Thank You FlyLady For My Shiny Sink

Seriously. This is life changing. I never, never, never thought I would be a happier, more productive person because my sink is shiny (more or less) before I go to bed. But its happening.

My day revolves completely around the sink. If the sink isnt clean and ready to go, I am stuck. At my old house, where I designed the kitchen and built it myself, I had a great sink with a built in drain/cutting board. It was on the outside angle of the kitchen, which means that it kind of stuck out into the center like an island. I could see everything going on in that half of the house from the sink, and I could talk to everyone around me. It was perfectly placed for its purpose: food prep, washing dishes, mopping, bathing babies, potting plants, painting....

The sink in this new house is 1950's predictable. Right under the window, in the shadows of two upper cabinets, facing nowhere. But, it is what I have and so I will make the best of it.

FlyLady is helping me to accept what I have and work with it...and maybe even fall in love with it just a little bit. And so I shined my sink. And this morning things have been so much easier.

I LOVE a clean sink!

I also made the family bed, which is one single and one king mattress on box springs pushed together. The kids each have their own bed in their bedrooms, so they can choose where to sleep. Most nights are still in the 'big bed'. And even though I have never seen the point of making beds, I do realize that when I pass the bedroom going down the hall way, there is less visual clutter. And that is less stressful. All I did was throw the quilts over the bedding. Easy enough. No hospital corners or anything. But it helps.

My camera was dying hence the blurry pic.
But I have succesfully trained the cat to make the beds! This is awesome!

And even though this pile of papers by my computer looks messy, its actually a productive and predictable list of things I am working on. I am actually getting them done! Three estimates for house repair are scheduled, bills are paid, checkbook is brought up to register (not quite balanced yet), and my new control journal is taking shape. This is working.

Control Journal is Control Central. My little desk area has it all.

In the meantime, Big Sister and I are working on a project we started last year for 4-H. She wanted to take Heritage Cooking, but we found the 4-H booklet lacking. So what we did was start a journal for her to record recipes and cooking experiments, in the hopes that something would qualify for 4-H. Summer has been busy with outside exploration, but now that November is here, Big Sister is watching me cook more. She wants to learn to make the meals for the day. So when I make something, I ask if she wants to do it. She is recording the recipes and notes on how to make each thing on a page, then putting that in her cooking journal. Later on, she can type them up. I let her do as much as possible on her own today and she tackled homemade matzo balls and steamed acorn squash. She is going to have great experience and a fantastic cooking journal by the time she is in highschool.

Making matzo balls from scratch. Blending mazto crackers into powder.

In addition, we already spend every shopping trip discussing price, usage, quality, need, substitutions, etc. Soon she can start deciding what meal she wants to be in charge of this week, and make a shopping list for it. Maybe she can even do that shopping on her own while mommie waits by the door.... We will see. We have lots of time before she NEEDS to do these things on her own. Right now it is fun, and I want to keep it that way.