Housekeeping Disasters and FLY Lady

Okay, so you should all know by now that I'm not a great housekeeper. I think I'm a pretty good mom, though it took me awhile to admit that, and I'm still feeling guilty for hollering at E the other day when she drank water out of a dish rag.

And I think I'm doing okay at being a wife -- even if that means that this week the most I did was hug my husband, ask how his day was, beg him to take out the trash, and asked, "Are you okay? Are we okay??" as he ran out the door, to which he replied. "Yeah, of course! Always. I love you!" Ahh, isn't love grand?

But the housekeeping thing is just... meh. Here's my usual daily routine:

Waking Up (A Half Hour Late)

• Grab my bra off the bed post
• Trip over books and pile of dirty laundry
• While on the floor, grab my jeans that I wore yesterday from under the bed
• Stumble to the mirror while putting on jeans
• Make sure my hair isn't too greasy and try to remember the last time I washed it
• Try to figure out what day it currently is
• Simultaneously brush teeth and put hair in ponytail 
• Scrounge in the clean-laundry pile for a shirt
• Put on that shirt and decide it's too wrinkly
• Put on a sweatshirt over wrinkly shirt
• Remove toddler from hip by coaxing her with Cheerios and milk

Making Lunches

• Distract toddler with dancing and Shakespearean soliloquies in horribly bad olde-English
• Grab bread from cupboard
• Find turkey in cupboard from yesterday
• Throw out turkey
• Make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
• Discover that toddler's lunch pale hasn't been cleaned
• Clean lunch pale
• Toddler wants to "help" (DO NOT ALLOW THIS)
• Lets toddler help wash lunch pale
• Change toddler's wet clothes (allow 30 minutes to 3 hours)
• Distract toddler with a YouTube video (must be longer than 5 minutes)
• Hit "restart" on video every five minutes
• Clean lunch pale
• Argue with toddler about why she doesn't need to help again
• Lie to toddler about the lunch pale already being clean
• OR pretend that cleaning the lunch pale is not fun
• Pretend it makes you cry

Getting Out the Door

• Send toddler out the door
• Give hugs and kisses 5+ times
• Send my husband out the door with toddler, missing half the items she needs for day care (not to worry, day care has extra boots and blankets)

I've only forgotten her lunch once, and I made sure to bring it over to her. I rarely forget the important things, and if I do I can get creative to make it work.

But sometimes "getting creative" is exhausting.

I'm trying out this new site my counselor recommended. No one paid me to say this. Ha! It's 100% free to sign up, and I've found the emails and plan that "FLY Lady" sets up incredibly doable and manageable, even with my busy lifestyle! Here's the link! Disclaimer: You get TONS of emails, so I recommend signing up for the "Lite" version if you sign up for the emails.

I've only just started this plan, but am already noticing SO MUCH of a difference in my attitude about housecleaning and the state of our apartment! If you decide to join me or have already tried this program, I would love to hear about how it's working for you!