FLYing on my own

Although I've tried FLY lady for over 4 years, "her system" hasn't stuck. Her cleaning system makes life look easy. I can't seem to make it work in my house. My problems thus far:

1. When I first tried her system, I was a young, working wife and my daily schedule didn't line up with hers. I was over eager and tried to do too much with not enough time to really let it settle in.
2. I became pregnant with Little Lady shortly after I started and things went down hill from there. *Note to self: don't try a new cleaning system while pregnant, not a good idea in my book.
3. I switched jobs and started working lots of hours, not good in the cleaning book.
4. I then had Friday's off so I could take 4 hours and do a whole house clean, not in the FLYlady's book. I was doomed!
5. Then, we moved into an apartment and I was pregnant with #2 with lots of time on my hands... refer to note in #2!
6. So, now we've moved into our house, I'm not pregnant and both kids are over the age of 6 months *Note to self, also don't try to start a cleaning system with children less than 6 months old, I get overwhelmed and over stressed and life should really be about the kids at that stage!

I've tried to do FLYlady and I've tried again and again. I finally came to the conclusion that although her theories are good on paper, the ladies add way too many LOL's and :)'s for my liking. I want my directions so I can get to work without the fluff. Give me a checklist and let me go!

That brings me to now. I have FINALLY figured it out! FLYlady has a Cozi calendar. Here's the kicker. You can't copy & paste it into your own calendar and you only get access to it through Cozi and you have use their products. Being the savvy computer techie that I like to think I am, I downloaded Cozi as an iPod Touch app when it was still new and free without the advertising :) So, I get the calendar but it doesn't show up on my main iPod calendar... bummer. Over the last 6 months and the next 6 months, I will be spending time retyping (and customizing) FLYlady's immense wealth of daily zone work into my Outlook calendar (note: it's the only one I have found that I can schedule reoccurring events on the Third Thursday of August every year). Another kicker, the PC that the Outlook Calendar is on is not connected to the Internet and I can't sync it with my iPod unless it's connected (old iPod, old computer. Gotta love DH).

Over the past couple of weeks, I've been retyping all of my FLYlady daily missions and scheduling them. Now, I've discovered that there isn't really much behind the mystery. It feels like I've uncovered the magic in the tricks. The smoke and mirrors are gone. I also don't have a spotless house. FLYlady skips over a bunch of the things that get dirty in my house (high chairs, steps, closets, you know the important things!).  I can stick to her schedule and get some things done or I can add to it and create my own schedule and FLY all on my own. That's the point right?!

I've also wanted something to incorporate faith into my daily schedule. I found Small Steps for Catholic Moms and I really like that a lot of the tasks Incorporated are things that the FLYlady does. There is an addition of a prayer and a quote from a saint or a bible verse. The perfect addition to my Calendar!

So, when I get the chance that will be my next addition... baby steps!

I've also decided that I want to have "Bonus Missions" things that I can do if I accomplish my daily mission such as those pesky stairs and that darn high chair!

And that my friends, is how I plan to FLY on my own, in a nut shell.

Lets Find a Deal

I have learned in my very short time in this small town that Garage Sales are a BIG deal. I've never really understood the attraction of buying one person's junk and making it my treasure although I have a tendancy to make treasures of a lot of my own things. I now understand.

Last summer husband and I went to a few garage sales and found a limited amout of items for our children. What I didn't know then: you have to go to these garage sales within 2 hours of opening and you have to know exactly what you want when you get there including size, condition & what season your shopping for if it's children's wear. You also have to know how much you want to spend. Most importantly, you MUST know where to shop! We didn't get much but we also didn't know these small bits of invaluable information at the time.

This summer is different. After moving into a new neighborhood and meeting a few of the neighbors, we've discovered that we are in prime garage sale territory. Many of the kids are older than ours and they like to shop at name brand stores! The houses are all less than 10 years old and have a bunch of young families living in them. It's the perfect place for good deals.

Today I found 8 (3T) outfits for Kaitlyn (pants, shirt & sweater), 5 (6-9 month) outfits for Anthony, & 3 sweaters for myself. I spent less than $60, everything I purchased was name brand (Gap, Gymboree, Children's Place, or Old Navy), and some of it even had the original tags on it. All acquired in less than 2 hours with no tax, no shipping, and no lines!

A recipe for blogging

I'm new to this. We'll just start there! I created a blog because I spend most of my day thinking. I am usually thinking to myself but in an occassional desperation to get my youngest to sleep, I'll think out loud while walking with him around the house. Sometimes it works although I end up with more great ideas and things to do when I do that. Oh, well I guess I'll start a blog!

About me: I want to write about my family, about my life but mostly about both of those in the perspective of love for all of it. I also like to cook. Although I consider myself a novice in the kitchen, I like to share about my ideas and it gives me inspiration for my future cooking projects. I love to bake too. My favorite part is the presentation. If it doesn't look good, don't eat it. I hope if you're reading this that you enjoy the tidbits I share or at least keep all the terrible things you like to think about my to yourself ;)

About the title: I wanted something catchy. It also described me a little bit. A spoonful might not be enough but a whole bowl full at once might be too much. A scoup at a time, could be just right :)