Wahoo!!

I don't have much to say so this will be quick - I just wanted to give myself kudos. It is just after 10 o'clock am and I am already showered (I even shaved my legs, amazing!), dressed, with fixed hair and makeup!! Go me!!!

Baby girl is still asleep so I'm off to clean downstairs. I love today!

Regis is wrong

Well the poll asking how often you wash your sheets has officially closed. In case you don't already know, the reason for that poll is that my sister Dawn was watching Regis and Kelly and they were talking about how disgusting people are who don't wash their sheets every few days. They both said they wash or change their sheets every other day or something crazy like that.

I wanted to do a poll to put Dawn's mind at ease because I know that normal people aren't able to do it that often and we aren't disgusting, just regular.

Why we love what we do...

On Monday I was doing my usual downstairs cleaning. I love to vacuum my kitchen floor, but I only bother bringing the vacuum downstairs when I'm going to be doing the carpet as well. So I had the kitchen ready and asked my 3-year-old to clean up his toys so I could vacuum the carpet next. (This always translates into him playing with toys until I'm ready to help him put away his toys.) After I finished the kitchen floor I turned off the vacuum and heard my son saying, "Look what I did Mommy, look!" I look over to see the toy box overloaded and anything that he couldn't stuff in there on the couches. He even picked up all the shoes and put them on the couches! He was so excited. He then proceeded to tell me I needed to do the carpet now. So, I turned the vacuum back on which caused him to jump on the couch of stuff and cheer, "Go Mommy, go! Go Mommy, go! Whoo-hoo! Great job, Mommy!" repeated until I was done. The 1-year-old didn't know what was so exciting, but she was happy to clap along. Nothing like your own cheering squad to make you want to keep your job forever. (At least the mommy part;)

Name Your Nemesis...

I figure that just like with everything else in life some people are good at certain things and other people are good at different things. So here is a fun little game that we can use later on to focus on certain areas we want to improve. I want to find out what you are good at and what you need help with. Then I can get tips from you to help me with my areas of difficulty and maybe you can learn something from me. Ready? Go.

1) Name your nemesis. What is one thing that you always feel like you are behind on or that you avoid doing around the house because you don't like doing it?

2) Name your fave. What is one thing that you are really good at keeping up with around the house or that you really enjoy doing?

The schedule...

It's a long and probably never ending journey to balance life, family, and housework. Since my 2nd baby was born I've had many discussions with friends on how to improve the system. I have to give my friend, Heidi, most of the credit for this schedule idea. The plan is to have a set schedule for basic cleaning throughout the house. Ideally, if you miss a day you don't double up, you just wait for it to come back again. I've found it helpful to include a "free" day. I use this to do detail cleaning, grocery shopping, or catch up when things are out of hand. So, here it is for your thought:

Monday- Downstairs & Garbages
Tuesday - "free" day
Wednesday- Bedrooms
Thursday - Vacuum
Friday - Bathrooms

Adapt for yourself and give it a try. In addition to the schedule, my goal is to do 1 (and only 1) load of laundry every day and clean out the sink every night. I try to get my cleaning done after breakfast so that we can play in the afternoons, but that's still a work in progress.
Any suggestions on when to actually get ready for the day? It would be quite embarrassing if any of you knew how often I'm still in pj's well into the afternoon.

Thanks Flylady

I am on my way to bed but I am so excited about my spic and span sink that I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to post it. FYI, my hubby is a little embarrassed that I was taking a picture of our dirty dishes so hopefully no one thinks less of us. Ta da! I have never been good at keeping up with dishes. Embarrassing or not but hey, at least I'm being honest. I know most people probably already have a clean sink when they go to bed each night, but not me. I've been in the habit of doing last nights dishes after I feed my kids breakfast in the morning. I am already looking forward to waking up tomorrow to my nice clean sink. Think of the free time I'll have after breakfast, I wonder what I'll do?

Go Clean Your Kitchen Sink

A year or more ago a friend of mine told me that she keeps her house clean by using a website called flylady. I tried it but there was so much information there and I ended up wasting more time reading all about how to clean my house than actually doing anything to make my house any cleaner. Anyway, she did have a few good ideas and my favorite is to clean your kitchen sink.

It sounds simple, and that is the beauty of it, it is!! Every night before you go to bed you clean your kitchen sink. She even has a slide show of images sent in by people whom she has inspired, you guessed it, the images are all kitchen sinks. I will submit an honest before and after picture tonight after I do it but I haven't done it yet. Today is my starting point. Feel free to share your sink as well.

And just in case you want more info, here is a link to the fly lady site, enjoy. http://www.flylady.net/

Did you ever notice?

Am I the only one who has noticed that it is always easier to clean someone else's house? Messes never look quite so messy when it isn't MY junk piled up in every corner.

I have helped sisters, friends and neighbors when they need stuff cleaned in a hurry and can't do it all. I am always happy and eager to help someone else in a pinch. I love getting together with other women and getting stuff accomplished. I always get a lot more done when I am surrounded by my girlfriends. Having someone to visit with, laugh with and be crazy with makes getting all of the chores done so much easier. I love getting organized and having a clean home and I love love love the sense of accomplishment after a hard days work, BUT....

Whenever I am alone at my own house I feel helpless. Too much to do and too little time. Lack of motivation and being just plain overwhelmed. I struggle to find the balance between having a neat and orderly home and still spending quality time with my children. O how I long to sit down and relax in the evening without feeling like I should be doing something productive.

So here's to making daily chores at home as enjoyable as being together with the girls having fun and getting stuff done. Please join me and share your ideas and accomplishments as I share mine. My goal is to have a fun, POSITIVE place where I can give myself (and any of you who want to join me) kudos for everyday stuff like getting the laundry done. Hopefully then I can replace the feeling of never doing enough with a feeling of accomplishment at then end of the day. Why not give myself props because my kids were able to find clean underwear in their drawer when it was time to get dressed??

Honestly, my goal isn't to have a perfect house 24/7. I mean, seriously, we LIVE here. People use dishes to eat and kids play with toys so it makes sense to have a few things in the sink or legos on the floor. My goal is, however, to be able to invite someone in who stops by without being ashamed of my mess.

So buckle up and let's get to work. It's time to give ourselves credit for being amazing!! And, I'm hoping that by sharing together we can be more productive and become even more amazing. When you get stuck, just imagine you are cleaning someone else's house.