Day 5: Blogging Challenge

I remember as a young girl when I would be on a really good streak of writing in my diary. I was convinced I had to write every single day and keep it up. Of course, those streaks never lasted long and undoubtedly, I'd have a few entries that looked like this:

Dear Diary,


Nothing much really happened today, but I wanted to say hi.


Love,
Me


The need to write in my diary every night was definitely part of the perfectionist in me.

Working with Flylady has definitely helped me to tame my inner perfectionist. I no longer feel the need to write in my blog (or diary) every day. But on the other hand, my friend did challenge me. So I'd like to give you all an update on the cleaning and organizing of my home.

I started out my day like I didn't have a care in the world. That was why at around 9 am, a friend came by and found me in front of my computer in my pajamas. I quickly turned my brain on and asked her to stay. She said yes. So I threw on some clothes, went into my kitchen and had my friend park herself in a chair near me. I figured, as long as she's here, I can motivate myself to move.

It worked! I cleaned my entire kitchen, and folded the laundry! I was so proud of myself that I actually accomplished so much that I rewarded myself by taking my coupons and buying the books that I planned on buying this week.

Overall, it was a good day. I have a lot more to do, but I'll save something to do tomorrow :-)

P.S. This 30 day challenge is really putting a damper on my ability to come up with cute titles. If anyone has a clever title they'd like to see me use, put it in the comments.

Bye Bye Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday. I spent a wonderful day with my family doing nothing. Or at least almost nothing. I had great homemade food, birthday cupcakes (that pathetically, I made for myself), and a new book to read. I decided not to do any dishes, or anything that I didn't really want to do. And I truly had a great day.

But yesterday is over. Today is a new day, with a giant list of things that I need to accomplish.

Company is coming tomorrow. In addition to get the guest room completely ready, I also want my house to look welcoming. The look I've got going on now, with the mountains of dirty dishes and random things on every surface, is really not going to cut it.


Now fortunately for me, I had company over the weekend. Now most people might find that crazy since more company is coming tomorrow. But in fact, it helped me. I was able to motivate myself enough to clean a good chunk on Friday. In addition, I even got my laundry folded and put away.

But I still have mountains to do, and very limited time.

On the plus side, having company is sure to motivate me to write a variety of different blog posts.

I've got to stop procrastinating (yes, writing this blog IS procrastinating) and start going through my list.

Happy Flying!

Sleepless in the Sack

As a kid, I always heard the jokes about the worrisome mother. I never really felt like my mom was one of those. She wasn't the mom who made curfews or lots of rules. She never made any issues about where I was, or who I was with. I always figured that my mom simply didn't worry, and therefore, I never really got the joke.

I get it now.

As I'm writing this, it's 4:30 in the morning. I didn't just wake up. I've been awake for many hours. But I don't have trouble sleeping regularly. I go to sleep generally in the 10 PM hour, and I sleep until 6:15 every morning. It's a really good night's sleep and I always feel refreshed in the morning.

But tonight is different. And as a mom, I have gotten somewhat used to this. My seven year old daughter woke me up at around 1 AM and said that she couldn't sleep. So the first thing I did was let her cuddle with us. I assumed that we'd all be back asleep within minutes. (Or at least my husband would be).

While lying in my bed, I felt my daughter's arm next to mine. It was hot. Without even putting a hand to her forehead, I knew she was sick. The thermometer confirmed my suspicions. 102.5 - she was sick, all right!

I got up, got her some meds, a drink, and a bunch of kisses. Then I tucked her back in and she went to bed.

Now everyone is asleep except for me. Why am I still awake?

I have taken care of my daughter so she can fall back asleep. And I can't sleep.

I have checked on her again, in addition to her little brother, and still I can't sleep.

I have checked my email, facebook, and twitter.

I have caught up on all of my outstanding "Draw Something" games.

I have put in a load of laundry.

I have loaded and started the dishwasher.

I made 2 different long distance phone calls.

And I rested in my bed for 3 hours. Still I can't sleep.

I have become the mother that I never knew I would be - the mother that my mother has always been. And I finally understand her coffee addiction :-)

Lessons from a Toddler

My nephew is three years old. I know I'm a bit biased, but he really is one of the cutest people I know.

The other day, my sister shared a story about him that can motivate any flybaby.

When it was time for him to come out of the bath, the first thing he had to do was clean up his toys. Now, when we have to clean up in our own home, we end up singing the clean up song (made famous by Barney). But my nephew took his cleaning up to a whole new level. He made it into a game.



He took each toy individually and dance it over to the other side of the tub. It was his little way of saying goodbye to each toy.

Remember Mary Poppins' famous words? "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. We find the fun and, SNAP! The job's a game!" (I first blogged about Mary Poppins here).

At only three years old, and probably without ever seeing Mary Poppins, this little boy has so much that he can teach us.

Now I just have to get my butt into gear and turn cleaning my kitchen into a game!

Brace Yourself: I'm Blogging!

A few days ago, a friend of mine challenged me to a duel of sorts. A blogging duel. We have to blog for 30 days. Now, if you have been following my blog, you'll know that I'm not very consistent with my writing. Sometimes, I'll write twice a day, and other times, I can go a month with nothing.

This definitely posed a challenge for me, and stupidly, I agreed to it.

So here we are, day one of the challenge and thankfully, I have a lot to write about. But I'll try to spread it out so I don't use everything up today!

I've decided to use this blog to prepare you with what is going on with our lives right now. We have finished with Passover and all the cleaning that that entailed. However, as I've noticed, with holidays, it doesn't matter if you're neat. It only matters if you're clean. So here we are, post-Passover, and although my home was very clean, I still have a lot more work to do.

Company is coming. For two weeks. And if that wasn't enough, we are moving in two months. So now, I have to get my home ready for company, while simultaneously clearing things that need to be packed, organizing, and painting.

Yeah... this is gonna be fun.

The good thing about this challenge is that it will force me to actually move. (As opposed to what I was doing all morning which was lounging in my pajamas and eating cocoa pebbles).

So wish me luck as I get started on a month long journey of blogging, cleaning, and coping.