FlyLady Flunky: June 2010

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

It (Was) My Birthday, I'll Whine If I Want To

Hey 'Yall, I'm back! My Daddy fixed my laptop power cord when I went home on Monday, so I'm back in the blogging business. Time to play catch up:

I turned 27 last Wednesday (June 23rd for all of you who want to mark it on your calendars for next year). And to be honest, as far as birthdays go, it kinda...sucked. I'm taking a free-to-whine-pass here, so bear with me. Here's a run-down of how my day went:

1. My mother was admitted (back) into the hospital for complications with her cancer treatment the night before.

2. I had to work. Not that this was a big deal or unexpected, but does anyone like to work on their birthday? Plus, it leads to what happened next:

3. There was an earthquake. Sure it was up in Canada, but I actually did feel it down here in NE Ohio. I was sitting in a chair and I felt myself swaying back and forth. I thought I was going nuts until I jumped on Twitter and saw there was a logical explanation for it.

4. There was a BAD storm. So bad that I had to bring a classroom-worth of high school kids visiting the historical farm where I work down into the cellar of my work house for safety. I had to act like the brave adult when I am actually terrified of storms. Not fun.

5. Thanks to above-mentioned storm, the power back at my apartment was knocked out. It was out long enough my cell needed charging (being our only form of communication as we don't have a land line), so I had to go to the library and plug it into one of their computers to charge it up. I was just stuck sitting there, tethered to phone. Boring.

6. (This is where the true pity-party begins, you have been warned.) I DID NOT GET A SINGLE BIRTHDAY PRESENT OR CARD. No birthday dinner with my family either, which is our custom. No cake. Not even a cupcake. Or a Twinkie with a candle stuck in it. Yes, I got plenty of "Happy Birthday" messages on Facebook and texts, but that's it. In fact, the next day at work someone asked me what I got for my birthday, and my reply was "Nothing." She thought I was joking. This made me feel worse about it.

Am I just being selfish? I am 27 after all. I feel this puts me in the official "Almost-30" category. Am I too old to expect/want anything I feel I missed out on this year? It's not like I expected a big birthday bash or heaps of presents like a kid, I'm already pretty used to my birthday being low-key. But this year, is was such a non-event I couldn't help but notice.

I'll be sitting here in the corner moping if you need me. Regular FlyLady-related posts should be resuming soon.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

I'm Still Alive...Barely

Just wanted you guys to know that I have not (willingly) disappeared from Blog-Land. My laptop power cord broke and I won't even be able to attempt to get it fixed until Monday or Tuesday. I am writing this from my iPhone, not easy to do! I have several posts in mind, so once I am up and running again I will post those. Until then posts will be brief.

Thanks for understanding!

Saturday, June 19, 2010

BabyStep 24: Swishin' and A-Swipin'

Finally! I've made it to BabyStep 24: Swish and Swipe. I've actually been doing this off and on the whole time I've been doing this round of FlyLady, but today I officially added it to my morning routine in my Control Journal.

In the mornings (after I have finished doing anything that may make my bathroom sink messy) I take a disposable disinfecting cloth and wipe down the outside of the toilet (I live with a boy after all), and usually use the washcloth I used to wash my face to do the sink. I only use washcloths once before washing them (the thought of a used and dried cloth kinda grosses me out) so I figure why not get one more use out of it before it goes into the washing machine anyway?

I have not been swishing the inside of the toilet bowl with anything on a regular basis yet- I don't want to go the route FlyLady has and keep some cleaner in a container with the brush right there in the bathroom. I realize it's handy, but my cats would get into that ASAP. I have read some people use denture cleaner tablets, but I am interesting in trying that Scrubbing Bubbles toilet bowl stamp thing, eliminating any actual effort on my part. But, being a Google-research/product review freak that I am, I'm going to look into the effectiveness and cost before I run out and buy it.

I don't really have much else so say tonight. I'm pretty sure I have narrowed down potential car names to either Betty or Norma Jean. I'm strongly leaning toward Norma Jean. (Marilyn Monroe's real name, of course.) I'm pretty neurotic when it comes to naming things, lord help me when I have kids and have to pick names for them.

Ta ta for now, no blog post tomorrow night for sure, I'm going back to my parents' house right after work for a Fathers Day dinner at Big Boy, my dad's favorite restaurant. Cause we're fancy like that.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Cruisin' Again!

I HAVE A CAR! I HAVE A CAR I HAVE A CAR I HAVE A CAR! Ehem. Please excuse me, I lost control there for a minute. But as I was saying, I am now in possession of an automobile. I am now the owner of a 2003 PT Cruiser Limited Edition. Sounds fancy, huh? It has all these bells and whistles that many people consider standard these days, such as power locks and windows. Yeah, in my last car I had to put forth physical effort to roll my window down. It was rough.

It's an older model with high miles, so I am fully expecting things to go wrong eventually. I'm just hoping "eventually" is years from now, ha! But, the body and interior are in really good shape, and I look pretty cute driving it, if I do say so myself. Cause we all know that's what is important when it comes to a car...

I took a couple of pics while I was putting things like my jumper cables and my Hey Tom Car Duster away in their new home:

The official color listed on the car title is "Cherry", but I prefer to think of it as a Candy Apple Red. It is also much cuter in real life, the dim lighting does not do it justice.

And of course, my FlyLady License Plate Frame had to be put on. This is now listed as a "last chance item" in the Fly Shop, so pretty soon this will be a collector's item! ;)

My roommate asked me what my car's name was, to which my reply was a quizzical look. I have no idea what I would name this car; I have never done it before and have always thought it was a weird thing to do. Maybe I'll try a few out to see how it feels. All I know is I want something with a retro-vintage-1940's-pinup girl-feeling. Betty? Candy? I'm at a loss. Suggestions?

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Playing Catch-Up

Phew! It's been a crazy week! I'm still without a car (should be getting one tomorrow night!), so I have been catching a ride with my roomie when he goes in. Problem is, he goes in anywhere between 1-2 hours before I need to be there, which cuts into my morning routine time. So- things have been a little off-routine the past week, and working a 15 hour day, getting home at midnight and having to go right back in the next morning (early!) and car hunting didn't help either!

I did the best I could with keeping up with my routines, but I had to let a few things go again. I still did stuff, but only the bare minimum. Mainly the things that would most effectively make my day run smoother the next morning and nothing more. I used today to play catch-up on my Weekly Home Blessing and Zone work, plus a few extras that needed doing around the house, such as hosing off the balcony and sidewalks to put a dent in the suicidal-mulberry splatter spots that we keep stepping in and tracking around the house. Anyway, here's a running list of all the things I did today, minus the extras that weren't on my actual to-do list today:

Gotta go, it's past my bedtime! Hopefully I will have new (used) car pics to show you in my next post!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

BabyStep 23: Afternoon Delight

Need to knock this out really quick, I won't be able to blog for a couple of days and hate just disappearing from blog-land.

Today's BabyStep is to set an afternoon routine. Check. Did it a looong time ago. Had to, or else (for me) nothing would have gotten done Weekly Home Blessing or Zone work-wise. Since my change in hours at work those two things have since been moved to my morning routine, so my after work/afternoon routine looks like this:

It's so nice to be able to come home and not have much to do. Sometimes I have been doing a little extra in the evenings, but the feeling that I can come home and actually relax for a bit is soooo wonderful.

In other news, my roommate and I have a tree growing outside our balcony that is now producing small berries very similar to blackberries. Even though I swept it off a few days ago, the effort was completely fruitless (get it, fruit-less?) because when I got home, it looked like this again:

Sigh. I Googled "blackberry tree" to try and find out what these berries were/if they were OK to eat. Turns out it is a "white mulberry tree", and the fruit is edible, so we picked about 5 cups this afternoon. I will be attempting to bake them into a pie at work tomorrow.

It was a delightful way to spend the afternoon, and having my routines set they way they are allowed me to do so. We were also rewarded for our efforts with hands that look like this:

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

(Wordy) Wordless Wednesday

I tried to post on Sunday, I really really did. Blogger would not let me. It said it was down in my region. Then I went back to my parents' house over Monday and Tuesday to turn in my leased car. I am now sans car. I hate that. While I was there I came across my old hard-copy FlyLady Control Journal.

While perusing the pages I came across some ~~mean~~ sweet, ~~nasty~~ adorable, ~~antagonizing~~ helpful little notes my younger sister left me:

I won't post the next one, it involved "harming" myself on Friday and cleaning the mess up on Saturday. She meant this with love, I'm sure.

Apparently she thought I led a much more interesting lifestyle than I did/do.

And that ladies and germs, is my sister. This also gives you a taste of how non-FlyBabies reacted to me explaining/doing the system the first time around. They didn't get it, called it a cult, and joked about it. Feel the love!

Saturday, June 5, 2010

BabyStep 22: A Change In The Wind

I'm going to try and keep this short. I know I have said this before, but I am exhausted! Today was the last of these longer-than-usual days at work, and I am happy to say that despite the increased hours the apartment is looking better than ever. I am making deep-cleaning progress everyday with my Zone work, and thanks to the 10 minute Weekly-Home-Blessing chore I do every day it stays maintained. It's been difficult considering I have been going into work at my usual time, but staying 3 hours longer, leaving me less time in the afternoon/evening to do everything I need to do.

Tomorrow will be the first day of what will be my regular work schedule for the rest of the summer/early fall. I will be leaving the house 1 1/2 hours later than I have been lately, so I think I will continue with my current bedtime/wake up schedule, but shift my Zone and WHB work into that extra 1 1/2 hours I now have in the morning. This way I won't be doing my cleaning while I am already exhausted after work and will now have my evenings free to relax before it's time to start my Before Bed Routine. It's like found time! (At least, I'm hoping that's how it feels.)

Here is how I think this will go:

7:30- Wake up.

7:30-10:15- Morning Routine/10 mins WHB, 15 mins Zone work.

10:15: Leave for work.

10:45-5:15- Work.

5:45- Get home from work.

5:45-9:30 Afternoon/after work routine (even though that BabyStep has yet to come!), consisting of nothing more than feeding the cats, laundry, and balancing the checkbook. Relax!

9:30- Begin Before Bed Routine.

11:30: Bed.

That's the plan, man!

OK, I need to end this, I want to spend 15 minutes tackling this cluttered cleaning closet:

Oh yeah, today's BabyStep was about getting my butt in gear and creating my Control Journal in case I have been procrastinating in doing so. I haven't. I still use my iPhone app "Home Routines" everyday, I feel like it's my lifeline.

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Wordless Wednesday

Sorry for no post yesterday and for not having moved on to the next BabyStep yet- I promise I'm not slacking! This week I am working longer hours than usual and have had to let a couple of things in my routines slide (trying to learn that "good enough" is good enough). I just don't want to overdo it by adding another step into the routine when I'm just trying to get through the week and maintain the house while not letting it get worse, but not making real progress either.

OK, so this post isn't exactly wordless, but I do wish to conclude with some window shopping I am doing. These are all things that I really want from the FlyLady store but can't possibly afford. Not that they are overpriced, but I struggle to to get the bills paid AND still afford food. There is no room left for luxuries, no matter how much they would help my FLYing.