With all the excitement of the arrival of Marla The Flylady coming all the way from Brevard, North Carolina to visit me in my home, today I noticed Mount Washmore has snow on its peaks again.

We had a lovely visit. Marla and her assistant Michele had other stops along the way before they came to see me.  One was Amarillo, Texas to hear a friend sing in concert, Dodge City, Kansas was on their itinerary along with with a stop in Nebraska.  From their they went to see our Beautiful Mount Rushmore and enjoyed their stay there.  Next was the famous Wall Drug, The Badlands, and the White Prairie Dogs that like to stick their heads out of their den just to see if anything is going on.

Their next stop would be Garden City, South Dakota.  What was in this town to site see?  It was to visit me, the one that took the challenge of the March Habit “Getting Dressed To Shoes Hair and Makeup” and then took a picture each day that turned into a daily Photo Mini Blog for 436 consecutive days and have been going ever since. This is one of the monthly habits of Flylady lessons to help oneself rid themselves of clutter and turn their houses into homes.  The first habit is to practice and get into the habit of shining your sink.  In February the habit is to declutter 15 minutes a day.  For the rest of the monthly habits go to her website or my blog Marilyn’s Way Monthly Habits For 2012.

Today, it seems as though this house visit from the Flylady really wasn’t a dream but was actually real.  I got up this morning to do my Morning Routine and noticed my clothes hamper.  It was full.  Flylady and I agree myself says, “A Load of Laundry a Day Keeps Mount Washmore at Bay.”  Since none of anything Flylady or Marilyn’s Way is ever said about perfectionism except that it is not allowed, I did not beat myself up because I did not do a load a day like I normally do. My mind was all about my visit with Marla and I simply overlooked it.

I went ahead and sorted it to find I have three loads of clothes to wash.  Do I do all three loads of clothes today OR do I instead just “Jump Back In” and do one load?  The correct answer is the second one.  

THE CRITICAL TURN IN YOUR DAY
The reason it is suggested to just do one load rather than all three is because if one would focus on washing all three loads, the other habits and routines that keep you from “Crisis Cleaning” all the time would be overlooked and then before you know it instead of having three loads of clothes built up, you have a sink full of dishes from breakfast, lunch and dinner backed up.  You feel guilty that you spent the time doing the three loads of clothes that got washed and dried, maybe folded but not put away and there you stand in your kitchen staring at that sink full of dishes from the day.  It is time for bed and you are tired out from the laundry so you decide you can do them in the morning.

MORNING COMES!
It is time to get up.  You get up to make your bed, go to the bathroom and on the way is the kitchen with a sink full of dirty dishes.  That kind of takes the excitement of getting dressed to shoes if you are a SAHM because the kids are getting up too.  Or you have to get ready for work and so the dirty dishes sit in the sink only to greet you when you get back home.

STOP THE MADNESS!
We are back to those three loads of clothes.  JUST DO ONE LOAD!  Then do another load tomorrow.  Today’s load, make sure you dry, fold and then put them away!  It will take you around an hour to do this.  You can be doing other things while they are either washing or drying like washing the breakfast dishes or the lunch dishes.  You can easily work in your Swish and Swipe in the bathroom during this time.  You may even be able to work in something enjoyable like reading your current book for about 20 minutes and not feeling guilty doing it!

To FLY means (Finally Loving Yourself) and to do this you have to have an open mind and try some of the things suggested rather than doing them the same way over and over expecting different results.  I can tell you from experience the only way you get different results is to surrender to your way, try Flylady and Marilyn’s Way on for size and then from there incorporate your very own personal way to FLY!
Keep FLYing!
Marilyn

Three Loads Of Laundry.  Just Do ONE Load Today.  Then Do Another Load Tomorrow, etc  Start Thinking Different.