Crusing through the Holidays with FLYLady

If you haven't heard about FLYLady from me before, prepare yourself!

FLY stands for "Finally Loving Yourself". FLYLady teaches you about organizing. Organizing what? Your home, your life, your family, your mind and even your body! She does this in a fun and encouraging way.

One of my favorite things about FLYLady is her "Cruising Through the Holidays" plan. Basically, she starts you in October with preparing for your Holiday Celebrations. The goal is to be ready for whatever you celebrate by December 1st, so, you can pretend you are "going on a cruise" December 1st and arriving home the night before your special holiday... and everything is ready and in place.

I discovered FLYLady in 2003. I have yet to get *everything* ready by December 1st, but, I've certainly been getting more done each year and in a calmer way.

The Cruise Program started this week. I invite you all to join me in preparing to Cruise Through the Holidays. Go check out her website, and maybe even sign up for the encouraging, helpful emails. I'll see you on board! :D

Camp GonnaWannaFly - Cabin Report

Today the boys and I had our first Cabin Meeting for Camp GonnaWannaFly, a FLYLady Summer Fun Program.

Since we're learning to FLY, the boys wanted a Cabin name related to flying, but they also like the Transformers, so, we came up with the name Trans Flight Cabin. We're still trying to come up with each of our Camp Names, they need something to do with wings. We've talked about:

• Bumblebee
• Dragon
• Angel
• Fairy
• Starscream
• Thundercracker
  
• Wasp
• Hornet
• Beekeeper (Dad?)
  

But, we're still finalizing who's going to be what.

We pulled out a cork board we had sitting around and put our Cabin name (colored by the boys) at the top. Underneath, we have a picture of FLYLady along with our different lists and routines.

In the Camp Control Journal, FLYLady recommends giving Awards for little things. She suggested stickers or beads. I dug out our pony beads and a few pipe-cleaners. Then, I quickly made assignments for what different colors will be for:

• Red - Yard Toys
• Orange - KP (Kitchen Patrol)
• Yellow - Laundry
• Green - Bunkhouse (bedroom)
  
• Blue - Bathhouse
  
• Purple - Floors
  
• Black - Pets
  
• Brown - unassigned
  
• White - Special Items
• Pink - unassigned

When the boys finish doing something related to one of the items, they get to choose a bead in that color and add it to their bracelet (I'd like to figure out a way for them to make a necklace they can easily add beads to... any ideas on what to use that won't be tough for me to tie and untie constantly?)

We are using weekly themes and basing them on the Summer Movies we are watching each Tuesday. Today we go to see Waterhorse, but next week is a Veggie Tales Movie (I'll find out today which one it is), so, we will be doing activities this week related to Veggies and Veggie Tales. Then, next Wednesday will start a new Camp theme related to the next movie. I figure this makes it easy for me to think of a theme and will also build the excitement for the next movie.

So far, so good with the camp. It's all about attitude, and having this little fun thing to focus on is helping me to come up with ideas and be more playful.

House Binder

While I was comparison shopping to set the sale price of my Arizona home, I was in a home that had a 3-ring binder with all the pertinent house info. Receipts, swatches, instructions, etc. I thought "that's a great idea!" So, yesterday I got myself a 540-sheet, 3-ring binder for the new house. I also got some tabbed dividers that have pockets in them and my big-ol'-box of sheet protectors.

Now. I have to decide how to organize my Handy-Dandy-Household-Binder!

(Yes, these are the kinds of things I think about - a lot!)

I think these topics are set:

1. Financing
2. Taxes
3. Insurance
4. Utilities
5. Receipts

Now. How to sort the rest of it? By Area or by Item? I made potential lists for each method of sorting, and came up with seven sections each:

Area

1. Kitchen / Dining Room
2. Living Room
3. Bathrooms
4. Bedrooms
5. Utility Rooms
6. Garage
7. Yard

Items

1. Appliances
2. Entertainment System
3. Yard
   
4. Floors
5. Walls
6. Electricity
7. Plumbing

So. What do you think? How would you organize your Home Filing System?

How DO you organize your Home Data?

• In a binder?
• In an expanding folder?
• In file folders?
• At each appliance/item/area?
• In the trash?

Inquiring minds (like mine) want to know!

Defiance

Frank got himself in a bunge this morning and found himself on his bunk. After he calmed down, he declared "I’m not coming out until you let me play chess or play a video game!" I explained that we were blessing our home (with FLYLady’s Weekly Home Blessing Hour) and we were taking out the trash, dusting, vacuuming, and making beds. Then, I left him on the bed.

A few minutes went by and he hollered out “one more thing… I will come out if you let me watch a video.” “Nope!”

A few more minutes and he said he would come out if he could “wash the doors”. Now we’re talking! Doing a chore to get out of time-out? That’s what I’m talking about! The longer I left him there, the more he came around. It actually only took about ten minutes total. Back to our Home Blessing Hour…