BabyStep 14: Pencil Me In (Plus Some Gossip!)
Guess what?
(What?)
It's that time again!
(What time would that be?)
The time where I tell you what BabyStep I am on and what it was all about!
(Oh, goody!)
Sorry, I just got a little sick of starting of my posts the same way all the time. Thought I'd stick my neck out and show my dorky side. (Not that it doesn't show most of the time as it is.) Anyway, yesterday's assignment was BabyStep 14: Read an essay that Kelly wrote. It was all about using calendars.
Personally, this is one thing that has actually stuck with me since my first go-round with FlyLady. I tried using a wall calendar so my then-boyfriend could see it too, and I got all fancy using different colored pens for different event types. (Red for bills, green for paydays, blue for personal events, you get the picture.) I loved the color coding, but not the hard-copy situation. I didn't like not being able to access my calendar from work, and hated having to use White-Out when plans changed. Since my then-boyfriend didn't seem to be checking the calendar anyway, I moved on to a digital format.
Enter Google Calendar. I loooooove Google Calendar. I spent so much time searching for and trying different online calendaring systems, I think I fried my brain. But, I found the one that works perfectly for me, so brain cells be darned!
The main reason I like it so much is the color-coding system it uses on the month view. I like to be able to glance at the month and just SEE what is going on. My fried-brain just took to it naturally. Now that I have the iPhone I can access my Google Calendar on the phone's browser, but the month view just isn't the same:
Ahhhh! No color coding! No one glance planning! With this, I have to click around on each day to see if there is an event or not. I can switch over to the desktop view, which looks like this:
Ah. Much better. I can see what's going on. Trouble is, the interface for adding/editing events in this desktop view doesn't fly so well on the phone. There are third-party iPhone apps that have created calendars that look and behave like the Google Calendar, and can sync with it as well. I'm just not paying $7.00+ for them when that is the exact amount I currently have in my checking account. (I so wish I was kidding about that.) I just wonder why Google can't do what these app guys have done- make the mobile-month view look like the desktop-month view, but have the interface more streamlined for the iPhone. Puhleeese do this Google. I live for the month view.
I will now apologize to those readers who are not iPhone users for my above ramblings. It's my new toy. I'm sure I'll bore of it eventually and stop talking about it.
OK, complete change of topic- who saw FlyLady getting a little, um, crabby with her FlyBabies today? I was checking my Twitter updates and came across this:
What the...? Anyone else take at least the tiniest bit of offence to her tone? But wait, we're not done. There was another Tweet with a link to her Facebook page that landed here:
Oooook. I think FlyLady is just a bit grumpy today. Actually, this is one of the things that turned me off to her before. I used to listen to her Blogtalk radio show back when it was brand new, and there were times when I could just hear her wanting to strangle some of the callers. If you know FlyLady, then you are aware of her no whining/don't be a martyr rule, but give me a break. Even though the program itself is free, I'm pretty sure she makes plenty of money from all those timers and scrubber things she sells. Shouldn't she try a little harder to disguise her irritation? First she tells us not to strive for perfection, but then gnashes her fangs at us in a very passive-aggressive way when we can't live up to her own personal level of perfection. Sheeesh.
Am I the only one who wonders if one day she will just totally loose it and flip out, ending that which we know as the FlyLady Empire?
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5 comments:
First, I have to say that I truely love your blog! I've been trying to get into this Flylady thing for over a year and, for lack of a better term, keep failing. What you write is so down to earth and really just says it how it is. There are honestly some times I've envisioned her as the leader of a cleaning cult, and those tweets just proved it! Keep doing what you're doing, because I think it's great!
Haha... she has no room to talk... her house is STILL a work in progress. Not too long ago I found a video of her trying to clean up a spare bedroom - it was thrashed! This was well into her "celebrity" years and she was admitting that she STILL has to apply her own system :)
Em- I would LOVE to see that video.
@Peasinapod- Thank you so much! Keep the comments like that coming, it encourages me to keep up the blog!
I live 2 doors down from The FlyLady, and I promise, she is far from perfect and she openly admits it. It's part of the reason I listen to her advice. I can't take advice from someone who is perfect because I'll never be. I also have the privilege of producing her radio show. She is the kindest person I have ever met in real life. She has never called herself a guru, and her only mission is to help others. If tough love is needed she does provide it, but always in a very kind way. She's never been angry at anyone on the air. She doesn't tolerate whining and she NEVER whines herself. Also, the What Part of Baby Steps don't you get tweet was a serious question as we're always striving to make sure we communicate correctly. We should have included a ? at the end. We often post the No Whining picture if we've received a lot of whining posts or emails. Just a reminder that you can do anything for 15 minutes. Most of the time I whine longer than it takes me to just do what I'm whining about. That might just be me though. I struggle to embrace the "Do it now" principle. Thankfully, there is no perfect in this system.
I have been enjoying your blog and wish you the best on this journey. I can't wait for you to have your own home! No matter how these baby steps turn out that will be the best! I hope it happens soon. I'll keep reading and hoping it does! <3
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