Getting Things Done (Or Not)

I got a promotion! (Sort of.)  The real story is that on paper, I am still a historic interpreter for the living history museum where I work. (Actually, all our titles recently changed to "Museum Educators", but that's just semantics.)  The "promotion" I am speaking of is really just making the additional duties of acting as the museum costumer slightly more official. To be clear- the museum doesn't actually have a "Costumer" with a capital-C.  They haven't for years.  They have regular employees such as myself who have some skill and knowledge in this department doing their darnedest to keep everyone looking decent and as period-correct as possible.  For the past year, they didn't even have anyone doing that.  The costume department became a free-for-all with no one accounting for who was wearing what or maintaining the costumes we have, let alone producing anything new.  I took some of these duties upon myself trying to keep things from going totally chaotic, such as sewing on buttons for those who lost them, or altering a petticoat so no one tripped on the hem.  I was doing these things on a completely unofficial basis as favors to the wearers of costumes in need of mending, mainly on my own time with my own supplies.

This year things have started off with the pleasant surprise of management making my completely unofficial title of costumer slightly more official.  Like I said, they don't have an open position for a capital-C Costumer, and haven't for a decade.  What I am now is the costumer, lower-case-c.  (I hope this makes sense.) Basically I fulfill the duties that a Costumer would, which is mainly running the costume department, but since the official position doesn't exist, I can't even hope to be the official Costumer.  I didn't get a raise, I don't get cool business cards with my name on them, but it does give me more hours which I desperately need, so for now, I'm happy.

I spent weeks just trying to get the costume rooms cleaned up and organized enough to function within, and now we are well into the beginning of our programming season.  For part of the day I play a roll in our Underground Railroad program like everyone else, but after they leave in the afternoon you can find me sitting in the basement costume office trying to keep my head from spinning with everything that needs to be done around there.  Some things are very long term or low-priority tasks, such as neatly winding up the bags of ribbon that were donated to us so they don't get all knotted up, but other things are last-minute yet high-priority such as replacing 4 buttons on a pair of man's trousers that all popped off on the same say so he has the ability to wear them the next morning.  I'm pretty sure the employee wearing those trousers thanks me that I at least recognize the difference in priority levels. ;)

The only problem I am having with this priority-level thing is that it often leaves me with tasks sitting on my to-do list that I really really want the satisfaction of crossing off, but when other things pop up (or pop off, as in the case of the buttons) they get moved to the back burner.  A good example of this would be (ironically) the case of another set of buttons.

This coming weekend we will be starting another program for which a few staff members need additional costumes outside of what they usually wear.  One of these items is a wool over-shirt from the Ohio Pioneer era of 1810-1815ish.  The employee who is to wear this shirt apparently has much smaller wrists than the last guy who wore it, so the cuff openings just slip right down over his hands.  Not a problem- all I need to do is add another button to each cuff about 2 inches over so he can tighten them to his size.  This should take me 15 minutes, tops.  However, even though I put this task on my to-do list a week ago, I still haven't been able to get around to doing it.  Other things have taken priority over the shirt buttons because their due-dates have fallen in a more-immediate time frame, such as RIGHT NOW, or the following morning.  Tasks like these crop up every day and I must fit them in with the other items that are more on-going projects.

I realize this is life, and how I should be handling things. The problem is, the shirt-button due-date is this coming Thursday, here it is Sunday, and this 15-minute-tops project still isn't completed.  I know with the way things have been going I will probably get the chance to put them on sometime like late-Wednesday afternoon, and to me, this feels like procrastination.  It's not, I know that, but I am the kind of girl that likes to get things done, cross it off the list, and forget about it.  Not,  let them sit festering on the list for over a week where it taunts me with it's approaching due-date.  I'm sure this is just another way my perfectionism is manifesting itself and I will just have to adjust and grow accustomed to this way of prioritizing projects, but can't someone make the little nagging voice in the back of my mind telling me I have somehow failed go away? Please?

Read more...

A Helping Hand

I'm a crummy daughter.  Or at least that's how I feel sometimes.  I currently live with my parents (again!) and have been applying my FlyLady Routines only to the area I inhabit most, my "suite".  (2 bedrooms, bath, and a large closet.)  The only time I venture down through the main living area of the house is to get to the garage or kitchen, and even then I don't really linger.  I'm just passing through.  I did the math, and I'm pretty sure I only spend collectively maybe 1 hour per week downstairs.

Because of this I don't really feel the obligation to be overly concerned with making sure the rest of the house is tidied into a neat little package like my "suite" is every night before I go to bed.  I didn't mess it up, let the people who do take care of it...  I know this is a very negative way to think, but overall it's true.  I put a lot of effort into keeping my space and life in general as organized as possible, and that takes up plenty of time.  Why should I be picking up after my adult parents, adult sisters, my sisters' significant others, and their dogs?  Though, as much as I try to rationalize it, that little nagging voice of guilt keeps eating away at me. I should help more...

I'm not saying I never help out downstairs, but it's definitely not as often as my conscience is telling me I should be.  Another problem I have is that I hate doing things just because they are expected of me.  For instance- if my mother asked me to vacuum the living room (which I hardly even set foot in!), it bugs me that I am now obligated to do it.  But- if I were to walk through the living room and take it upon myself to do a nice thing and vacuum it for her, well, then I walk away from the chore feeling good about myself.  I'm not sure I want to know what that says about my personality, but it is what it is. 

Another example would be a friend of mine from years back.  When I would go visit (they lived out of state) it was common that they would have to work while I was there.  The first time this happened, I decided to be nice and clean up their house while they were working.  What a nice surprise to come home to, right?  Well, after a couple more visits, there came a time when I didn't get around to cleaning their house while they were gone.  And you know what? They had the nerve to be irritated that I hadn't cleaned their house!  It had gone from a nice gesture I was making to help out, to it being expected of me.  That really rubs me the wrong way.

Anyway, to help alleviate my conscience, I've decided that I am going to add helping out in the main part of the house to my daily routines:

For now I've stuck it in my Afternoon/After Work Routine, and we'll see how that goes. True to my FlyLady teachings, I've assigned myself to "House Help" for 15 minutes a day.  There is no way I am going to incorporate the entire house into my own personal routines and take on the responsibility of keeping it ship-shape the way I do my own space, because I think it would kill me.  And, try as I may, I can't seem to get the rest of the family onto a FlyLady-esque system. So for now, it's just 15 minutes a day on whatever I see needs to be done.  Yesterday I vacuumed the living room, kitchen, and our "piano room" (kinda like an office/den) and wiped down the kitchen counters.  Today I cleaned the toilet in the half bathroom. Tomorrow- who knows?  I feel better about myself and the house is looking better too.  And by making it self-imposed, I don't have that annoying (albeit misplaced as it may be) resentment I feel from being told to do something.

On a side note- I was talking to my Dad yesterday and said something about my room being the cleanest in the house.  (OK, I was bragging a little...) His reply was something to the effect of "Yeah, your room is insanely clean...".  Why, thanks for noticing, Dad.  :)

Read more...

It's Hard To Smile, But FlyLady Made Me

Two days ago I received devastating, life-altering news.  I don't want to talk about it here, please don't ask what it was.  I'll just say that it's the kind of news that instantly gave me a sense of superficiality about everything I do, from brushing my hair to watching a DVD.

Already I find myself having mood swings ranging from feeling almost normal with my sadness sitting just below the surface, to full-out bawling a few minutes later.  But honestly, after news like this, there is no more normal.

I almost feel like I am doing something wrong as I go about my daily business, completing the tasks in my routines, and sometimes feel like I have weights attached to my clothes as I do so, making a simple chore feel that much more difficult to complete.  I know I have to fight this feeling, because life goes on, but shaking the feeling that everything is so pointless now it hard.  Again, I have to fight it. 

Earlier today I was  searching YouTube for a video of FlyLady when she was on the show "I'm Pregnant and a Hoarder" to show a friend, and while I was there I got sidetracked and started watching some of the other videos on her channel.  I came across one where she is cleaning out rotten potatoes from her potato bin, and the sight of her squealing with disgust and practically gagging actually got a giggle out of me:

Thanks FlyLady for making me smile today, even if I didn't feel like it.

Read more...

Suck It (Up)!

The day after I wrote my last post, I actually did get off my hiney and go to my local brick-and-mortar Target to see what they had in way of hand held vacuums.  Compared to the amount of regular upright vacs, the selection was rather small.  If memory serves, there were about 5 to choose from, ranging from $20.00 to over $200.00 in price. 

Wanting to stay in the under $50.00/the-less-the-better category, my choices were then narrowed down to 4.  (The over-the-top $200.00 one was made by Dyson.  A little overkill if you ask me.)  I literally spent no less than 1 1/2 hours standing there, hmmm-ing and haw-ing over my options, looking up the model names with my iPhone trying to find reviews.  I tend to be a bit ridiculous when it comes to researching a product before I buy.

In the end, after much anguish and soul-searching, (please know that I am being facetious, I'm not that insane!) I choose the cheapest option available, the Dirt Devil 7.2 Volt Easy Lite Hand Vac. It's cordless, lightweight, has an attached (aka non-losable) crevice tool, and- that's about it. Truthfully, that's all I want. 

During my review-reading I started to get a little bogged down with all the options out there, wondering if I was missing out should I not purchase a vac with features that sounded cool but had never even thought of needing before.  Some had motorized brushes optimal for pet hair removal, some were corded for MORE POWER (cue Tim Allen manly grunt here), some had hoses, some had cyclonic suction, some had X-amount of volts vs. Y-amount of volts,  and on and on and on.

Finally I had to step back and remind myself what it was I wanted this hand vac for.  The list included:

1.  Picking up kitty litter tracked outside the box, as this has to be done on a daily basis.

2.  Picking up cat hair/my hair from the white bathroom floor, as this also has to be done on a daily basis.  The three of us all have dark hair and tend to shed.

3.  Picking up any other little bits of dirt or fuzz that annoy me in between regular vacuuming.

That's it.  That's all I needed a hand vac to do.  None of the stuff I wanted to suck up is overly heavy requiring MORE POWER (grunt grunt grunt), nothing required any of the other fancy features available on other models.  In reality, I need something very basic, so basic is what I choose.

There wasn't very much out there in way of reviews on the Easy Lite, though I did come across one blogger who mentioned it's excellent bug-sucking abilities which made me laugh.  I also realized something about reviews- in a way they are all skewed.  If someone bought this hand vac wanting something that would be great at picking up pet hair from the couch or carpet, they would be sorely disappointed and give it 1 star.  But since I want it for getting the hair off the laminate bathroom floor, I would give it 4 stars, since it's great for that.  It all depends on what the purchaser's original expectations for the product were, not necessarily what the product itself was meant to do.

Anyway, I have been enjoying my Easy Lite thus far.  It does not have a mounting base for charging, but does come with a charging cord.  I have not used it continuously enough to drain the battery so I cannot comment on how long it lasts, but I can say I have gotten at up to least 10 minutes of use at a time.  The attached crevice tool is handy, and emptying the dirt cup isn't a huge chore.  The suction is great for what I am cleaning, in fact, more suction would actually hinder cleaning the litter box area.  It sits on a re-purposed purple yoga mat in the corner of a closet, and when trying to clean up the tracked litter with a hose attachment from a regular vacuum the mat gets pulled up and stuck to the hose because the suction is too strong.  With the Easy Lite, the litter gets sucked up,  the mat does not.

For $20.00 I am more than happy with my purchase.  If I were to voice any concerns it would be about the battery life.  I have had chargeable products stop taking a charge within months before, and I sincerely hope the Easy Lite does not let me down by dying soon.  I've already gotten a little attached.

Read more...

Frugality Bit Me In The Butt

I have one of those debit cards that earns points with my everyday purchases, which can then be cashed in for an array of products available through an online catalog.  I started accumulating points a few years ago when I changed banks, but had never bothered to cash them in.  They just kept adding up, forgotten, until last week when it occurred to me to check the balance.

To my pleasant surprise I actually had enough to get a product or gift cards that would retail for around $100.00 in the "real" world. I decided to go ahead and pick something out, as there wasn't really anything in the catalog I wanted to "save up" for.  After awhile I settled on a small wet/dry hand vac by Hoover.  It had good reviews online and was cordless, which to me is kind of the point when looking at a hand vac.  I really wanted something just to pick up the kitty litter that gets tracked by the box, and the odd bit off fluff or crumbs that would drive me crazy in between regular vacuuming.  It retails for about $25.00.

I was just about to place my order when a thought occurred to me- I also had the option to cash in my points for gift cards to restaurants or stores, such as Target.  I wondered how the points-to-prize conversion would work out if I were to first purchase Target gift cards with my points, then turn around and buy the vac from them vs. getting the vac outright.  I did all the math, and it turned out my points were stretched further if I turned them into Target gift cards rather than getting the vac directly from the bank.  Sold.  I did the transaction, ordering 4- $25.00 Target gift cards, almost emptying out my points bank since there is nothing else in the catalog I want and I don't think I'll have any problem spending the rest at Target.

A week went by, and then finally the gift cards showed up in the mail this afternoon.  Score! Look how pretty they are:

I hopped right online to Target.com to place my order, but to my horror, it now says the item is out of stock!  There is no mention of whether or not they intend on getting more. Now I am thoroughly bummed, not to mention a little ticked.  If I had just ordered the vac outright from the bank I would have it in hand, sucking up kitty litter and dust bunnies right now.  Instead, I tried to be frugal and "stretch" my points, leaving me with  4 pieces of plastic that have the ability to buy me a vac, but there doesn't seem to be any others carried by Target that I want.  Sooo frustrating!  Here are what seem to be my options:

The Dirt Devil 15.6V Gator Series Hand Vac

This one has really good reviews on Target.com, but when checking Amazon.com they, um, suck. It also costs $41.99, a little more than I really want to spend on a hand vac, but am willing to since it's technically "free" money I'm spending.

The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Corded Hand Vac

This one has excellent reviews on both Target and Amazon, but the features have me a little wary.  It is corded, which is something I'm trying to get away from.  I really want this vac to be a really quick "grab and go" appliance, and a cord defeats that purpose.  It also was designed more for picking up pet hair off of couches and the like, not the reason I'd mainly be using it.  It has a shorter "snout", which makes it harder to get under furniture where fluff balls love to hide.  The replacement filters have to be purchased from Bissell directly, as they don't seem to be carried in stores. The price is good at $28.79, but still leaves me wanting the original Hoover vac I'd set out for.

Those are the leading contenders, but nothing is making me itch to make the purchase now.  I think I'm going to go to my local brick and mortar Target to see what the options are, but I know they don't carry the Hoover I want in-store.  I'm not really sure what I should do if I have no luck there, do I sit and wait hoping Target.com gets more in stock, or does Target operate more on the "once it's gone, it's gone" system?  If I choose to just move ahead and pick one of the other two, which one?  Am I giving this too much thought?  My head hurts.  Advice please!

Read more...

Announcing My New Blog

Forgive my tardiness in posting, but I have been trying to get another blog up and running.  This one is a duel-effort between me and my friend/co-worker.

This blog is where I can write about the history related topics that I love but really don't have much of a place here.  I know I have at least a few readers here on FlyLady Flunky that have expressed interest in such things when I have mentioned them, so I thought I would include the link should any of you wish to go check it out.

We are calling the new blog: Period Inappropriate. Enjoy!

Read more...

Driving Myself Crazy

I feel all over the place, I don't know where to start, therefore nothing is being done.  I don't like this feeling.  I have so many little things and a few big things that I want/have to do, but I can't seem to focus and actually complete any of those items.  You could say I feel overwhelmed.

A big part of my problem is my perfectionism.  A perfect example of my perfectionism is that of my new sewing room- formally living room.  I previously wrote about how my ex took the living room furniture leaving me with a room full of randomness.  I hate randomness.  It's hard to re-do a room if it has no designated function.  Luckily my friend TJ suggested that I turn it into a sewing room. I really liked the idea and immediately started bringing my sewing supplies up the two floors from where it was previously housed in the chilly basement.

My Dad helped me carry up an eight-foot-long folding table which will serve as my sewing work space. My ironing board, boxes of fabric, organizational drawer cabinet, and of course  sewing machine all also occupy this room.  All this in addition to the stuff that was already in there, like my desk, coffee table, TV stand, and my ex's remaining saltwater reef tanks.  I had my work cut out for me.

Before I began, the room looked something like this:

The desk was the only "completed" part of the room.  Everything else was sort of pushed to the edges. I started arranging and rearranging sometime around 7:00 last night.  I took this picture about 10:00:

At this point, I was still surprisingly upbeat.  It was fun trying to figure out where everything would go, and when I was done I was going to have my cute little sewing room right there next to my bedroom.  No more cold lonely basement for me!  Then, around 11:00, things took a wrong turn...

I'm going to try and walk you through my thought process during all this, but I'm warning you now- we're about to get inside my head and it ain't pretty.  Here goes:

OK.  Desk is already set up and looking cute on the north wall and I want it to stay there, fish tanks are taking up half the west wall, so that leaves  the east wall to put the sewing table.  No problem.  But wait, that is a shared wall with my sister's room, I hope she won't be annoyed by the sound of the machine through the wall.  Better go check.  (Did a test run of machine noise.)  Nope, she said she can't hear it, we're good to go.  Now I need to set up the ironing board.  I want the ironing board to come off the table like an "L" on my right hand side like I had it in the basement. I'm left handed and it's the most comfortable place for me to have it, all I need to do is swivel my chair to the side and it's in the perfect spot.  But, if I do that in this room, it blocks the door.  I could just put it up when I need it and take it down when I don't, but I use it so much during a project to iron seam allowances that doing that would be a huge pain in the butt. No, better just to leave it up. If I put it on the other side it blocks the desk.  Obviously the table needs to be on a different wall.  The north wall, where the desk is now,  That way it will be the focal point in the room.  But I like the desk there. No, it's the only other good spot for it, I can deal with moving the desk.  OK, table is on the north wall.  It looks kind of nice there.  Now back to to the ironing board. It can now go on my right side where I want it. But if I put it on that side, that means the desk has to go on the opposite side and there really isn't room over there. Maybe I could move it to the other side of the room and just get used to it being on my left?  Sure.  Let's do that.  Hmmm. If I have it on that side the tray part where the iron sits is to my left, and that means the pointed end of the board is the end closest to the table, and that looks weird.  Plus, it's harder to iron my work dresses that way.  If I turn the table around, now the iron spot is on my right side, and I'd have to keep reaching across for it.  No way.  The ironing board has to be on the right.  Now to deal with the desk.  I like things centered, even, balanced, etc.  I want the desk in the center of that wall. No problem.  Wait-problem.  There is an air vent that protrudes from the baseboard a couple inches keeping me from putting the desk where I want it.  I can either center the desk and just have it pulled out away from the wall a few inches, or just have it off centered by about six inches and push it up against the wall.  Nope, neither are to my liking.  It will drive me nuts to do either.  The desk has to go on the other side of the room.  Which means the ironing board has to move again, back to the other side.  We've been though this.  Ugh!...

Anyone still there?  I totally wouldn't blame you if you all just un-subscribed from my feed right now after having read that.  I'm not kidding when I say this is only a small portion of my thought process last night. There were several other issues that came up, but if I went into further detail I'm afraid I'd make your eyes bleed.  I also moved that desk back and forth across the room no less than five times.  I finally gave up around 2:00 AM.  I'm still not happy with it. I even got my sister involved as a fresh set of eyes, and she has concluded that I am a psychopath...

I've always been able to take take whatever furnishings and decor I have to work with and somehow bring the room together in a way where it seems as though  it was meant to be that way.  Everything belongs.  I can't stand it when a space appears as though the things within it are only where they are because it's the only place they would fit.  In this case, it's the truth.  And it's driving me nuts.  Here's what it looks like now- I know to you this will look just fine, but to me, it's still all wrong:

I know it's crazy to have spent that much time agonizing over something so trivial.  I really can't help it.  If I'm going to be spending a lot of time in there I want it to feel right, and it doesn't.  Plus, this was only one example of how my perfectionism takes over.  I do this kind of thing all the time with the most mundane of tasks and over-analyze them to the point I have a "freak-out".  Somebody take pity and shoot me, please?

Read more...