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Thursday, March 29, 2007

I am motivated.

The last couple of days have been bad for me. I tend not to post on bad days for a lot of reasons, but mainly because I isolate myself from the world more on those days. It's a quirky little trait of mine that I've had for years and have no intention of giving up or changing.

I still hurt this morning - though not near as badly - and there's a minor issue with my eye that isn't important but rather bothersome. Overall, I'd have to say that I'm good.

And oddly motivated to clean. So motivated, in fact, that I'm actually considering participating in the 30 Day Organizational Challenge. The problems I see with that, however, are that I (1) hate with a passion the posting of pictures of my home (and family, especially my daughter) on the internet and (2) don't want to wait until April 3rd to start.

Pondering over a bowl of cereal (!!! I actually ate breakfast this morning!! Gold star for me!!) solutions to both of those problems I decided that I won't wait 'that long' and if things aren't 'goal clean' come April 3rd, then I will participate in the challenge and I'll just have to take the pictures with the eyes of someone a little more security-minded than normal when behind the camera.

There's a lot more I had wanted to say this morning, but I'm still processing it all through my brain and I really need to stretch out some before getting back to work. Despite the odd motivation to clean, I'm feeling sluggish this morning, like I'm mired in thick muddy clay. Knowing that it's best not to push myself to hard on such days, my 'to do' list is simple for the day.
  • make bed
  • shower
  • get dressed (to the shoes!)
  • drink 4 bottles (0.5L each) water - drank 2
  • eat breakfast
  • wash breakfast dishes (by hand)
  • eat lunch
  • wash lunch dishes (by hand)
  • sweep (not able to do; note to self - buy new broom this weekend)
  • mop (sigh, ditto)
  • clean the litter box - technically, A. did it
  • laundry
    • fold clothes in dryer from overnight
    • dry clothes in washer from overnight
    • bleach
    • jeans
    • towels (in tub - from where K. and A. have been going to the pool every day, I assume)
    • 2 random loads (I cleaned off my dresser the other day and am in the process of rewashing my clothes before I put them away)
  • 15 minutes of clutter clearance x4* - only did 2
    • dresser
    • living room
  • 15 minute paper control on desk
  • work on emergency notebook
  • cook dinner (pasta) - technically, A. cooked
  • after dinner clean up / wash dishes (by hand)
  • A. has my car today so I'll be running no errands, and I should have no problem accomplishing most of what's on my list before K. gets home from school. Assuming, of course, that I stop typing and start moving...


    * a note about my 15 minute cleaning sprees: I adapted the Flylady's method into something more suited to me. I know my problem areas and working on one of them for x-many days (usually 5) just isn't feasible. My apartment is entirely too small (which is one of our biggest problems) and I just don't have a lot of the zone areas they work on. What I do, instead, is use the luck of the draw. I make 3-4 slips for each of my problem areas and throw them all into a zippered sandwich bag. When I'm ready to clean, I set my timer for 15 minutes, close my eyes, draw one slip out of the bag, then start my timer and work on whatever area I drew. Each 15 minute cleaning session gets its own drawing, and I no longer spend hours angsting over which area needs to have priority, running back and forth between the areas trying to accomplish something on all of them and not really accomplishing anything at all. I guess you could say that I put the matter into God's hands and He guides my hand when I blindly draw from the bag. A. thinks it's kind of silly but is, as always, willing to tolerate my madness with proof of its effectiveness.


    1 comment:

    Anonymous said...

    I really like the flylady. I tried the whole shpill for a while, then gave up. My favorite was the first day when all I had to do was get dressed to my shoes and shine my sink. That was a great play day. She told me that was all I had to do, so it's all I did. My house is pretty clean, so I don't worry too much. If it gets dirty enough to draw my attention, I clean it or assign it to one of the munchkins. It's like a pop quiz, but it's pop work instead. They love it.