Operation Me.

Urggghhhhhhhh.

2011-10-11T22:54:00.001-04:00

So I have mentioned lately that I feel like I have fallen off the wagon, the Operation Me wagon. Well it is official. The only good news is that it is driving me crazy. Last week was SUPER CRAZY for us with so many extra things happening. All good but just very busy. Friday for example was Todd's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODD!!! I got up and made a breakfast, used the griddle for bacon and eggs, made biscuits...well Grand made them I put them in the oven. After breakfast I HAD to order our new iphones because there was a problem with http://www.myverizon.com/ when I got up at 2:55AM to order the phones at 3:01 AM when they were first available. YES I am that desperate for a new phone, mine blows and has unbelievable amounts of problems and I have waited and waited for the new iphone to come out which kept getting postponed and blah, blah, blah... I know you know how this story goes. So I was able to call at 8AM and get that problem fixed but that had us running out the door to E's first field trip to Sinkland Farms. They were so cute!

Then after work we were rushing around to meet for dinner at 7:30PM at Kabuki for Todd's birthday dinner. Run, Run, Run. So by the time we got home its close to 10PM get E in bed, I was not about to clean up. Then like always its snowballs. Plus no one was rushing to help get me motivated to get it done either.

BUT tonight I made a dent in the problem, hoping to finish it tomorrow. I have lunches packed, clothes are not picked out but almost everything is clean which makes the selection process so much easier. This weather is difficult to plan for. So having everything clean is great if you have a place to put it. I am really making progress in our bed room in my clothing storage situation it is just very slow. The 10-15mins I put towards it daily is in the morning before E gets up and like always I make a bigger mess before it gets better and you can probably guess where the mess is...that's right, the bed in the guest bed room!!!

I have changed my control journal.to a notebook, the kind its harder to tear the pages out of. The first page has my current morning, after work, and evening routines. The other pages have to do lists and grocery lists. I have also gotten some small post its which can come in handy.

I have also been good about planning my meals again this week which is so nice to have that decided in the morning before you go to work! I CAN DO THIS! I CAN DO THIS!!!! ~ Lisa

Put Your Home on a Diet.

2011-10-05T16:46:00.001-04:00

How to Declutter... "Put Your Home on a Diet."

How great is this idea! I need to put everything on a diet!

I think that #2... "Decluttering Equipment; You will need garbage bags, boxes, magic markers, and a dust rag. Label the boxes "Give Away", "Throw Away", and "Put Away". Line the "Throw Away" box with a plastic garbage bag"... is great and might save the bed in my guest room from being the largest hop spot in our house. I just cleaned out E's closet. It was ugly. It is not done, but it is on the way. Unfortunately the bed in the guest room is back to its normal full of crap-ness.

#3. "Set your timer: for 1 hour (or 30, 15, or 10 minutes - it doesn't matter how long). Just do the job as fast as you can and do not pull out more stuff than you can put away in that length of time. This means just one drawer, one closet (or even one shelf in one closet), one magazine rack, or digging under just the furniture in the zone. Not all of them at once!"... This is really hard for me. I can't really organize something until its empty and I start from scratch which is why I tend to make a bigger mess before its gets better. Hence the guest room bed hot spot.

#4. "Start at the entrance to the room: Then, work your way around the room clockwise. Do not skip a spot. Whatever happens to be next, just do it"... GREAT IDEA, and the entire guest room is going to need it by the time I am done with E's room! My closet is in the guest room and it looks like it is going to be last.

#5. Declutter Away! With boxes at your feet and dust rag in your waistband, start off by cleaning out and getting rid of the things that do not belong in this room. Put garbage in the "Throw Away" box, donations in the "Give Away" box, and stuff that goes somewhere else in the "Put Away" box. Don't worry that you do not have a place for everything right now. By the time you finish you will. That's a promise from FlyLady!... Okay, this is sounding better. The "Put Away" box doesn't have to be put away right then. I wonder if I have a box big enough for the "Put Away" box. I am going to need big one.

"Cleanse this room of everything that doesn't make you SMILE"....OKAY, that is...well, that doesn't work for me. I have lots of things that I need that don't make me smile.

#9. Donations: When the "Give Away" box gets full, seal it off, and put it in your car. The next time you are out, you can donate to the area thrift shop. Do not save your clutter for a yard or garage sale, you will be blessed by giving it away. The value can be deducted on your income tax. Remember you are trying to get rid of clutter - not relocate it somewhere else in your home. Now, grab another box, label it "Give Away", and get back to work... AMEN FlyLady. I hate yard sales. I don't like saving stuff or pricing it. I am horrible at pricing it. I do not care for the back and forth of yard sale sales. Maybe its from owning and/or working in retail but I figure if there is a price on it, that is what it costs. The part about deducting the value from your income tax means that you have to price the stuff, which is similar to yard sale prep and then you have to keep the receipts...and that is another blog all together.

#10 "Put Away" Stuff: When the "Put Away" box gets full, take the box in your arms and run around the house (good thing you have shoes on - right?) and put the items in the room where they belong. If they have a place, put them there, if not put them in the room where they logically belong. By the time you have finished you will have a place for everything and everything will be in it's place... sort of contradicts #5. I know that it really is the best way to do this, but I really have to be careful about putting stuff that I am just not sure about somewhere else and it turns into clutter in its new location.

How did I get this way. Is there a gene that is hereditary? I really don't want E to be like this. I want him to want everything to have its place and for him to want to put it there so things will always be nice and tidy.

When we moved I really wanted to have a clutter free house, sort of like the houses in Japan that you see on TV, but seriously where do the Japanese put all of their stuff. Maybe those bamboo paneled walls really slide open to reveal utter clutter and disorganization.

So here is to putting my home on a diet! ~Lisa

E's Closet.

2011-10-01T17:33:00.003-04:00

So I decided to tackle E's closet. It wasn't in the best of shape. Most of the stuff in here was his, clothes and shoes that don't fit or baby toys that I was able to hide away to get out of the mix of toys we play with in hopes that they would be stored away properly in the basement at some point, hopefully sooner that later but the later won. There are some boxes of memorabilia that I have in here that I am trying to keep at a minimum but some things I just don't want to get rid of.

I have this thing about saving greeting cards from certain people and I know it drives Todd crazy. If we get a card from parents or grandparents I save them. Mostly because of the handwriting. I don't know why but I find this sentimental. We have the plate that people signed on E's first birthday and I love it because it has sentiments from family members. Some are no longer with us, but he will know that they were present with out us telling him, just by that plate.

So I made some good progress on the closet although it isn't finished. I really like these storage units that you can get at Lowes, probably many other places too. I do wish that they came in a more adult looking styles. Dark wood with baskets in more subdued tones would be awesome.

I am going to try to hang up all of his shirts, sweaters, hoodies, etc. and put T-shirts, pajamas, shorts and pants in his dresser drawers. I sure that this would not be a revelation to the average person but there is a lot to be said for doing frequent, smaller loads of laundry. One reason is that it doesn't take so long to fold and put the clothes away. I am more likely to hang up 7 shirts than 24. I am hoping that this will free up at least one drawer and I can use it for clothes that are to small since I don't have a laundry room to keep a tote, then when the drawer gets full I will fill up a tote and take to the basement.

So the current problem with E's closet project is the hot spot on the bed in the quest room. It is once again taking the brunt of the load.

I have felt as if I fell off the Operation Me wagon over the last 10 days, things were crazy at work and you know life... BUT I will say that I have been able to keep up with the areas I have already tackled even if I haven't progressed further. So that is a plus+++++ ~Lisa

F.L.C. Day 7-8.

2011-09-23T22:38:00.002-04:00

So Day 7 (F.L.C Day 7 Link.) is about picking our your clothes before you go to bed. I think that this will become easier for me when I get to the closets and drawers. Having the space to put my clothes, in the same place every time I believe is key for this to happen. Reading this back to myself it just sounds so ridiculous. BUT I know I have had clutter issues my entire life.
I can remember going through stacks of clean folded clothes in the floor of my closet when I was in high school. Mostly because I never hung my clothes up and my drawers tended to be full of other clutter that I was "putting away" in an attempt to clean my room.

Was is laziness, just to busy, or I never established a permanent place for my clothes to go? I know there was always and underwear and a sock drawer. I think when clothes would be cleaned and get folded I would set the stack, say in my closet because I was running out to meet my boyfriend, or rushing to school in the morning, or frantically looking of the particular dance uniform for that nights performance and I "knew" I would put it away "later" when I had a little more time. RIGHT!

Day 8 (F.L.C Day 8 Link.) is actually about starting your control journal, the FlyLady just doesn't call it your control journal yet. My control journal is lingering on the after work routine. I need to fine tune my current routines of whats currently working of me.

I need to stay on track with this project, I have been really busy at work with weddings and that has made the evenings harder to get things accomplished and the mornings seem so rushed these past few weeks. I am feeling like I am starting to plateau, only because I am so tired by the time I get home. I only have one child right now and we are considering having another... imagine how tired I will be then! I think of all the other Moms who have 3, 4, 5 kids...HOW DO THEY DO IT! Busy at work is good, so I can't complain, I just need to find a little more balance I guess. Great, another thing to work on! ~ Lisa

My Melted Crock Pot.

2011-09-20T23:41:00.001-04:00

So I believe that sometimes things happen to me that just don't happen to other people. For example my crock pot melting, literally. Let's start with the Chicken Teriyaki dinner I made for Monday.
First I want to say that when I watched the YouTube video of the Crock Pot Girls making this recipe...Chicken Teriyaki Recipe YouTube Link. at the very end the one says, "Yummy." and the other says, "Pretty Good." I remembered thinking...they don't like it. BUT why would they pick something they don't like. Then I thought, I'm sure it just appears that way because they are new to making cooking videos and all. BUT if they are going to really do something with this they need to stand behind what they make and act like, "THIS IS AWESOME!!" whether it really is or not. You have to believe or at least make it look like you TOTALLY BELIEVE in what you are selling. I never tell a client when they come into get their flowers, "Yea, this is okay. Not my favorite of the day..."

So I get everything all ready to go Monday morning and things are looking good and smelling great. When I got home everything still smelled great but it looked very bland. And it was. The pineapple was flavorless and the teriyaki sauce seem to have disappeared. Needless to say it needed some doctoring at the table and Todd was less than excited with the white rice.

So after we are done eating and Todd is carrying his dishes over to clean up!!! Yes that is right!!! He sees that the crock pot has sorted of melted. It wasn't even on at that point, it was still warm but not on. So I am in need of a new crock pot. Maybe it wasn't heating evenly Sunday and that would explain the potato problem. A family friend, Scottie told me that she can just cut a large baking potato in half and 8 hours later on low it is completely mush.

Although I believe the Chicken Teriyaki is a dud, I have friends who have recently tried Chicken and Dumplings and Beef Stroganoff and they where total winners!! So after the purchase of my new crock pot I will give those a try. ~Lisa

Crock Pot Sunday.

2011-09-18T21:54:00.002-04:00

So leave it to me to have a crock pot dinner not go as planned. I am telling you I can screw up even the simplest meals if given a chance. I decided to try another crock pot recipe tonight mainly because I haven't used the crock pot in a LONG time and I was worried it might turn itself off during the day tomorrow and we would come home to raw chicken and carrots marinated in a teriayki sauce.

Tonight I made Cowboy Pork Chops and Potatoes.

Cowboy Pork Chops and Potatoes Recipe Link.

I guess I didn't cut the potatoes up small enough. I didn't want them to disintegrate if they were to small like when I make vegetable soup (something else that should be easy, right?) since this recipe was supposed to cook for 8 hours on low. After 1.5 hours I turned it to high instead of low. 3.5 hours in Todd got out a piece of potato and as he tried to cut it, it flew out from under the knife onto the kitchen floor because it was not soft AT ALL. At this point I started scooping out the potatoes, cutting them into smaller pieces and putting plates of potatoes in the microwave. The recipe called for 4 potatoes, maybe I got the wrong kind (baking potatoes) but after I put 3 in the crock pot I stopped, it was to many potatoes with just three.

The pork chops got done and they were okay. I suppose the "Cowboy" part of the recipe which comes from the Wolf Chili (which clearly states on the can something about "Texas in a jar") is something I don't particularly care for. It has a similar taste to chili beans, which does makes since. I just thought with the other elements to the recipe it wouldn't be so chili bean-ish flavored.

I did add cheese and sour cream to mine. The cheese made a huge difference.

After today's experience I went ahead and cut the chicken for tomorrow up into much smaller pieces and hopefully we will have something edible ready for us when we get home tomorrow night. ~Lisa

Crock Pot Mondays.

2011-09-17T23:56:00.003-04:00

So I think that the Crock Pot Girls have hit something HUGE here. All of us are busy, who has time to REALLY cook EVERY night? I know I don't, and even if I did I wouldn't want to because I am just not a very good cook. It seems they are featuring a recipe every Monday? Not sure exactly as this is still very new...
Check out their Facebook page and Website below.

Crock Pot Girls ~ Facebook.

http://www.crockpotgirls.com./

The recipe from Monday 9.5.11 was Chicken Teriyaki. It sounds wonderful and easy. Easy is the part that I really like. Here is the You Tube Video they posted.

Crock Pot Girls Chicken Teriyaki Link.

So this is the dinner plan for our house this Monday. I am going to go get all of the ingredients while I am out tomorrow. I have to deliver some flowers...not so fun on a Sunday but glad for the business and SHOW OUR HOUSE! YAY! I will keep you posted on that and hopefully have some good news!!!

Also I want to say that we (all of us) have been doing a great job in the kitchen, keeping it straight, some of the FlyLady's ideas are really working for me and Todd is helping me maintain what I have done. : )

I am hoping that The Crock Pot Girls will inspire me to try new entrees, which I am SURE will make Todd happy! That is assuming that I don't royally screw up the recipes which I have been known to do. There are two crock pot recipes that do work for me, a particular pot roast recipe and a lasagna recipe. I will have to dig those out and try them again. I would LOVE to find some really healthful recipes that would aid in my nutrition/weight loss portion of Operation Me. That would be FANTASTIC. Especially since just the thought of putting on my pants from last winter is uncomfortable. : (

GO HOKIES! 3-0! ~Lisa

F.L.C.Days 5 & 6

2011-09-16T16:23:00.002-04:00

Here is a link to Day 5.

F.L.C. Baby Step 5 Link.

The only thing I have to say about this and that I don't think this step is necessary for me.

NOW Day 6 is a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY.

F.L.C. Baby Step 6 Link.

I totally have hot spots in our house. The kitchen island (which we have already "uncovered"), the dining room table, and the bed in the guest room. These areas tend to fill up in the order listed above, except for right now the bed in the guest room is taking the brunt of the load because we are doing a pretty good job keeping the kitchen island clean and we do eat at the dining room table nightly.

We did almost have a set back tonight. Todd brought home AWESOME Carolina Style vinegar based ribs from Sharkey's. As E would have said when he was 9 months old, "YumYum!"

Sharkey's Radford Link. (Check out rib section.)

I realized that Todd had seemed to disappear into the bed room to go to bed and with out having to look I knew he had left the ribs out on the island. After asking him and getting the verbal confirmation of my intuitive feeling, he did get up to put the ribs in the fridge (and I literally mean ONLY the ribs). This included a dramatic display of limping, and struggling to get to the kitchen and then back to the bedroom grasping on to furniture and door jams along the way. It was quite dramatic. He is suffering from a foot issue right now but the "flare-up" I witnessed tonight was record setting. It also came on so suddenly as he was fine on his way to the bedroom the first time.

I came to the island's rescue and cleared it off, so we are still good. Shined Sink, Clear Island. Truly making good progress in the kitchen.

I think the idea of working on a hot spot for 2 minutes is good, I think I can probably do 5 minutes at a time. So I will tackle the bed in the guest room first, and let you know how it goes. ~Lisa

The Kitchen Island.

2011-09-13T23:02:00.002-04:00

In our kitchen is an island, butcher block top a few drawers and shelves. I will never again get an island like this, I need more drawers or cabinets with doors to hide all of my crap. The top of the island is the perfect place to set stuff on when you walk in the door. It can get quite piled up. On Sunday I started to tackle the island. I realize that it sounds ridiculous that I couldn't just clear it all off at one time, but the stuff had to go somewhere and if I just shoved it somewhere else then although the island would be clean, something else would be a mess.

There were some random items on the island. A Hokie bracelet from last Saturday's game. A deviled egg container that I could of really used last Saturday for my deviled eggs at the tailgate. A stack of E's artwork. Some dried alstromeria petals that had fallen out of a vase, the vase got put away but the petals remained. Several receipts, a few books, pens, a candle, a few freebies with coupons that came in the mail. Obviously we didn't use this island for much... other than storage.

NOW...the island is clear except for a candle and E's mum that we planted in our little red pot. SO can I keep the island clean and clear? I hope so! The kitchen sink still looks great!

ALSO, tonight we convinced E how great it would be to move his train track that has been in our kitchen to his room!!! He and Todd took it apart and loaded up his "E" bag and went off to his bed room where they built a NEW track in E's ROOM! YAY!

The "E" bag has really worked well for me. It is a large utility tote from thirty-one that I had embroidered with the letter "E". If E puts something in the "E" bag it comes to work or home or where ever. It has helped limit the amount of toys that we drag around. However he is quite clever at packing the "E" bag and he gets the most of out every square inch to the point it can be very hard to lift and I have to drag it across the shop floor by one of its straps. Fortunately the thirty-one people make some quality products!! ~Lisa

The Shoe Baskets.

2011-09-10T21:53:00.010-04:00

I attempted to start the house part of Operation Me. several months ago, and for whatever reason, well I can actually give you at least 10 (I guess really they would be excuses not reasons), I didn't follow through but on a few items. One of those was the shoe problem we have at our house.
No one uses our front door, everyone uses the door on the carport. If we did use our front door we could put our shoes in the coat closet, which we do try to use in the winter. Our carport entrance is into our kitchen which is open to our dining room. This is where shoes end up, right when we come in the door. For awhile I would put (push with my foot) the shoes under a little deacon's bench just inside the door, but the shoes still always got messy and piled up. I found these medium sized decorative baskets at Target, and two fit perfect under the bench.

Sometimes all three of us still boycott the baskets. Which is ridiculous since most of the time we will take our shoes off right by the baskets, just inside the door. For the most part the shoes do end up in the basket unless they get taken off in the bedroom. E is really good about putting his shoes in the baskets. Now I can not comment on the organization on the inside of the baskets, but no one can really see that with out pulling out a basket. The point of this story is that I know I can do this, get the house in order because most of the time we do a good job of keeping up with the shoe baskets. ~Lisa

P.S. When I get to my closets, here are some items I am looking into.

Shoe and Purse Organizer Link.

I am really interested in the shoe organizers because in the presentation they also show it in your coat closet for scarves, gloves, hats, etc. The purse organizer is something that I REALLY need. I have several of Lori Grenier's products and I really like them. If anyone has either of these or another way to store these types of items I would love to hear about them!!

Breakfast and Snacking.

2011-09-09T15:41:00.002-04:00

I am having the worst time finding something that I like, that has options for choices to eat for breakfast which is pretty much on the go for me. I don't want to eat a pop tart, I don't have time to sit down and eat breakfast so I try to carry a yogurt or bowl of cereal around the house with me while I get ready, and get E ready, and now do my Morning Routine.

I know that eating breakfast gets your metabolism going, but it also makes me really hungry all day long, which leads to snacking. At the shop I don't have a lunch hour, I just eat when I can and sometimes that means eating while I am making arrangements which must be something that is easy to eat with your hands. Or I am eating while I do paper work or working on wedding estimates. So I tend to either not eat at all or graze all day. Its bad.

I have found that Kellogg's Cracker Chips are really good. I like them better than the baked crackers. The portion for 100 calories is BIG. WAY more than the little bags you can buy prepackaged. I also love apples or apples and peanut butter. I feel like a get in a rut and then I get bored with something that is probably good for me and working, I need variety in the good for you yet yummy catagory.

I seem to have more will power to work out (when times allows) then be careful about what I eat.

I am really bad about eating before bed, while I am watching TIVO. My favorite snack at this time of night (which I have not have in a VERY LONG TIME) is brownie batter. Eating it by the spoonful. Its AWESOME!

So any sugguestions on snacking and/or eating would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance. ~Lisa

F.L.C. Day 4 & Control Journal Baby Step 3

2011-09-09T07:43:00.002-04:00

Okay, it appears I missed something on Day 3. Reading the Big Tent messages. I did "join" this yesterday and I believe it is a network of emails. It sounds like the FlyLady sends out multiple emails a day and that they can be overwhelming to beginners. I have only received the Daily Digest. I would like to read the Daily Flight Plan, I haven't received that yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Baby Step 4, Write these things down.

Write these things down Link.

I am not going to write things down that I need to do in each room with post it sticky notes. I think one list in the kitchen or my pocket will do just fine.

My sink looks great! I actually not only dried the laundry that I put in this morning but did 2 more loads. The 2nd load was our comforter. Nice to be caught up on the clothes enough to wash the comforter just because.

I feel like I am in a good place with my progress thru Days 1, 2, 3, & 4. So I am going to do Control Journal Baby Step 3.

Control Journal Baby Step 3 Link.

I added the Morning Routine page to my Control Journal. I think the "Swipe and Swish" is a great idea. I wonder how involed that is suposed to be. Do you use toilet bowl cleaner every day? What do you use to wipe down the toilet. Do you only wipe down the lid, under the lid, the seat, under the seat, and around the bowl? Or are we talking getting down on the floor and wiping the back part on the sides where all the lint catches and the little knobs that cover the screws?

I searched the FlyLady's site and found "Swipe and Swish" is actually under Baby Step 24. She wipes the counter of the sink and swishes the toilet bowl with the toilet brush. I still think that this is not enough detail for the cleaning challenged...but we will figure it out! I will see what works for me over the next few days and keep you posted. If we start with a spotless potty then maybe this will be sufficent for during the week.

I have already been trying to put everything away before I go to work.

I don't want to get out of bed "FLYing". I used to jump out of bed and race around and it just contributed to my anxiety problem. All I did wash rush, rush, rush, rush, all day long. No matter what I did... and it started the minute I woke up. So after I ended up in the ER the night of Virginia Tech's Bowl game one January (and there is nothing like watching something you really wanted to see on the TV in the ER lobby) with the worst panic attack I have ever had, I stopped doing that. I tried to stop doing alot of things like that, I succeeded at some...others I am still working on.

If I have run the dishwasher the night before I will definitly try empting it in the morning. Luckily at this point I do not run the dishwasher every day.

Somewhere on the FlyLady site today I read something that seemed like a wonderful idea and a DUH?!! moment for me. Why had I never tried that before! Fill the sink with hot soapy water while you are making dinner. Clean dishes as you go or at least pre-soak them for the dishwasher. This is what I did tonight and dinner clean up was a breeze.

I really do have a good feeling about this process. I hope I can keep it up. Todd is doing a great job, he brought over his dishes after dinner and only made one comment quoting me from an eariler blog. ~Lisa

P.S. I need to wash the comforter (just because) eariler in the evening. It wasn't dry before bed time and its the only comforter I have for our bed. This could also be a great reason to buy more bedding.

F.L.C. Day 3 & Control Journal Baby Step 2.

2011-09-08T07:44:00.005-04:00

Do what we have already done.

Are you serious? Maybe I am way more together than I thought I was. I am pretty sure I can keep my sink clean (we will see, right?) and I can get dressed everyday. I already mentioned that I can get things accomplished around the house while barefoot.

I have my 1 inch, 3 ring binder ready to go for my control journal.

Moving on to Control Journal Baby Step 2.

Control Journal Baby Step 2 Link.

I never work with a pencil. It took awhile to find one and it was really, really dull, but it got the job done. I find it funny (and by funny I mean disturbing) that 'Brush Your Teeth' is on the list. I NEVER EVER forget to brush my teeth. Sometimes I brush more than once before bed. If I eat or drink anything other than water after I have brushed my teeth they MUST be brushed again.

The other problem I have with this is that I don't go to bed early. After Todd and E are in bed is when I have "me time" and this basically means I catch up on my TIVO. Todd just isn't interested in watching Bachelor Pad or Teen Mom, and these show must be watched.

So usually I watch at least one show that has been recorded after they are both asleep. You really don't understand what a luxury it is to NOT watch Nick Jr. ALL THE TIME, until you watch Nick Jr. ALL THE TIME. This is also when I read. I love to read. LOVE IT! Todd got me a Nook for Christmas and it truly is the GREATEST thing since sliced bread.

I have been totally on top of putting in a load of laundry before I go to work and straightening the sofa cushions. Between Ramen and E those 6 pillows don't have a chance. ~Lisa

F.L.C. Day 2 & Control Journal

2011-09-07T06:02:00.010-04:00

Get dressed to laced shoes. ???????????????????

Yea, I had to do a Google search on that one. Basically the point is to get up everyday and get dressed right down to your shoes, and they should be lace up shoes because they are not as easy to take off. Again....??????????????????????????

Dressed to Laced Shoes Link.

I am pretty good at kicking off my tennis shoes, just as well as my flip flops. I am also fortunate I guess that I can do things when I am in pajama pants. That isn't a major barrier for me.

So since I think that I have this one covered and my sink is shined for the evening I am going to look into her Control Journal a little more.

Control Journal Link.

Okay, so this sounds interesting enough and it couldn't possible hurt as long as the perfectionist-ism doesn't start to take over. I can be a great procrastinator at times and trying to make something perfect, to get ready to do what you are going to do. Yes that has happened to me before. ALOT.

Control Journal Baby Step 1 Link.

I will get a three ring binder and put paper in it tomorrow, then I will proceed to Control Journal Baby Step 2.

I also have the laundry in the machine ready to go for tomorrow & straightened the sofa cushions. They will not make it thru the morning before we leave for preschool, but at least they are straight now.~Lisa

Fly Lady Baby Steps Challange.

2011-09-06T08:01:00.002-04:00

CHAOS = Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome ~ FlyLady

Seriously my sink this morning.
Monday, September 5, 2011.

Years ago my Mom got interested in FlyLady.net. The thing I remembered the most about this was something about your kitchen sink, it always needs to be clean. Excellent suggestion, don't you think. I am always guilty of letting the sink pile up and then I clean it out and fill up the dishwasher and then I am good until the dishwasher is full again and needs to be run. Then if I don't empty the dishwasher right away, which I hardly EVER do, the sink starts to fill up again.
I am also very guilty of just getting clean items out of the clean dishwasher and using them before opening a cabinet or drawer, which does make sense since the stuff in the dishwasher has to come out eventually. Reading this in print makes me sound so ridiculously lazy, which is really not true.

Another problem at our house is that some of us don't always bring our dishes over to the kitchen much less put them in the dishwasher. If I get a dish in the sink with water on it I consider that a success. There is nothing like a pile of dried up ketchup or ranch dressing on a plate. I need to reiterate that I am not the tidiest person in the world, but I think that has been realized by the existence of this blog. I do usually get my stuff in the sink.

So I am going to start the Fly Lady's Baby Steps Challenge.

Beginner Baby Steps Challenge Link.

Today is Day 1.

Shine your kitchen sink.

Shiny Sink 101 Link.

Monday, September 5, 2011.
Freshly Shined Sink.

So it takes a very long time to fill your sink to the brim, or maybe its just because our water pressure is super sucky being up here on this hill. I put the cup of bleach in the first side and realized this will take awhile since you are supposed to have each side soak for an hour. We have a stainless steel sink so I used SOS pads to scrub down the sinks after the hour soak. They look great and I just know they are so clean!! ~Lisa

Arms.

2011-09-05T09:38:00.010-04:00

I have really been missing the slender more muscular arms of my younger days. The arms where you could tell that there was muscle there. Not crazy, just so that there was some shape there instead of the fleshy-ness that seems to be there now.
(I have to give credit where credit is due, Thank You Jessie Pappas for bringing the word fleshy into my vocabulary!)

I thought if I did cardio the "not muscle" part of my arms would dissolve away, but since I can't get to the gym but maybe twice a month that plan is not working. I tried using 3 pound weights at home, but that just turned out to be difficult. I could never seem to keep up with both of them at the same time. When I did that seemed to be the times that E would want to play with my "exercise bones" which made it very difficult to get anything accomplished when he was doing his "exercises" right there with me. I guess I could get him his own set of little weights.

I started looking on line for exercises that I could do at home. I found this video on YouTube that I think is pretty good.

Arm Exercises Video Link.

I haven't tried all of her exercises in this video but I do plan to try them all because I really like the first two. I can tell something is happening when I do the exercises and you can feel it the next day. I know there are many, many videos like this and I plan to check out some others. What I like about these exercise is that I don't need any equipment, they are quiet and something I can do after E and Todd have gone to bed.

I need to find something to go along with these exercises to help loose the fleshy-ness around these muscles I am trying to tone. It would be a disapointment to achieve some muscle tone and not be able to see if due to the fleshy layer on top of the muscles.

If anyone were to read this and have any suggestions that might fit in to my barely able to exercise schedule, please let me know! ~Lisa

Pretty Feet.

2011-09-04T01:24:00.003-04:00

I have been looking for a long time for a way to keep my feet smooth and soft, all year round. To not have hard, rough areas on my heels and near the bunion area. (That will be an entire other blog.) I knew it was time to do something fast when E touch my foot and asked way it was so hard right there. (Totally gross, I know). That evening I just tried straight vasoline on my feet and I really think it has been working!

I decided that my feet and my arms would be the first areas that I would attempt to tackle on the body improvement part of Operation Me. ~ Lisa

Deviled Eggs.

2011-09-03T17:34:00.035-04:00

So I decided to make deviled eggs for the tail gate today. E's first tailgate! I boiled the eggs on Thursday night so there wouldn't be so much to do on Friday night. Pre-planning...good idea right? Not unless you know the secret to making your house not smell like total a** the next day.
Then Todd goes and opens the fridge the next morning which made the smell ten times worse. What is that about? (I do realize the fridge would of had to be opened at some point.)

Also I had the worst time getting the shell off the eggs which would not have been so troublesome if I was making 12 or 24 deviled eggs but I was making 72. I ended up only having 62 because some of the eggs where so torn up. This resulted in ALOT of left over deviled egg filling. That is another thing I need to figure out what to do with. I love it, but I don't want to eat it all with a spoon. And there is ALOT of it left.

I boiled the eggs like I normally do. Cover with water, bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

So my attempt at being ahead of the deviled egg game pretty much back fired. Considering the smell and length of time it took to remove the shell, I should of just gotten up early today and done it all.

Then Todd totally dumped a large quantity of the deviled eggs by turning one of the containers towards its side and all of those had to be refilled with a spoon at the tail gate, by our very gracious tail gate hostess since I wasn't there early, which is why Todd was taking the eggs in the first place. They were a mess.

They did taste great so that is a plus. ~Lisa

Laundry.

2011-09-02T08:03:00.004-04:00

I have been trying to come up with ideas of small tasks that I can do daily that don't seem so overwhelming, even when there are multiple tasks done each day, to try and keep our house in order. Any and all suggestion would be wonderful... and I say that knowing that no one will probably ever read this and I will more than likely be receiving no suggestions.

I have been trying over the last week or so to put a load of laundry in the washing machine every morning.
Lucky for me when we remodeled our house I was insistent that we convert the closet in what is our kitchen/dining room to be the home of our washing machine and dryer. This wasn't received particularly well if I remember correctly because it was sort of a major pain in the a**, but it was going to happen, period. In our other house (that we really, really, really need to sell) the washer/dryer was in a closet in the down stairs bathroom which was just awesome. After living in a 3rd floor apartment where the washing machines were in the basement, I totally digged it. So the thought of having to go down to the basement (and I realize that this is very common for a probably a third of Americans) was just unacceptable. Not to mention the stairs to our basement could qualify for the steepest steps ever. At least be in the top five.

If I have time at night to gather up the load into a pile, or even better actually put it in the machine ready to go in the morning. I am trying to avoid the awful mildew smell that develops from a pile of wet laundry that isn't completely dry. Just the slightest whiff of that make me very upset. Todd calls it "sour" which makes my mouth water like right before I throw up.

My thoughts are that if I put the laundry in, in the morning before I leave for work and then put it in the dryer when I get home that won't ever happen and the laundry will stay under control. It is really nice to get to fold that laundry that night but in the morning will work too, IF E is content doing something other than helping me fold the laundry. Sometime help just isn't help, you know.

This is what I am trying in the Laundry department, it seems to be working fairly well so far, but it has only been about a week. ~Lisa

Me.

2011-09-01T23:42:00.095-04:00

I am 33 years, 4 months, and 24 days old. June 15, 2002 I married my husband and we have an adorable 3 year old son. 3 years, and 10 days old to be exact. I own two flower shops and my husband owns a floral wholesale company. We own two homes, the one we live in and the one we desperately need to sell. (Move in ready, two bedrooms, two baths, original hardwood floors, replacement windows.... I can go on if you are interested).

Ramen.

We live next door (well up the hill, so we aren't actually street neighbors, even though the land touches) to my father in law. My parents live about 20 minutes away. We have a dog named Ramen. Yes, like the noodle. He is a Schnauzer/Poodle mix...that's right...a Schnoodle.

Like many, many working mothers I find it hard to fit everything I need and want to do in to my daily schedule. If there were 48 hours in a day...maybe I could get it all done. Since we only have the measly 24 hours a day we started with at the beginning of time, its just impossible to get it all done.

Radiator Springs in our living room.

I feel like many, many things are in total disarray. The house, my shop, my desk at my shop. Let's not even talk about the number of toys E has and how they are played with in every room of the house and seem to be left at times in every room of the house. If a had a nickel for every time have a stubbed a toe on a train track on the Island of Sodor that has been recreated in the living room, dining room, E's room... need I go on.

Island of Sodor in our kitchen.

I have gotten to the point were my clothes feel to snug, I don't eat exactly the way I should and I don't work out like I would like, because really who has the energy after work, dinner, bath, book, and then bedtime? Not me!

I am starting this blog because I was inspired by the movie Julia & Julia.

Modern day Julia decides to make all of the recipes Julia Child has in her cook book "Master The Art of French Cooking" in 365 days and writes a blog about her experiences. This made me think that although I could totally benefit, and when I say I, I really mean Todd, from me learning to cook, but seriously...who has that kind of time.

I thought that this would be a great way to record my progress, successes, failures, and suggestions as I recreate myself into (hopefully) the thinner, more toned, healthier, more organized, tidier, me. I realize that maybe 5 people will read this, maybe twice...but maybe those 5 people will have really good suggestions!

Welcome to Operation Me.