Doing Things You Don't Enjoy

There are many times I feel inadequate. One time I went to a class birthday party for my youngest. I was supposed to bring ice cream. That was easy, all I had to do was purchase it and show up. Someone else had been assigned fruit. She brought 26 beautiful plastic cups of fruit, each one covered in plastic wrap, and served with a decorative toothpick. The lovely fruit salad included cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries and blackberries. Now if I had been assigned fruit I probably would have just cut up the fruit in one big bowl and then served it. But now that I have seen what one mom did, It made me see the possibilities. What am I getting at here? Sometimes when I see what other people do, and what they take the time to do, I feel guilty that I don't do those things.
What should I have done today? I decided I had to do something productive around the house, so I dusted the living room and threw out stuff that didn't belong in there. I don't dust all that much, although it's on the list of flylady tasks, I just never seem to do it-that should be one of my new habits, it really doesn't take that long. I am confounded still by paper and magazines. Last year I didn't get magazines at all and I missed them. Then I subscribed again and now I have too many. DH has too many Sports Illustrated magazines (they come every week) and maybe I should just pack them up and put them in his work bag. What about flyers from the grocery store. I mean what does the normal person do with these things. Just where are they supposed to sit for the week that you might need them? Really, I want to know.

Living LIke an Orgznized Person results week 1

I tried to write this earlier and got some kind of warning that there was an error and it might get deleted. Even "google" gets disorganized once in a while. At least it warned me to save, but I didn't listen. So here I am a few hours later to post the results of week one. I decided that instead of moving from thing to thing I would complete one task before moving on to another. The two things I worked on this week were the kitchen, and laundry. Promptly after eating each meal or snack, I would put everything away, wipe up, load the dishwasher, wash any pots used, etc. Then I would sweep the floor of any crumbs. For laundry I would bring up the load, sort and put away, taking the time to go into each room to do this. The good news is my kitchen was consistently clean and seeing it that way made me more obsessive about doing things right away. Also, there was barely any laundry to do today because it was basically all washed. This week I am going to work on menu planning some more. I also want to report on the results of shopping at a warehouse club. I joined BJ's a few weeks ago with a free trial membership. I've had to go to Yorktown once a week so it was convenient to go to. Being pretty well informed about prices, I tried to be reasonable about what I bought. One thing good about going there was it kind of keeps me out of places like shoprite which is good because I often buy extra things I don't need if I go there. The less often you shop the better. At BJ's I was able to get larger amounts of things I use often (pasta, sauce, frozen pizza, certain snacks...) The bill comes out higher with less items, but now I won't have to buy soap, sponges, Cascade, for a long time. The other thing I want to work on this week is paper clutter, my nemesis. I will think about it like an organized person. Also I want to organize the music and photos I have. But that will have to wait.

Experiment

As I stuffed my Shoprite receipt into my purse I thought "what would an organized person do with this receipt?" Then I came up with an idea that I could try, for a week, to live like an organized person does. I have a tendency to leave some crucial part of a task unfinished. For instance, this morning, I was folding whites but didn't finish, so they are still on my bedroom floor. I took in and put away most of the groceries. I did not make 2 phone calls I was supposed to make that are important. I did not write the thank you notes yet for Troy's party 1 week ago. I was just about to say that "I'll start tomorrow" but that would be what I always say. I'll begin today!

(Not) Gettting Things Done

Just about one week later, I am writing again with a similar train of thought. I do not do well with a "non" schedule. I know lots of people would envy my situation-not working and it's summer. However I need a schedule or 1-I get nothing done and 2-I do not feel happy because I am a person who feels "something' needs to be done everyday, and it can't just be me wandering around doing laundry here, dishes there, vacuuming randomly, and then doing the same exact thing tomorrow. I start to go stir crazy. I know there are limited days to our lives and don't want to feel like I'm wasting mine. My problem is that one small thing can bog me down for days, weeks, months, and potentially YEARS!

Taking too long to do a task

I seriously have a problem with getting things done. Packing for example. Trying to get DS ready for camp but am unable to do so. Why? Have difficulty finishing things, and keep getting distracted. Why? Find myself walking all over the house. Not good.

The results

Okay, so I did all the things on the above list, and some laundry as well. I also found the piece of paper I was looking for. The living room downstairs took a long time. Wait-did I say I would dust? I didn't do that. Again, as I moved the living room couch away from the wall, I found things like granola bar wrappers and popsicle sticks as well as the occasional stray sock. Now, how do you get the "cleat" smell out of that area. Since I don't have a mudroom, the cleats get left by the front door and I have tried a lot of different methods but it's kind of like the smell of a wet dog that won't go away. When we did the addition, I wanted a mudroom but the area where it was supposed to go would have required changing the entrance way and dismantling a room. I didn't think that was worth it. I've seen some nice built ins for entrance ways, so eventually I'd like to do that. I've never seen anything for the area immediately outside the door however. That's the kind of thing I need. I do have kind of a unique house now. While it was thundering today I realized that from the front windows it feels like you're in a treehouse. That's one of the things I like about it. Lack of a garage...dislike. But at least I never have to clean out my garage, which I'm sure would be full of things if I did have one. Tomorrow is another day off but I certainly don't want to spend it cleaning again.

A long Day Ahead

3 days off. Every inch of the house needs to be cleaned. Where do I begin. Begin at the front door and work up I suppose. After I finish unloading the car I will: vacuum entire downstairs, mop both bathrooms and wood floor and clean the bathrooms. Then I will come upstairs and do the same.
How long will that take me if I begin now? It's 11:30. The countdown begins now.