Crazy is my New Normal

It's so easy to forget about projects. We always start things with the best of intentions and then they fall to the wayside... I guess this blog is very much like that. I started it like I had started all of my diaries as a little girl. I was determined to write something almost every day. To motivate myself to keep a clean house. Guess what... Life happened.

When I last wrote, I was in the process of moving. We moved. Thankfully, it's been a wonderful move and we're now living in the same place for over 3 years (almost a record for us!) We've gone from two to four kids. I've had surgery. I've learned how to sew. And I've started getting cleaning help.

The Flylady  always says, "You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?" and she's right. One of the reasons I hadn't written anything on my blog is because I felt like there was too much in my life to catch up on. But the fact is, if I would stop getting hung up on what's holding me back and just write, then I wouldn't be behind.

So here I am. My house is a mess. My kids are crazy. But I'm not behind. I'm right where I'm supposed to be. And I'm enjoying every second of it.

Vacation!

Yes, you read that right. After a very long week with viruses, chicken pox, and a serious case of the "blahs", we are on vacation!

It's funny, but all I keep thinking right now is, why in the world am I writing a blog post? I'm on vacation!!! But here I am, trying to stick to my commitment.

I'm only a few hours into my vacation, and I have to say, the Flylady got it right again. You know how she always tells us to get dressed to shoes? Well, because I was going on vacation today, I took extra care how I look. I have to say, I've never felt better. And it's funny since I got rid of most of my grungy clothes, but there was an extra skip in my step because I cared today, just a little bit more. And it doesn't mean that I accomplished more in my home today. But it means that instead of collapsing in the hotel room, I managed to walk for hours. And I never wanted to stop.

Anyways, I'm going to leave this post short so I can get back to vacationing. But I'll report back tomorrow!

Happy Flying!

I Can't Help You - I'm Busy Procrastinating

This chicken pox thing is really taking it's toll on me.

When I first started this blogging challenge, on one hand I was completely nervous. On the other hand, I knew that by signing up, I'd be ensuring that my cleaning would get done. I knew that these 30 days would be the best my home has ever looked.

I was wrong. Chicken Pox has a way of changing things for everybody.

While I'm so happy that the only symptoms my son has are the spots all over his body, it's no fun having a kid completely stuck at home who feels totally fine. He's going a little stir crazy. And he's stirring up a lot of messes with him.

So, I need to watch him like a hawk. He has decided today, to test the laws of gravity. Let's just say that there have been many injuries today.

I have not been able to leave his side. And I am completely wiped out.

If only he would take a nap, I might be able to wash my dishes from the weekend. Or do some laundry. Or even make dinner.

But I can't do any of those things. And by the time he goes to bed, I'm ready to sleep as well.

So instead of pushing myself to get things done, I have decided that the only way to keep my sanity this week, is by procrastinating.

Yes, you read that right. My plan for the next couple of days is to procrastinate.

Life threw me a few curve balls this week. I'm just trying to roll with the punches.

Mama Said There'll be Days Like This

This post is dedicated to one of my loyal readers. She's also known as my sister (so she has to be a loyal reader!)

When reading of my troubles with the chicken pox, she quoted this song in her comment. Since then, I have not been able to get the song out of my head. I've decided that if it's going to be stuck in my head, it needs to be stuck in all of yours as well.

Today was one of those days that Mama said we'd have. One kid was stuck home with the chicken pox. I (stupidly?) allowed another kid with the chicken pox to come over and have a play date. On top of it all, I didn't sleep well last night.

So what have I done today? Nothing. Didn't wash a single dish. Didn't make any food. Didn't do any laundry. Didn't clean up any toys.

On second thought, Mama didn't warn me about these days. She prayed they wouldn't happen!

My Calendar, My Life

I've decided to use today to share with you how I organize my life. As much as I've always been a slob, underneath all the mess, I've always been quite organized. Flylady recently partnered with Cozi to make lives so much simpler (including my own!)

Now, in case you're wondering, I was not asked to share this with you, nor am I getting paid to do so. However, I needed something quick to post today, and thought this would be the perfect time to introduce this to you.

Since this video has been made, the site has been improved to include a meal planning system. That new system has actually been a lifesaver for me.

I encourage you to take a look at the video and maybe get inspired to re-organize your lives as well.

To sign up, click here.

My Born-Organized Sister

For those of us in the Flylady world, the term Born-Organized (or BO for short) stands for all the people that we hate. (And at the the same time, they are the people that we secretly wish to be). We all have one in our lives. It could be a parent, sibling, spouse or friend. For me, it's my sister.

As a little girl, she would drive me completely up the wall. We shared a room until I was seven. And as she is six years older than me, she was always the boss. She completely controlled our room. And I did everything in my power to make the room "my own" (read: mess).

She used to bug me about cleaning my toys, straightening up the closet, and getting rid of extra hangers.

As we got older, her "BO-ness" spilled over into her studies. She was an incredible student, and unfortunately for me, she set the bar way too high.

I grew up in her shadow. And even though I ultimately grew taller than her, I always felt like I could never follow in her footsteps. Guess what - I didn't. I became me instead :-)

The funny thing with Flylady is that it has taught me more about myself - things that I never realized until now. Things that make me unique. And I think I've finally grown into the Mom that I've wanted to be for a while now.

Now I don't want you to think that by writing this now means that it took me this long to realize this. I just am running out of things to write in the month long adventure...

Oy... what was my point again?

Oh yeah. Being born-organized is not something to strive for. We're either born that way or we're not. And if I were born organized, I think I would miss all my eccentricities that come with being me.

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.

Lazy Days of.... March?

I'm terrible. I wrote two blog posts this week. The first was to motivate myself to get my butt in gear. The second was to prove to you guys that I actually achieved my goal for the day.

Guess what I've done since then... 

If you guessed nothing, you'd be right. 

Hmmm.... maybe now that I think about it, it wasn't quite that dramatic. I did manage to wash all the dishes on Friday. In addition, I managed to cook a few things that I had in the freezer. I also managed to give my friend a haircut, bake some bread and taught another friend to knit.

Wow. I guess I should blog more often. When I write it all out like that, it makes the moments of vegging out seem well deserved! (Almost!)

So what are my goals for tomorrow? I've got to wash the dishes, start up the laundry, and as a special bonus, I've got to clean my room.

But first things first.... I must get a good night's sleep and then start my day on the right foot.

And then hopefully, I will live up to my name: The Flying Penguin :-)

Driving Myself Crazy

I'd like to tell you all a little story. Once upon a time in a galaxy known as New York, my husband and I decided to uproot our family and move to Israel. For the most part, this move was not unlike the zillions of other moves we had done in the past. There were however a few noticeable exceptions. Converting our drivers' license was definitely one of those differences.

This was not the first move we had made that forced us to change our licenses. Our moves from New York to California (and back again) also required us to make the change. 

To fully appreciate this saga, let me take you back to when I was 16 and I first got my driver's license. The standard procedure in New York was to take a written test to acquire a learner's permit, and then a road test to get your license. I was lucky (maybe not that lucky in hindsight) that the DMV was conducting an experiment with a new kind of written exam. There were five questions. All the questions were regarding road signs. I got all the questions right. And I didn't even have to crack open a book! (Imagine that! Of course they ultimately went back to their original way of testing when a class of third graders passed this exam as well!!!)

After having my permit for three months, I passed the road test. 

Let's fast forward to our move to California. I needed to convert my New York license to a California one. The procedure was simple. I just needed to pass the written test and I'd be a California driver. So I went to my local DMV and fortunately for me, it was tiny with almost no foot traffic. I sat down with my exam, took the test, handed it in, and failed. I was so not okay with that. Thankfully because I was the only customer (and maybe because I took the time to make sure my makeup looked good that morning), the clerk allowed me to retake the test that minute.

I passed.

Fast forward another bunch of years and another bunch of moves and we've found ourselves in Israel having to transfer our licenses again. This time, I had to take a road test. My husband passed on his first try. I, unfortunately, was not so lucky. On my first try, the examiner failed all the women that day. On my second try, I consistently drove 10 km an hour too fast.  (My mistake... whoops!)

This is where I got into trouble. After failing the road test two times, I was required to take a written test. (Which is no simple feat). And after living here for one year, I was no longer able to drive using my New York license.

It's two years since I first started taking the written test and for the most part I behaved. I only drove if it was absolutely necessary or if I was staying local for carpools, grocery shopping and doctor visits. But two weeks ago, I got stopped by a cop. He threatened me with a ticket, a court appearance, and taking my car away. Thankfully, being a girl, I was able to turn on the waterworks and I cried my way out of everything. I promised him I wouldn't drive again until I had my license. 

The following day, I went to take the written test again. It was my ninth attempt. I had been studying all weekend. I had completely ignored my children for days. But thankfully, it all paid off and I passed the test. One test down, one more to go.

You've probably been reading this post thinking what in the world this has to do with housekeeping. And even more, what it has to do with the goal I set for myself yesterday. Well, let me explain.

It's two weeks later and I am completely housebound. It's very depressing. I can't take carpool. I can't take kids to their appointments. I can't go to the grocery store. I can't even take big walks with the kids since a cop stopped me for walking (saying he thought it was too dangerous for me to have the kids on the road...) So I've been staying home. I've been staying in pajamas. And I've been staying out of every room that has needed my attention. 

I had decided yesterday that enough was enough and it was time to do something other than stay in my beds with books and movies. I needed to get up in the morning, get dressed and have a regular day - even if I never went outside.

So I did.

Granted, I only managed to get myself dressed at 10 am, but I did get dressed. I did two loads of laundry. I emptied and then reloaded and ran the dishwasher. I washed another pile of dishes. I straightened up the living room. And I made myself a list of everything that needs to happen before Passover comes along.

I've decided that even though I can't yet leave my house, I no longer have to be driving myself crazy knowing I can't leave. If I take a few minutes every day, I'll be able to live in my own home, and enjoy it.

Missed Me?

So have you missed me? Well, my house sure has. In the past many months, I've barely blogged. I had good reasons not to blog. But I have to say, somehow, the blogging is a direct correlation to the actual cleaning. So.... if I haven't blogged in about three months... Well, let's just say I've got a lot of laundry. (And that's putting it mildly).

I was thinking I should start off with the excuses. I mean, you all, my readers, deserve to know why I've been neglecting my chores. But then I thought better of it. While some excuses are completely ridiculous, the fact of the matter is, that's all they are - Excuses.

So let's get into some of the big stuff here. We've got three big events coming up in the not so distant future.

The first, (and also the soonest): is Passover. It's coming in a little over three week's time and this will be the first time we'll be home for the holiday.

The second: we're having out of town company staying with us for two weeks. (This company tends to be pretty critical of my housekeeping skills).

The third, and most major event: We're moving again.

That's right.... AGAIN.

I'm sure some of you are reading this and thinking, "Didn't they just move?" Yeah, we did. This will be our 11th home in 9 years. I know.... I can barely stand it myself.

Yet, while the idea of moving again has me wanting to throw up, the reality of it is scaring me less than it ever has. I have only one reason why. Flylady.

I'm actually in pretty decent shape! Now granted, my kitchen is a disaster zone, I've got a mountain of both clean and dirty laundry (though not in the same place), and I haven't washed my floors in a really long time, but if I actually take the 15 minutes in each room and devote myself to straightening up, my house would be in fantastic shape! And the 15 minutes is generous.

How awesome is that???? 15 minutes to do the dishes, 15 minutes to fold the laundry, 15 minutes to straighten up the living room, and 15 minutes to wash my floors. That's it. One hour and my house looks close to perfect! (I purposely left out the bedrooms and bathrooms...)

That is just unreal to me! I can devote one hour to my home! That's nothing!

Now, I know you're probably wondering, why in the world am I sitting here writing this instead of actually spending the time to do it right now. I have a good reason. It's really late at night and I'm falling asleep. But I WANT to do it. And that is why I'm blogging right now. I want to be held accountable to all of you. Instead of staying in pajamas all day (like I've been doing all week) I want to get up early tomorrow morning, get dressed, put on a smile and start my day. But tomorrow won't be any different if I don't put this out there.

I miss the peace and calm that my home can be when I'm flying. Tomorrow morning, I will dust off my wings and report back to you.

Master of Disguise

I remember as a teenager, I was the first in my class to have internet. I remember the night we all gathered around the computer as my Dad was setting up screen names for each of us. It was so early on, that we didn't even think to have original screen names. We used our first names with a single initial for our last names. We didn't even have to add any numbers to the end because we were using America Online before many people even had computers. It was a toy. We used the internet for trading jokes, going into chat rooms, and instant messaging - mostly with strangers.

A few years passed, and I started using the internet for things like research, and homework. I would email my friends and family. I even occasionally read the news, and surfed the web.

Slowly, the internet, the people using it, and the world around us started to change. I've noticed that more and more people have been using the internet anonymously. Meaning, that they have created fake twitter and facebook accounts so they can interact with whomever they choose, but without anyone knowing who they are.

They are using  mask - hiding behind their computers and afraid to show us who they are.

I started this blog anonymously. I was afraid of people seeing what I would write about them, and didn't want anyone to be hurt or angry with me. But the fact is, that nothing I write on here is a secret. If I have a secret, you can be darn sure that I wouldn't publish it on the internet for the world to see.

My blog is like my home. It's not perfect in it's appearance. It's not even all organized and put away.But it's all me. And I'm proud of that.

From Falling to Flying

I'd like to tell you about my day. But to fully appreciate it, I need to rewind to two days earlier.

Monday:

The lake

I had decided that I had had enough of moping around in my house and missing my husband. It was time to start exercising again, start taking care of the laundry, and the dishes, and generally, start feeling like a human being again. I had a GREAT day! I went for a walk around the most beautiful lake in my town. It was completely invigorating. But that wasn't enough. I went home, started straightening up. I threw a load of laundry into the machine, and started cleaning up the living room. I decided I really wanted to get these recent 5 pounds back off, so I pulled out an exercise dvd and started to work out. Unfortunately, I have bad knees so the squats were killing me. But I powered through them. The biggest problem, was my sciatica. Mid squat, my sciatica decided to cripple me momentarily, and I collapsed. I decided then that I had probably had enough exercise for the day and I called it quits.

Later in the day, my thighs started to bother me, but that didn't faze me. It should have.

Tuesday:

I couldn't move. I cancelled everything I had for the day and stayed in bed. My legs were killing me.

Wednesday:

I was still in a lot of pain, but decided that it wasn't quite so bad. I felt that the best thing for my muscles, was to work out again. So I mustered up all the strength I could and went down to the lake. I felt that was the easiest walk as it is all flat. I met a friend down there and we decided to work out together. As our routine was coming to a close, I did the worst thing possible. I fell.

I had scabbed my knee, twisted my ankle, and worst of all, I had pulled my already sore thigh muscles.
OW!!!!

I went home. I was in loads of pain. Yet all I could think about was how badly things needed to get done in my house. My daughter had no clean shirts for school. We had no clean dishes, and I had no idea what I was going to serve my kids for dinner.

I took one look at my kitchen and wanted to cry. So instead, I took a picture.

It was completely disgusting. Everything was dirty. How in the world did I let it get so bad? But I knew I couldn't work in the kitchen in the pain I was in. So I took some pain killers and went to rest for a few hours. 

Believe it or not, I began to feel a little bit better. I decided that I needed to use whatever energy I had and clean up my kitchen. I did a little bit at a time. 15 minutes here, 15 minutes there. I put a load of laundry in the washing machine. I loaded and ran the dishwasher. I put up a pot of soup for dinner. And before I knew it, my kitchen looked like this:

HOORAY!!!!!!

Now granted, I didn't take a picture of the other side of my kitchen.... but as they say, "Rome wasn't built in a day". And there's always tomorrow.

Sleep or Sweep?

It happens to all of us. We wake up in the middle of the night, either from a kid, or a dream, or the thunder. And you can't sleep. Do you lie in bed praying that you can fall back into a deep slumber? Or do you get up?

It happened to me last night. I woke up to the sounds of my 3 year old coughing. It was 3 am. I was not finished sleeping. I didn't fall back asleep. I stayed in bed with him until he fell back asleep. Guess what happened next? I was awake. And I was awake for the day.

Whenever something like this happens to me, I always debate whether I should stay in bed and hope beyond all hopes that I'll fall back asleep, or should I get up and clean the kitchen, or throw in a load of laundry. I always count any middle of the night housework I do as bonus work. Because really I should have been sleeping.

So tonight while awake at the weirdest hours of the night, I chose to play on my computer. I checked my email, and surfed the web, and chatted with friends in other time zones.

I guess I know what this means. Its going to be a coffee kind of day.

Tuna Dreams and Popcorn Wishes

I've been camping out at home lately. Aside from getting the kids to and from school, I've been avoiding going outside. Not necessarily because I didn't want to go outside, but rather because I wanted to stay inside. The internet kept calling me and I found myself lost in its web. I was glued to the TV and ignoring real life.

My home was beginning to suffer the consequences.

My friend stopped by yesterday for a quick visit. She asked me if I had made tuna fish. I said I had. Though in my mind, I didn't actually remember making tuna that recently. I just chalked it up to being tired that I couldn't remember what I had eaten when.

I made it out of my house this morning. I took care of some groceries, went to the library, and got gas. I finally felt like a human being again. That is, until I walked into my house. The smell of tuna was overwhelming. Until I realized that it wasn't tuna at all. It was burnt popcorn.

Two nights ago, I had movie night with my kids. I made a batch of popcorn. I burnt it. I made a second batch of popcorn. I burnt that too. My house stunk.

The following day, I didn't leave my house. So guess what -- the house still stunk.

By the time this morning rolled around I decided that I couldn't take it anymore. So I started to clean my kitchen. I even had the kids help me- they chose to clean the floor with magic erasers! We scrubbed and scrubbed until the kitchen looked beautiful!

And guess what -- it STILL smells like burnt popcorn!

Oh well.... At least it looks pretty!

I Feel Pretty

I bumped into a friend today who seemed so surprised that I looked so nice today. She asked me, "Why do you look so nice today -- your husband isn't even home!"

Let me explain....

I've been avoiding doing housework for the past couple of days. As a matter of fact, I've been avoiding doing any kind of work for the past couple of days. I haven't done dishes, laundry (except for emergency laundry), any housework, or more than a couple hours of my actual job. As a matter of fact, I've done a lot of reading, writing, watching TV and crocheting.

I decided yesterday that I needed to do something productive today, because despite every good intention I had the past couple days, nothing really happened. So, when I woke up this morning, I put my best foot forward, which is always harder when my husband is away for business...

Thanks to flylady, I've learned to get dressed every day in clothing that makes me feel good. It doesn't mean that I never lounge in my pajamas, or throw on a sweatshirt. But it means that I wear clothing that fits, that I like wearing, that isn't covered in holes, and that makes me feel pretty.

So this morning, I got dressed in my normal attire, as if I'm going to work, even though I work from home. But the finishing touch was a very special necklace that I recently received.

A few weeks ago, we had gone away for the weekend and met a couple staying at the same hotel. We started talking. We talked and talked and talked. We really had a wonderful time getting to know them. At the end of the weekend, an amazing thing happened -- she gave me an old necklace of hers. It was special to her. She had gotten it years ago on a trip to Hawaii. Now, she wanted me to have it because of the wonderful impression I had made on her.

My "flying" necklace :-)

I cried when receiving this very special gift. What an incredible gift I received that night -- it was more than just the necklace, it was the sentiment that went with it.

I put on that very necklace this morning.

I feel pretty. I feel inspired. And I feel motivated.

A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down...

Tonight, as my husband is away on a business trip, I decided to have movie night with my kids. Choosing a movie for them proves to be very tricky as DD7 doesn't like anything scary, and DS3 likes all things Buzz Lightyear and Barney. And of course, as I was planning on watching with them as well, I had to be mildly interested. So I chose Mary Poppins. 

We finished the popcorn as we got to the famous cleaning-of-the-nursery scene, at which point, DS3 decided he had had enough of this, and went to find something to play.

I remember the first time I showed this movie to my now 21 year old niece. When we finally got to this scene, she couldn't contain her laughter, and as laughter is contagious, we were both rolling. 

Since that day, I think this scene has remained my favorite. Whenever I watch it, the memories of that laughter just come flooding back and I can't help but chuckle.

Of course, since starting up with flylady, I always watch that scene a little differently. Two thoughts usually run through my mind: 1- why can't I just snap my fingers and everything gets put away? and 2- "With every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and SNAP! The job's a game!" That statement is as true in the movie as it is in my life.

Fun comes in different varieties. In Mary Poppins, the fun actually was just snapping your fingers. In my life, snapping could be a variety of things. When I'm working by myself, it could be listening to music, or wearing my special apron. With my kids, its setting the timer and making clean-up into a race!

Somehow, the magic of Mary Poppins has really extended into my home this evening. My kids quickly helped me clean up knowing that movie night was the prize and after the excitement of it had died down a bit, and Mary Poppins was singing to the children to go to sleep, DS3 went to lie down as well
.

Thank you Mary Poppins for inspiring and entertaining us for years! (And for putting our kids to sleep!)