Getting licensed for fostering. Took 8 months, a complete reworking of my house and lots of prayers. Taking my 2 boys driving down to Florida and back without DH. Finding out on December 28 that DH and I needed CPR certification and getting it before the end of the year (30th).

Hugs!!

Yeah we were gone for Thanksgiving and when we got back we were busy til we were not. So we didn't decorate outside. However if we had, then I would not be going outside in this to take it down! Yikes! If someone asks (which no one would) just say it is still Christmas, because it is till Sunday anyway. Well I did 30 minutes in the zone right now and I don't think there is anything more I can do in there short of taking down our wedding frame/matte and fixing the photos in it that have fallen. That is a bigger job then I want to tackle right now though. I guess that says 2 things though, #1, 60 minutes a day in the zone is WAY too much. #2 I guess it is an accomplishment that I am still married and the wedding photo has fallen in the frame. :D I am already past when my parent got a divorce. Yay me! I broke the cycle!!!! Time to move laundry...

Today is just messed up with DH at home working and the snow and my desire for making cinnamon rolls. The rolls were good but it took up part of my morning. So I need to figure out dinner for tonight, my youngest is about to revolt having soup all the time. Zone cleaning for 30 minutes lunch snacks personal time (30 minutes of fun) grade papers 5 minutes of hot spot dry laundry bible reading make dinner put away laundry prepare for next day shine sink medication brush teeth wash and moisturize organize Accountable Kids get backing ready on quilt so I can base it tomorrow

Good morning Flyminds! Welcome to the Flylady support thread. To find out what Flylady is: http://www.flylady.net/ You can also find people on YouTube if you search for it. We have completed the baby steps found here: http://forums.welltr...nday-october-1/ We have also completed a Building a Control Journal series found here: http://forums.welltr...-16-tue-oct-24/ If you would like to share your small accomplishments on instagram, please do so at #wtmflylady Flylady Babysteps: Day 1 - Shine your kitchen sink!! Day 2 - Dress to shoes! Day 3 - Exploring the Flylady’s website! Day 4 - Write things down! http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-4/ This is the beginning of the control journal. So if you are like me and adverse to post it’s, you can just keep track of everything in a journal, 3 ring binder (those always multiply like rabbits in my house!) or some other system that you may have that is working for you. Need more inspiration? An overview of the whole 31 days. http://www.collington.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Flylady-beginner-baby-steps.pdf Advanced Flylady: This week the Flylady is focused on Zone 1 - The Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room. Thursday - Errand Day! Thursday at FlyLady is Errand Day. We use this day to get out and run whatever errands we need to do for the week. Make a list of wherever you need to go and whatever you need to do during the day today and then get to it. This can include: Grocery shopping Doctor appointments Dentist appointments School shopping Dropping the clothes off at the cleaner And tons of other things. If it needs to be done outside the house, today is the day to do it. Make a list of these things and check them off as you do them. Today's Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): Your mission for today is to check and see if you have any leftover Holiday Decorations still on your door and front porch. If so, take 15 minutes and work on getting them taken down and put away. Make sure you don't over do it, set the timer! Fly Kids Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): I have thought of something called the 15 minute closet clean. For example, you set a timer for 15 minutes or watch the clock and while those 15 minutes are going you clean your closet. If your closet is a real mess, and I mean big big mess, start with one area at a time. Like if you have a toy box in the middle of your closet and a space of each side then you pick out the big stuff of one side and then the next and put it where it goes in your room. The big stuff makes the mess look bigger than it is. Then go to the next biggest stuff and then to the small stuff but do one section at a time. If the timer runs out before you finish take a 15 minute break and then go back to what you were doing. When you take your break don't do something you will want to keep doing so you just forget the cleaning and keep doing what you want to do. Holiday Clean Up mission - Last day!! You did it! Now take 15 minutes, put your feet up, and go through your Holiday Control Journal. Check to see if there is anything you missed. Make some notes about what worked for you and what didn’t work. Start your gift list for next year. Then keep the Holiday Control Journal in a safe place so you can refer to it when you need it. I keep mine in with my Regular Control Journal. Happy Holidays everyone. If you are new to Flylady, please join at any time. There is no better time then now to learn to keep your house clean the easy way!

Praying for you! That would be the worst to have a child for a while then have them go to a barely known relative! Prayers for whatever He wants to come and everyone to be at peace with it!

Oh how awful! I am sure the teens are not helping you either! They tend to sleep in if you let them I am sure! Sorry, I don't always advertise my blog, I am just doing the same thing on there as I am doing on here so that is why I mentioned it. You can find a link in my signature under "Find out my story here" or you can just go to www.OurUnplannedLife.com I have been blogging for 12 years on there this month so it is huge but it is more or less a family blog. You can find the Flylady baby steps if you click on Flylady.

Beth it isn't as bad as it looks. I put EVERYTHING on the list. Some things only take a few minutes and then they are done. Amazing what you can do in 15 minutes or less. ;) Tammy I am so glad we can help you! I hope things get easier and easier for you! I am not sure you are at the point of wanting to try this, but the last couple of days I have got up a bit earlier then normal. This is helping me a TON. It doesn't sound like it should but it gives me a bit of a breather and makes making breakfast that much easier! Well I have done almost everything big that I wanted to do today. I have a few little things, a 5 minute thing here or there to do. Also my nighttime routine. I find that my hardest thing about the routines in the last 6 months or whatever it has been since I started, is when we get another family member. Right now we are a family of 4 but when we get another placement I think I will need a boot camp again. LOL Does my commentary help with the baby steps? I have pre-wrote 12 of the Baby Steps on my blog and I am liking what I am writing on there better then what I wrote in October on here. So let me know if you like me to copy it over here. :) Oh and I have decided that I don't need 2 fifteen minute times in the zone everyday. I think I am going to have 30 minutes of hobby time everyday instead. ;) That would be better then cleaning. Though that could be the nearly 2 hours of wiping the walls, baseboards, doors, and banister of this week's zone talking. ((Thud))

I would like to do: Laundry (jeans) make bed dressed washed and moisturized (morning) breakfast empty dishwasher what's for dinner 2 zone cleaning areas (30 minutes of cleaning in zone) start washing laundry lunch snack 2 zone cleaning areas (30 minutes of cleaning in the zone) grade papers 5 minute hot spot (today would be bedroom) put laundry in dryer update blog Plan blog bible reading make dinner put away laundry prepare for next day (what to wear) shine sink medication 5 minute room rescue brush teeth wash and moisturize (evening) Dictate lesson for ODS Educate YDS Go to eye doctor take out recycling Paid the kids the equivalent of $0.50 each and they did it! Thanks Accountable Kids! (BTW they were going to do it for $0.25 each but I thought they deserved more). Meal plan: Breakfast: Cream of wheat with coffee Lunch: Change of plans, made Mac and Cheese with top romen. It is surprisingly good mixed even. Snack: (realistically) a piece of fudge Fudge is gone. :( Time to make more divinity! ;) Dinner: Split pea soup with bread (it is VERY cold outside, soup is the only thing that sounds good). Desert (we have this every night) ??? I am off to a good start today and I have yet to have coffee. Getting YDS educated feels like I got a lot done. I also took a 15 minute break of theirs and turned it into zone cleaning. So that was good as well. I think I will move laundry, do another 15 minutes of zone cleaning and if I still have time, read the bible (adult version) that I didn't have time for yesterday. :D Eye appointment is at noon and that will eat an hour of my day but I like the ability to see so it is worth it. Oh and word to the wise, yesterday my old foegy (how would you spell foe-gy?) of a husband that drives like a 90 year old man got a speeding ticket in Maryland. We haven't been to Maryland since November. Well I guess they take a photo of you speeding and wait a month to send you the ticket. Hard to believe my husband can even speed! Tells me he was going with the flow of traffic. So be careful if you are driving through Maryland. Not only are the gas prices insane (one time I was driving through the state early in the morning and saw a gas price and thought it was the time!), but so are the speeding fines!

Good morning Flyminds! Welcome to the Flylady support thread. To find out what Flylady is: http://www.flylady.net/ You can also find people on YouTube if you search for it. We have completed the baby steps found here: http://forums.welltr...nday-october-1/ We have also completed a Building a Control Journal series found here: http://forums.welltr...-16-tue-oct-24/ If you would like to share your small accomplishments on instagram, please do so at #wtmflylady Flylady Babysteps: Day 1 - Shine your kitchen sink!! Day 2 - Dress to shoes! Day 3 - Exploring the Flylady’s website, or putting up notes to remind you of things, or keeping up the good work?? I am not sure, just take a breather, keep up the good work, and call it good! ;) http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-3/ Need more inspiration? https://youtu.be/8ut6ftQ8Bro https://youtu.be/f9WNYY3vw58 An overview of the whole 31 days. http://www.collington.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Flylady-beginner-baby-steps.pdf Advanced Flylady: This week the Flylady is focused on Zone 1 - The Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room. Wednesday - Anti-procrastination Day! Each and every Wednesday is Anti-Procrastination Day for FlyLady. This is a day that we take care of things we’ve been putting off. You can use this day to take care of any procrastinating you’ve done. You can do things like: Make doctors appointments Finish that report for work Work on a project with your child Clean the fish tank You can do whatever you need to take care. This is the day to stop putting things off. Today's Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): Today is the day that you will spend 15 minutes in the entrance way of your home. Grab all the mail, shoes and jackets and put them away! I am always so surprised at how much stuff seems to accumulate in that one area! This is one area that when you tackle it and you are finished that you feel such a huge accomplishment because it is what you see first as you come through the door! Fly Kids Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): Today we are going to go after all those video game discs, music discs, dvds and video tapes. It is time to gather them all up from wherever they are in the house. Put them back into their cases or wherever their proper home is. I know that they end up on the floor, on top of the tv, the tables and more! While you are doing this if you find things that you just do not love or play with anymore, take them to Mom or Dad and let them know that you are ready to bless someone else with them. Holiday Clean Up mission - OK – you have put away all the decorations, the tree is down. Remember to put the Holiday Decoration boxes back in the basement, attic, or where ever you store them. Don’t do the SHE thing and leave them sitting by the stairs for the next month LOL. If you are new to Flylady, please join at any time. There is no better time then now to learn to keep your house clean the easy way!

What exactly are you looking for? Something that you can plan (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly?) and journal? How much journaling? Half a page (8.5 by 11), a few sentences, a whole page? Do you want to do habit tracking? Do you want to do lists? Do you want anything else special? What is your favorite kind of binding? Book, loose leaf, spiral? These are all things to keep in mind when finding a journal.

We might go to Albuquerque NM. :glare: However I am hoping to push that back till next year after we get a bigger van. My mom has a heck of a trip planned for April. She (and her DH) are going to the BVI's (British Virgin Islands) and renting a catamaran and sailing for a week. She has done this before and loved it. I guess the trip is still on despite the hurricane damage. My father (not married to my mother) is suppose to be going to Europe with my step mother and 2 sisters (both minors). My youngest sister is suppose to go to China for 2 weeks in April (school trip) and my older younger sister wants to either go to China for the summer (a semi school thing) or become a foreign exchange student to Denmark. So we will have to see what comes of that. Compared to my parents I seem to be standing still this year. However we hope to foster an infant (to hopefully adopt), so that would be our excitement for the year! ;) We will likely go to the NYC Auto show in April (we live in NJ) and the Hershey, PA RV show in September. We do both of these every year though. My boys would love if we would go to Fontana Resort in NC this year again (went for the eclipse last year). Still trying to figure out a way to work that out though. DH wants to camp more this year too... another thing that would be helpful to have a larger van for. Anyway we slice it, I am sure it will be a great year! :D

Today's laundry day turned into a 2 loader! So while one is done and almost folded, I have another one to look forward to. :( I also had the added task of going to the store (not planned) because we may get a foot of snow here later in the week. 1 foot and they go sort of nuts here. That may make us snowed in for a couple days. So I have milk, eggs and bread. So I guess I am ready for a proper Nor'Easter! :D Hope everyone else is doing well. I will be back in a bit and post Baby Step 3.

My children have swim class tomorrow. I am bringing hats and thanking God for giving me boys. It is too cold for swimming but the pool is inside and they need it. So we are going. I wouldn't be surprised if we are the only ones there though. I don't mind the cold as long as I can stay home. I don't plan to go out again till Saturday after the swim class so I am good.

Tuesday I would like to do: swim class boys' (children) bath Laundry (darks) make bed dressed washed and moisturized (morning) breakfast empty dishwasher what's for dinner 2 zone cleaning areas (30 minutes of cleaning in zone) start washing laundry lunch snack 2 zone cleaning areas (30 minutes of cleaning in the zone) grade papers 5 minute hot spot (today would be bedroom) put laundry in dryer update blog Plan blog bible reading make dinner put away laundry prepare for next day (what to wear) shine sink medication 5 minute room rescue brush teeth wash and moisturize (evening) fix blanket Dictate lesson for ODS Educate YDS Make a phone call Meal plan: Breakfast: Cream of wheat with coffee Lunch: Sandwich with a piece of fudge Snack: (realistically) a piece of fudge Dinner: Split pea soup with bread (it is VERY cold outside, soup is the only thing that sounds good). Desert (we have this every night) Cheesecake left over from Christmas

Good morning Flyminds! Welcome to the Flylady support thread. To find out what Flylady is: http://www.flylady.net/ You can also find people on YouTube if you search for it. We have completed the baby steps found here: http://forums.welltr...nday-october-1/ We have also completed a Building a Control Journal series found here: http://forums.welltr...-16-tue-oct-24/ If you would like to share your small accomplishments on instagram, please do so at #wtmflylady Flylady Babysteps: Day 1 - Shine your kitchen sink!! Day 2 - Dress to shoes! http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-2/ Need more inspiration? An overview of the whole 31 days. http://www.collington.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Flylady-beginner-baby-steps.pdf This has always puzzled me as to why you need to do this. I mean if you work outside the home you do this anyway, but for those of us that are home all day, we tend to forget that we do have a work time and a relaxing time. This forces one to think of work time so we can have play time later. ;) Advanced Flylady: This week the Flylady is focused on Zone 1 - The Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room. Tuesday - Planning Day - This could be anything that needs to be planned. Meal planning, lesson planning, activity planning, holiday planning, or anything else. Today's Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): We are going to have a multi room mission today, it might take you longer than 15 minutes to do it, so set your timer for each room and FLY through it! For the Front Porch, Entrance and Dining Room, put out the fires that are burning in your hot spots. Get rid of the pile of shoes by the front door, get rid of the pile of junk mail and put away the magazines and school papers that are piled on the dining room table. Fly Kids Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): Today you are going to open up your sock drawer and look for all of the socks that don't fit or have holes in them. If you have socks that are in that drawer that you just don't wear let's toss those out along with the ones that don't fit or have holes in them! Holiday Clean Up mission - Take 15 minutes today to continue to put away your Holiday decorations. Remember that our goal is to have all of the Holiday decorations taken care of by Friday. If you are new to Flylady, please join at any time. There is no better time then now to learn to keep your house clean the easy way!

I agree with the PP. Doing it is the only way to get over a phobia. I have a fear of birds and I, in some ways, wish I was forced to interact with them when I was younger. Now that I am my age, and I have developed ways to avoid them, I would rather do that. However saying all of that can I just say that it is amazing that Boston seems to be in a 5 hour time warp of some kind? My DH was working in NJ when I met him. His job was being transferred to Boston and when he would go up there it didn't matter how he went, plane, train or auto, it was ALWAYS 5 hours away. Didn't know it was the same way for other parts of the country! I hope you have fun up there even if your aunt isn't doing well. Boston always has a special spot in my heart. ;)

Day is almost done and I didn't do too bad today. I am posting my sink on Instagram if anyone wants to see it.

Try using an oil on it. Olive, lemon, I even use Orange Glo on mine after my mother suggested it. That is if it is a stainless steel sink. If not, then I am not sure what you can use. 3 hours of lesson planning is exhausting. Note to self, NEVER wait to the last minute again! However I almost have 3 weeks done including copying, which for me is extensive. I may have as many as 3 more children following ODS so copying is a MUST. To everyone new, WELCOME! I hope you like it here. It sounds like you are all doing well! Congratulations on starting your first step to your clean house!

Okay I did my morning chores so I will post the whole day here: I am using my new planner/control journal today! :D Bring in trash can (no garbage pick up today) gather items for swim class girls (children) bath (none in the house) Laundry (lights) make bed dressed washed and moisturized (morning) breakfast empty dishwasher what's for dinner 2 zone cleaning areas (30 minutes of cleaning in zone) start washing laundry lunch snack Didn't need 2 zone cleaning areas (30 minutes of cleaning in the zone) grade papers 5 minute hot spot (today would be bedroom) put laundry in dryer update blog bible reading make dinner put away laundry prepare for next day (what to wear) shine sink medication 5 minute room rescue brush teeth wash and moisturize (evening) lesson plan fix blanket musical cars (single car width driveway, DH has been off for a week so the van is in front and he goes to work before we go to swim class). Meal plan: Breakfast: Cream of wheat with coffee Lunch: Sandwich with a piece of fudge Snack: (realistically) a piece of fudge Dinner: Left over bean and ham soup with left over garlic bread Desert (we have this every night) Cheesecake left over from Christmas

Good morning Flyminds! Welcome to the Flylady support thread. To find out what Flylady is: http://www.flylady.net/ You can also find people on YouTube if you search for it. We have completed the baby steps found here: http://forums.welltr...nday-october-1/ We have also completed a Building a Control Journal series found here: http://forums.welltr...-16-tue-oct-24/ If you would like to share your small accomplishments on instagram, please do so at #wtmflylady Flylady Babysteps: Today we start our 31 baby steps! Yay!! Day 1 - Shine your kitchen sink!! http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/shine-sink/ Need more inspiration? Here are some people to help you! https://youtu.be/ztCaANY5aBA https://youtu.be/_CmN-0rnqKU An overview of the whole 31 days. http://www.collington.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Flylady-beginner-baby-steps.pdf I have found that this does more than just shining my sink. It motivates me to clean more and more of my kitchen. Clean sink, check… but wait, the stove looks yucky! Oh I will just wipe that a bit too. You do this enough times and you have a sparkling kitchen! :D If you are doing the Babysteps and want to post a photo to share, please do so. You can also go to Instagram and tag #wtmflylady I will post my sink tonight! Advanced Flylady: This week the Flylady is focused on Zone 1 - The Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room. Monday - Weekly home blessing - Our mission today is to wipe down cabinets! Weekly home blessing is spending 10 minutes doing each of these: Vacuuming Dusting quick mop polish mirrors and door handles purge magazines and catalogs change all sheets empty trash. Today's Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): Your mission for today is to shake out your door mats and sweep off your front porch. Although for some of you that may mean using a shovel if it is snowing where you are! Fly Kids Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): Today we are going to go back into our rooms and look for 10 things that we no longer use, love or play with. Ask Mom or Dad for a bag to place these items in. These are things that are not broken or missing pieces that we can actually take and give to someone else that may not be a fortunate as we are to have these things. This is called Blessing someone else. We all have things that we just seem to have but don't use, love or need. Let's find 10 of these things and take the bag to Mom or Dad for them to put in the car. Remind Mom and Dad to drop these off at a place where they are needed. Remember what I always say: Less stuff to clean and put away means more time to play! Holiday Clean Up mission - As I told you yesterday, we are focusing on spending 15 minutes each day this week taking down the holiday decorations. Now if your religion is such that this is not what you should be doing this week, then you can do these missions when your holiday time is over. If you are new to Flylady, please join at any time. There is no better time then now to learn to keep your house clean the easy way!

:hurray: Congratulations Beth!!! :hurray: :drool5: :thumbup: :thumbup1: :001_tt1: :cheers2:

I have my 4 year old doing things in the blessing hour. He wipes door handles and checks that each bathroom has 2 rolls of toilet paper in them. Simple, but works. He just uses a baby wipe to wipe the door handles. My 9 year old dusts during blessing hour, he also checks soap levels in the soap containers. DH and I vacuum and mop respectively. My 9 year old also does the swish and swipe everyday alternating between the 2 bathrooms. Got back from church! It is FREEZING outside and my street I am pretty sure we could ice skate or ski on. Glad I am not going out again today!

My to do list for today: Breakfast lunch dinner snack hot spot bedroom lesson plan (need at least 3 weeks planned) fix blanket update blog Laundry Church blessing hour I don't think it will be that bad of a day today. We will have to see though. The boys are not going to want to put away all their Christmas things I am sure.

Good morning Flyminds! Welcome to the Flylady support thread. To find out what Flylady is: http://www.flylady.net/ You can also find people on YouTube if you search for it. We have completed the baby steps found here: http://forums.welltr...nday-october-1/ We have also completed a Building a Control Journal series found here: http://forums.welltr...-16-tue-oct-24/ If you would like to share your small accomplishments on instagram, please do so at #wtmflylady We will start the baby steps again TONIGHT! So if you are a lurker, find us then! This week the Flylady is focused on Zone 1 - The Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room. Sunday - Renew your spirit! Each Sunday is the day to Renew Your Spirit. This is a day to take time for yourself and build YOU up with your favorite things. If you don’t Renew Your Spirit, you can’t renew the spirit of others. Here are some great ideas: A movie at the local theater A walk in the park Curl up with a good book Take a long hot bubble bath Watch a favorite movie There are so many ways you can Renew Your Spirit. Find some that work for you. Today's Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): None Fly Kids Mission (We only have missions Monday through Friday): None Holiday Clean Up mission - OK – It is TIME! Those Holiday decorations are to be taken down and put away one BabyStep at a time! If you have already managed to get your Christmas trees taken down and decorations put away, congratulations! If not, then spend 15 minutes every day this week getting holiday decorations put away. By this Friday, get the Tree either put away or out of the house! Whew! This means lights, ornaments, tree, and all other decorations! We are going to party on Friday, and celebrate that we have successfully survived and enjoyed a stress free Holiday by FLYing! If you are new to Flylady, please join at any time. There is no better time then now to learn to keep your house clean the easy way!