Flap, flap...

Can I just say how in awe I am of people who work fulltime, have kids and try to have a life?  Also single parents who work and have kids and try to have a life?  I work 2 days a week and I can barely get my sh** together on a good day, I cannot imagine the disaster that would be my life if I worked full time.  I was recently asked if I wanted to pick up a third day at work and I wisely set a boundary and respectfully said, "HELL NO, WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY?????!!!". 

I have found the past couple of weeks extra challenging and my flylady ways have both helped me and also been neglected.  There was unhelpful a**hole week where DH worked nights and was an unhelpful you know what.  Then the next week he was out of town for work for 3 days, coinciding with the days I work, coinciding with a trip to the ER for my daughters ear infection.  Then there was this past week in which I felt pretty competent but not superior in any way.

The good things from flylady that I have really incorporated are getting ready the night before (which I've mostly done for awhile but I do better now, mostly), making my bed daily (yay me), and keeping my sink shiny (again, mostly).  I have not been able to do all her missions because of time and energy issues, I will take responsibility and say I have "chosen" not to do them all rather than I "couldn't" because I "could have" if I'd been willing to stay up later, get up earlier or stop watching Dancing With The Stars.  It's all about priorities people. 

I have done most of my decluttering on the weekends when I have more chunks of time and that has worked out.  My linen closet is pared down considerably and nicely organized.  My Master Bathroom cupboards and drawers were cleaned out, purged and washed.  I have tackled one area at a time using her "give away, put away, throw away" bins which are super helpful.  I took 5 giant contractor bags of outgrown clothes, linens and shoes to the thrift store last Monday and that felt GREAT.  I try to look at how far I've come rather than how far I have to go because that's just depressing.

My focus for the next week will be on keeping up with the routines, bed making, sink shining, bedtime prep and continuing to declutter.  I need to work on getting to bed at a decent hour.  I am also trying to embrace her "DO IT NOW" philosophy.  That means if you notice a spill wipe it NOW not in three days when it's hard and crusty.  If you knock over a pile, pick it up and deal with it before it grows.  If you notice the plants need watering or the cat needs to be fed, do it NOW.  It's really a time saver in the end.  That Flylady is so smart.

Flylady also has us preparing for "Cruising Through The Holidays" these days and while I have not done her missions full out, I have dug out my holiday planner (a super cute altered notebook I made about 4 years ago that I keep track of everything in) and started doing some Christmas shopping in the hopes that I'm not all rammed up at the end, sucking the jolly out of the holly jolly.

So break-time is over, back to putting away the strange things I cleaned out of my nightstand.  Who needs 12 emery boards!!