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.

Of Parenting and Pox

I was going to write this whole long post today about the benefits of going back to basics. But life has a habit of getting in the way.

Today, life is defined as two kids, one with flu like symptoms, and the other, with something that looks a lot like chicken pox.

I'm pooped.

I started my day with such vigor. I made a batch of bread this morning. I also made a quadruple batch of banana muffins (thanks to a sale on bananas!)

And then kid #1 got sick. I spent all day with her. I was exhausted by the time the kids were ready for bed. Unfortunately, it was while changing kid #2 into pajamas when I noticed the unmistakable spots.

So... I guess we'll get back to basics tomorrow. And I can be thankful for whatever I did manage to accomplish today (even though I left myself with the mountain of all mountains of dishes).

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.

Why Not Today?

So I realize that posting a video is a little bit of a cop-out, but at least I'm posting something, right?

Anyways, enjoy this cute little video. The music kind of annoyed me, but the cartoons were perfect :-)

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!