BabyStep 19: My Own Bed And Breakfast

Last night's benefit dinner at work is over- thank you all that is sweet and holy!  I can't remember when I have been ready to go to bed hours before my bedtime just because I am so physically tired.  Even when I have had "busy" days at work before I would still find myself staying up way too late at night because I just didn't feel ready for sleep.  This week gave me a taste of  true domestically-related physical labor (it's not like I was working outside plowing a field or anything!), and it left me truly tired yet satisfied at the end of the day.

I just worked 7 days in a row with today being my only day off before we get back to the grind, but I find myself looking forward to going back tomorrow so I can enjoy my freshly cleaned "history house" and prolong that feeling by implementing some of my FlyLady habits to keep it that way.  I'm planning on making a routine schedule to help me keep up with all the cobwebs, dust bunnies and soot a historical home seems to accumulate everyday, not to mention the grit tracked in by all the visitors. 

Moving on to the actual BabyStep this post is supposed to be about:  Today's assignment was to read a testimonial a FlyBaby had written which wound up being published in FlyLady's first book Sink Reflections.  It was about a woman who has done so well with her FlyLady-ing that her home now feels like a quaint little B&B.  One could say I am jealous.  Here's why:

I've written before about how I struggle with my current living situation.  I have noticed that as much as I clean, organize or declutter around here I still don't feel the deep-rooted sense of satisfaction I used to obtain from doing FlyLady.  I think it's because none of this really mine.  I am basically working hard to clean someone else's apartment and the martyr in me balks at that from time to time, especially if my roommate doesn't even notice. 

I also have issues with the fact that even if I cleaned this apartment top to bottom, it will never feel like my own bed and breakfast.  No matter what I do, it will always be a small apartment where the kitchen gets close to 90 degrees whenever we use the oven, the dishwasher must be rolled across the kitchen to the sink to be run, sports are always on the TV, towels are used in lieu of real curtains, and I sleep on a couch.  This place just will most likely never feel like a "home" to me, let alone a B&B.

There is where my work "home" comes in.  There is just something about that house that instills that "homey" feeling in me.  Although I have no actual ownership of the building I feel as though it is "my" house.  This actually occurs with  a lot of the employees there, and I guess when you work in a particular site long enough it is bound to happen.  However, the sense that it is "mine" goes beyond being territorial.  I actually take pride in that house.  When I clean the butcher block table in the dairy kitchen after a long day of churning butter, I feel as though I am cleaning "my" table.  When a light a fire in the cast iron stove, I feel as though I am lighting "my" stove.  If I run out of time at the end of the day and can't get everything tidied before I have to leave, I feel bad that I left "my" house messy.  I try to respect that house and treat it as though it really were a home and not a museum show-piece.  Being that it really was a home for over 100 years, I would hope that the previous owners appreciate this!  Here is a view of my work home from the front:

A view of my front "sitting room", similar to a modern living room.

The house is quite large with 4 upstairs bedrooms, 2 kitchens, a sitting room, a parlor, a "sick room" and a cellar. That's a lot for one person to try and maintain everyday, especially with all the foot traffic that comes through there and no vacuums! By implementing my FlyLady teachings into caring for "my" house, maybe I will have an easier time maintaining it and be able to enjoy having a "home" of my own even more, even it's only for 5 hours a day.