Day Nine - check

I cleaned off my dining room table. I was amazed what I found:
my can opener
rubber scraper
Jeremiah's new shoes I bought him (he said he threw them in the trash...sad when he calls my dining room table "trash")
New Weight Watcher Dining Out Companion
not to mention all Jeremiah's toys he's been "storing" there.

Well, no more storage on that table. I collapsed it since we don't use it anyways.

Ok, new day:

These 15 minutes are meant to be a trash collection time, according to the fly lady.
No problemo!!!

Day Eight - check

Binder is done and ready to go. Actually, my binder is more than done. It has the following in it:
-The Fly Lady's Eleven Commandments
-Morning Routine
-Bedtime Routine
-Weekly Checklist (note: not that I've done any of it)
click here for more details on those routines and the checklist
-Weekly Bless My Home checklist (see note two lines up)
-The Fly Lady's detailed cleaning list categorized into zones
-A printout of age appropriate chores from ages 9 months up to 12 years
-Extra paper
-Personal Contact Info (like an address book)
-And an Emergency Contact page (has directions on how to get to my home, how to open the front gate, and important phone numbers: our pediatrician, pedi center, poison control, my doctor, and me and my hubby's cell phone numbers).

Please note: I had already completed this stuff 3 years ago. I didn't just sit down and do it over the weekend. But it's nice to know it's there.

Ok, tomorrow is a non-MOPS Monday which means I usually go to the gym in the morning. However, tomorrow is special because my hubby and I are going to do a spin class together at 5:30pm. So I won't be going to the gym in the morning. Which means, my day is actually going to start around 6am. (It usually doesn't start until 10am, when I come home from the gym.)
So here's what I mean by starting my day: I'll shower, get dressed, shine my sink, make my bed, spend 2 minutes on my hot spots and...



I'll attempt to do this during nappy poo time.

Wish me luck.

P.S. I think this is the most link-ridden post I've ever had!!! Some of them I did for complete fun! Boy, did I have fun!!!

Eureka!!!

I found it!!!

The recipe for my most favorite, absolutely most delicious cheesecake ever!


I've only had it twice. Once at a dinner party at a very ritzy house on the river. They flew it in for us from the Carnegie Deli in New York. And the other time I had it was right before Jeremiah was born when we visited Las Vegas. They have a Carnegie Deli inside the Mirage.

And who would've ever thought the Carnegie Deli would post their recipe for this most delicious, decadent, heavenly cheesecake. I'm very tempted to make it. But I wonder if it will lose its mysterious appeal to me if I know how and can actually replicate this thing of beauty? I'll have to work myself up to make this scrumptious dessert. And this month is not the month! But at least I know how now.

Day Seven - check

Getting my clothes ready last night saved me about 30 seconds of time this morning. But I can see how on busier days it will be a better thing.

Is it me or does it seem like things are moving at a zippy speed now. Let's review: I'm shining my sink, doing a load of laundry daily, making my bed consistently, getting dressed everyday, putting out hot spots...

Wow, I almost need a day off to let these new routines sink in.

Well, let's see what the fly lady has in store for me tomorrow:

Day 8 -



Aha! Here's my day off! (And a good thing too - tomorrow is the beginning of Pascual's weekend. Remember: his days off are mine too!)
I already have this ready to go...from the last time I way over did the fly lady and took an afternoon to create and perfect my control journal. Kinda sick...I know. I'll re-write my morning and evening routine so far and rip out the

pages

that

I

did...

wait. I can't rip those out. How about I just won't look at them for now.

Confession time: I haven't even attempted to clean in the zone of the week. But that'll come with time...I hope.

Day Six - check Wow...

Those 2 minutes went by sooo fast! I didn't even finish my hot spot! Well, there's always tomorrow. Bet ya never thought I'd say that, huh?

So I added "2 minutes for hot spots" as a sticky note to my bathroom and kitchen. Now what...


Tonight I pick out my clothes. Hmmm, isn't it just the same thing every day? Pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Okie dokie artichokie. I hope I remember...bedtime is still hours away. A lot gets lost in my head in that amount of time.

I've noticed...

that my day doesn't begin until 10am, when I come home from the gym.

And I'm ok with that! It works for me!!!

Day Five - check

I've noticed that my ANTs are thoughts like
I've got to take care of ____________ now so it'll get done.
Or
If I start the washing machine right now, I can work on _________ while it's washing.
It's like multi-tasking with machines.

And what ends up happening with me is I get overwhelmed with all the stuff that needs to get done and do hardly anything instead.

So today, when I really wanted to start my day before I took my shower and got dressed I told myself,
"Self, (not really but I like saying that) do it in the correct order!"

And ya know what...stuff got done today! So YIPPEE!

OK, let's prep for day 6:


I already know where my hot spots are:
a. the tiny corner of my kitchen table - I'm surprised by how much stuff is there.
b. my dining room table - we don't use it so it collects stuff; my stuff and Jeremiah's toys
c. computer desk
d. any surface in my den

Don't worry. I'm not going to over do it tomorrow. I'll set my timer for 2 minutes and work on that tiny corner until I hear the "ding". Then I'll be done for the day. I'm so excited!!!

Day Four - check

Ok, back to work...for the hubby and me!

I had to miss MOPS today because of my child's runny nose and cough...little stinker! I've gotta remind myself that she's not having cold-symptoms on purpose. :)

So day four was to put sticky notes around, writing what I do so far (which isn't much):
1. Get dressed for the day - as in be ready to leave the house.
2. Shine my sink - for me that's just cleaning up breakfast dishes and any dishes that didn't make it into the dishwasher (because it was full already) last night. And clean any green bags that I've let accumulate on my counter.
3. Check the reminder emails (love this one!).

So 3 sticky notes are attached to my bathroom mirror. I'll add 3 more, saying the same things, to my kitchen in just a moment.
That'll do.

Ok, so let's prep for day 5:

"Are you hearing any of those nagging negative voices popping into your head? I want you to take a piece of paper and write down what you hear then I want you to turn those ugly words around and say something nice to yourself to negate the ugly words that they said." (note: quote taken from here)
Ok, I'll just be honest. My first reaction to day 5's advice is, "Oh puhleeze!"
But upon further thought, I'm reminded that I've done this before...from my weight watcher meetings. Yep, those negative thoughts are called 'ANTs' - automatic negative thoughts and they must be sprayed!

So I'll just write down any negative thoughts, whether it comes from cleaning or eating or the fat on my body. It is a good idea...even if it sounds like hokey.

A break from the fly lady's routine...it's cake time!!!

Is it me or when it's the hubby's days off, it's the wife's days off too? Who wants to clean house when it's just going to get messy with fun life. Fooey on that. So, sorry fly lady, but I've been taking a break to kick it for a couple of days. But don't you worry, I'm coming back! I'll resume with day 4...or whatever day I'm on.

I went to our MOPS spring social silent auction and won a $100 certificate to a new cake place in town. They are so new that they actually don't have a store front yet; they're working out of their kitchen. We thought it'd be a good idea to get Jeremiah a cool looking pirate themed cake for his birthday this year. Today was our sampling appointment. And they were so smart about it: they baked up the 9 different cake flavors we chose, then in separate dishes had different flavored fillings and different flavored icings.

Oh mercy, were most of those samples delish! Some I didn't care for: the brownie and anything with the chocolate filling. But then again, I'm not a big chocolate fan. Freakish- I know.

But my favorites were: lemon cake with lemon filling (reminded me of a lemon merangue pie...oh lordy) and vanilla frosting, cherry chip cake with cherry filling and almond frosting (that cherry/almond combo was fantastic!!!), pineapple coconut cake with pineapple filling and vanilla frosting (I think it was vanilla anyways..can't remember we tried so many), and finally pineapple coconut cake with bavarian cream filling and vanilla frosting (gosh, was it vanilla?). The pineapple coconut cake was so moist and the pineapple filling had such texture (the cake did too!). Oh man, T-A-S-T-Y!!!

When we left we were sooo full.

On our way home we discussed how hospitable they were and how we feel like they went out of their way for a couple who really isn't bringing them much money since they donated the gift certificate to MOPS.

So I think we're going to break the family tradition of using only using Rosie's for family get togethers and we're going to use Keep Sake Kakes for both of our kids' birthday cakes...yep, it was that good. Plus they can make a cake in the shape of a pirate treasure chest for Jeremiah


and a piñata for Beka. How cute will these be!!!

Day Three - check

Did what I was doing.

Prep for day 4:


I'm a master list maker. I've got this one in the bag!!!

Day Two - check

This morning I got "dressed". Well I'm calling it dressed. I basically put a bra on and kept the closed on that I slept in. I did some dishes and re-shined my sink. I also had Jeremiah help me clean up the toy room - uh the living room.

Beka took an early nap since she was up so early; which worked out great for me...I got to go to zumba class at the gym at 9:30.

After lunch, Beka took her 2nd nap, Jeremiah watched a video and I took my shower for the day and got re-dressed.

You think I get bonus points for getting dressed twice in one day?

Prep for day 3:


I really want to jump ahead and do the next 3 or 4 days but I shall refrain. Babysteps, Dani...babysteps!

Day One...check

I shined my sink.

I didn't do it until 2pm but I did it none the less.

Prep for day 2:


Ugh. I really don't like this one. Seriously, I can and know that I will get my household going without shoes on. But I know for me, I cannot get my day going without a bra on. You think the fly lady would mind if I substituted "bra" for "shoes"?

Hey, I'm making it work for me.

If I burn out again and restart the fly lady's routine I promise I'll change my ways and lace up my shoes next time. But this time, I'm just going to make sure I get dressed up to my shoes.

And as far as hair and make-up...you really think I have to do it when I don't do every day anyways. Heck, today I went to Target after the gym with my hair in disarray, no make-up and a t-shirt that had so much visible sweat in it I'm pretty sure I could've wrung it out and made the ground wet. Kinda gross but I had a great workout!!!

Well, were calling day 2, "Dani's modified day 2".

Day One-eve

Tomorrow is Monday - a great day to start with the fly lady's routine.

I'm a pretty organized person but I just hate to clean - and I really need to. I've got clutter in places that take my peace away. And trust me when I say, if mama ain't got peace, ain't nobody got peace.

Ok, tomorrow it is. And this time, I'm going to start the fly lady with utterly ridiculously small baby steps. Maybe I'll stick with it and not burn out this time.

Thanks for the inspiration, Tara! You're a terrific friend!!!

Stay tuned for a recap of each day of the routine.

Let's see, tomorrow's goal according to the fly lady is:


I know I can manage that. That's the problem with me. I'll want to do days 2, 3, and 4 tomorrow too. But I shall resist the urge! One day at a time! That's a promise.

Where are the people that give compliments?

Yesterday I was at Costco putting the items into my car. Jeremiah was already in his car seat, waiting patiently to be buckled in, and Beka was sitting in the basket. This older couple passed by and played with Beka's toes, asking, "which isle do we find one of these?"

Oh, it's so cute when older people get a kick out of babies.

My guard dropped...

Then they went in for the kill.

With a change of tone in their voice they added, "And your mommy is letting you sit right in the sun." And they walked off.

I stood there thinking, where are the people who tell you what a good job you're doing? Why are these neigh-sayers a dime a dozen?"

So today, as I go out to the marketplace, I'm going to try to compliment a mother's skills because I know it would make her day. I know it would make mine!!!

Amish Friendship WHAT?!?

On Monday at MOPS, my friend Lynette gave me an Amish Friendship Bread starter. The girls at my table asked me if it was breastmilk.
Which leads me to a few disturbing thoughts:
a. that the girls at my table would think that I would bring my breastmilk in a large ziplock bag
b. that the girls at my table would think my breastmilk would be that thick and off color
c. that the girls at my table would think that I'd be that uncouth to just flop a bag of breastmilk on the table
These thoughts are making me wonder about the girls at my table...weirdos!
Anyways...

Later that night I told my hubby about the bag of bread starter and what the girls at my table thought. Then I told him the process that will eventually lead to delicious loaves of bread.

And that's when he stared at me with a disgusting look on his face.

What?

"I'm NOT eating that!", he said.

Why not???

"I'm NOT eating bread made with another woman's breastmilk! I wouldn't even eat it if it was made with your own breastmilk."

Huh? What are you talking about?

He assumed after all that talk about the girls at my table thinking that was large bag of zip locked milk, that there was actually breastmilk in the bag - that Lynette had made the starter with her milk - and she's sharing it with us.

Holy cow, that made my night. I still giggle over that miscommunication!

I wonder if he'll try the bread next week when I make it?