Absence doesn't always make the heart grow fonder...

Why do I say that?  Well the absence I'm referring to is cleaning.  My cleaning was very hit or miss this past week and my home is feeling it.  I have injured my hand and I have no idea how I did it but it keeping me from getting things done.  Normally (since I started this journey) I would just dust myself off and fix it today/this week.  Well, this particular week is very stressful because I have a very important job interview this week. Everything I have is going into preparing for it.  I feel that I'm setting myself up for failure this week. Being as I didn't do well last week and my week this week will be stressful, I don't feel as though I should add new tasks.  I need to try last week again and to be honest, I'll have to review what my tasks even are.  My menu for this week is so simple I don't feel like linking up :/ 

This week we're having:

Monday

Pork BBQ sandwiches on grilled buns

Parmesan Noodles

Tuesday

Leftovers

Wednesday

Hamburger Helper

Thursday

Leftovers 

Friday 

Pizza

Saturday

Leftovers

Sunday

Cheddar Potato Soup

Grilled Cheese

Argh. I just want to live through this week. Oh and come through it with my dream job. 

Checklist

Today I...

Made bed

Put away clean dishes from last night

Did lunch dishes (Hubby out away after work)

Did evening dishes and shined sink

Swept kitchen

Checked bathroom for clutter and found some

Did the swish and swipe

Did a five minute focused pickup and Hubby helped!! That made a HUGE difference and I'm looking forward to doing I again tomorrow.  Back when I would read about FlyLady saying to do a 15 minute deck uttering, I didn't think it would help.  So...in my mind did I think doing nothing would make a bigger difference? What sense does THAT make?!! It will obviously make a huge difference.  I have a lot to learn...

Menu Plan Monday and this week's Non-negotiable Item(s)

So, to say I'm excited with how this blog is improving my home-keeping skills is an understatement.  The effects of doing my "non-negotiable" items each day is trickling down to other areas.  I find I'm picking up after myself better (something normal people do without thinking), I'm finishing tasks and staying focused, and feeling much less stressed.  The biggest achievement though is that so far, everything I'm doing is staying DONE so that I can move on to other areas.  This has always been the biggest struggle for me because as soon as I'd clean something it would be messed up a few minutes later.  I was focusing enough.  Now, I can get things accomplished without feeling overwhelmed.  The menu plan has also been a life saver.  Truly changing my life.  It requires me to really think about meals I want to make.  I am also doing really well with cleaning up as I go in the kitchen so the longest I've been at the kitchen sink doing dishes in the last few weeks is 20 minutes (and that is saying a lot for someone who DOESN'T have a dish washer.)  Cleaning out the pantry is saving Hubby and I a small fortune.  Its going to be a bummer of a day when I have to do another huge grocery haul.  Not looking forward to that but I think it will be awhile.  So on to the menu for this week!!  I'm linking this up with orgjunkie.com for her Menu Plan Monday linky party!  Be sure to visit her blog for great inspiration!  The women that link up are truly amazing!

MENU PLAN MONDAY!!!

Monday

• Leftover Burritos, Rice, and Sante Fe Corn

Tuesday

• Homemade Potato Soup (my mom's secret family recipe!) and Leftover Cold Cut Sandwiches from a party that I froze.  We have quite a few of these sub sandwiches left so they'll be making a weekly appearance until they disappear!

Wednesday

• Leftover Soup and Sandwiches

Thursday

• Salisbury Steak Hamburger Helper and Green Beans

So a while back, our local grocery store had Hamburger Helper 10/$10 so I felt the need to buy 10 of them so needless to say it will be on the menu once a week until we eat it all.

Friday

• Leftover Hamburger Helper

Saturday

• Pizza!!!  I have to work all weekend so having cheap pizza each week has been really helpful.  Hubby is loving this also because pizza is his absolute favorite food.  He'd eat it everyday if I'd let him.  

Sunday

• Leftover Pizza!

So we have a pretty simple menu again this week but those simple menus are helping me get my life in order, plus Hubby likes the simpler food much better.  He has been happier and he has been very complimentary towards the progress I'm making in "our" home.  I think the fact that he is noticing is helping A LOT.

Being as it IS Monday, I need to talk about the non-negotiable items I'm adding this week.  First, let's review what I'm currently working on.

• Make the bed

• Do the dishes and shine the sink

• Sweep the kitchen

• Swish and Swipe the bathroom

and 

• vacuum once a week.

I was consistent all week in doing my tasks and vacuumed on Saturday.  This week, being back in the swing of things after being on vacation for a week, I'm ready to give vacuuming its designated day.  I will vacuum every Sunday before work (unless I have the energy or need to do it earlier in the week.)  

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to add this week (which is why I didn't post this yesterday.)  If you are a regular reader, you know that Hubby and I are trying to develop better habits before a possible in a few months.  As its imperative that I get these habits going, I keep feeling the need to add several things to my list.  However, I don't want to overwhelm myself.  I want to be successful.  Things feel different this time.  I'm starting to do my tasks without even thinking about it.  I do most of them after dinner right in a row (except making the bed which happens immediately.)  As most of you probably know, my inspiration for this blog comes Nony the Slob at aslobcomesclean.com .  I am currently reading her blog backwards, and two of the things she added was a focused five-minute pick up, and checking the bathrooms for clutter or items on the floor.  Because these are both somewhat small tasks, I'm adding both of them this week.  The one I'm most nervous about is the focused 5-minute pickup.  We are getting better about picking up after ourselves in the living room.  Since we started this we have went to be with a clean living room every night.  This doesn't sound like much of a feat, but in the past we have had all kinds of stuff all over the couch and coffee table.  I think the focused 5-minute pick up will help us in other areas such as our "bedroom" area which is currently behind the couch.  We are living with family in their basement which is a big open room.  

I'm getting long-winded here so I need to wrap this up.  I'm also adding in mopping the kitchen and bathroom floors on Tuesdays (this day may change based on my work schedule but this week its Tuesday.) I'll keep you updated on our progress!

Don't forget to visit orgjunkie.com for Menu inspiration!!!

Checklist

So it's Saturday and my second week at trying to get some order in our home is almost over.  We've had another successful week but I do feel my enthusiasm starting to decrease.  I'm trying to keep my goals in focus. I'm hoping that adding a new non-negotiable and/or weekly task each week will keep it interesting.  I do love the rewards from having a tidier home.  I keep telling myself we deserve it.

We did our tasks last night and so far today I've vacuumed (my weekly task) and washed our breakfast dishes.

Checklist...Checklist...and a window into my psyche

So...I didn't post last night about my checklist and honestly I don't remember if I posted the day before...however, I know that everything on my list was done except last night's sweeping...I cleaned the whole bathroom except the tub yesterday and plan to do that....eventually...I was extremely tired last night and for some reason my wrist has been killing me so my dear sweet Hubby did the dishes last night.  For today's checklist...

Made bed (Hubby again because he was the last one in it)

Put away yesterday's clean dishes (Hubby so that I didn't have to lift them...he needs a medal or something.)

Did dishes

Swish and swipe

Made our meal plan for next week which I will post and link up on Monday.  I am super excited that tomorrow is pizza night.  Makes my life easy.  Also means Saturday night is pizza night.  We have a local pizza place with cheap pizzas so hubby and I have decided it was worth it to get pizza once a week if we feel that we've earned it (a.k.a. kept up on the chores.)

I also did a load of laundry, and folded/hung up the clothes.  I also reorganized some of our clothes drawers and put away all of the clothes that had been washed over the last month and that were piled on our floor instead of put away.  Now...when I say I "reorganized" our dresser drawers that implies that they were organized at one time...hahahahahahahaha (maniacal laugh! maniacal laugh!) They weren't.  You want to hear something that will make me sound completely and utterly crazy? I'm telling even Freud wouldn't be able to figure me out.  Sometimes...I have a type A personality...you know...the people who want things to be perfect ALL the time.  I sometimes think that's why my home is always a wreck...I know I can't keep it perfect and I figure why bother at all???  Anyway, the reason I brought this up is because I own a t-shirt folder (think Sheldon Cooper here - same exact one.)  I like shirts folded perfectly and when they are folded perfectly I can cram fit a ton more in a dresser drawer.  Hubby happens to own TONS of t-shirts so I figured it was a good investment.  The problem with the t-shirt folder is it lays flat...meaning its a perfect thing to pile things on and isn't worth the trouble to unbury the thing when I need it so clothes in up shoved into drawers and all wrinkly.  Hmmm...I forgot my point.  Anyway, I dug the thing out and used it and was able to get all of the clean clothes put away.  I'm still tackling laundry mountain but I'm doing that a day at a time.  One day, I will show you my sorting system.  It makes me look like a type-A personality as well.  I swear I'm not...I don't think...the tons of stuff we own says I'm not.

I will however say that doing my tasks everyday is slowly changing our lives. The de-cluttering we've tried to is actually making an impact BECAUSE the things we've already cleaned are staying clean...and I love looking at a clean and tidy coffee table and couch that doesn't have clothes or papers all over it.  Soon I plan on tackling our pantry which I will write a post about with pictures.  Argh.  I hate the idea of pictures (as you can probably tell because my blog has very little pictures.)

Side note - the pork chops I threw in the crock pot turned out fabulously.  I froze the shredded pork BBQ for a future meal.  I originally wanted to use them next week but I think I will wait for a week where buns are in the budget.

Anyway I've rambled on pointlessly enough for one blog post.  I promise I have some great ideas for future posts that I can't wait to write.    I know the checklist posts aren't riveting but I NEED THEM.  They help me stay accountable.  I do need to get more consistent with them...I promise to want to try to get better.

When life gives you burnt pork chops...

So tonight I had pork chops on the menu and I was going to make 4 of them seasoned two different ways. Apparently the sugar content in one of the seasonings was too high because they were immediately scorched while the other two were fine. I COULD have thrown them away and in the past I would have, but waste not want not.  I took a knife and cut off the burnt side of the pork and then threw them both in the crock pot with some BBQ sauce, Italian dressing, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce and set it for ten hours.  I figure I can then shred it up and make pork BBQ out of it.  If its successful, I will freeze it for a meal next week (as I cut each of our pork chops in half tonight for tomorrow).  Here's to hoping it works out!!

Checklist and Menu Plan Monday

So today was an exhausting day.  Hubby and I are on vacay this week and were out of the house today til about 6:30pm.  We were either in the sun or in the car ALL DAY LONG.  I am wiped out.  After dinner, I laid on the couch for about 5 minutes and really considered putting off ALL of my tasks until tomorrow.  At 10pm, I decided to get up off my keister and JUST DO IT!  It took me 8 minutes to wash the dishes and shine the sink while dear sweet Hubby put away the clean dishes from yesterday.  He also made the bed this morning as he was the last one in it.  It took me another 2 minutes to sweep the kitchen floor.  It took me 9 minutes to swish and swipe (which was mostly traveling back and forth to the kitchen to get glass cleaner and paper towels.)  Seriously. My whole routine took 19 minutes.  What a difference 19 minutes can make and I'm sure if I can just leave my supplies in the bathroom it will take far less time in the future.  Today accomplishment makes it very hard to have future excuses...only time will tell.

So to sum it up, today I...

(Hubby) made bed

(Hubby) put away clean dishes from yesterday

did dishes

swept kitchen

swish and swipe

Alright on to the menu for this week!!!  Same as last week, I'm linking up with orgjunkie.com to list my  dinner menu this week for Menu Plan Monday!  Please visit her site for lots more inspiration.

My Menu For the Week:

Monday
Leftover Shrimp & Cheddar Grits with sugar snap peas (I was supposed to finish this up yesterday but things got moved ahead.  Hubby and I were able to make our pizza last two nights and then my parents invited us over Saturday.)

Tuesday
Fried Pork Chops, Oven Fries, and French-Style Green Beans

Wednesday
Leftover Fried Pork Chops

Thursday
Creamy Broccoli Tuna Helper, Salad, and Garlic Breadsticks

Friday
Pizza

Saturday
Leftover Pizza

Sunday
Beef and Bean Burritos, rice, Sante Fe Corn

I'm really feeling that this will be another easy week of meals.  I'm desperately wanting to simplify my meal prepping process as this is a huge part of my kitchen mess.

New Nonnegotiable for the week and the Checklist.

Well I've been thinking for a few days about what I wanted to add to my "chorelist" this week.  Being as it is imperative that I learn how to take care of my home in a short amount of time, I think I'm going to add more than one thing but they are definitely doable.  I'm adding in what the flylady calls a "swish and swipe", sweeping the kitchen floor, and a weekly vacuuming.  

The swish and swipe is where you wipe down the toilet and sink area once daily and swish the toilet using a little cleaner.  Being as I used to do the swish and swipe everyday, I think it won't be too hard to get back into that habit.  As for sweeping the kitchen, I have the same problem that Nony the Slob has.  I don't notice through the week when the kitchen floor needs to be swept, so its just easier to do it everyday.

Also, every night this week when I have cleaned up the kitchen after dinner I've thought "I really want to sweep the floor."  I did probably three times, but this week I want to do it every day.  The day I will vacuum will probably vary.  I'm aiming for Sunday.  If I get it done before then, even better.

Today I...

Made bed

Did dishes

Did some meal prep (shrimp from earlier post and fruit prep after grocery shopping)

Wrote the Meal plan for this week! Excited for that one tomorrow, even though it will be a late post as I'm going to be out all day.  Have a great week!!!!

Shrimp & Cheddar Grits

Disclaimer:  The following recipe is NOT my original creation.  I am simply showing you the steps I took to make it and I hope to provide you with an easy delicious dinner solution.

So tonight for dinner (even though it was supposed to be Saturday) I made Shrimp and grits for the first time.  I had a cannister of quick-cooking grits in the pantry that I bought one day on a whim.  Being as Hubby and I are trying to clean out our pantry before a possible move, I knew I needed to use them.  I searched google for a shrimp and grits recipe and the first one I found sounded delicious.  The recipe is from the Food Network's website.

The steps sounded incredibly easy so I thought it would be a great recipe to share!  

2nd Disclaimer:  Hubby and I are trying to save money so I used some ingredients that many cooks would NEVER use.  You have to do what works for YOU.

First, the all-star lineup!  Role Call:

• 4 cups water

**instead of water I would have preferred to use chicken stock but I didn't have any.  I added some powdered chicken bouillon to give it a little flavor. (This is NOT in the original recipe).  

• Salt and pepper

• 1 cup stone-ground grits

**I only had quick cooking grits but because you cook the grits separately from the shrimp, this doesn't really matter.

• 3 tablespoons butter

• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

 

**This was a large block of mild cheddar that I shredded all the way and took out two cups.  Now I have shredded cheese ready for another meal.  The recipe calls for sharp cheddar.  After eating the grits, it was VERY cheesy.  I would use mild again.

• 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined

Now, this is important.  Hubby and I are on a very tight budget and this recipe calls for a whole pound of shrimp which would be the whole bag.  I divided the bag into three different portions and froze the other two bags to use in the future for shrimp alfredo and BBQ Shrimp.  If you make this at home and 
use the whole bag, you will have three times more shrimp that I had.    

• 6 slices bacon, chopped

• 4 teaspoons lemon juice

**I had this on hand so I didn't want to use our precious grocery budget to buy a lemon.  

• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

**Again, I didn't have real parsley on hand so I used dried.  When you convert a recipe from real herbs to dried herbs, divide by three (so I used 2 teaspoons.)

• 1 cup thinly sliced scallions

**A Cup sounded like a lot so I thinly sliced 2 scallions and it was plenty.

• 1 large clove garlic, minced

Again, didn't have real garlic, so I rehydrated 1/4 teaspoon of dried minced garlic.  All of these additions were fine, the meal was delicious but I know some people aren't comfortable using dried herbs and spices.
Now before I go on, I want to say that usually when I cook the kitchen is a disaster area and I wanted to prevent this so I asked myself: What can I do ahead to prep so that I can wash up some dishes as I go?  (Something my mother always told me to do but I didn't really know how.)  Some of the things I did were to cut up the bacon with my kitchen shears, fry it up, and drain it on paper towels.  I thawed and rinsed the shrimp, dried it, and peeled it.  I shredded a whole large block of cheddar cheese and just took out the two cups I needed for this recipe.  I sliced up the green onions, and rehydrated the garlic.  

Okay back to the recipe!

Bring the water to a boil. Add salt and pepper. I added 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and few shakes of the powdered chicken bouillon.  

Add grits and cook until water is absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes. 

Now, if you watch the video attached to the recipe on the Food Network's website, she tells you that immediately when you pour in the grits, you need to whisk, whisk, whisk!  If the grits clump up, they're not coming apart.  Because I was cooking quick-grits, it only took about 8 minutes with the lid on the pan as apposed to the 20-25 minutes the recipe suggests.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in butter and cheese.

Rinse shrimp and pat dry. Fry the bacon in a large skillet until browned (I did this first); drain well on paper toweling while you prepare everything else. 

In grease, add shrimp. Cook until shrimp turn pink. **The oil bubbles up like butter and splatters a lot so be careful!! Its also important not to overcook shrimp as they can get tough.  As soon as they're pink and curled up, move on to the next step**

Add lemon juice, chopped bacon, parsley, scallions and garlic. Saute for 3 minutes.
I forgot to take a picture of this, sorry. 

Spoon grits into a serving bowl. Add shrimp mixture and mix well. Serve immediately.

I served this with sugar snap peas.

This meal was delicious, but VERY rich.  I'm glad I didn't use the whole bag of shrimp.  The bacon is more than enough protein.  I hope you enjoy this, now I'm off to finish up the kitchen and shine my sink.  Stay tuned for my non-negotiable post for this week!  I'm also very excited for Menu Plan Monday tomorrow!

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

So once again I'm posting my checklist the day after it was done.  This seems to be becoming a trend with me (not surprising though.) However, even though its a day late, I am proud of the fact that all things on my list were done.  Yesterday, we had dinner with my parents which tends to be an all day event as they live a little out of the area.  I had a thought cross through my mind yesterday morning.  "I can wash the morning dishes right now and the lunch dishes right after lunch and come home to a clean sink or I can let them pile up and have to do the dishes when I come home LATE."  More than likely, in the past, I would have chosen the later and then when I got home I would have decided "Oh what's it going to hurt if I just do these tomorrow?"  Luckily for me though, I chose the first option and did dishes all day using my dish-soap-scrub-brush-thingy (really technical term) as they were dirtied up.  It was so nice to come home and relax.

So yesterday I...

Made bed

Did dishes and shined sink.

woohoo!

When I got up this morning, I put away the clean dry dishes and I've already washed up all of the dishes we've accumulated today.  It feels good.  I'm also working on inventorying (Is that a word?) all of our pantry items. With a possible move in our future I want to eat everything we can and move as little as possible.  Later today, I'm hoping for a new kind of post.  I am making Shrimp and Cheddar Cheese Grits so I hope to post a step-by-step picture recipe.  I have never made this dish before but I am very good at following recipes and improvising.  The recipe I use will be from another website and I will give credit where credit is due.  I just wanted to post a quick easy recipe that could be helpful to readers if you're out there.  I also thought it would be nice to post so that I can see it down the road and possibly give myself a meal idea.  Being as today is Sunday, I'm thinking about my non-negotiable I want to add as well as my meal plan for this week.  My goal is to buy as little as possible.  Wish me luck!

Tsk Tsk...Task Task.

So I didn't blog last night about my daily checklist, and, to be quite frank, I was going to skip it tonight too but then convinced myself (at 1:54 am) to just do it.  Here's the kicker...my tasks are done!  I made the bed yesterday and "today" meaning Friday, and went to bed with my sink shining and stayed on track meal-wise...okay another tangent.  Hubby and I did really well with our pizza last night and has enough leftover for tonight's dinner so I'm pushing everything up a day...We were also invited out for dinner tomorrow (at no expense to us) so the meal plan gets one more push into the future but I don't mind doing that when it is in our benefit budget wise.

So why wasn't I going to post?  Am I such a procrastinator that I will do that with this blog too?!?  Let's hope not.

Being as tomorrow (well technically today) is Saturday, I need to think about my new non-negotiable item for next week.  Let me tell you that I've been huffing and puffing about losing a few more minutes of my "me time" to add another task.

Has it been great this week with having a dinner plan and a clean sink/work space? Absolutely.  Am I still lazy though? Absolutely.   Need to change my stinkin' thinkin.  Here's to tomorrow and next week to hope that it goes smoothly.  I wonder what I'll add...

Let's pray.

Checklist

So I didn't write my Daily Checklist post yesterday, HOWEVER, I did do everything I was supposed to do.
We had Tortellini for dinner which was on schedule (I've been doing well there!!).

I made the bed as soon as I got up!

I had the dishes done and sink all shiny by 8:40pm instead of midnight!!

So far today I have made the bed and put away some of the clean dishes.  I plan on putting away the rest before I go to work.  There are going to be people in our living space today (Ahhh!!!!)  so I also plan on sorting some of the clothing piles around the room before work....don't want any unmentionables lurking around.

As an added bonus, I swept the kitchen last night and I put a load of clothes in the washer this morning.  I'm going to put them in the dryer.....NOW!

I'm also going to *try* to complete a 3 mile "Walk Your Belly Flat" video which I've never been able to complete before. Oy.  Perhaps I've added too many things to my mental to do list.

Checklist

I just finished the dishes at almost midnight.  This is what I hate about getting home at almost 9.  The time flies. 

So today was successful.

Today I:

Made the bed

Did the dishes and shined the sink

Stuck to my menu!!

I also did a two mile Walk at Home video I want to tell you about in a future post. This particular video was called "2 Mile Fitness Walk".  Stay tuned for that!

I have high hopes for tomorrow.

Menu Plan Monday....on Tuesday! My First!

I'm linking up with Laura @ orgjunkie.com to list my dinner menu for the week.  I planned this out on Sunday before I started the blog - hence why it's...ahem...Tuesday.  To help me keep track of my menu I'm using a free app for iPhone called "Pepper Plate."  If you don't have an iPhone, you can visit their website and create an account for free!

My Menu for the Week:

Monday - Hormel(R) Beef Roast, Bob Evans(R) garlic mashed potatoes, sugar snap/carrot mix, mac 'n' cheese for the picky husband.  I often have to modify meals for hubby as he eats about ten things.

Tuesday - Leftover Roast - I work late.  I call these nights in which I work late "fend for yourself" nights.

Wednesday - Buitoni(R) Four CheeseTortelloni with Alfredo sauce, sugar snap peas (I was really craving those.)

Thursday - I work late again - Hubby will pick up a pizza

Friday - Teriyaki Chicken, Chow Mein Noodles, Asian Veggie Mix

Saturday - Shrimp & Cheddar Cheese grits - grilled cheese for Hubs.

Sunday - Leftover Shrimp & Cheddar Cheese Grits

So because I was starting this this week, I wanted to keep things really simple.  Most things listed are pre-packaged foods that I can just heat up.  I do normally like to cook from scratch and use our steamer whenever possible however, this week my work schedule is all over the place.  I work part time and sometimes I "open", sometimes I work "midday", and sometimes I "close."  Today I close, so I'll get home close to 9 pm only to open at work tomorrow and close on Thursday.  Thankfully I'm off Friday. Sheesh.  That's another constant struggle for me - keeping up with my work schedule and trying to work around it.  I could make this an excuse, but everyone else has to function with funky schedules so I shouldn't be any different.  Right?

Hi, I'm Wanda and I'm a Slob-a-holic.

So while I jokingly treat being a slob as seriously as being an alcoholic, for me, it IS serious.

Its also fairly new news to me because in the past I've been SOOOO good at blaming EVERYBODY ELSE for the reason my home is a disaster all the time.  So why admit it? Why blog about it?  Simple.  I don't want to be a slob anymore.  Once I realized I was a slob, I started thinking I could never change.  This was destiny (which bothered me because I'm a perfectionist and a germaphobe - I know right?- and it truly does irk me when I see my home a disaster.  Well, then I discovered an incredible blog of a former slob changing her slobbish ways.  She has been on the journey for four years!  You can visit her blog here:

www.aslobcomesclean.com

I'm still reading her blog backwards and she posts so frequently that I'm still in the first year - not complaining - I LOVE how often she posts.

I had an epiphany.  What if I did that? What if I had a true and honest account of my progress where I posted my progress daily? (or at least most days.)  I need something to keep this in my head even if I'm not successful.

Noni describes her daily checklist, how successful she was, and honestly tells if she isn't successful.  I admit, I'll have a hard time telling you I failed...and I WILL fail.  However I'm hoping they are small failures that won't keep me from trudging moving on.

So why now?  Why all of the sudden try to change?  Well its simple.  My husband and I are a two person household (making it all the more pathetic that I can't manage our day-to-day lives) and months back had to move in with his family member in order to make ends meet.  I swore that while we lived with his family, I would get my act together and keep our portion of the house spotless.  I had no choice, it wasn't my house.  I felt confident that I would do this, and felt so good about it.  I failed.  Right out of the gate. Immediately. I have no systems.  I had no time to work up to being good at this and if you're not NATURALLY good at this, you WILL fail without baby steps.  Trust me, I've tried many times. So, on and off I've tried to get things in order and haven't been successful yet.  So again, why now?  Well, hubby and I have the opportunity to move in September to a condo owned by another family member who wants to rent it out.  It is beautiful and in our budget.  I want it to stay beautiful.  So I have from now until Labor Day (approximately) to get some routines in place. HELP!

Before going any further I feel that I should tell you that I tried flylady.  She worked for me for about a month.  Last year, my husband and I went vacation for our anniversary and left the main rooms of our home spotless.  (All of them except the bedrooms....oy vey.)  It was so wonderful coming home to a mostly clean house.  I remember we took our suit cases in, sorted the laundry in our bags, put everything we took away, and immediately - because we came home on a weekend - went to the pool because we could.  It was the best feeling ever.  I want that feeling back.  Forever. Period.  Do dah.  Sorry I couldn't help myself.  Anyway, eventually I didn't keep up with it.  We did well in the kitchen because we had a dishwasher, but we don't anymore.  I have to handwash everything.  Argh.

So where to start?  I don't want to start with just one thing.  I do want baby steps, but I have to be good at this fairly soon.  Luckily, hubby and I are really good about making bed our every day.  We have a rule that the last person up makes the bed.  Most days, that is him.  He is pretty neat and tidy but doesn't actually like to "clean" persay.  He will do the dishes though occasionally.  So, obviously, making the bed will be on the list.  Also, my dear sweet mother always tells me, "Wanda, don't go to bed with a sink full of dirty dishes.  You will start your day off on the wrong foot with unnecessary work ahead of you."  Oh mom.  She is correct.  Flylady says the same thing. She calls it "shining your sink."  You can visit her website at www.flylady.net to get complete details on how you "should" shine your sink. I want to add to this, having a meal plan, which luckily I have already developed for the week and will post in a separate post after I exercise.  So the focus for this week is - make the bed every day, do the dishes and shine the sink, and have a meal plan in place before Monday.  (I made this week's plan on Sunday before I went grocery shopping - go me!)  I will let you know how my progress goes.

Does this mean that I won't do more than that?  No.  I will do what I can.  But I HAVE to do those things.  Those are, as Noni calls them, my non-negotiables.  I will add a new one, or readjust a current one, and add it on each week.

I don't want readers.  Don't get me wrong, if you want to read this - by all means, read on.  I appreciate it.  What I'm saying is my goal of this blog is NOT to gain readers, its to help me learn to tackle my home.  Also, if you are a blog nazi who believes in only writing one blog post a day, this is not the blog for you.  I will post as frequently as I need to about whatever I need to in order to conquer this problem.  I will also do as Noni the Slob does on her blog and post my weekly menu plans, exercise details (another thing I'm battling), and recipes I love.  It may not be a recipe I've personally created but if I find one that is easy and delicious, I will post it and give credit to where I found it.

On a personal note, I feel as though I need to say something to Noni.  I am NOT trying to copy your blog.  I am simply trying to follow in your footsteps hoping and praying that this will work for me.  I love to write about things, so I'm hoping this will work.  I truly apologize if you are offended by this.  Please don't be, I give you full credit, you are fantastic, I just feel that this might work for me too.

Alright, so that's enough for one post, time for me to exercise and shower before work.  That is another post altogether.

Here we go, no turning back now.  This is the first day of the rest of my life.