End of Challenge Week summary

This is the summary of my week. I am finding this system a really good way of record-keeping, its like a cheating diary! I just pop a few words in each section and voila, there is some idea of the tone of my day!

Overally I think I summarised it well last night. More dietary rigour and keep up the efforts with the remainder.  Tonight I brought home my eldest child after a week with Nana & Pop, so tomorrow will be very different with all three babies in the house with me! Hopefully not too many arguments! Pikelets for breakfast tomorrow, and a craft day for all children planned.

I feel a sense of achievement as I walked into a chaotic mess this evening after along day at work; and rather than waste energy on being upset, I simply started cleaning and in no time at all all the dishes were in the sink, leftover food in the bin, the kitchen table clean and floor beginning to look less like a cylone damaged area.

This week coming I need to organise my bills and budget again as it has slipped in recent weeks; and begin to organise after school activities and sports for three little folk. Plus more cleaning and crafting!

Health & Happiness Challenge Day 1

I have started two new blog posts tonight, as well as a spreadsheet to help me keep track of my challenges for the week.

Today was an extra work day for me while the children saw cousins with their Nana and Pop. So it didn't leave a LOT of time for exercise (I did a quick 10 minute walk before being picked up from work), or for reaching out to friends (so I emailed photos of the children to the family).

My Bruce time was mostly during the walk, although I did have my mindful Bruce attitude all day, holding my head up higher, and being happy in myself.

I'm grateful for another 2 hour drive home without tears and wailing from the little children. I'm grateful my cat survived a second day without his midday medication.

My diet could have been better as I had iced coffeee (yum!); but I also have had 1/3 of my water and I've eaten plenty of Kale today.

I phoned my father, it was lovely to speak with him after a busy day yesterday, and to hear that the private physiotherapist I have in to see him weekly was a highlight of his day as she took him for a longer walk than the staff usually do.

My excel spreadsheet looks a little like this:

 

Regaining Happiness - Blogging

This is instalment #3 about the adventure to reclaim the happy calm state from the month of April.

One of the factors contributing to my sense of well-being in the past months has certainly been the act of blogging. I'm fascinated by what makes me tick, by the dynamic that exists that causes me to struggle with expending my energy in sensible ways, and productively.  Blogging helps me to see not only what is happening, but what I'd like to be happening, and finally, I find it incredibly helpful as a tool of reflection, to be able to document the highs and lows, the way I was thinking at a particular time, the repetitive behaviour, a simple reminder of how I'd like to be!

In the past month, my blog posts have decreased from 'most days' to 'most weeks'. I went back to work and so did my husband, leaving so much less time for these quick 15 minute blog updates during the day. The novelty had probably worn off after a honeymoon period, and in addition, I didn't feel like I was doing 'new things' worth blogging about (which wasn't true but it's an interesting reflection on the negativity creeping back into my life!)

Once again, I am shocked and amazed by my tiny bit of internet research. Research indicates that journalling (which is essentially what blogging is) "decreases the symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis"

Whoa! So without realising it, my blogging has been a contributing factor to the reduction of my arthritic pain. Combined with the gratitude, Bruce and exercise, I've been following a near-perfect disease prevention formula!  How incredible and amazing is that?

So in terms of increasing happiness, and maintaining it, apparently blogging or journalling are right up there with simple ways to get the happiness level higher!

Here are some of the links I have found fascinating to read

Journalling to reduce trauma

Benefits of Journalling

Health Benefits of Journalling

Alongside the health benefits and happiness boosting effect journalling acts as a tool for redirection of my thoughts and therefore my future actions. For example, as soon as I began the blog for the first part of this series of 'reclaiming happiness' I realised that I wanted to contribute smaller daily blogs to help me get back into the swing of blogging.

It looks like blogging and Bruce, exercise and gratitude are going to continue to be part of my daily life, for the sake of my health and sanity.

Pulling together and Being Prepared!

One of the most significant concepts for me since I began blogging is that of being prepared.  It was the subject of one of my very early posts as I reflected on my mother in law's incredible pre-preparation for just about anything.

Particularly now, as I am feeling more positive, happy, upbeat and capable than I have in years, I find myself reflecting on this concept of preparation.

Recently (during that quiet time when no blog posts appeared) my husband travelled away for work.  He was driving to a major regional town, about five hours away.   When he'd been gone 4 hours already, and I was mid-breakfast, mid-getting children to school, the whole trip hit a terrible snag in the form of my coming down with a very severe case of gastro. I couldn't move, and he was 4 hours away.  I am so grateful for his boss, who immediately drove him home again to look after the children, as I was so incapable.  I spent the next several days feeling quite off, but the worst passed that first day, and along with the sickness came some pretty significant realisations for me.

The first one was that there was no way that hubby could travel for work again, at least not until our youngest is a little more independent. We simply don't have a 'backup' network to call on, other than each other. This didn't take much contemplation, after the horrible hours waiting for him to arrive home, I'm not doing that again with such small children.

The other realisations however came hot on each others heels and do require a bit more contemplation and change.  After a very upset week, I realised that not only have I established a solid family routine since returning to working, but that this routine was hanging on by a thread. We simply aren't that used to it, haven't settled into it, or gotten comfortable enough with it that it tolerates much battering. The week I was at home sick threw the entire concept of 'calm', 'organised', and 'routine' out the proverbial window, it seemed at the time as though never to be seen again!  (luckily I'm more resilient than that and this week is going OK)

Hand in hand with how precariously our little family is balancing its 'routine' is the entire concept of being prepared! After all, if we are more 'prepared' then by extension our balancing act is more stable, and less likely to topple at the slightest adjustment required.

Which leads me to my focus for the moment. I am still determined to lose weight, keep exercising with the same intensity as in the last month or so, and still quite keen to keep my positive attitude, however I feel a little like the tough work of beginning those changes has been accomplished and I need to consider how being prepared will accentuate the positive attitude and exercise transformations. 

Firstly, simply being more prepared in the meals department will provide me with an even better daily diet to get the best nourishment without any excess sugary carbohydrates!

Being a step ahead of where I am now would mean having an idea of tomorrow's food, and it being in the fridge (its been a lean food prep week this week!); not running out of cat food; having photos uploaded every week; having activities ready for the children when they get home (OK that one is only if I turn into super-Mum!). It would also mean being on top of the mountains of paperwork for myself and my Dad. I feel like I'm drowning under papers at the moment, but will leave that conundrum for another day! I like the sound of being a step ahead, however for now, the tiniest fraction of being prepared that I see now is a bit less dramatic, but might give me a few hints about how to operate in a prepared way.  I've already noticed that the better my communication, the more we are able to negotiate through things as they crop up. Put another way, two grumpy snappy adults don't make great decisions!

Since the returning to all hands on deck working, we've established some routines that sort of work. Hubby does early mornings (when my arthritis still makes me a slow turtle) and drops big children at school before work; I take our little one to her various morning activities; we come home and she naps while I get housework done; the almost 2 hour pickup of big children happens at the end of nap-time; we have a very early tea when we get home; then homework after Daddy gets home and a bit of chaotic energy, then bedtime. This is what is working for us.  

Two times I am focusing on improving is the activities I get done while little miss takes her nap, and what I get done after hubby is home at night.

At the moment, I am happy that at nap time daily I seem to be managing to completely clean the floor off in the entry and kitchen as well as downstairs toys.  This is a bit of an extension of what I've achieved in the past, and this week I'm trying to work out how to extend past that point into uncharted cleaning territory.  I'm still not sure, but some experimenting is on the horizon to find the balance that will fit in my 2 hour time frame. 

In the evenings I am juggling between walking (its not practical at 9pm any longer due to the cold!); school homework; and cleaning!  I am using the early evening time to get into extra projects or washing up, whichever is needing doing more.  This is how I managed to get the floor scrubbed on Monday night, determination!

I need to refresh and revisit the concepts of this post about Working Smart. That's the essence of what is going on here, an attempt to make the obvious easier!

There is something else I'm realising as I go over all this while listening to Bruce Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town album.  It's that I need to find a way to really ENJOY getting more prepared!  I remember when I was in Girl Guides, that my Guide Leader instilled in me, for the shortest moment, a flame of inspiration of REALLY wanting to 'Be Prepared" and obtain my Baden-Powell emblem, the highest achievement for a Girl Guide.  Years later, I feel I'm finally getting the point of all those badges and things. A sense of purpose about how I am going about this domestic life, to relish and delight in what is necessary.

I think I'd much rather relish and delight in more Bruce Springsteen concerts, but in order to do that I need my house to be respectable and presentable for house-sitters, so it's delighting in house cleaning for me in the interim.

Hang in there Bruce, I'm coming to a concert soon!

3 months of bloggy goodness - Exercise Update

I am reading that heading and I'm thinking 'soggy' goodness, like cereal when it’s been sitting long enough to lose its crunch! Certainly the first half or more of my time blogging has been 'soggy' here; it even rained again today, though thankfully only a light shower!

I'm not having a lot of new thoughts to share at the moment, but I am thinking quite a lot about my progress or lack thereof. And thus this post is born, a bit of a recap of all the things. As it turned out, my recap was quite extensive, so here is the exercise instalment! More to follow!

Exercise and health

Why?
The last time I was a healthy weight was about 7 years ago, since then I was plagued with mostly auto-immune health concerns. Two years ago while pregnant it was discovered that I had high blood pressure. Everything turned out fine with the pregnancy, and my blood pressure did the expected dropping after bub was born, however my Dad was re-admitted to hospital three months later and my blood pressure hasn't recovered!

What?
I have spent the last 18 months or so concentrating on improving my health. In February 2012 I began Tai Chi classes to assist my pain from psoriatic arthritis and my hypertension. Tai Chi was brilliant, and still is, however I managed to gain 10kgs in December while sitting at Dad's hospital bedside, which prompted a visit to my GP and a renewed effort specifically for weight loss to improve my blood pressure. I did excellently for the first few weeks, losing 5kgs and getting a cholesterol reading of 3.5. The next few weeks proved harder and I was feeling a little bit desperate, when along came my first Bruce Springsteen concert! Especially since seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band in Melbourne last month I have been a woman possessed with a need to get on with my life as healthily as I possibly could, with no excuses. I was inspired to reach my goal of weighing 90kgs by the end of this month (today). While this goal appears to have eluded me, the scales are stubbornly saying I've lost only 2 of the required 5kgs in the past 6 weeks, I have continued to exercise, walking almost every day for half an hour.

What I've learned!
The benefits I’ve noticed are simply terrific, and I've learnt some things along the way too. For starters, I've always hated runners or joggers, and preferred to walk in sandals than in a closed in shoe. That is until I bought a pair of 'reef boots' on the cheap. I am now firmly of the belief, that regardless of whether they're designer expensive trendy new 'ultra-thin-sole' runners or cheapies like mine, that the best shoes in the world are the 'barely there' variety. Of course your mileage may vary, but they're worth checking out!

It really helps to get a decent song mix for the time you spend exercising, obviously at the moment I'm listening to Bruce Springsteen, but anything you find uplifting that gets you inspired to lift your feet higher, move faster and generally pump out that energy! Speaking of which, today marked the latest instalment of Bruce Springsteen concerts in Oslo.  This seems to have made me a little bit lighter on my feet, even though I am not going to any of them!

I've also learned that exercise affects a whole lot more than your body size and shape. The changes I've noticed in myself go across the whole spectrum of being human! And they're all beneficial!

Benefits of Exercise

• I am much happier and calmer. It is considerably easier to be calmer now that I exercise regularly. I am surprised at how much easier it is for me to be polite and reasonable in stressful situations, and how I am far less ruffled than usual! Exercise really seems to help with keeping cool emotionally.
• Many people seem to think I've lost weight, so I'll take that. It seems that either muscle really does weigh more than fat, or I'm simply a nicer shape for the walking.
• I have more energy for playing with my children
• I can now run, jog and jump - I couldn't do those things at the beginning of the year
• My arthritis is far less inhibiting. The joints that are severely affected (right Achilles and left wrist) are still agonising frequently, but I just carry on through the pain, take the occasional paracetamol and don't give in to the temptation to feel disabled.
• My psoriasis is far less present. I've had psoriasis for 5 years now, and it is quite extensive, all over my arms and legs mostly. The psoriasis on my arms is now almost gone (just scarring) and on my legs is quite mild compared to just a few months ago. It leads me to wonder if exercise plays a significant part in maintaining a healthy immune system. It’s certainly not something my rheumatologist mentioned, but perhaps something as simple as exercise does not pay for her contribution to scientific research with drug trials!
• Gone are the excuses for not exercising! There are no 'reasons' for not exercising, only excuses! If you are injured, seek rehab, if you have limitations, set out to break them or at least bend them with professional help! I am finding I am also slowly eradicating excuses from other areas of my life, in fact I feel another Jedi post coming up based on Yoda's "Do or do not, there is not TRY"
• Much as I lament the brown snakes, hills and crooked footpaths, I really do love my neighbourhood and walking under the stars in my streets is a precious gift, that I am fortunate enough to live somewhere so nice, safe and friendly. I'm not so sure about the reptilian population though.

Where to from here?
I am going to keep up the walking, increase the Tai Chi, and spend some of my effort on consulting a personal trainer to make sure I'm doing everything I can and should to get as healthy as possible, as quickly as possible. I still have the goal of 80kgs before the end of winter. Apparently healthy weight for me is ten more kilos lighter again, but I'll see how I go getting to that first goal. If we could afford it, I'd be taking the family skiing this year, so that might yet happen, we will see how budgeting fares!

 

Pocket money aka lets bribe the children

I have mixed feelings about pocket money. Some of these come from longstanding issues with my own childhood, and others from a reflection of what pocket money should be a reflection of in a child's life.  I was never given regular pocket money, and continued to resent this into adulthood. I really felt like I had missed out.  On the other hand, I am concerned (and rightly so) that linking pocket money to behaviour is a slipperly slope of bribing children into the behaviour we'd like to see, rather than taking more time to help them understand responsibility and respect.  Nor do I personally like the idea of pocket money for no effort whatsoever.

In our house we have tried various pocket money / behaviour systems including star charts links to positive outcomes when reaching a goal; star charts linked directly to dollar amounts (e.g. 1 star = 1 dollar); pocket money for jobs completed and a set roster of jobs for a set amount of money.  None of these have worked for us in the long term.

The reasons for their failure are varied but probably fall into the following two issues:

• we were not consistent either in our approach or in handing out money earned at the right time, or in suggesting jobs so that pocket money came regularly
• bargaining got out of hand - with poor boundaries we ended up using stars as the go-to for all discipline. This is an ongoing problem in our household, as hubby tends to escalate any situation!

Another one of the amazing things that happened to our family during the Springsteen Melbourne trip was visiting my friend at home after the concerts.  In her house, I noticed a blackboard with pocket money, as well as ticks and crosses on the board.

Curious, I asked her how the system worked for her and if she could explain it.  Fascinated I learnt the following:

• Each child has a set amount of weekly money allotted to them, say $5.
• This amount requires them to do some jobs around the house (we didn't go into the details)
• The ticks were for when the child did something without being asked, or something extra special.
• Crosses happened if the child dragged their feet at doing tasks expected of them or particularly poor behaviour.
• For each tick an extra dollar was given out, and for crosses, a dollar taken away.

Something about this system just clicked with me, and I started it the day we arrived home from holidays. So far it has been going exceptionally well.

I think the reasons for its success are the boundaries and certainties inherent in the system, for both children and parents.  For example, our son who is 5, currently gets $3 a week as his starting money.  As parents, we don't want to give him nothing each week, so we are very circumspect about giving out crosses to him, and very conscious that because he can have outbursts of 5 year old behaviour, we need to encourage him with earning extra ticks (to counter any potential crosses he might build up!)   As parents we don't want to allow our children to build up an extreme amount of ticks in one week, so we are tweaking the 'expected jobs for basic money' to fit in with a fair amount of responsibility.  In our house that isn't very much, it is little things like getting dressed and waiting at the front door for school the first time we ask in the morning instead of the 50th!

Our big children are excited and happy to be saving their money up for treats, and so far we have been regular with pocket money on a Saturday morning because it is an easy day to duck out and get whatever change is needed, plus we always have Sunday up our sleeve if we stuff up on Saturday!!!

I am not as neat and organised as my friend with the pretty blackboard - here is our chart!

This week has been not as easy on our eldest, but looking at the chart, as parents, we know we can encourage some behaviours to get those ticks back there, and be aware to be less 'reactive' as parents and not give out any more crosses - helps keep our boundaries and prevents us from going overboard using the pocket money as a significant discipline / bribery technique.  I'm cautiously happy having pocket money bribery in the parenting toolbox so to speak, but not so keen on it being our primary parenting tool!

Before writing this post, I did a quick scan of the information in cyberspace about pocket money.  The gist of the information 'out there' is that everyone agrees money handling skills such as budgeting, saving, goal achievement, responsibility and more.  Questions of whether work should be done to earn pocket money, and what children are expected to pay for are tactfully left as an individual family decision :)  For me, I am hoping we have found the balance in our household and this system will continue to work in a balanced way.

Interestingly I also found this page with links to pocket money apps. I've never used an app for pocket money, can't imagine doing so now, but you might like to check it out - 5 Free Allowance Apps.

I also particularly like this article, discussing how our children have a tendency to expect things for free!  My middle child is in danger of this, owing to some compensating issues the hubby doesn't seem ready to shake.  I am hoping this pocket money system will at least provide some counterpoint to the issue of it 'raining free toys' as sometimes happens here :(

Add in what you want ... in life!

A wise friend once said this to me regarding changing my dietary habits for the better.  I was concerned with how to manage the daunting prospect of attempting a raw food based diet.  She simply said "Don't focus on taking out the wrong foods, just add in the good foods."

It occurs to me that this is a terrific motto for all aspects of life.  Forget what isn't working, ignore it.  Focus on what does work, what nourishes, inspires and leaves you feeling good. Do that more. And things will naturally improve. 

I have been following this advice with my diet for over a year and for the most part, despite many difficult circumstances, including times when I felt like we lived off takeaway food, I still would make the effort to add in my leafy green Kale (super leaf for my arthritis) and Cos and other salad.  Overall, with the exception of 6 weeks when Dad was in hospital over summer, my improvements to diet have been consistent, so much so that as I snack now I automatically go to add Kale! I almost made myself a jam sandwich twice today (normally I don't even eat bread) and both times have stopped myself and grabbed Kale instead. Sure, I buttered the bread (another thing that I almost never do), but at least along with the bad food, I've given myself two serves of vitamin goodness.

While advocating for my Dad over and over again with new nurses, new doctors, and then repeating the entire process upon his return to the nursing home, I realise now that the technique I've learnt is much the same.  There is only a limited time when you have these healthcare providers ear, before their other demands take them away. I've learnt to focus on what I want most during that tiny window of opportunity, and to hell with other, small issues. Most of all, I try to refrain from comment about what I do not like. It just doesn't wash.  If they have been lax in looking after his hygiene, but there is a much greater concern about whether he needs oxygen assistance, then I stick to querying his breathing.  Eventually the other factors are resolved.  Its the biggest, most important and critical stuff I want them to pay attention to first.

I know it has worked in my household cleaning. As long as I'm realistic and remember that I need to pay attention to the whole house sometimes, there has been some real consistency happening in the last couple of years with making new habits around the kitchen, laundry and floors.

This doing more of what you want to see more of works for exercise too, particulary with me now that I've been inspired by the workout of dancing at a concert for 3 hours (twice!) I am finding it very easy to get out there and get more exercise with walking, jumping, jogging, whatever I can fit into the busy days.

Most of all, I think that seeing as I am dreaming of a beach holiday, I should make the most of the beach that is nearby and visit more often.  Perhaps  that will help manifest one further afield.  If not, at least I'll have enjoyed the local beaches!

I challenge you to this month, and until the end of May, find one area of your life where you can 'add in' something you desire, simply by prioritising it and adding it in right now! 

The continuance of clean

Another weekend approaches and I'm glad to say that our house is looking pretty good. By comparison to how it normally looks that is.  We still look a little like we might be making the effort to join the hoarders show, but not quite making the grade.

Strangely I'm suffering from a fair chunk of fatigue, even when I am taking arthritis medication, so I am finding that frustrating.  But it is incredible how much difference it makes to keeping an area clean if you can get it back to a clean state to begin with.

Our entry is now devoid of all floor-based muck and junk. Which makes tidying in there so simple - anything on the floor doesn't belong in the room, with step 2 being straight into sweeping and mopping!

What I'm finding is that the everyday work of laundry and washing up never end or ease so although I'm feeling tired, I'm keeping up with those things while my husband is getting into the cleaning up / decluttering.  I'm happy with that, because normally what would happen when I'm feeling this low is that the rest of the house would go to seed and become very untidy (or like a bomb hit it); while I dragged myself through the laundry and washing up basics.

Is there any rhyme or reason to our new cleanliness? The obvious is my husbands contribution, but in addition to that we've also had visitors again yesterday. I think keeping a constant supply of people visiting the house means that we do keep up that little bit of extra effort. Yes the state of the house should be worth the effort for ourselves, but there is such a strong inbuilt tendency to 'make nice' for other people that why not take advantage of that, to work to our own benefit?

A great weekend!

I've been away from the blog because I've been too busy getting other stuff done!

I am thrilled to say that for whatever reason my husband found some inspiration and it is incredible how much gets done when both adults in the house contribute!

This weekend I have managed to get back on top of washing up, keep up with laundry and feed everyone healthy foods.

On top of that the list of clean spaces is long! I spent my alone time on Friday cleaning the kitchen floor, plus beginning some of the other spaces. That night my husband took only one hour to clean junk off the spare bed downstairs! (it was piled up with toys and other flotsam).  Then my husband got very inspired by his friend's visit and he cleaned the rest of the entry, moved the old bed from our sons room (finally) and rearranged and cleaned our elder daughter's room. Plus in the process, the steps were cleaned off and vaccuumed by elder daughter, and hallway cleaned!  Our house looks almost like real people live here!

The difference that is made when he participates is remarkable. I am shocked at how easily he makes a big change, and stunned that for the past two years he has not been a part of the solution. 

We were able to have my father for lunch from the nursing home and it is simply lovely to walk around the house in peace, without feeling crowded in by mess or clutter or untidiness. 

I feel so much lighter and I am holding my breath, hoping it lasts. While it is here, I'm taking advantage of the extra cleanliness to keep up my pace, so even if hubby goes back to being part of the problem, I've taken full advantage of the momentum happening right now!

Some pictorial evidence to follow in the next update!

The Big Routine - What do I need?

Vegetable gardening week has thus far been an abyssmal flop.  I did have one day of planting, and managed to acquire some cuttings of Nasturtium, that are excellent for keeping away pests.  So instead of updating on the nonexistent veggie progress, I’m taking sometime out to review my month’s blogging to see what kind of routines that have been on my mind.  Hopefully it will give me some idea of a daily cleaning routine that I can then experiment with next week.

A personalised summary of routine cleaning and organising from previous blogs shows the features my cleaning routine needs to have:

1.       Using the electronic diary in the phone for all family commitments works

2.       I like to make cleaning fun, with games, aps and fun sounding things like 27 fling boogie.

3.       I can’t clean ‘all the things’ at night late, it leads to insomnia!

4.       Focussing on one area a week works well to remind me to prioritise cleaning

5.       It would be beneficial to have regular visitors to keep a level of cleaning frenzy going

6.       Whenever possible, always leave every room brighter (eg pickup rubbish/junk) throughout every day

7.       Regularly cleanout the fridge before bin day, pay bills as soon as they arrive (I’ve had some disappear into the paper piles!), upload pictures at least monthly, send greetings quarterly.

8.       Spend at least 2 hours everyday on cleaning until the chaos is controlled.

9.       Have 2 days in a row alone in the house to clean every fortnight at least, again until it is controlled.

10.   Keep on top of my teeth and hair care to keep me feeling presentable to the world

11.   Make effort to have some ‘emergency’ supplies to be prepared for changes.

 How to apply these criteria is coming up in part 2 of the big routine!

Keeping it all together

In theory I have a system for keeping it all together. My life that is. And my husband's, our childrens' and my father's lives.  Its the calendar function on the iphone and I am still shocked at how well it works - I put EVERYTHING into that little machine now. All appointments, school functions, TV Shows I want to watch, and all the other little and big things. 

Today it feels like all I am acomplishing with it is keeping track of the things I can't keep up with! The doctor's appointments I've had to cancel, the day out with my father that isn't going to happen because I can't access all the equipment I need for him, and what feels like a million other things at the moment.

I simply do not know how to keep up with the commitments in my life. Perhaps today I went off the rails a bit sideways with some upsetting phone calls, or maybe I was exhausted after hauling a toddler around a dairy farm yesterday in the Ergo Carrier while keeping track of a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds!  I'm not sure.

What I do know is that I need to work harder on routines, especially a morning and evening list, similar to flylady, but one that suits me.  I need this quickly, so that the next time my husband decides to use a blade to cut out cardboard squares and slice a tendon, I'm less thrown by the three days of chaos that ensues.  He's fine by the way, tendon is healed really well.  I'm still unimpressed he was playing around with the crafty stuff for himself instead of playing the 'clean floor game' like I asked him to when I was dragged off to rescue my father who phoned because he was in so much pain and the staff wouldn't / hadn't given him painkillers all day.  One thing that I did learn, thanks to a random tune on my phone whilst upset prior to the dairy farm trek is to:

I need to play every morning in the car, as I'm not a fan of school drop-off.

The Clean Floor Game

One of the jobs for the weekend was to do a cleanup of the floors all around  the house. On a whim this morning, I decided to turn that into a game, to keep things interesting. I'm a big fan of UFYH (Unfuck Your Habitat) and enjoy their phone ap - I find the randomness of the suggestions really suits me.

So I found a container to use as a 'jar' and wrote the names of all the rooms /areas of my house on scraps of paper and tossed them in.  The idea being that I would draw out a room, clean the floor in that room, and then take a break doing some jigsaw puzzle in between rooms.  I get tired quickly from bending over jigsaws, so the break would be self-limiting automatically.  This is the jigsaw:

It worked beautifully. The first room I drew was the kitchen, so the whole floor had toys and random stuff picked up and was swept.  Then my break was a little bit of jigsaw and some X-box games with my son. My daughter got caught up in the enthusiasm, and did her own little bit of cleaning of a junk room upstairs (she lucked out and drew a hard spot to clean).  Here's the extremely simple 'pot luck' container:

Many interuptions later, the front verandah got thoroughly cleaned up, cat litter changed and swept. Then the stairs which in my house tend to collect things at the bottom that need to go up, plus other random flotsam were cleared off all the clutter.

Sadly my cleaning spree was not to be however, and I spent most of the day visiting and caring for my Dad.  I finished this special something for a friend while with him.

In the end, I am tempted to keep up this game as a way of getting through the tidying up more often.  I can see me using it on floors, but it might work for other things, like '27 fling boogie'. In such a big, cluttered house with a husband who tends to leave things on the floor, I find it difficult to be in 10 places at once to pick up after him and the children. This little game will make it easier, particularly if I'm lucky enough to have a day at home when we are both able to play it, in 2 different rooms at once.

I hope that your weekend has been as productive as mine. (and that you are more prepared for Monday than me - thats my job before bedtime - getting lunchboxes ready and uniforms ironed)!

Cleaning habits, Challenge week works!

I've come to a realisation about the creation of good habits. Small good habits, or small efforts made repeatedly, lead to a self-regulating habit. Just like this post on "Habit V's Guilt" I am discovering that baby steps do indeed make cleaning progress. Not only do baby steps eventually lead to real changes, but the slow creation of habits over time creep in.

There is something about confidence that makes a contribution here too. The entire theme for this post started out when I happily noticed that the laundry has managed to stay in a state of what I'd call controlled chaos since the great laundry challenge week (updates found here, here and here).

The state of the laundry looks pretty awful at the moment, but the reality is that I'm getting through my 1-2 loads a day from beginning to end and for the most part, everything is where it should be. The same kind of thing is happening in the kitchen. Sure the hard-to-wash-up stuff sometime lingers, and there always seems to be leftover washing up, but its not the same dirty pot sitting here on Thursday that was there last weekend. Its a new pot, replacing the cake tin.  I think when I am more confident, and my habits are even better, I can raise the expectation that no dirty dishes will be there from one day to the next.

I think I'm getting all my concepts mushed up in a mess here, but what I'm figuring out is that by giving myself permission not to be perfect in my habits, while simultaneously keeping up some confidence that I'll get these things done, I'm managing to keep on top of some routines.

All I need to do now is keep up with the decluttering and slowly add in more routine cleaning.  Seems so simple but I suspect it will be a slow road.

Something also seems to be brewing in the wider family as this evening my husband has swept the floor without any prompting. 

Veggie Garden Challenge week!

This week, I'm inspired to get out into our veggie garden.  We have been half hearted growers for about 5 years, and last year I achieved my goal of having some kind of crop year-round.  Here is the most recent harvest, a Kent Pumpkin.  Last year at one point we had 6 growing on the vine.

My challenge for the week is to get the winter crops planted, as well as a fresh batch of year-round things like lettuce and carrots.

Here are the before shots.

These are the 2 empty beds at the front. Behind the big bed is mostly parsley and beetroot.

This shot shows the weeds! but in the foreground is the mini-bed with capsicum (bell peppers) and a big space in the middle where my tomatos and basil are going.

We have chives to help keep the aphids away from our rosebushes. I planted these on the weekend, with my son, around 'his' rosebush, a scented Mister Lincoln who hasn't yet flowered.  I also want to incorporate nasturiun and marigolds into the pest-repellants for the rose area.

The other crops going in are 2 punnets of lettuce - but first we need to finish preparing the bed, with some extra soil and compost.  I will be sowing some carrot seeds into trays for transplanting among the lettuce as they make good companion plants.

 

My husband bought some unknown 'somethings' I think I'll get them identified before I let them into the garden! 

We also have cucumbers (or they might be zucchini!) - these will need some support as the plants grow viney.

Happily, I already managed to get the 4 basil and 2 tomato plants into a garden bed with some existing capsicum (bell peppers) before all our rain, so with any luck they will thrive as soon as it stops raining. This is the basil before planting out, in one big clump.

For the rest of the week I'll be working on the list of jobs and plants above.  At the moment around the subtropics it really is time to plant broccoli and some of the other winter crops for early harvesting.

In the northern hemisphere its the perfect time to get all your spring / summer crops in like beans, beetroot, cucumber, cabbage, celery, even sweet corn, potato and leeks.  This site has a terrific worldwide sowing guide, although nothing replaces local knowledge, if you can get in touch with keen growers near you they'll have so many tips and tricks that suit your climate perfectly.

Cleanup Challenge - the Final Review

Last week I was busy doing my 30 minutes a day cleanup. It taught me a lot about motivation, and about the limitations of my illness (cleanup at night is bad for sleeping). It also did get me out of a few bad habits and into some good ones.

Bad habits that bit the dust last week during cleanup challenge were:
1. Resentment at jobs not done by my husband. This week past, I just got on with doing them myself.

2. Avoiding the rooms that are cluttered or messed up. This has been a big one for me, as the longer I avoid a room, the more opportunity that my clutterbug husband has been in it making a disaster area! So getting myself throughout the whole house daily has been important.

And the positive habits I am beginning have been:
1. Leaving each room a little brighter. This goes hand in hand with the whole concept of a daily clean-up and some days this is the way I spent my whole 30 minutes of the cleanup challenge, just going back and forth brightening up by de-messing. I have even started contemplating indoor plants again!



2. Continuing good habits in the laundry - I've made an effort to keep up the good progress from the laundry challenge and continue to complete a load of washing, not just keep putting more and more in the machine until the clean laundry ends up all over the laundry floor!

3. Keeping busy. Its kind of like leaving the room brighter, but more about the energy. I've just made sure that I have kept moving, kept cleaning and tidying as I go, rather than stopping to let myself get bogged down thinking about it all, I'm just getting stuck into the cleaning.

Today's keeping busy has rather shocked me - I seem to have blitzed a few things. I've been maintaining the newly cleared off windowsills free of my husband's attempts with several stray items over the past week or so to re-clutter the sill area with random things including: an electrical plug, random spices outside of my spice basket, washing up that needed doing (yes he put this on the windowsill!) and at one stage the random knives that USED to live up there were returned by him instead of thrown out! Never a dull moment living with a clutterer.

Motivation to Clean - its out there!

The list is here! My top 7 motivators to get up and get cleaning! For me personally the overall motivation is to live in a clean, tidy environment. However finding the daily motivation to make sure that happens is another matter entirely.

Here are some of the best tips I've found so far:

1. Invite someone over! Now I've spent some time adjusting my attitude that I want my house clean for ME, not for visitors. That still doesn't stop me from cleaning more when I know someone is coming. And while that in grained habit exists, keeping a regular stream of visitors through your house can be a terrific motivator.

2. I also found this article about dust mites disturbing enough to prompt the motivation up a gear.

3. Visit someone with a clean house! I will admit that jealousy of someone else's clean domain really gets me going in terms of motivation to do the best with what I have!

4. Get some alone time with your mess. I find that one of the biggest motivators for me is having the time when I'm not going to be interrupted by a toddler to really get into the swing of cleaning up.

5. Finish something. Anything. It could be the washing up, or it could be something like posting a letter that you just haven't gotten around to doing. Whatever it is doesn't matter, as long as you finish one thing. It is inspiration to keep going.

6. Set a timer and just start with a de-junking / rubbish collection / 27-fling Boogie and throw out as much rubbish and recycling as you can. If that doesn't motivate you to keep going, well at least you've done 15 minutes of cleaning already! Fill up your bin!




7. Get dressed up - Right now, when you're attempting to get motivated, start out by getting dressed up - whatever that means to you, whether it is Flylady's lace up shoes or your own personal 'ready' look. Mine is hair and teeth, I discovered here.

And if you are so stuck, that you can't face any of these tips, feeling overwhelmed, then try my magic 4 - have a glass of water, do some exercise, take a long view (how much does it matter right now?) and get started, anywhere. Do not panic.

Leave each room a little brighter

Thats my motto for today. The idea comes from the wonderful wisdom of "Organise and Decorate Everything" found here on Facebook and here on the www.

Day 3 of her 28 ways to stay organised is a cracker - with "Always leave a room looking better than when you entered it." You can follow the rest of the 28 days on facebook. For now, I'm focussing on Day 3, and how much difference that can make.

This morning before school, I must have done laps between the living room, front door, back door, laundry and kitchen at least half a dozen times. The fun of having 2 schoolkids and a toddler! Keeping in mind the mantra to leave the room a little better, the living room soon had dirty dishes removed, a bit of plastic wrap binned, and some clothes put into the laundry dirty sorting pile. My kitchen table got cleaned off over several trips past it to the bin and the few things that had fallen out of (or never quite made it to) the sorted dirty laundry were quickly put in their proper place. It created a lovely vortex of positive energy whereever I went, because I was on the lookout for the sort of debris in the house that I normally try not to look at!!! Funnily enough, those little things made a difference to how the house felt when I returned after the school drop-off, I had taken a load of rubbish to the bin!

On that note, its bin day again today and the fridge got another clean-out - anything potentially suspicious all tossed out to make room for fresh food and straight into the rubbish truck!!!

Another bonus today was the impromptu window wipe - I went to open my son's juice bottle and it had turned rancid in the heat - and exploded all over the window above the sink! So the window cleaner, paper towel and I had a little pre-breakfast date to clean up. :) The room is now a lot brighter, literally!

Ooops! Wayward Energy Bomb!

Yep, thats the energy bomb hitting town. It seems my 'daily 30 minute cleanup' has come unstuck on some very basic issues of stress and illness management. Apparently I find this whole cleaning at night thing far too stimulating! So far my evenings have been:
 Day 1 - successfully tipping out stuff and cleaning up plenty.

Day 2 - wiped out with pain and brain feeling too overwhelmed to do anything

Day 3 - bit more energy, a catch-up clean during the morning and now

Day 4 - evening after children asleep I'm just so grateful to have time in peace and quiet and again pained and feeling overwhelmed.

It is very clear that the IDEA of cleaning up every night is extremely inspiring. Not only do I get a 30 minute clean done, but during the day it seems more is tackled. It is building my awareness and also a sense of being capable of tackling boxes hiding in not-so-out-of-the-way corners! Today my husband and I went through an Ikea box together and put away everything that wasn't rubbish. Half the box went in the bin! There is more to this energy bombing than meets the eye. Am I simply getting afraid of succeeding when I tackle the daily cleanup? or too excited at the wrong time of day for helping me sleep? I think personally that I am finding the successful cleanups a little daunting, as it makes the possibility of clutter-free that little bit more real, so more important. But the time limit of doing it in the evening is very counter-intuitive for me. I have an auto-immune disease. Its never a good idea to do things that will disrupt a soothing night time. The National Sleep Foundation suggests to

•Spend some time "winding down." A person with insomnia needs a "buffer zone," a period of time to allow the activating processes in the brain to wind down to allow the alerting mechanisms to decrease their activity so that the sleep systems can take over. I suggest that you start winding down two hours before bedtime. Stop all work and end phone calls to family and friends, as often they are activating.

None of which I was achieving by doing any kind of cleaning "before bed". So the plan is to continue the 30 minute 'tidy up' challenge, but with the proviso that it needn't be at any particular point in the day, as long as the intention is similar to the 'end of day' concept, of tidying and neatening all around the house. Without causing me sleepless nights!

Challenge Week Update!

Today marks the end of my "Laundry Challenge" and I'm happy to say it has certainly been a success! Thinking about and focussing on one area of work for the 7 days has given me the boost to make progress in the laundry, to be inspired to tackle other areas, and get something 'finished' - although the 'finished' job at the end was far simpler than the 'finished' job I hoped for on day 1. My laundry has gone from cluttered and a dumping ground for all dirty clothes wet and dry on the floor, with a huge mountain of clean clothes growing from a washing basket in the corner, to an orderly looking room with nothing on the floor, sorted dirty clothes in this great Antonius system from Ikea.

Clean washing is also sorted in Ikea, so that everyone in the family can collect and put away their own clothes easily. What I've learnt from my weekly challenge is that it is a great way to accomplish something in a particular area; that it motivates me to move and meet my 20 minutes goal every day; that I need to continue the laundry challenge and add in another challenge next week, building on the foundation of my routines until I am a powerhouse of keeping things tidy and organised! I'm so pumped by this challenge that I'm going to start my new Challenge today - this one is going to be doing a nightly clean up, every night for 8 nights! What that means in this case will be spending 5 minutes in every room, making something neater, tidying, collecting all dirty dishes and rubbish and taking them out, and where possible, pick up everything off the floor. It will probably be a 30 minutes a day job, because our house is very large and I'll be doing the whole thing!

School Routine

Todays post is short and sweet. Tonight I made, thanks to pinterest, a visual reminder card set for morning routine for my son who started school this year. Here it is

Thats it from me for today! I'll let you know if the visual aide works. Laundry day 6 in progress now, I am off to set a timer, or I'll get distracted!