Basic Weekly Plan

So I’ve spent a few minutes (maybe a couple of hours) putting together a basic weekly plan and some basic routines.  This has worked for me in the past using Flylady.net basic premise and helps.  This process, when put together, makes up a good part of my Control Journal.  My Control Journal is all the information needed to run this house, simplified.  Here’s what I got so far:

 

My word for the year: JOY

My verses for the year: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

 

Routines:

Morning (7am)

dressed to shoes

bathroom

exercise

read / listen to Bible

make and eat breakfast and vitamins

make coffee

clean up breakfast

check the calendar

start school

make bed

---

Afternoon

drink water

zone declutter

mission

hot spots

general tidy

start supper

---

Before Bed

check the calendar

supper for tomorrow

laundry

hot spots

read / TV

teeth and shower

swish and swipe

pick out clothes

lights out (11pm)

---

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
family	choir	library	filing	dance	date	Sabbath
menu & grocery list	errands	laundry room tidy	mending	finances	clean out purse	pamper mission
hs plan and print	clean out diaper bag	KIT: scrub floor	BATH: mirror	water plants	clean out bus
finances	MAIN: dust	KIT: scrub stove	BATH: shelves		write letters
	MAIN: vacuum	KIT: wash small appliances	BATH: toilet & behind toilet		BED: sheets
	MAIN: TV, mirrors, glass	KIT: wash cupboard doors	BATH: mop		BED: mirror
	MAIN: old magazines		BATH: trash can		BED: vacuum
	MAIN: book shelves				BED: clothes
	MAIN: brown shelves				BED: floor

 

There are so many other things that I do in a day, to list them all would be way to overwhelming.  By listing what I have here, I can focus each day on those items and know that if I miss them one week, chances are I’ll catch them the next week.  I feel that this is easier for me to stick to than the MOTH schedule that schedules every single moment of every single day.  I get behind and then get frustrated if I have to live by such a strict schedule.  Also, with the above chart, I can give one of the older girls a job to do and we can work on the list together.

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

FlyLady and Her Lace Up Shoes

I discovered one evening while attempting to get through my evening routine, that FlyLady and her rule about lace up shoes cannot protect you in the shower!  Yes, that means I hurt my foot in the shower!

 

So, I’m tired.  The baby has kept me up past my bedtime of 11PM.  I just want to get my shower over with so that I can go to bed.  I’d considered skipping it, but it’s part of my routine and I really do enjoy being warm when I climb into bed.  I take a hot shower every night.  I get undressed and climb in; the water is already running and warm!  There are an assortment of items on the bottom of the tub.  Remnants of my children’s bath time earlier in the evening.  A sponge.  A cup.  A bottle (probably empty, I didn’t check) of body wash.  A fork.

 

WHAT?  A fork?  Who needs a fork to shower?!?!?!

 

Instead of bending over to pick it up and put it on the side of the tub like any normal person, I move my foot to kick it out of the way.  You’ll never guess, so I’ll just tell you what happened next.  Instead of moving to the side, the handle caught on the drain and the tines jabbed into my big toe, UNDER my already tender nail area.  I have an ingrown toe nail on that foot because I clipped incorrectly.  I didn’t go straight across; I curved the nail so it wouldn’t cut my hubby!

 

I digress.

 

I am bent over holding my toe, in the slippery tub, crying, groaning, thankful there are no children awake and my husband is on an overnight trip.  There is no one to laugh at me.  And then I get the brain wave that this would make a great blog post!  After all I am trying to blog daily in 2011.  I need all the material I can get my hands on, even if that means sharing some stupid thing that I did, to myself.

 

Anyway, I had to go on with my shower no matter how much pain I was in.  I was in there already.  Regretting not just going to bed, but I’d better get clean now.  And then I look down – and the water pooling in the tub is not just water.  This was worse than I expected.  Blood.

 

Yep.  A fork.  The shower.  My toe.  Blood.

 

WHERE ARE MY SHOES?  I hear FlyLady’s emails screaming (calling maybe) at me.  Well, they are in my room, Mrs. FlyLady!  I’m TAKING a shower.  TRYING to get to bed at a DECENT hour.  Trying to follow my bedtime routine!

 

So I examine my toe a little more closely.  The nail is loose.  ALL. the. way down the side where the INGROWN part USED to be!  So, I’m not ingrown anymore, but I suspect

 

I

 

will

 

loose

 

the

 

whole

 

nail.

 

WHERE WERE MY LACE UP SHOES??!?!?!?

 

So, I guess, next time, I’ll wear my shoes in the shower.

 

Or maybe I’ll just clean out the tub, by hand, BEFORE I get in it.

 

Nope, FlyLady’s rule about lace up shoes won’t protect you all the time, not in the shower.

 

****

 

That being said, I love wearing my runners.  I wear them every day, all day, except in bed when I’m putting Matty for a nap (and in the shower, of course).  I don’t get anything done, if I don’t have my shoes on.  I’ve even started requiring the children to wear their shoes.  With a puppy that needs to go outside at a moments notice, there is no time to put on shoes if we are to catch him before he makes a puddle on the floor.

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Fridayfly: 15 minutes, now go!

Well, mommylebron has posted a “challenge” on her blog ( The Motherhood Umbrella) about using our timers to get lots done.  It really is amazing what you can get done in 15 minutes if you set your mind to it.  I kind of did this today while I cleaned my main floor.  I decided to clean for 15 minutes and then break for 5 minutes.

 

So, I accept her challenge.  I’ve got more work to do in the morning.  Here’s my list:

• mop dining room and porch
• mop stairs
• mop “hallway”
• clean bathroom
• clean toy / laundry room
• clean C and M’s room
• dishes
• laundry (fold dry clothes)
• clean top of piano
• decorate cakes

So, with that list, I should be done in about 3 hours.  That’s great!  So exciting to see a time frame rather than thinking I have to CLEAN ALL DAY LONG, AGAIN!  Do you want to join us?  Feel free!  Check out mommylebron’s post or join us on Twitter.  There is even a Twitter hashtag: #15minutes

Time to get coffee and make a more definite plan.  Se, even just having this list is motivating!

YAY ME!  YOU CAN DO IT!!!

 

hee hee

 

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

The Shiny Sink Photo Challenge

Tammy at Pink Stinx is having a photo challenge.  Go to her blog for a linky and more information.  Here are the basics:

Quick! Go take a picture of your (Master bathroom, Pantry, Under your Kitchen Sink) and post it NOW. No cleaning up, No straightening, Be Honest!

 This time the room is the LIVING ROOM.  Here's my picture:

 So, now I have thirty (30) minutes to get it tidied up!

UPDATE TIME!!!!!!

So a little more than 30 minutes later (I had ta kid on the computer) I have a clean living room, I am almost dressed to shoes and I even tidied a little in the toy area of our main level.  Oh, and I stripped my bed of its dirty sheets.

Here's the new look:

I had been feeling a little down and overwhelmed with the house and the state it was in because we hadn't really been here for the last 5 days or so.  We came, we ate, we slept.  No cleaning up.  Or at the very least only the basic tidies so we could walk on the floor.  I feel much better about what I will be able to accomplish today and in the little bits of time I will have in the next couple of days.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Thinking Out Loud A Little

Gonna think out loud here for a bit.

Now that I'm getting some energy back, I'd like to get back into our routine I had going. Here's what it is:

7:30 me up
8-9 breakfast and clean up, chores if time.
9-10 Tapestry of Grace
10-11 Math, Journal, other misc school
11-12 building a Life (more school)
12-1 lunch, clean up and chores
1-2:30 rest time for all

That leaves the afternoon free for whatever we wanna do. Except for Monday and Thursday. Those two days we have choir / dance.

I want supper DONE by 6 so that we can be in bed by 7 with a story. I really wanna start reading to them at night again. Tonight was nice. I put the littlest two in bed and read to the older three. The youngest two are tired by 7 PM anyway and need the sleep. The older ones need the time with me and with books.

There's no reason this can't work. I'm the boss because J's away so much. There's no reason why I can't have the TV off as much as I like. I don't have it on in the evenings, except for Tuesday and Thursday anyway. Oh, and Friday for Dexter.

If I happen to get up a little later, that should be okay too, because we'll just do a little less schoolwork that day. If I'd follow my Control Journal, I'd really be flying! but currently my Control Journal is under a pile of rubble. My desk is a MAJOR hot spot! I hate it.

And I think I really want to ban the kids from my computer. They seem to make such a mess. I just know it's a great skill and it keeps them quiet for a while! And not fighting. So I need to find a solution there too.

I've been looking at Simple Mom's Daily Docket again. I have a system that I was using that was similar and I was really enjoying. It got covered in junk too though. I need to stop my desk from becoming the hot spots it is!

I have reviews to do too, that I need to plan to get done. Without a plan I do nothing. There are things that J has asked me to do and look in to that I haven't because there's no list anymore.

I use my Google desktop a lot - calendars and to do lists - I guess I just need to use it more. I am thinking of doing Simple Mom's idea of menu planning on Google calendar too. Might do that in the next couple of days.

Okay, enough from me. Thoughts? Comments? Did I light a spark under you? Can I do this? Can you?

Tomorrow's a new day! My sink is almost shiny today! My kitchen is cleaner, my house isn't totally trashed. And we're gonna cut TV and we're gonna get moving again in the direction we want to take, not the direction the river of life just drags us down. I want to move forward with purpose and determination!

Starting with a visit to a friends' home for lunch!


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,