Flylady

Do you suffer from CHAOS? Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome? I use to suffer constantly from this. Now, only sometimes. With three little ones under foot it becomes difficult to keep up with everyone and everything, and I am a stay at home mom, so don't ask me how the career women do it.

First, you are never behind, just jump in where you are. One of the main reasons I never wanted to clean was because the ENTIRE house was ALWAYS in need of a good clean. Now I just focus on one task for 15 minutes at a time and quit. Sometimes I might jump back in and do another 15, but with nursing a little one and keeping the two year old occupied, 15 minutes might be all I get. IT IS OKAY!

One of the worst chores I have always hated most was cleaning the kitchen. I hate doing dishes and I even have a dishwasher. My goal every evening~or at least before O gets off the bus at 3:15~ is to get my kitchen sink empty. Who wants to cook supper in a filthy kitchen? I find when my kitchen is clean, it really isn't that hard to cook a healthy meal for my family.

Flylady.net has so many wonderful, helpful advice and tips that I can't list all of it here. She has a step by step plan that many can follow to the letter. Since having children I have noticed that I no longer have a very good attention span. Probably because I am constantly being interrupted and while I enjoy every minute of being mom I have had to custom Flylady to fit my life, and that is okay too.


“My prayer for all my fellow SHEs (Sidetracked Home Executive) is that each finds happiness and pride in ourselves and our accomplishments. That we raise our children to be good, productive, and happy people. And that we light up a room with our smile.” – FlyLady

The Art of Saying Please and Thank you

When leaving the store recently, with my armfuls of grocery bag, I was pleasantly surprised by a gentleman opening the door from the other direction. Many of us are too busy to notice acts of kindness, let alone respond to it. When your days are spent teaching, training and guiding little ones in the ways of life, these important life lessons are more visible.

One day at the store I held the door for someone and to my disdain, the person walked passed and didn't even acknowledge my kindness. My little girl looked at me and said, "That man didn't say Thank you!" "I know." I said, jumping on an impromptu teaching moment. "They forgot to use their nice manners, didn't they?" Without missing a beat she said, "Well, we should go in there and tell that person they should have said thank you!" And I was speechless. So she does get it, I thought to myself.

I laugh at all the looks of surprise I get when my little ones use their kind manners. My favorite way to help other parents is by taking a moment to acknowledge their {the children's'} kindness with a simple comment such as, "I like that you used your nice manners. The older generation, especially seems to notice, and their kind words of encouragement to me, warms my heart and soul. I can only hope they will continue to practice the the art of saying please and thank you.

The Blogging World

So here I am! Jumping feet first into the blogging world. I was inspired by nora@home, my dear friend from across the pond who I met on Flylady.net. I'll post more on my failure success at that later.  I found I have a need to express myself beyond the Facebook world. I am still learning so please be patient with me and any oops!

I suppose I could start this out by sharing a bit about my family. I am a stay at home mom of three. I enjoy counted cross stitching, reading, couponing and frugal living ~the "crunchy" kinds of things like going kind poo free~more on that to come.  Though now my time is much more limited doing the things I love.  I have a daughter Olivia who is five and is in full time kindergarten already! My two year old son Dylan hangs out during the day with me and my 11 week old son Elliott. My husband works at the local lumber company.