

The theory behind this, especially for stay at home moms, is that you get dressed for success.  Well when you get dressed up to your lace up shoes you are ready for anything and if you decide to sit down or lay down it gives you that extra few seconds to stop and say to yourself "I can do one more thing" since lace up shoes are harder to get off.

I normally do this anyways because we pretty much have something scheduled each day so this one is easy for me!  How about you try it?

Day 1 - Go shine your sink

You heard me correctly.  Go shine your sink!  And that is what I did.  Here is the link (http://flylady.net/pages/begin_babysteps.asp) that shows you 31 beginner babysteps and it all starts with shining your sink.  So here is my sink!

Before

After

Big difference, eh?  And I will shine my sink (aka a windex shine) every night before I do my bedtime routine.

Yeah yeah yeah I know you think I'm some crazy lady now but just wait.  I won't be living in CHAOS anymore and I'm really excited for that!

31 days.

In 31 days I will (emphasis on will) be a more organized and sane person!  Hahaha!  All joking aside though I will.  I am doing 31 babysteps to a more organized less chaotic life.  And the best part is I started today.  I will have another posting with what day 1 is like.  I'm so excited!  I will post pictures with each that that will allow one.  Once again I'm wanting to provide inspiration for anyone (including me)!

So I promised this yesterday but

I fell asleep.  I mean I do have a 2 month old and I was tired so that is my excuse.  Anyways I was going to lay it all out so here we go.

Goals for 2011

• Workout everday 3 times a week!  I have had three kids now and things have changed.  My weight hasn't really been an issue (except when I was stressing about my husband while on deployment.  That is when I got my heaviest at 170!) But things have changed.  I'm currently 154 pounds, 5'7", and wear a size 10/12.  I now have hips and bigger and saggier boobs (thank you gravity)!  I'm not going to workout to lose weight as I don't care if I stay at 154 pounds or not.  I'm in it for tightening up my mid-section.  That is the only place I care about.  I guess I've been blessed with killer legs and nice arms and a butt that doesn't want to sag so this is the only place I want to work on.  Plus the benefits of a tight mid-section are better posture which inturn leads to a healthier back!  These are all things I need chasing 3 boys around.  Plus the endorphin release wouldn't be so bad.  
• Payoff the credit card.  If I can only do one thing this year this would be it.  And we are going to do it the Dave Ramsey way.
• Graduate college in July.  This is inevitable but none the less still a goal.  I would have been done a long time ago if I didn't switch my major 3 times!
• To stop living in CHAOS! This stands for Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome.  Now my house is fairly clean everyday but I want more. So thanks to FlyLady (www.flylady.net) I am working on my control journal.  I highly suggest you do it as well because if you are a SAHM you know how hard life can be.  And if I can get this control journal in order as well it will help tremendously especially if we decide to homeschool! 
• Attend church every Sunday regardless if my hubby is there.  This will be my biggest struggle as now Steve will have two drill weekends a month.  I'm going to need to rely on people who want to help me while there.  Good thing I'm motivated, right?
• Stay on my hubby's behind to get his classes done so he can get accepted into a commissioning program.  

So far these are my goals and I know there will be slip ups.  I want to do this to provide inspiration to anyone who needs it. Plus I now have something to be accountable to!  Cheers!