Flying

I am adding a new link to my "places to drink," with a caveat. I am not a true Flylady devotee because I don't do her daily routines and I can't stand to be pestered and nagged via e-mail. I do, however, find some of Flylady's philosophy helpful--especially that "housework done incorrectly still blesses your family," and that you can do anything for 15 minutes. I have made one Flyladyish rule for myself: I don't leave the house in the morning unless the beds are made, the dishwasher is emptied, and one load of laundry is started.

I have a friend with eight children. Eight years ago when I had one child and she had four, I was complaining about the laundry. She told me, "I have three loads of laundry every day. If I skip a day, the next day I have to do six." That's pretty much where I am now.

My house looks like a cyclone hit it (as my grandmother used to say) at this moment, but I know it's pretty tidy underneath the cyclone, and I'm not in despair as I might have been a couple of years ago, thanks to what I imbibed from Flylady.

I still have a kind of scattershot method of dealing with the domestic front. I bought those tons of food (shocker, because grocery shopping is something I enjoy and do well). Leroy delivered the car.* But other than that I've done nothing on my list for today. I bought and installed a new telephone that doesn't make periodic loud electrocution noises. I covered the mudroom wall with cork tile so I can display the children's artwork there. I dealt with one daughter's tantrum over her homework. Now to the mess.

*In case you ever looked at an auto carrier truck and thought, "That looks scary, but they must have some really technical and secure method of getting the cars on and off," no. Leroy poked at the cars with a crowbar, stuck his leg out the open driver's side door and pushed them back and forth when they got stuck...it was one of the most terrifying things I've ever seen. But I enjoyed the receipt, which included a diagram of the damage the car showed when they picked it up ("Note: car is scratched all over. Note: Car is extremely dirty.") Hee.