The norovirus is not fun by any stretch of the imagination. Anthony, Alexander and I were stricken down with this nasty beast, however, we are finally over the norovirus! .
Recently I have decided to restart my routines, and Flying, from scratch (well, almost from scratch).
When I first found FlyLady I was all gung-ho, enamored, and over-enthusiastic about it. After years of trying several other organizational systems, reading a plethora of books on home and office organization, time management, etc., and attending seminars on the same, I had not found anything that worked for me the way FlyLady does. FlyLady makes sense to my brain.
Like most newbies, I crashed and burned (I think we all have to go through this, then come back to it with new eyes). BabySteps is an integral part of Flying. This is something we need to internalize. Years ago, after my initial crash and burn, I started again, but I did not follow everything because "I knew better". Yet, my place was coming together and, quite honestly, it has never gotten as bad as pre-FlyLady days. I accepted what I liked about FlyLady and ignored what I did not like or did not do something because "I did not have the right tools" (perfectionist, anyone?).
For years I have fluttered around, bumped my butt on the ground several times, gave up on routines because I did not have the time for them, and just basically, went back to being unhappy.
When I was following FlyLady before, albeit, imperfectly, I had found peace. My family was happier. I was able to do my artwork. We had a nice meal on the table every night. We communicated with each other. Sure, the place was a disaster area, but I was working on it, no matter how slowly, and my family was the most important thing in my life (as it should be).
I need that peace back, for me, for my family, but mostly for me. So, I decided to start again, almost from scratch, and this time I would not let the perfection get in my way.
I started reading the FlyLady testimonials again (I forward the digest of FlyLady's BigTent posts to InstaPaper and I read it on my iTouch when I have a minute). I found Life with FlyLady blog. Maaike is a great inspiration as well.
From Maaike, I found the HomeRoutines app for the iPhone, iPad, and iTouch. This was the ideal companion I needed for my routines. Paper lists were not working for me, and computer lists were dependent on me logging in to my computer (which lead to being sidetracked with email and stuff). I tried other To-Do list apps but they were not quite right. This app is great for me because I can modify the heck out of it and it still works like I want it to. I carry it around with me as I get things done. It even has a timer built in that I can click for my 15 minutes without leaving the app.
One FlyLady thing I had not done before was the Swish and Swipe. I understood it was a good idea but I did not have the perfect container for my toilet brush. Instead we cleaned weekly. I also did not shine my sink daily, just now and again. Both these things are done daily now and it makes a HUGE difference.
Let me tell you, what a difference! When we were sick it was great to have a clean toilet to throw up in. And, when I did not do my sink daily and left dishes in it and around it, I really hated looking at it. This morning I was going to go Swish and Swipe and Anthony said to me "I've already swished the toilet." Wow, what a surprise. He said he has been swishing it every time he goes in the bathroom because he loves how nice and sparkly-clean it is. I had no idea. Wow!!!
Now that I have set my routines, I am ready to get back into creating artwork. I have so many ideas and am very excited to be back to art. Thank you FlyLady!
