Allergic to exercise???

I have never been one to exercise, except coming up to my wedding I went to the gym everyday so that I would be good for my wedding day (which I was, I still smile when I remember the zip on my dress going up so easily :) )

I did go through a phase of going to the gym for about a year. I still have the membership. It is costing me too much! So I have promised myself that I will get back into it. I also seriously want to lose some weight for my health.

Just as I was thinking about this flylady started posting about Jonathan (NEWO) running the Boston Marathon and his challenges running up to this. So I am taking part.

So far, I have walked further to the car a few times (and parked further away at work), scheduled when I am going to go to the gym in the next 30 days (I am not going to put myself under too much pressure but build a habit - so next week only once as my schedule permits), and bought a new water bottle so that I keep hydrated.

On top of this I am going to give up cake for lent... Hopefully a healthier me by Easter :)

lots of holidays?

One of the thing that I hate is when people tell me that it's okay that I work long hours because I also get long holidays.

We have got to the end of one of those 'holidays' and I am feeling miserable. I have a list to do for work the length of an A4 page today. There are also so many other things that I haven't done. So to try and lift my mood I am going to try and count what I have done (in the nature of counting your blessings):

• had the in-laws to stay
• meal out with my husband
• meal out with a friend
  
• shopping with a friend and my goddaughter-to-be
• coffee with friends (4 times!! -different friends each time)
• took a friend's daughter out for the day
• read 2 books
  
• chose flooring for new kitchen
  
• moved furniture to prepare for kitchen
  
• washing and ironing (all caught up :) )
• detailed dusting in the lounge
• went into work and caught up on some filing
• decluttered a bit (still more to do but there always is!)
• WHB at the beginning of the week and again at the end
• Marked some work

Now seeing it all written down, I don't feel quite so bad that I have 'only' done 8 hours work, and still have a lot to do. I haven't wasted the holidays :)

edit: I realise that some people might think I'm moaning about my holidays. I'm not. it's just that I'm beating myself up over wasting them. I often leave a lot of jobs to the holidays, as I am working 50-60 hours every week, and then get annoyed when I don't manage to do them!

The start of the Kitchen remodel

In 4 weeks time the builders will arrive to completely demolish the inside of our kitchen and put in a new one. It will be about a 6 week process. At the same time they will re-plaster our hallway and re-do our cloakroom.

With 4 weeks to go DH and I decided that it was about time to get ready. That's right. Not the week before, 4 weeks in advance! So yesterday we moved out furniture from under the stairs. It fits nicely at the top of the stairs, and now there will be room for a fridge and a freezer with a piece of worktop over the top. -A makeshift kitchen. We will do that the weekend before they start.

Today my plan is to pack up one box of things that I won't need over the next 10 weeks. I'm doing it slowly. But I'm glad that I'm not trying to do it all at once. Much less stress!

2011 -the year of me!

It's been about 4 weeks since my last post. I have continued with these things:

• getting up earlier and having quiet time
• eating more fruit and veg -beginning to slowly lose weight
• making my lunch the night before, so not buying food at lunchtime

So it's been just over 7 weeks. I'm not noticing these things now so much as they are becoming ingrained habits. I'm feeling quite determined that this is the year when I really get myself sorted. The year of me!

I have also been keeping up with flylady routines, I'm moisturising my face every morning, and sometimes the evenings. Evenings are something that I need to work on, but it really is one step at a time. I'm trying to not burn out with these things but take them slowly!

New year, New me

Sorry, no update for ages. Thought I'd squeeze one in now. Since January 1st the following transformation has happened:

• getting up earlier and having quiet time
• eating more fruit and veg -beginning to slowly lose weight
• making my lunch the night before, so not buying food at lunchtime

Small things but they are beginning to roll into each other! Hoping I can get a routine going. 3 weeks is good so far. Especially as I didn't make any new year resolutions!

Got to look after myself and getting up earlier is taking it's toll. So at 8:40pm I am going to go and pamper myself and get to bed really early.

hope you are also doing well.

update

Had a busy week, got up earlier every day which did help at work but I often found myself actually managing to complete a morning routine when I'd usually miss something (laundry etc). Getting to work earlier meant I was less stressed (and less stressed driving in!). I didn't gain anything in the evenings because of how much work I had (some evenings I was working until 10pm) and the BBR needs some work. I'd like to add getting laundry ready for the morning into the evening.

Violin wise, I did do some practice at the weekend, which is better than none. I need to step it up now as I have been asked to play in a school assembly.

Feeling very tired this morning, but that is probably because of a new dose of medication. I will keep trying to get myself into a better place. It does help!

twist and shout

Today I spent a lot of time on flylady chat. I think that this is a good thing as I get motivated. Today it was definitely useful. I was introduced to a game called "twist and shout" you write a numbered list of 5 things (one of which is a pamper mission) and someone calls a number. you then do the thing associated with that number. it takes 10 mins then you rest for 5. I certainly felt like I was getting a lot done. I used my violin practice as a pamper mission and really enjoyed it.

I had issues today when the car wouldn't start and my dad had to come and help. That upset my plans. So I am going to have to do some work tomorrow, as I lost a couple of hours. :( so much for work-life balance.

I wrote down everything I ate today and made healthy(er) choices. Just need to keep it up!

I definitely feel more relaxed, and like looking around me and being pleased with what I see. In the couple of hours I played the game I certainly made a dent. Need to keep this up! Thanks for the encouragement, here's to continually making life more peaceful! :)

wish list

I've just got back from an appointment with the nurse, and was thinking I need to re-evaluate a few things. I was going to write them on a piece of paper, but then thought "why not blog it?".

Although Flylady is going really well (there's work to be done, but I'm reasonably happy with where I am) there are other areas of my life that really need attention, and probably some flylady principals.

The appointment with my nurse was about my weight, now I know that most women are obsessed with weight, but I am not in a good place. I need to lose weight. full. stop. I want to lose weight. full. stop. I don't want to change my eating habits. Oh dear. I've promised the nurse that over the next two weeks I will do a food diary. somehow I need to force myself to do it!

so that is change number 1, there are some other things that I would like to do too...

2. violin practice.... I have lessons but haven't practiced for a year!!! Oh boy, can't believe it's been that long. I need to fit that into my schedule!!

3. a work-life balance! I tend to work a base-line of 50 hours a week, often more. The work has to be done. so sometimes I work weekends too. Not nice. I am wondering what simple changes I can put into place in order for this to get better. I'm thinking that if I could get up slightly earlier and get out slightly earlier (say 30mins) then that would be 30 mins less needed in the evening. Now going back to flylady I wonder if there is any of a BBR that I'm not doing that would help get out earlier? Maybe I'll try getting up 15 mins earlier and see what happens. There are other things that if I can do at work might help, like thinking about things further ahead. In fact some flylady type routines would be useful for work. Not sure how to start though.

4. Do my physio exercises. I have real issues with my health. I have one leg shorter than the other, and the sprained ankle has caused a lot problems. Having intensive physio which will help, but only if I actually do the exercises. I need to try and fit them into my day (and remember which is often a problem!)

Okay those are 4 goals to be getting on with, which I am going to try and do. Any ideas, help, encouragement greatly received.

How flylady has changed me

It's been a while once again since I updated this, part of that is not having ideas, or time! It's been going through my head lately that I should document on here how flylady has changed me, as really that's where the anti-procrastination idea came about.

Last week I worked a 70 hour week. Normally I work between 50 and 60 hours, so 70 was a bit of a shock. I was away one night too as part of that. Before Flylady when I was working 50 hours I would spend most of Saturday cleaning and I still didn't have a clean house. I would use holidays (I'm a teacher -yes teachers don't finish at 3pm!) to get the house clean and then in term-time it would deteriorate. I always liked people to think that I was a domestic goddess so would only invite them in during the holidays!

I've been following Flylady for quite a few years and over time things have become more even, I keep on top of things much better and have realised that some things don't take very long, especially if done regularly. During my 70 hour week things didn't fall apart. Yes, the laundry didn't always get done, and the basket was overflowing by the end of the week but it hasn't taken me very much to get back on track. I've just gone back to the normal stuff and I'm beginning to catch up. We were even able to have people to stay at the end of the week! Now that's progress even if it's not perfection :)

3 minutes

I've been laid up for a few days with a painful sprained ankle. The medical advice was to rest and elevate it for 3 days and then slowly begin to do stuff. Today is my first day of doing stuff. Now, I hate being ill off work (but when you can't walk...), particularly because as a teacher I feel responsible for education! So, when the doctors said a week off work I cried inside. But then I listened when I was told that it could take 8 weeks to heal properly and if I don't take a week off I could make it worse.
I've been feeling frustrated by the state of the house as I haven't been able to do anything, but this morning thought... why not just 3 minutes? So I've done little rescues in 3 minute chunks and rested as needed. After that I wondered about baking, remembering Diane's post last week. I thought that I might try shortbread, as that is easy and I had the ingredients.

So I set the timer for 3 minutes
and started measuring out the ingredients. Shortbread is easy as you do a 3:2:1 ratio of flour, butter, sugar (I got this the wrong way round when I first measure but fixed it by doubling the amount of butter and flour!)

That was about the first three minutes. I had a break and then carried on. You have to beat the butter until it is soft.



Then you add the sugar. It was at this point that I realised I'd got butter and sugar the wrong way around! I quickly measured out some more butter and flour, softened the butter and carried on! You stir the sugar in and you get a creamy paste. After this you sieve the flour in and stir and knead. In the middle of this another 3 minutes was up, so I rested and went back to it!


once you get it to the right consistency flatten it into a baking container, I scored mine (not so neat!) into fingers and sprinkled some more sugar on the top. Then it goes in the oven at gas mark 3 for 40 minutes.


Take it out of the oven once it is golden and leave it to rest for a couple of minutes, then turn it out onto a cooling rack.

Leave to cool and perfect with a cup of lady grey tea.

Anti-procrastination week

Flylady has declared this week Anti-procrastination week, so I figured, as that is the point of the blog I should make sure I write in it! (I know it is no excuse but I have tried to update it on my phone, but it lost the update when I published it :( )

One of the things I want to look at is why we procrastinate. Flylady says that we procrastinate because of our perfectionism. If we can't do it right we don't do it at all. To some extent she is right, and I definitely used to put things off for that reason (for example when I procrastinated cleaning the bathroom), but I do feel that I understand that reason now and so there must be other reasons for my procrastination. For example, I put things off because I get sucked in to the computer, I think that I have a habit of just looking at nothing! I find it very hard to pull away from the computer.

I recently read some notes by Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church about why we procrastinate. He listed 5 reasons:

1. Indecision. He says that "Indecision causes you to postpone buying a car, choosing a college, getting married, buying new clothes, changing a job."

2. Perfectionism agreeing with Flylady

3. Fear. We're frightened of booking an appointment for the dentist, so we put it off.

4. Anger. Rick Warren says that: Procrastination is a way to get back at people we don't like. We delay. Kids are great at procrastination. You ask them to clean up their room. They do it but they take so long doing it. One of the reasons may be that they're resisting your control. Procrastination is passive resistance. I don't want to do it because I don't like you telling me to do what I have to do. Anger causes us to put things off.

5. Laziness. We do things if they are easy, but if they are hard we put them off.

I guess that we could add being sidetracked to that list. I don't know whether I would class the time I spend at my computer as laziness or sidetrackedness!

Have a great Anti-procrastination day, during Anti-procrastination week tomorrow! I'm looking forward to that!

What has flylady done to me?

Today I have felt very tired due to a late night that included beer and wine! However, I am ending the day having felt like I have relaxed and not done much. BUT my kitchen is tidy, my sink is shiny, My laundry is done (including turning around the bedding for the spare bed -it is all made up ready for next week's guests!), my bathroom is clean, the house is good and I have done a little bit of decluttering. How on earth have I managed to do all this and sit out and enjoy my garden?! I even went to the DIY centre with my husband to get some bits for the garden which he has now fitted. But I feel like I have had a relaxing day. I feel very confused!

Tomorrow I have to get some school work done. I know that this is the point that the old me would procrastinate, so somehow I have to not do so and just get on with it. So I am telling you now that I need to do it, in the hope that the accountability that this blog holds me to will mean that I will continue to change my ways!!

momentum building...

My in-laws have come to stay and it wasn't stressful!!! The bathroom was already clean (I don't feel like I've cleaned it for weeks, swish and swipe makes such a difference!), the spare room was ready (although I spent 10 minutes just making it better!), I did a weekly home blessing so the place sparkled and I felt like I had time so went out for coffee with a friend! Wow! What a difference. I don't think that I ever thought that I would achieve this.

Today the four of us spent the day working on the garden. Since we moved in we haven't done much so it had become an overgrown mess. We stripped back some of the beds, saving the few plants that I love. The men then did two trips to the tip (once we'd filled our wheelie bin!) and my M-I-L and I went to the garden centre to buy some herbs and some lavender. We also put down some slate for pots to go on. It looks so much better and I now feel that I might have the confidence to go and do 15 minutes regularly to keep it looking good and to start work on the areas that we haven't done. I need to add it to my routines.

We finished about 4pm and I then had a bath and got ready an hour early for our meal out to celebrate my husband's birthday. So now I am ready to go but can relax and not rush. That is a culture change for me! It feels so much better. I am usually the sort of person to think "I'll just do this, then that" then I end up being rushed and late!

Also my study is slowly taking shape. We had some furniture arrive for the lounge, so I was able to move some books down, giving me a bit more space. I also put a few reading books in the spare room, freeing up more space. As ever there is still a lot to do but if I can't spend a lot of time in here I just walk in and deal with one item. I have also started dealing with some clutter in the kitchen. These are all things that were in drawers in the last house, but we don't have the space here and are just piled up. A lot of really is junk and not needed.

To finish, my M-I-L gave me a tea towel yesterday with the following quote:

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful" William Morris

getting started!

The week has been going well. The house is mostly tidy and it's staying clean. The most difficult part was starting decluttering my study. It felt really overwhelming and I didn't know where to start. After putting it off and doing lots of cleaning elsewhere in the house I eventually did 5 minutes. I just picked up a few things that could be binned. The following day I did a few things more and I am now able to see a bit of a difference. There is still a lot to do but it is beginning to feel like it might happen. Somehow though I need to get a lot out as the room is much smaller than in the previous house and I want it to be a much tidier room.

Just doing a little bit at a time is a change of culture for me. I am the sort of person who would declutter all day and be exhausted. So I am finding it difficult but it is nicer than being exhausted and still not finishing it. I just hope that I will get there soon!

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having fun!

I really enjoyed pottering on saturday morning. I managed to get a few rooms looking better. I then went out to help set up at church for the holiday club.

Sunday wasn't a great day. my husband had a migraine. but I did what I needed to and relaxed.

This week I have a routine set up to get things done and also have fun. Each morning I am going to set up the sound system for the holiday club. I am then coming home to do home blessings (housework for those for not familiar with flylady) before going back to put it away. This should leave me with the afternoons to do what I like. Yesterday I got lots done in the morning and then in shopping for my husband's birthday presents (which he loved -i went to his favourite deli and wine merchants to get nice things). This afternoon I have a friend who I haven't seen for a year coming round for coffee. She only lives a 10 minute walk away. I feel bad that we haven't caught up!

Today I am sat enjoying my clean lounge and will work on my study later. It does feel nice having things tidy and clean around me. And by getting things done it feels good and leaves me time to have fun!

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saturday

this is the first blog post I have written on my phone so please excuse any mistakes!
I am sat curled up with the cat, enjoying the first saturday of the holidays. unfortunately this is the first weekend in ages where I can not work and my husband has had to go in to work. :|
Yesterday I went into work for some training, which was useful and then I spent a couple of hours tidying up my classroom. I have found it overwhelming but I took one corner and just worked there. I was pleased with the result, although there is still a lot to do.
Today my plan is not to do too much but I do want to do normal routines and maybe some gardening and my weekly home blessing. I haven't listened for ages to flylady's radio show so I think I need to get the wireless headphones out! I am really looking forward to a day of pottering! Happy saturday!

edit: I just remembered some other things that I was pleased that I managed yesterday. For a couple of weeks I have been meaning to fill the car up with petrol on Fridays. Yesterday was the first time that I remembered and did it! It felt odd filling it up when it wasn't empty! I also cleaned out my purse/handbag. It really needed it. I don't usually manage these tasks, and I am determined that I will get into the habits on Fridays!

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So school has finished for the summer holidays. Unfortunately that doesn't mean that my work is done. At work my classroom and office are in a mess. I have lots of paperwork that need doing, and there is filing to be done. On top of that I have lots of aspirations for the holidays at home.

You see I am in the habit of saying to myself "I'll do that when I'm on school holidays". Both at work and home, and then when I get to the holidays I know that I am a bad manager of my time. Plus I need to relax (this year more than most!).So I'm hoping that by sharing it with you I will get a handle on it!

At home I am hoping to really keep up with the flylady routines, including working through the zones as they come up. I'm hoping that by doing that I will start the new term with a clean house. I am also planning to get all of that done in the mornings, leaving my afternoons to having coffee with friends etc. I know that there will be some days where I will have plans for the whole day, but that won't be everyday.
I also have two projects that I want to complete. The first is a tidy-up and declutter of my study. Since we moved in I have had too much stuff in it, and there are mounds of paperwork which need sorting. It is really bugging me, so I want to make it nice. Here are some before pictures, so that you will see the difference:

The other project is that I want to finish sanding down our staircase. I started before we moved in, but it was so hard work that I didn't finish it. It is a nice open tread wooden staircase, but I want to sand it down and treat it.
I know that it is babysteps that will help me get there. I don't want to burn out anymore than I am already. But I do need want to feel that I have accomplished something over the time off.

We are not having a holiday this year, but DH is taking a week off so that we can do things together. I don't want that to become doing things around the house! So I want to complete all this in the other weeks (including all the school work!). I am hoping to keep my blog updated so that both you and I can see the progress!

perfection

Hmmm..... It has been a month since I last updated this. Big apologies, I have many excuses, but I won't bore you with them.

I will however, tell you about some of the wonderful things that have happened in that time, including me dealing with some of my perfectionist tendencies.

I didn't think that I was a perfectionist, but when I came to the end of the flylady 31 days babysteps, I decided to look back at what I hadn't managed to do, and think about why. That way I could build on the good habits I've formed from babysteps and continue to improve. The big things that I don't do are:

5 min room rescue
2 min hotspot clearup (although I am much more aware of my hotspots now!)
Kelly's mission (or any zone work -often I don't know which zone we are in!)
swish and swipe

Most of these things are just a case of getting the other routines in place so that I end up with the time to add a room rescue etc. But one really bugged me, because a year ago I really tried to get it, and just haven't managed to get it. That was swish and swipe.

For those not familiar with Flylady, the swish and swipe is a quick wipe down of the bathroom everyday so that you don't have to do big cleans, and it is always company ready. I used to keep a cloth in the bathroom, wipe it down everyday -but because I wiped the toilet seat I would want to take the cloth down to the laundry and get another, but I would often forget to bring another cloth up. I also found it difficult to do it everyday. I couldn't see any dirt, so what is the point? I'd tried to master swish and swipe a few times, but ended up always giving up. It is such a fab idea, but I couldn't do it.

Anyway, after my month of babysteps I started to think about what is holding me back. The lightbulb came on, it was the cloths! In my ideal world I do all my cleaning with these cloths and wash them. It works for most things. I don't like the idea of wipes because of landfill. BUT I decided that if I am going to make this a habit wipes would be the best idea. I bought some anti-bacterial wipes, I have been using them now for 2 weeks and I have had a clean bathroom for 2 weeks. It really makes me smile everyday to see it shining, and when I had someone to stay I didn't have to clean the bathroom first.

Maybe, once this is a real habit I will be able to switch to cloths, but I'm not going to get hung up on it. I'm saving water, by not having to use it to clean, and wash the cloths. I'm just going to concentrate on establishing the habit.

What is your perfection holding you back from? My next aim is to get hotspot clearing a real habit.

Anti-Procrastination day -update the blog!

It's Wednesday -hence anti-procrastination day. As I have been meaning to update my blog, I have made it an anti-procrastination task!

The whole purpose of this blog was to get me doing things that I put off. That has certainly become a reality. I am definitely doing more things straight away. There is room for improvement, but I have noticed with some things that I actually begin to dislike the feeling of procrastinating!!!

I have also been documenting my journey of restarting flylady's babsteps. There have been some interesting ones in the last week. Probably the most difficult one was deleting flylady's e-mails (I had about 500 unread!). I did it! And now I feel I could do it again, it was liberating!

I also put an inspirational quotes page in my control journal. I did feel like putting it off, as it didn't seem important. But I did it. I thought I would share my quotes with you:

No-one can make you feel inferior -you have to accept it

Success is the failure to admit defeat

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me

Do one thing everyday that scares you

One babystep at a time, peace is mine!

Please share your favourite quotes in in the comments for this post. I love hearing new ones

I have to say that I have stagnated with the babysteps. I am finding adding new things hard. I haven't started doing Kelly's missions because I am trying to get into a routine of hotspot clearing and room rescues/decluttering. Those habits are hard to fit in. So what I have decided is to stop moving on, until I have conquered where I have got to and they are habits. Then I can move on a bit. I could make excuses about the hours that I work, etc. But I want to conquer them in the end so making excuses is not helpful. Having seen that when things become automatic it is easier, I will just try to get them to be automatic!

Thank you for following me on this journey, I hope that by sharing my thoughts and experiences it will help others with flylady.

15 minutes at a time... or is that 13 minutes

Today is day 10 of restarting flylady. Her beginner babysteps say that today is about learning that you can do anything for 15 minutes. Now although I do use a timer and set it for 15 minutes, and I am amazed at what can be done (see Dr. Kim's blog for what amazing things can be done!) I have another tactic. My favourite radio soap the Archers is 13 minutes long. I love just pottering during the Archers. Today I sorted some laundry, put some more on, emptied the dishwasher, did some washing up and tidied up a bit.

I am pleased with how the babysteps are going. My 5 minute room rescue this morning involved starting on my desk. Although I haven't finished it, it did make me smile when I walked back in. I think I am learning that by slowly chipping away I will get things sorted, and it will be in smaller chunks than I realised.

tomorrow's babystep is to add an inspirational page to my control journal. I am looking forward to that, as I have never done it before.

Thank you for following me along on this journey, I am finding it really inspiring seeing other people go through it too.