Friday, November 2, 2007

Fly Lady; Why Lady?

I just received a call from BJK telling me that she was unable to log on to my other blog and website. That can't be good news; I tried half-heartedly to find it myself & with the exception of the last two pages kept getting error 404 messages.

"...well, that's just great, isn't it?" Considering the amount of time and energy invested, it is very disappointing to discover that it has disappeared from public view...."awh, dang it anyway!"(or something like that!)

I don't feel at all like blogging today. Seated at the computer, I was browsing my favourite blogs and websites; hopelessly distracted feeling like doing nothing in particular...

Fly Lady is a site; recently recommended by an on-line acquaintance; darned if I can remember which one; but she's definately been spying on me!Fly Lady is dedicated releasing us from the horrors of the ferral household. You know that one, don't you? The one overflowing with junk and possesions; everything with a place to go to, only nobody ever bothers to find it.

CHAOS: an acronym for Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. Due to health issues and consuming passions for the internet and card making, members of my household subscribe to that rule. I keep telling myself that it's only temporary!

I subscribed to FlyLady immediately; with her help, encouragement, & mentorship skills I am going to turn this place around; if it kills me. This reminds me of the time immediately following the birth of my second Lovely Boy.

Towards the end of maternity leave I began to realise that I was stressed out and finding life just a little difficult to cope with. At this time our ramshackle home was clocking in at 6C in the mornings; this was in the warmest room! As a result we co-slept; all four of us in bed together, with the warmth of the chimney breast our saviour.

This was when I discovered a wonderful book for SHE's; that is Side-tracked Home Executives; I have always believed the first word should read Stressed-out. In the past 9 years & 10 months I have often made reference to this book, especially the chapter on the ridiculous process of ironing our laundry unnecessarily! The book was a godsend; it and a bit of lateral thinking saved my life.

I composed a ToDo List; recommended by my GP, in an effort to get myself organised. Unfortunately I found this to be demotivating and counterproductive. Instead I came across something far more motivating and practical; an I Have Done List.

The IHGL was, and still is great. It encourages you to give yourself a pat on the back, even when the going is tough and on the surface it seems you have done little with your time. It breaks down each task completed into its component parts and offers congratulations for achieving each. An example of this is to light the fire; in order to get warm, cook and have hot water:

  1. empty out the ashes
  2. rekindle the flame with
  3. fuel brought in from the shed.

This very simple task involves quite a bit of work, nice and quietly, especially when looking after a newborn and a toddler in a freezing cold house heated by an open fire and a Rayburn Range.

Rather than chastize myself for how little I had completed; I would sit and mark off the different tasks from my IHDL each day with a sense of achievement.The IHDL is a great motivator.

Fly Lady works on those same principles, it offers encouragement to even the worst of house keepers, and it doesn't offer judgement; rather motivation. No task is too great, because Fly Lady breaks it all down into manageable peices. Heaven only knows how I will get on with it, but it is always worth trying; I have nothing to lose apart from the unsightly mess I call home.

Behind me I could hear coughing which heralded the arrival of a fresh delivery of dog vomit; on the oatmeal coloured woollen hall carpet. Second hand dog food steaming away;how absolutely delightful. The owner had vanished quickley, leaving me to attend the offending parcel.

Delicate tasks, such as this are generally best tackled straight away; the bathroom being right beside the offending article; it was easy to dispose of. The small brass coal shovel that I used for this purpose comes with the added bonus of being easy to clean off afterwards...

Wish me luck; for by Christmas the true miracle will have occurred. Polly will have achieved all that she set out to do and more...

2 comments:

Neasa said...

Hi Polly! Off to chack out this Fly Lady. By Christmas we'll both have show houses!!!! Nice to meet you yesterday. Maybe someday we'll even allow each other to visit!!! Now where's that site.....

Polly Pierce said...

Hi Neasa! Thanks for that, if you read my next post you'll realise that I'm probably a hopeless case, but when I do get it together you will be more than welcome. Just give me six weeks notice so that I can fly around the house and get everything sorted out and put away!

It was great to meet you the other day, and thank you so much for your help with that long overdue wedding card.
Px