I could hardly believe it when I found this picture the other day. Here she is! The real FlyLady. I read email messages from her all the time, so it’s great to feel like I’m actually getting to “meet” her. Her name is Marla Cilley — and she’s written several books, which I haven’t had a chance to read yet.

She is slowly changing my life. I was talking about her with one of my friends who said, “You know what I love about her is that she makes you feel good about yourself. She makes you feel like you’re NOT behind. Just jump in wherever you are.”

That’s true. I breeze through her messages every day, reading testimonials from people whose lives, homes, marriages, families have been totally changed — and I think: wow. People are motivated by positive words instead of criticism.

I don’t have time to email my testimonial, but maybe FlyLady will discover my blog. Anyway, here’s what she did for me this week. My kids started back in school, and…already, my toddler has brought home a stomach bug. A bad one. (A very contagious one…).

He discovered this during his afternoon nap. So, I had loads to wash. No problem — my laundry is caught up, thanks to FlyLady’s encouragement. We had some chaos over here that day, though. Despite the stomach bug, my son felt fine and kept moving around the house, playing, stopping a minute here and there to remind me he really was still sick. (Read: more wash for me to do.)

Now, normally, this would have sent me into a downward spiral. Overwhelmed. Frustrated. Exhausted. These words would have described me. But thanks to my mission to stick to my morning and evening FlyLady routines, I said to myself, “I can’t do everything. But I can keep my laundry caught up and my sink shiny.” (Well, my solid-surface sink is not really shiny, but it’s empty and clean.)

My week further proves FlyLady’s main point: morning and evening routines give you something stable to aim for, and when you’re thrown for a loop by something disheartening like a stomach virus, your house doesn’t have to fall apart. You ought to read some of these other people’s stories. They’ll definitely encourage you that you’re not behind.