Well, I normally post about FlyLady on Fridays, but I’m going to have to hold that thought until next week. EXCEPT! The “Shoe Controversy” is still raging, so if you haven’t left your preference, please click here and tell us whether you like wearing shoes at home or not while you’re working. You will have to read comment #11 to see who visited here on Wednesday. I was FLABERGHASTED!! In complete AWE! And she DOES NOT wear shoes!

Today, I don’t have anything to say that can compare with the comments left yesterday — and I’d like to keep that discussion going if possible. I’m so sorry I seem to have a hyperactive moderator; I turned off my comment moderator several weeks ago, but for some reason it held the comments in moderation all afternoon. I didn’t get email notification until this morning, so I didn’t know these were waiting.

So, let me step aside today … and let you wise moms talk amongst yourselves.

Well, I’m only going to write a short FlyLady post today to tell you I’ve given the shoe thing some thought. It’s part of FlyLady’s morning routine for women to get up, get dressed, and put on lace-up shoes — even if you’re not going to leave your house. (GASP!)

It’s Step #2 of the morning routine:
“Shower and get dressed to lace up shoes, fix your hair and face”

FlyLady believes this is important because she used to work for a cosmetics company from home, and she had to follow the company rule of never making a sales call unless she was dressed — all the way down to her shoes.

Well, what do you think? Many of you are moms who are either running a home-based business, homeschooling, or staying home to raise your family. Do you wear shoes at home? (This is also a cultural thing, I’m aware, as in some countries it’s not acceptable.)

I’ve been trying this out. And here’s what I found:

FLYLADY IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!!

I feel 100% better when I get dressed for my “work day” all the way down to my shoes. My lace-up shoes are actually my running shoes — which help me feel like moving faster around the house. I can still wear my slippers before or after “office” hours, but I feel more professional if I’m dressed like I’m working in an office or school. (A very casual office or school, of course.)

On the same note — for me, getting dressed to my shoes also means putting on make-up. Even wearing just a little makes me feel better when I don’t look so scary. Also, it shows my kids that “home” is an important place to be, just as much as going somewhere.

Those are my thoughts on the “shoe thing.” I’d love to hear yours!

A few of you have left comments that you’re learning to FLY or you have been for years. So, I got this GREAT idea — why don’t I compile a list of blogs from women like me who are also interested in FlyLady?

Do you have a blog where you talk about FlyLady? I’d like to visit whenever I need a fresh jolt of inspiration. Please leave me a comment, and I’ll work on compiling something to stay permanent in my sidebar.

We can encourage each other to stay on track with our routines — and offer plenty of grace and humor when life (and children!) get in the way of our perfectionism.

Where did I read this — somebody made a tape of a solid hour of rockin’ housecleaning music? The thought of 300,000 of us FlyBabies in our lace-up shoes and ostrich feather dusters — zipping around the house working and listening to music (with our timers ticking, of course) — just totally cracked me up! Send me some links! And maybe a blurb about why you love FlyLady or where we should look in your blog. (For example, if you have a Technorati tag or category somewhere so we’ll know where to look.)

Have a nice weekend. And remember that God loves you just the way you are — you’re not behind at all in His eyes!

P.S. This post will be ongoing — so anytime you happen to find it, you can add to it and I’ll update my permanent list in the sidebar.

If you’ve been reading FlyLady’s emails for a while, you know the #1 thing she focuses on is teaching you how to FLY, which stands for “Finally Loving Yourself.” I was a little skeptical of this at first — I’m not a big fan of self-help philosophies that take away from the work of Jesus — but that’s not what she’s trying to do.

Actually, it’s not FlyLady herself that expresses what FLY’ing means — it’s the wonderful testimonials I read every week from people who write to her. Do you read those? She said she gets thousands of emails a day. Wow — she’s definitely found her calling.

FLY’ing in my case this week has meant to accept the fact that I can’t do it all — and that’s OK. I’ll do what I can and ask Christ to give me a spirit of love and joy in my home — without comparing myself to others.

So … I’ll go ahead and tell you that we’ve BOUGHT our Valentines this year. Yes! We spent less than two minutes picking out three different mass-produced kinds: Narnia, Star Wars, and Puppies/Kittens. We bought strawberry cream chocolate kisses (who invented those?), and I’ve given the kids scotch tape and stickers. They’ve done all their Valentine-making on their own this year. And had a great time!

This was not the case a few years ago. I was involved in a group that had the world’s most humongous Valentine’s party, and only the slacker moms bought Valentines. I say that tongue-in-cheek of course — but I’m telling you, these ladies did some magnificent things with googly eyes, foam cut-outs, and pipe cleaners. I always thought that one day I would invent the most creative, amazing Valentine ever — using googly eyes of course.

But not this year. Not if I want to balance things I do for my kids with some things just for me — which this week included interviewing an author in France and becoming a mini-expert on a state park.

So, as you move through your weekend preparing for Valentine’s Day, remember that God loves you for who you are. He made you perfect in His image, and He’s given you talents that nobody else has. Ask Him to reveal what His calling is for you … and then look in the mirror and love the person who looks back at you.

P.S. If you’re heading to the movies this weekend, Lisa Rice has a cute review in Crosswalk, On Adorable Scale, “Curious George” is a 10.

I’m such a newbie to the whole FlyLady phenomenon that I didn’t even know she has official baby steps for those of us who are just starting out. Yes, there are 31 Beginner BabySteps. Here’s what she says:

Our FlyLady system is all about establishing little habits that string together into simple routines to help your day run on automatic pilot. You can do this!

I haven’t started any of these BabySteps (yes, one word) except for shining my sink and using a timer. I think if I did this system, I’d feel a lot less stress in my life because I wouldn’t be carrying around so much in my head — it’s clutter! If I set my to-do list down, it will get colored on — or stapled into a book. (My girls are really into making booklets these days. Wonder why!) So I keep way too much on my mind.

The other day I got behind AGAIN on my kitchen — if I only miss shining my sink after one meal, suddenly we have a huge pile-up. Seven people eating together at least two times a day — well, you get the picture. I got behind and started feeling overwhelmed about it.

But instead of moping, I just got my timer and set it to 20 minutes. I can do this for 20 minutes. That ticking sound was like FlyLady motivating me — and it worked. I got caught back up again!

Sometimes I imagine her like a much-needed cheerleader while I’m debating about whether or not I should throw something away. It’s like she’s telling me, “You can do it, girl! You just be brave and bold — and you throw that catalog away! That kindergarten workbook page from September– it’s okay. You can get rid of it now! You’re doing great!”

This physical work reminds me of what goes on spiritually as well. Keeping clutter cleaned out of your house is also like keeping sin cleaned out of your heart. It creeps back in if you don’t stay on it!

Do you ever feel that way? You work on an area and feel like you’ve made great strides, and you’re really growing closer to God. (You may even do a little bragging about it.) Then you stumble AGAIN! That same old sin creeps back in.

Same thing with clutter. You clean out a certain area and it looks great! Until a few days go by (or in homes with young kids, a few MINUTES…) We just gotta stay on it.

So here I am — admitting to you that I’m at the beginning of the Beginning BabySteps. Has anyone else been through this system before? How did it work for you?

I’ve enjoyed visiting the blogs of those of you fellow FlyLady fans (Fly Babies) who are also working on reducing clutter in your life — including body clutter. That’s the term FlyLady uses — isn’t it wonderful and appropriate? I haven’t read the book yet but would like to someday.

I notice that some of you have posted your weight and height on your sites — wow. You’re brave. I know I couldn’t do that. For me, the scale is a personal thing — and it’s not so much about what I weigh, but how I feel. Some of you would look at me and say, “So what? Why are you even trying to lose weight?” But I know that I feel most energetic when I’ve reached a certain target weight.

There are a lot of things in life I have no control over — but I’m working on the few that I do. And one thing I did yesterday was deep clean my closet — and I FINALLY got rid of all of my maternity clothes. I really have been wearing them off and on for almost ten years. I’m too embarrassed to pass them along to anyone I know! So, now I’ve entered this twilight zone — what am I going to do? Throwing out my maternity panel jeans means now I’m much more limited in what I have to wear. But the time has come!

I’m taking baby steps, as FlyLady says, toward FLYing — which stands for Finally Loving Yourself. Yes, it’s all about love, isn’t it? It’s not about denying myself that extra-large pack of French fries. It’s about loving myself enough to want to eat something that’s better for me.

I appreciate the person who sent me the comment reminding me to drink plenty of water. After I read that note of encouragement, I did go drink a glass of water. And another. And then I got full and didn’t want to GRAZE on junk food. I’m still wearing my handy pedometer, and I’ve started to take two walks a day instead of only one. It’s amazing. There’s always something new to discover when I get outside.

But honestly, I don’t think it’s the pedometer so much as my dog that’s getting me out to walk — I love watching him sniff everything. And then one or two cats come along as well, prowling nonchalantly like they don’t want me to know they’re being extra sociable — and we usually have some good-hearted yipping and hissing.

I wish you all a happy Friday as you swish and swipe (your house, not your credit cards!) to get ready for the weekend. Behind the scenes of this blog, I’m working on my first real author interview — with Mary DeMuth, who is currently living in France. I’m finishing up her wonderful book, Building the Christian Family You Never Had, which will be released next Tuesday, Jan. 24th. She’s planning a Blog Tour, which will be held once a week for several weeks — she’s asked us to think up some quirky questions so we don’t all ask her the same thing. Check out her Relevant Prose website and blog here — she’s also a Christian novelist with a new book coming out called Watching the Tree Limbs.

Well, I’m going to “live it up” this weekend, the last weekend of my present age — my birthday is coming this Monday, January 23. Dwarfing that news is the fact that the new Super Wal-Mart will be opening that same day, about two miles from my house. I may have to go walk the aisles just to be sociable. Another spot on the planet that used to be woods and is now a parking lot. Hmmm…on that note, I better log off.

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.

Today is officially the 12th Day of Christmas. It’s Epiphany, also known as “The Adoration of the Magi” or “The Manifestation of God.” According to CRI/Voice, “The Season of Christmas begins with the First Sunday of Advent, marked by expectation and anticipation, and concludes with Epiphany, which looks ahead to the mission of the church to the world in light of the Nativity.”

So Happy Epiphany to you! We’ve made it through the whole Christmas season! Now, if you’re like me, you’re ready to get back to regular routine and move along.

I wrote about how much we enjoy our Quiet Week after Christmas, and…well…it stretched into two quiet weeks. So we still haven’t taken our sparkly, artificial tree down. We relished the grace of those 12 full days of Christmas. But today — away it goes.

Now, I’m really getting into this FlyLady routine stuff — my days are starting to be anchored by solid, unwavering morning and evening routines. For some reason, it doesn’t seem so boring — when I know that 250,000 other “Fly Babies” are also shining their sinks, scanning for stray clutter, and checking our calendars. The EXCITING part of it all is I’ve discovered I can really be faster doing things I hate, which makes it more like a game than drudgery.

So, here’s the new motto for this year — are you ready? From FlyLady:

Simple Routines are the trick in 2006.

I chose this motto because I do not want you to make your routines so big that they are not doable and you allow your pefectionism to cause you to do nothing. Keep them simple and they will be easy for you.

The word trick can be fun! In the dictionary I found a meaning that seems to fit my idea. #5 A special skill; a knack: Is there a trick to getting this window to stay up? I want you to find that loving yourself by using simple routines is a special skill that can change your world. It is just this easy! By doing simple routines to relieve the pressure we put on ourselves; we are FLYing!

So, while you’re FLYing through your Friday errand running and cleaning as you get ready for the first POST-HOLIDAY weekend of the year, here’s a little quiz to remind you of your hidden talents. (This one pegged me exactly…somehow!)

Your Hidden Talent

You are a great communicator. You have a real way with words. You’re never at a loss to explain what you mean or how you feel. People find it easy to empathize with you, no matter what your situation. When you’re up, you make everyone happy. But when you’re down, everyone suffers.

A couple of days ago, I was wearing a sweater that had an itchy tag in the back. It was a familiar feeling. I recognized that same annoying itch from last year. Whenever I wore it, I thought to myself — I need to cut that tag off, but I never got around to doing it.

Instead, I’d fiddle with it, tuck it down, and try to ignore the uncomfortable, raspy feel. But the other day, it just bugged me! So I decided I’d had enough. A pair of scissors and two seconds later, it was gone. I couldn’t believe how easy it was — and how much better I felt afterward!

So, of course then I had to dash for a piece of paper to jot down “FlyLady — Itchy tag stuff.” Because I’ve realized that’s what FlyLady’s emails are all about. She reminds you every day of those “itchy tag” things that are bothering you, but you keep putting off doing.

If you keep reading day after day, you finally decide, “OK! Enough is enough.” So you grab a trash bag and start flinging in 27 things that you’re sick of looking at. It’s fun because it’s 27, and you know other souls have gone before you 27-fling-boogie-ing their way to peace and order.

Another “itchy tag” is using my crock pot, which FlyLady calls a “Secret Weapon.” You’ve got to get it going in the morning or right after lunch when dinner is still hours away. Just do it — stick something in there and let it simmer all day while you’re doing something else that consumes your time. Then you’ll know dinner is already in the works. (We made pinto beans in it yesterday.)

The last thing I’ve picked up this week from FlyLady is to use a timer ALL the time. She suggests using it whenever you’re doing something you love to do — like homeschooling your kids, reading a book, working on a craft project, sitting at the computer, etc. — you do that fun thing for 45 min., then when the timer goes off, go do something that’s not too fun for 15 minutes. It will help your kids to stay on track too.

I think I remember that as being one of Terri Maxwell’s secrets — homeschooling mom of 8 — she used a timer all the time, and divided her day into 30-minute increments. She assigned one-on-one time with her kids that way — and she also got a ton of sewing projects done, little by little, working a half-hour a day.

Found this cute picture to remind you of the itchy tag. I hope you get something “itchy” done today!

I have to tell you — I couldn’t stand it! I peeked over at Professor Bruce Edwards’ blog this morning. He’s already SEEN “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” and so I HAD to slip in there and see what he’d posted. But I didn’t read all of his review — “Not a Tame Wardrobe: 2 Views and They’re Both Mine.” If you’re going to see the movie today, you may want to hold off reading part two of his review — but part one is a great introduction.

I quote a tiny snippet:

I’m no scholar. I don’t know anything about Lewis’s childhood or Mrs. Moore or Greek mythology or who heads Walden Media. I am in the theatre to enjoy, to be entertained, to be swept away into Narnia. My Narnia–the one I remember, the one I cherish. I wouldn’t know an allegory if it bit me. But this I know: it’s Christmas, and, despite the temptations of secularism, I want to keep whatever there is of him, Christ, in Christmas, even if I barely know what that means. That’s why I’m here, in this theatre, wishing away winter so it can be Christmas again. This is the movie for me. So, when I get through the wardrobe, what will I find?

…First moments: I am in tears from the opening sequence…I can’t believe I’m here, and believing, this is so rich, it can’t get any better than this, yet it does, in its subtlety and quiet pacing–the build up of the first 60 minutes is brilliant.

Now how come blogging wasn’t around when I majored in English! I wish my professors had kept a blog — I barely had a chance to get to know any of them outside of the classroom (except for my creative writing professor who invited us over to her house to show us how a REAL novelist lives.)

Dr. Bruce Edwards’ Further Up and Further In definitely takes me behind the scenes — I hope you’ll go visit. And also La Shawn Barber’s new Fantasy Fiction for Christians blog has a live Narnia feed — boy, does La Shawn know how to make you feel like you’re missing out if you don’t visit her blog!

And this email came from Mike Parker, author of one of the many Narnia articles on Crosswalk:

We got to see the film again tonight, and we loved it just as much the second time around. Hint, don’t leave when the credits start.

Now, I told you I’d be writing about FlyLady every Friday — and this is week 2 — but guess what? I’m going to have to wait until next Friday to tell you all about the “27 Fling Boogie” because I’m too busy today doing what FlyLady has been telling me all week. I’ve got to run get our house spiffed up for the weekend.

But I beg you, my fellow WAHMs (work-at-home moms), please join up at the FlyLady website so we can at least feel like our Friday cleaning is fun and social. As I’m doing all these mundane things that women have done for centuries, it’s a lot more enjoyable to know that many of you out there are doing the same thing — and on FlyLady’s emails, she tells you all these success stories…from real readers. And she gets you a little more enthusiastic about decluttering and shining your sink. We gotta make this intellectual for those of us who’d rather be reading than mopping. So, do you care to join me?