Wednesday, April 2, 2008

That FlyLady Person

I have no self-discipline. We haven't been sick since December, so I knew we were due. Sure enough, Daniel threw up today at 2:20 PM and has been coughing all day. My husband has a bad chest cold, but no nausea. Timmy has a fever and cough with no nausea, and Emily just has a slight cough. I'm doing fine.

Obviously, this can't be good. I am undoubtedly going to be playing nursemaid to my four housemates right up until I collapse from exhaustion and eventually start tossing my own cookies. So any smart, organized, time-management-expert mommy would do the dishes, disinfect the surfaces and get to sleep as quickly as possible before the first night waking and/or vomiting occurs.

But, me? I just read Practical Homeschooling Magazine for an hour, and now I'm blogging. My devotions aren't finished, and the dishes and disinfecting haven't been tackled yet, and it's 10:39 pm. I hate this about myself. With better time management, I could have more spiritual peace, and a shinier, tidier house. No, my house isn't horrible, but let's just say the couch is rarely free of unfolded clothes, and homeschooling can take over our dining room table. And our long kitchen counter can quickly get full of important paperwork or bills or something I need to give attention to quickly. If I put this type of thing somewhere else, I won't see it and the important task might not get done.

For the most part, the house is clean, but never free of clutter. Unless, of course, I do a crisis clean. What's that, you ask? Well, you get a laundry basket and frantically run around like a chicken with its head cut off, and grouch at everybody to get out of your way, while you throw every piece of clutter into the basket to be hidden away, because someone just called to announce that they are coming over in twenty minutes.

After decluttering in this manner, you then gather up all your folded and unfolded clean laundry, and toss it quickly onto the master bed. Then, you get your Clorox Wipes and disinfect the toilet, which needs cleaning just about every time one of the male housemates uses it. Right after you throw away the last wipe and wash your hands really good, it's about time to open the door and smile at your company.

Believe me, it CAN all be done in twenty minutes, sometimes less. I've proven this many times. Have you ever heard of anything so pathetic?

I guess I need to get back to that FlyLady.net person who used to be like me. She is now reformed, and teaches us pathetically-unorganized-but-creative-and-spontaneous people how to get our lives in order, right down to which day to do the errands and which day to do the paperwork, etc. She can invite anyone to her house at anytime, because it's always clean and orderly. Sounds good, eh? Check it out yourself. And wish me luck. I need it.

3 comments:

Samantha said...

Hi Pam, thanks for your comment on my blog!

I have had multiple friends who are in the situation that you are going through right now in your forties. My pastor's wife said that she has really struggled with the why's in continually getting pregnant just to have to lose another baby and break her heart and the heart of her other 8 children. Trusting the Lord is easy in the giving (sometimes!) but oh so hard in the taking away, but we are still called to bless His holy name.

We probably will never understand His purpose in doing so, but there are so many things that we won't understand until we meet HIM face to face.

Have courage and stay strong until then.

Blessings,
Samantha

Samantha said...

p.s. I too have lost 2 babies, so I do fully sympathize. (I am only 30 though, so the thought of ever having to miscarry again is rough!)

Evenspor said...

I need to do FlyLady again too. I stopped the e-mail when we moved and never started them again. Maybe that's why this house is never as clean as the last one. I've completely gotten off all my routines.