Sink Chronicles: Day 8

Click here for today's assignment.

Day 8: Get a 3 Ring Binder and Put Paper In It

Sounds like the easiest assignment yet, huh? Well I didn't get around to it until 10pm tonight!

Ok, so I didn't actually get a 3 ring binder, I just grabbed a notebook, because Joshua was already asleep, and I didn't want to dig through my office things to find a 3 ring binder and some loose leaf paper. I wrote down my morning and before bed routines as I've been doing them. Here they are for your reading enjoyment.

Morning Routine

• Get up
• Feed Joshua
• Breakfast
• Brush Teeth
• Get dressed for exercise
• Exercise
• Shower
• Get dressed for day
• Lunch
• Put out Hot Spots for 2 minutes

Before Bed Routine

• Put Joshua to bed
• Put out Hot Spots for 2 minutes
• Relax & Computer if time
• Clean up dishes
• Shine Sink
• Brush & Floss teeth
• Lay out clothes for tomorrow
• PJs
• Go to bed

Speaking of going to bed...here is a wonderful article about going to bed earlier, which I need to do (as I type this up at 11:45 pm....arg). Ever since I went to Lake Tahoe, my body hasn't gotten used to the Mountain Time again, plus I stayed up late at Tahoe, equals I go to bed super late, which means I'm exhausted in the morning when Joshua decides it's time to wake up. Here's to trying to go to bed earlier!

Sink Chronicles: Day 7

I'm so sleepy. I couldn't sleep much last night. (Took a nap during the day, too hot, too hungry, Joshua waking up several times) So this entry is going to be short, but I'll possibly add to it tomorrow.

Click here for today's assignment.

Day 7: Pick Out Your Clothes

My sink has officially been shiny for 1 week. I find myself trying not to use it as much, which I'm sure will save on our water bill, but it doesn't get very high anyway.

I worked on the living room couch hot spot tonight before bed.

I have both outfits picked out for tomorrow morning (gym and day clothes).

Now I'm ready to crash. G'night!

Sink Chronicles: Day 6

Click here for today's baby-steps assignment.

Day 6: Hot Spots

In Flylady's definition of Hot Spots she mentions that Hot Spots will grow and take over the whole room and that clutter attracts clutter. I think that my whole house is one big Hot Spot. Yuck.

Now it's time to bare my soul to you. I have nothing left to hide. Here are some pictures of my worst hot spots. Some of them don't look too bad, because I cleaned them up in the past month, but they can get just as bad as the worst ones. Here goes!

Bedside Table: This is where my hair ties, bobby pins, etc. end up as I take them out before bed. Note: The juice, cup, and water bottle were added to the stack right as I got online to type this up.

The table beside the rocking chair. Books, toys, and clothes get put here when I'm stuck in the chair nursing Joshua.

This is the classic "stuff that needs to go upstairs" and "quick, hide this pile behind the curtain when guests are coming" hot spot.

This one is a new one, living room couch right inside the door.

Coffee table, of course. Some of it is still from our trip to Tahoe.

This is the worst one in our house. It's the dining table, but we hardly ever dine on it. It's just a great central flat surface in the house to put things when you're on the way from one place to the next, especially mail.

This is Dave's hot spot. It's where he empties his pockets when he's changing. Receipts, money, pay stubs, business cards, keys, hats, oh my.

This is my pocket emptying station. I don't usually carry a ton in my pockets, but there are some deposit receipts, cash, lipstick, usually bobby pins, safety pins, jewelry that didn't quite make it into the jewelry box right above it, etc.

So those are the worst spots. Today I'm supposed to work on one of them for 2 minutes, and I think I'll tackle the dining table and I might cheat and work on the living room a bit, too.

Sink Chronicles: Day 5

Click here for today's assignment.

Day 5: Write Down What You Hear

On Sunday I go to church in the morning/early afternoon, nap or cook in the afternoon, and spend time with family in the evening. Since today is Sunday, I didn't get on the computer until late tonight, so I didn't really have a chance to even know about the assignment until I was ready for bed (right now). I did the previous 4 things, and I will post about the Day 5 assignment tomorrow.

Sink Chronicles: Day 4

Click here for today's assignment.

Day 4: Write These Things Down

Ok, the more I look into this site, the more it bugs me, honestly. I think the principles are good, but it's just a messy site and I find more and more typos and things that aren't explained well. Today's task is a good example of this. What exactly am I supposed to write where? It also says that this will become part of my "Control Journal" but doesn't explain what that is, nor does it have a link to anything. You'd think that a site about organizing would be more organized.

From what I understood that I was to do to day, building on the previous days, I was to add notes in the kitchen and bathroom to remind me to do the tasks from Day 1 and Day 2. I had a busy day running errands so I didn't get around to making notes until this evening, so I'll have to report on how they function on another day. One thing that I'm worried about is that they'll just become another piece of paper around my house.

I thought I wasn't receiving any emails all day today, but it's still my blackberry messed up. Like I said, I just got a "digest" version in one email daily, so I'm not swamped by millions of emails all day distracting me from what I'm doing and pulling me back to the computer.

There is a ton of stuff to read in the emails. They also include links to more reading material on the website. It's a bit overwhelming, but there's a note at the bottom of each one to remind readers that they're not supposed to feel behind, and just to jump in. The only problem with that is, that I'm still on "baby steps" and now I'm supposed to read these emails that have a full daily, weekly, and monthly schedule, with tips on how to do some of the things. Hmmm. They really need to figure out how to tailor their emails to where the people are in the program.

Not to be too negative, there are a lot of good ideas in the emails, and I've only read half of the first one so far! I'm excited to get to the point where I can implement more of the ideas from the emails. Now, I need to get off my tush, fold my laundry, then get on my nightly routine (including shining my sink!).

Sink Chronicles: Day 3

Here goes another day in the Sink experience!

Click here for today's task description.

Day 3: Do What We Have Already Done

Ok, I find myself peeking ahead a few days to see what tasks I have coming up. I honestly was a bit disappointed by this one. Do I really need to take a break in improving after two days!? So the goal today is to get all the way dressed, and keep the sink shiny all day, and shine it again before bed.

Well I showered and got dressed, and my sink is still shiny. Check. Ok, it also says to go sign up and check out "big tent." I guess this is where I start receiving bucket loads of emails. So far I've gotten two. I signed up to get 1 daily digest so I don't get 10-12 emails per day. When I did this, I used my "spam" address that I use for signing up for things like coupons, advice, etc. I noticed that I had to change my password and forgot to update it on my Blackberry, so I had a bunch of emails sitting in my inbox that I didn't know about! Luckily there wasn't anything too important.

Bring on the emails Flylady!

Side note: It's Laundry day, so I've already changed the towels, sheets, and run 3 loads of laundry! I also got our special dishwasher detergent/cleaner in the mail so I'm currently "shining" our dishwasher as well. Woohoo! Isn't it nice to have appliances that do most of the work for you!? Now I just need to get my garage key back so I can mow the lawn. Too bad it's not a riding mower.

Sink Chronicles: Day 2

Click here if you missed Day 1.

Like I mentioned before, I'm cheating a bit by calling this Day 2 since I only finished Day 1 this morning. I'm OK with it though, are you?

Day 2: Get Dressed to Lace Up Shoes

Here is today's task description.

Honestly I think the way she labeled this is a little strange, grammatically. Oh, well. This morning (I think it was still morning...maybe noon) I showered and got dressed. I did not, however, lace up my shoes. It's summer, so I pretty much wear flip flops unless I'm mowing the lawn or exercising. Luckily I've been pretty good about this lately so it wasn't much of a change from my usual.

The purpose of these baby steps is to build a routine, so naturally, on Day 2, I still have to do Day 1's task and this will continue through the rest of the 31 days. Day 1's task was to shine the sink. Luckily I don't have to do the 3 hour process daily, or it would never get done. On Flylady's Shiny Sink 101, she also had some tips on how to keep the sink shiny. My favorite tip was to keep a towel by the sink to dry out the sink every time you use it or leave the kitchen. (Change the towel daily.) The idea is that you'll get into that habit, as will the rest of your family. Also, don't put any dirty dishes in your sink! Put them in the dishwasher. If you don't have a dishwasher, put a dish tub under the sink and put them there.

We tend to stack ours on the counter next to the sink anyway, so it's not a change for us to not put them in the sink. How can you use the sink if it's full of dishes? Also, they get all slimy and gross when you put them in the sink. Our problem is that the dishwasher doesn't get emptied when the load is finished washing, so the dirty dishes can't go in until the clean dishes are taken out. Today I will be emptying the clean dishes so I can put the dirty dishes in. Tonight before I go to bed, I will wash the few hand dishes, and then windex my sink again.

Update: I just found this page on Flylady's website. Apparently there's more to putting on her shoes that she lets on in her baby steps pages. Not sure if I'm up to wearing tie-up shoes every day.