Day 5

Today's "sticky" is to write down all the negative voices you hear and then tell yourself positives to negate them.

My negatives have been: I just get so busy, I'll get to it later, there's too much to do, I'll be ignoring my kids, I have too many projects, I keep going in circles, I've fallen off the FLYwagon before...

My positives are: I'm a get-it-done person. I know how to do all the projects I have planned, I'm even more committed this time and I'm already seeing results and I LOVE the way I'm feeling about myself and my house.

This time I have actually shined my sink and I'm even showering at night so I can get up in the morning and get dressed, complete with hair and makeup (trouble with the shoes as I don't have any black lace-ups). I've also completed every mission for the zone of this week: the kitchen. And the great thing is that I've actually done them all on my own fairly recently - no trouble decluttering the Tupperware - I really don't have any left that I don't use. I've already gotten rid of those. And, thanks to the leak under the sink the night I was making the twin's first birthday cakes, the area under my sink was already pretty well organized and minimized as well. Just need to get rid of more plastic bags. My countertops have also been scrubbed and I've purged my pantry cupboard. It looks fabulous! I'm feeling so proud of myself. I think James is thinking I'm a little crazy, but he's still supporting me because it's something I want to do.

In my readings today, I found a couple of paragraphs that totally made me feel great as well. I'm not the only one feeling like I'm not lazy, I just can't seem to make the final step to figuring out how to get my house really clean and organized. And it also helped me just to hear that going to bed early really isn't cutting into "my time to get stuff done without helping hands", it's helping me get the rest I need to work faster and more efficiently with a clear mind and a happy personality!

"3. Go to bed at a decent hour. This is the most important part of abefore bed routine; start thinking about it long before your actualbedtime. Mine starts right after dinner with a bath. Now don't tell meyou have to help the children with homework because I am going to giveyou some tips for homework in another routine. Establish a bedtime foreveryone in the house and this includes you. You may not need as muchsleep as your babies but my guess is you are getting enough as it as.We tend to want to play till the wee hours of the morning and then tryto drag ourselves out of bed with only a few short hours of sleep.This has got to stop. You are like a little baby that has gotten hisdays and nights mixed up and you are trying to function on no sleep.This ineffective habit is killing you and telling your children thatit is fine to not take care of yourself. You have to go to bed to setthe example for your children. When you start getting the sleep youdeserve you will find it easier to get up in the morning. Here is thereward to you and your babies; a parent that is not grouchy in themorning. It will happen if you will quit making excuses for staying uplate. This is not the only time you can be alone.

A timer is a valuable tool for keeping us focused. We have never been lazy. We just want to have fun. Using a timer allows us to focus onwhat we have to do and celebrate when it goes off with a littleenjoyment; the best of both worlds. Routines are not the straight jackets we have always thought that theywere. They free us up to have fun and keep chaos from hurting us andour children. Use them and you will learn how to be organized. Takebabysteps in establishing your routines and let your timer help tokeep you and your babies focused on the fun things in life."

Right now, I'm sort of breaking that rule of going to bed at a decent hour. I had told myself that I would be in the shower at 9:30 and in bed at 10. It's now 10:06. But it took a little longer to scrub out my pantry cupboard (45 minutes, but I had to bust out with an SOS pad on the lower spinner) and I also needed to get my menu planned for this next week so I can FLY in that category also.

However, right now I am only holding myself to the baby steps that I have covered. The missions and other additions to routines are just bonuses as I have a little time to do them so I'm not going to let myself feel guilty if I don't get to them. FlyLady says to start with the basics and not try to do it all at once, so I'm not, unless I happen to be able to that day.

The last thing that I am doing is picking one of my projects - they all feel urgent! - and I just do a little part of it. The other night I cut and pinned the fabric for my shower curtain. Yesterday I laid out the lines and connected all the exterior lights. Today I buried some of the wires. It really feels great just to see progress all around me. And a shiny sink every night before I go to bed and every morning when I wake up!