Coughing (optional)

Well, I’m not quite over this THING yet, but I’m working on it. The problem is, I’ve let the current state of the house also work on ME a bit because today I decided that I didn’t care that I was still sick, I was going to do my Flylady Weekly Home Blessing. In 10 minute increments. Slowly.

For those of you not familiar with Flylady, she’s the brilliant mastermind that taught mankind they could do ANYTHING for 15 minutes. It’s why my massive monthly To Do list is designed so that no task on it takes longer than 15 minutes. Ever. (This is the subject of a whole other post). Flylady starts us with something simple – shining your kitchen sink. Next thing you know, you’re completely flywashed, decluttering, wearing shoes with laces that tie at any moment (except when in bed sleeping) and yes, even taking time to pamper yourself.

The Weekly Home Blessing is pretty simple. Straightforward stuff that I wish I’d learned growing up. Sadly (and sorry to say this, mom) I grew up rather ignorant of most things, never having done a single load of laundry in my life until AFTER I’d finished college and moved into my first apartment at the age of 23. Yeah, I had a long way to go.

So the mysteries of cleaning a bathroom were also brand new to me then. As was that whole concept of how to keep a house clean. I found Flylady in total desperation after too many years of “Crash and Burn” and have been following her for almost 11 years now. Whew! And my house is STILL a mess.

Well that’s me. As Flylady says, “You can’t organize clutter” and with my health, having energy to tackle clutter has come at a premium for the last few years. I’m happy if I tackle the DISHES.

I’m working on it.

So today I started with this. 10 minutes of time spent changing sheets and putting the old ones in the laundry.

• 10 minutes on dusting with that gorgeous feather duster I bought from Flylady three moves ago and STILL use.
• 10 minutes of vacuuming the middles – the traffic zones.
• 10 minutes gathering the trash and taking it out to the trash can.

All this simple STUFF that with the kids help went pretty well. Right up until I started coughing. And coughing. And coughing. Until I was coughing so hard I thought I was either going to throw up or pass out. Yeah, not pretty image there (and I went with the former, not the latter though it got kinda close to call.)

So it seems that coughing is optional. If I lie quietly in bed like a good girl and do nothing at all more strenuous than a little crochet or knit (wait until you see what I’ve been making next – a post for tomorrow?) then I’m fine. Or mostly fine. Or at least breathing like a normal person.

If I get up and move around. Even in 10 minute increments, I will be FLATTENED by this horrible plague (thank you kids) that I’m not quite over.

So tomorrow will be quieter. As you can tell from my blog I’m not doing that great at the whole “At rest” part of things. I WANT to get up and go back to work. And immerse myself in all kinds of wonderful, glorious projects.

My body says no.

I think I see a pattern here. I worked too long the other day on that whole layout thing (got news there too, stay tuned this weekend) and did the same thing to myself.

Yeah.

Apparently I really do need to be resting. Who knew?

(thank you, Flylady. My house looks SO much better.)

How do you stay on top of the household stuff? What methods do you fall back on? 

10 Minutes to Success

On bad days I become very conscious of small things.

Today as I lay in bed, feeling every bit of pressure change of an approaching storm, I contemplated what I could accomplish. That’s the problem with being a somewhat…er…DRIVEN individual. I don’t handle sabbaticals well and need to still be able to say at the end of the day that I did something worthwhile.

Lacking much energy (read that as NONE) my list of options was a little slim. I could read but I was doing that every day. A nap doesn’t feel like much of an accomplishment. And brushing my teeth as the day’s accomplishment feels slightly…er…pathetic?

I opted for changing the sheets on the bed.

(Who knew this was a competitive sport?)

It’s funny how much pleasure we get from such small things. In warmer weather sheets are hung outside on the clothesline which makes them smell so wonderfully of fresh air and sunshine when you snap them open and let them drap delicately down on the bed.

OK, that’s a bit of fantasy on my part. I never could get my sheets to behave the way they do in laundry detergent commercials. Why can’t mine just fall neatly into place?

Regardless, fresh sheets have a niceness to them. They feel crisp when you lay down again. New.

I put off the task because it seems like so much work. A queen-sized bed in a small bedroom takes a little maneuvering around, and to be honest the ache in my body kept telling me to put it off once again.

Yet it only takes ten minutes to have a bed completed. New pillowcases upon which to rest my head. Blankets re-arranged and re-tucked so that feet wandering in the night aren’t going to wind up in the cold. Ten minutes to a blissful night’s sleep.

An accomplishment after all.

Now in better days I might have ironed the pillowcases. I know that’s been argued against as not necessary at least in my household, but I grew up ironing sheets and pillowcases. It’s a blissful thing to sleep upon if you’ve never tried it. I might just indulge in that bit of luxury the next time the weather clears and I’m feeling stronger. In the meantime though, I’m holding up this simple task as my accomplishment for the day. Something to be proud of.

And something to enjoy all night through.