Thursday, August 18, 2011

Finding a Routine

Whew! I don't know about you, but my house has been chaos all summer. I have 4 very active boys and they keep me on my toes. Living in Texas now, much of this summer has been too hot for the kids to stay outside very long. Most of the time they are inside wrestling or fighting or making boy noises. Come on those of you that have boys know what I am talking about. Boy noises are all the low rumble car noises or the constant whistling or the fire truck sirens going off all over the house. LOL! After a while my mind starts to explode over all the noise.

Well I have been looking for a way to keep my house up and play with the boys. Needless to say I have been failing on the keeping of the house part. I have been searching for a way to become organized. I can organize my scrap stuff all day, but I guess that is because I am the only one who uses it so if it is out of place it is on me. The house is a different story. I will sweep and mop the kitchen and then the kids will come in with dirty shoes or the dog with dirty paws. I can pick up the living room and vacuum to only have the 4 tornadoes come behind me an mess it all back up. I have been very frustrated this summer to say the least. My wonderful DH had suggested that I develop a routine for myself and the kids to see if that helped. At first I was like how dare you tell me how to take care of my kids and my house and then I thought you may have a good point.

That is when I started to scour the internet for ways to help me. I am not an organized person. My mom has always tried to help me, but it has just never caught on. I was in the USAF and while I was in there I learned discipline and some organization. I thought I should try to incorporate some of that into my daily life. Then I came across a website that may change my life and the life of my family. I want to introduce you to FlYLady! She has a site that teaches you how to develop a routine. Sounds simple and I wonder why I didn't think of it before. FlyLady  uses a phrase which I can so relate to called SHE which stands for Side Tracked Home Executive. She tells us that we have to drop our perfectionism and just start doing. Kids are use to a routine at school. They have math class at the same time each day or have gym at the same time. Why shouldn't I try to have cleaning time or lunch time or playtime at the same time each day? So I have started to develop a routine for each person in our house each day.


FlyLady tells us that you should have a Morning Routine, an Afternoon Routine, and  a Bedtime Routine. Sounds simple huh? I have always read to my kids before bed so I thought that was a routine, but not like she wants you to to. I have only been working on my routines for a couple of weeks now, but I can say that I am loving this. I wake every morning and look at what is called my Control Journal to see what I need to do that day. I am still tweaking my routines so things are still changing daily. Each day there is a particular room that I work on to clean. She also picks certain Zones each week for you to focus on. This week we are working on the bathroom and the office or desk area. You are sent e-mails with your assignment that day Monday through Friday. Saturday is family day and Sunday is for resting and worship.

She even has routines outlined for your kids on how to keep their rooms clean and how to get their chores done on time without being asked. She even has an afternoon routine to help your kids get their homework done without burning them out. Like I said I am still working on our routines so things seem to change daily. I am so excited to see where we will be in a month after school starts on Monday.


You also need to check out an online calendar that she offers called Cozi You can also use this on your phone. In here you can put all the members of your family and all their appointments. I have even put in the dates from the school calendar so that I know when they have an early release or are out of school. You can make To Do list on it along with Shopping list. I have used this alot just like last night when I went school supply shopping. I didn't have to carry a paper list, because it was all on my phone and I could check off the items as I put them in the basket. There is also an option to have a reminder sent to your phone for appintments. I have the reminder sent to mine if it is for me and the kids and have it sent to my DH's phone if it involves him so that he can't say, "Well I didn't know about it."

I have never been a routine person, but I think I just may becoming one!

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Online Classes

I just had to pass along the info. As you know I have been wild about Photoshop Elements 9 for a while now. Many of you are like I was in the beginning. You are SCARED TO DEATH to open the program. Well put your fears aside and FEAR NO MORE The Digital Scrapbook Teacher is now gonna offer online classes! I am so excited. Her first class that she is gonna offer is a photo editing class. This is so worth taking. She will teach you many of the editing procedures that you have always wanted to know. So if you want to take this 1st class in her series of online classes just click on the link on the left of my blog. When you get to her page click on the link at the top that says blog and you can sign up there. Can't wait to see what ya'll create!


  • Week 1- Getting Started (Even if you've used Photoshop Elements in the past you will learn new stuff in this lesson!)
  • Week 2-Lightening and Darkening a Photo: Which method is the best?
  • Week 3-Color: How to Fix It, Change it, and Remove it.
  • Week 4-Straightening, Cropping, and Getting Artistic.