FlyLady BabyStepping Day 5

Here's our 5th BabyStep!  Remember what we're doing so far:

1) Getting Dressed to lace up shoes
2) Keeping our sink shining
3) Read your FlyLady emails (or check the Launch Pad)
4) Looking at our posted reminders in the kitchen and bathroom 

Are you hearing any nagging, negative voices in your head? Things like you’ll never be able to do this or that you don’t deserve a clean, happy, inviting home. Take a piece of paper and write down what you hear. Then, turn those ugly words around and say something nice to yourself to negate the ugly words that they said. You deserve happiness!

Today let's be mindful to recognize any negative thoughts that may pop up or fester, and push them aside, replacing them with truth and love.

I almost shrugged today off.  Kind of like, "yeah, yeah, be nice to myself..." as I rolled my eyes.  It's not a step or a task that can necessarily be checked off the To Do list.  But truthfully, I imagine we could all stand to be reminded of this time and again.

I know for me I keep thinking, It's only a matter of time before this motivation fades and my house falls apart again.  Which is probably true, let's be real. :)  That's part of life... but it's not something for me to dwell on.  And it's not something I should point my feet towards--or that will be the direction I end up going (and probably a whole lot sooner!).  Instead I should cheer myself on.  Be thankful for what I've done so far.  And know that--even if just for today--I can bless my family in this way.

So here is how I will defend my position when that thought sneaks in again...  Each time I get back into FlyLady again, it benefits that season of life in a unique way that it hasn't before.  The more I practice these routines and habits--even just for a time--the more I continue to grow, and the more these things become ingrained in me.  It continues to shape me to be a better wife, momma, and home-manager, so for today I'll be encouraged. :)  And I'll continue to pray that God will help me become more like Him--that the Holy Spirit will fill me with joy, patience, and self-control.  (Man the more I think about it, household stuff seriously has to be one of the best ways that can challenge and sharpen us to be more like Him, huh??)

My new mantra will be: "Today I choose to bless my family.  I can do this." :)

So what about you, what words do you hear, and what will your new mantra be??




P.S.  If you want to do today's Zone Mission in the Kitchen, we're sweeping and mopping!

Here's what FlyLady says:

Dear Friends:

Today is our last day in the Kitchen!! For today I want you to grab your broom and your mop. Sweep your kitchen floor really well and then mop. There are several ways to mop a kitchen floor and no real wrong way. Hot soapy water and wipe. There is no "perfect" mop and no "perfect" way to do it. Just sweep, mop and you're done! 

I wish I could say I have the secret weapon of mops, but I really don't.  If you have one you love, let me know!  I like to make my cleaning as simple as possible, so I've just used the Swiffer Wet Jet.  I just bought refills and noticed they came out with an "Extra Power Pad," so we'll see if I notice a difference.  Haha, oh the excitement...

FlyLady BabyStepping Day 3

Today I woke up to a shiny sink. (BabyStep 1)
I got dressed to my shoes (including a shower--victory!). (BabyStep 2)
Had a fun time visiting with some friends.
And now (while Ellie naps) I'm sitting down to read some things on the FlyLady Launch Pad (BabyStep 3!)  This is what it looks like:

The fast version is to click on the Flight Plan.  But to walk y'all through it and to get reacquainted with FlyLady's methods, I took the scenic route. :)

So first I clicked on "Missions."  This week's Zone is The Kitchen--"the heart of our home," as FlyLady calls it.  And today's mission is actually... wait for it.... scrubbing your kitchen sink faucet!  So if you've already done BabyStep Day 1 with me, we're in the clear!  (If not, grab a tooth brush and butter knife and have at it!)  So we could technically skip today's mission... Or we can take a look at yesterday's mission, which was: scrubbing down the counter-tops.  Here's what FlyLady says about this Zone Mission:

Dear Friends:

Your mission for today should you choose to accept it: Scrub down
your counter-tops. I don't mean to just wipe a rag across them! I
mean you get some hot soapy water and you wipe down the counters from
front to back and side to side. Yes, you have to move the stuff on
the counters to do this. DON'T take everything off at one time and
then plan to put it all back again, I promise you will get
sidetracked and then you will all email me crying that it is all my
fault!! LOL! You just move your toaster (or coffee pot or whatever
this is an example here! :) over to one side and wipe down the
counter, then move over a foot or so, move aside what is there and
wipe down some more and so on. We are not marathon cleaning the
kitchen here, just getting all the crumbs and junk that seems to
build up behind and under things. Have fun! Don't obsess! Enjoy!

I just love how Marla reminds us to not take everything off at once.  Which of course means moving something aside, wiping, then drying, then setting it back--but it's totally worth it so that if we get sidetracked, things aren't all over the place.  And I love her reminder to not obsess.  Just do this quickly and simply and be done. :)  Easy enough, right?!

Then I looked at today's Daily Focus.  Wednesday is FlyLady's Anti-Procrastination Day.  (Ugh. My Goliath...)  Here's what FlyLady wants us to know about this daily focus:

Each and every Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day for FlyLady. This is a day that we take care of things we’ve been putting off. You can use this day to take care of any procrastinating you’ve done. You can do things like:
-Make doctors appointments
-Finish that report for work
-Work on a project with your child
-Clean the fish tank

You can do whatever you need to take care. This is the day to stop putting things off.
“Procrastination is the death of us, our relationships, and our peace!” ~ FlyLady

I thought to myself, hmmm, what have I been putting off. (uhh yikes, what haven't I??)  Writing our Christmas letter?  Returning a fake GHD flat iron I bought online (big mistake)?  Returning EMAILS galore?  I'm going to pick three things that I know I can actually accomplish today that I've been procrastinating on, and I'm going to DO THEM.  Are you with me??

K, I'm committing.  Here are my three (feel free to post yours in the comments below!  when we put it out there it helps us stay accountable!)

1) Write to fake flat iron seller.  Yup that's what I call him.  (BTW I ended up getting a CHI G2 on sale at Ulta and am loving it.)
2) Write a rough draft for our Christmas letter.
3) Call Parents magazine back (yup, they contacted me about Little Sign of Mine before Thanksgiving and I still haven't found time/keep forgetting to call back!)

Okay, so that's that.  On to... today's FLY Kid's Challenge!  Now I'm pretty sure these are meant to be read by and performed solo by our little ones.  However since Peanut is 2 1/2 (would that make her a... gnat?) LOL ;) I'm going to come alongside her and teach her these habits, accommodating them to her abilities.  Here is what FlyLady writes for today's Kid's Challenge:

We are taking a walk! Let's walk through our houses looking for 10
things that belong in our rooms and put them away.  If you have left
any shoes, jackets, school things, toys or books around the
house,now is the time to return them to their home.  When you leave
your things around the house, it makes the house look messy. Let's
grab up the things that belong in our rooms and take them there.

I am willing to bet that Mom or Dad will be so surprised and so proud
of you!

Have Fun!

If you have kids that can read this and do it on their own, it might be fun to make a milk carton mailbox and print these slips for them to get as a surprise each day in their mail box.  Or you could put it in their note jar!  What's a note jar you ask?  Hmm, that just gave me another blog post idea... :)

So for today's Kid's Challenge with Ellie, I'm thinking I'll go on a "treasure hunt" with her, and ask her to help Mommy find 10 treasures (books/toys, etc.) that belong in her room, or in her toy boxes.  If she has a hard time with that, I'll try putting gold doubloons next to 10 of her things.  (P.S. Anyone else think they were called doublooMs before seeing Jake and the Neverland Pirates with subtitles on??)  This could also be a great time to practice counting to 10 (in sign language, too!  Learn how in this Signing Time clip).

Okay that's all for today's BabyStep!  Let's sum up, shall we?
-Scrub kitchen counters (or faucet)
-Do 3 things that I've procrastinated on
-Help little one put away 10 things
-Keep sink shining

We can do this!  And if you instagram your progress, feel free to use these hashtags: #flylady #babysteppingwithlittlesign

I'm proud of y'all!  Shout out to Alison, Krista, Shannon, and Alisa for "fluttering" along! :)

Confession | Flylady BabyStepping Day 2

Confession... I totally didn't shine my sink yesterday!  But in true FlyLady fashion I will not get discouraged and give up.  It IS getting done today. :)  Along with BabyStep Day 2 (it's an easy one)!  Want to see what I was tackling yesterday instead?  Okay, you asked for it...

Yup.  CHAOS.  It felt SO GOOD attacking all this and waking up today to a clean living room!  And now I feel like I can spend the time shining my sink when I have a much more peaceful view as I work. :)

Do you take pictures of your cluttered closets or messy rooms?  I love taking before and after shots.  They motivate me, and they're fun to show the husband when he gets home from work! :D  I'll share the "after" picture today, along with my shiny sink "before and after!"

Update later same day:

Here are the After pictures!

Today I wanted to share a few more cool things about FlyLady with you, and then you'll find BabyStep 2 at the bottom of the post.

1) One is that her daily emails include a Fly Kids Challenge to help us teach our little ones how to pick up after themselves as well.  I'm so excited to start doing this with Ellie!  You can sign up for her emails here (again, remember to do the "FlyLady Lite" option so you don't get 10 emails a day!).

Here's an example of today's Fly Kids Challenge:
Today we are going to do something that might be hard, but that is okay. You can do this! You are going to go look in your rooms for 11 toys that are either broken or missing pieces that need to be thrown away. Get a trash bag and toss them!

Things that you do not use because they are broken is clutter. Clutter is made up of the things that you have that you do not love or use. When you get the things that are broken, missing pieces out of
your room, there is less to pick up and clean. This gives us more time to PLAY!! YEAH!

2) The other thing I love is her Flying Through the Holidays Control Journal.  It's 25 pages to help you organize recipes, menus, gifts, calendar dates, travel plans, etc.  So helpful!!  Start a FlyLady folder on your computer and save this to it.  Another thing to copy and paste into a document to save is this Clutter Free Gift Ideas List for Preschoolers, School Aged Kids, Teenagers and College Kids.  Love the idea of asking grandparents for a membership to a zoo or for classes!

3) The last thing I wanted to note is how FlyLady breaks down different habits to focus on each month, or different zones in your house to focus on cleaning each week.  She includes missions for you to accomplish in her daily emails, or you can read about them on the launch pad.

December's Focus: Pampering yourself  "Take time for you! You are so worth it!"
This Week's Zone: Kitchen mainly--but can add Back porch/ Laundry room/ Pantry
Tuesday's Focus: Planning (meals, date night, prescription refills, family activities...) then Play!


And now for Day 2 of FlyLady's BabySteps... Getting dressed to your shoes!

If you're a stay-at-home mom you will especially appreciate this one.  This is one of FlyLady's habits that always stands out in my mind (even when I'm not consistently following FlyLady).  It consists of popping out of bed and getting yourself ready for the day FIRST thing.  And it really makes a big difference for me--because on my rare off days (where I don't have classes or anything else going on), my tendency is to lounge at home all day in my comfies and not leave unless my awesome friends call me up and get me out of the house. :)  Or--another confession--on a really lazy day I can even forget to brush my teeth (until the husband is on his way home and I quickly go brush haha!)

So getting dressed to my shoes is a huge help for me (when I actually do it!).  Something that motivates me is knowing that the day I don't "dress to shoes" will inevitably be the day that the mailman comes by with something for me to sign, or our apartment's maintenance has to stop in for something.

And for those of us with little ones--a trick that has worked for me is keeping a box of Cheerios and a snack cup in our bedroom to hold Ellie over.  I'll bring her milk cup in from the kitchen along with a banana, and then I'll pop a show on while I quickly wash my face, brush my teeth, and put in my contacts.  Or I can even hop in the shower since I can see Ellie on my bed from our bathroom.  Baby Signing Time has literally been a LIFESAVER for this morning time!!  And even though I can't hear from the shower, it's super fun to see what song is on by what Ellie is signing.  And I can even sign along with her so I'm still interacting with her!  It's also been awesome that Ellie can sign to me while I'm showering to tell or ask me something.  Just love it.. :)

Have you gotten "dressed to your shoes" today? (Note: remember that whenever saying this phrase, your hygiene routine, hair, and face is included in this.)  If not, it's not too late!


Here's what FlyLady says about today's BabyStep:

Beginner BabySteps: Day 2
Today I want you get up and get dressed to lace-up shoes when you first get up in the morning. This means fix your hair and face, too.

In order for us to change ourselves, we need to remind ourselves of what we are doing. I did this with yellow sticky notes throughout my home to guide me through my day. This was the beginning of my home control journal. I had little notes on my bathroom mirror to remind me to get dressed to shoes.

Shine your sink before you go to bed. (Remember that this just means that after doing dishes you'll make sure all the food and soap is rinsed out, sponge is wrung out, and sink is dried with a dish towel.)