A couple of days ago, I was wearing a sweater that had an itchy tag in the back. It was a familiar feeling. I recognized that same annoying itch from last year. Whenever I wore it, I thought to myself — I need to cut that tag off, but I never got around to doing it.
Instead, I’d fiddle with it, tuck it down, and try to ignore the uncomfortable, raspy feel. But the other day, it just bugged me! So I decided I’d had enough. A pair of scissors and two seconds later, it was gone. I couldn’t believe how easy it was — and how much better I felt afterward!
So, of course then I had to dash for a piece of paper to jot down “FlyLady — Itchy tag stuff.” Because I’ve realized that’s what FlyLady’s emails are all about. She reminds you every day of those “itchy tag” things that are bothering you, but you keep putting off doing.
If you keep reading day after day, you finally decide, “OK! Enough is enough.” So you grab a trash bag and start flinging in 27 things that you’re sick of looking at. It’s fun because it’s 27, and you know other souls have gone before you 27-fling-boogie-ing their way to peace and order.
Another “itchy tag” is using my crock pot, which FlyLady calls a “Secret Weapon.” You’ve got to get it going in the morning or right after lunch when dinner is still hours away. Just do it — stick something in there and let it simmer all day while you’re doing something else that consumes your time. Then you’ll know dinner is already in the works. (We made pinto beans in it yesterday.)
The last thing I’ve picked up this week from FlyLady is to use a timer ALL the time. She suggests using it whenever you’re doing something you love to do — like homeschooling your kids, reading a book, working on a craft project, sitting at the computer, etc. — you do that fun thing for 45 min., then when the timer goes off, go do something that’s not too fun for 15 minutes. It will help your kids to stay on track too.
I think I remember that as being one of Terri Maxwell’s secrets — homeschooling mom of 8 — she used a timer all the time, and divided her day into 30-minute increments. She assigned one-on-one time with her kids that way — and she also got a ton of sewing projects done, little by little, working a half-hour a day.
Found this cute picture to remind you of the itchy tag. I hope you get something “itchy” done today!
“If, indeed, we all have a kind of appetite for eternity, we have allowed ourselves to be caught up in a society that frustrates our longing at every turn. Half our inventions are advertised to save time — the washing machine, the fast car, the jet flight — but for what? Never were people more harried by time: by watches, by buzzers, by time clocks, by precise schedules…
“If we complain of time and take such joy in the seemingly timeless moment, what does that suggest? It suggests that we have not always been or will not always be purely temporal creatures. It suggests that we were created for eternity. Not only are we harried by time, we seem unable, despite a thousand generations, even to get used to it. We are always amazed at — how fast it goes, how slowly it goes, how much of it is gone. We aren’t adapted to it, nor at home in it. If that is so, it may appear as a proof, or at least a powerful suggestion, that eternity exists and is our home.”
-Sheldon Vanauken
Comment by Michael — December 16, 2005 @ 11:34 am
I’m tagging you for the Seven Sevens meme – just go to my blog at http://www.mywordwrites.blogspot.com and copy and paste the questions to your blog. Replace my answers with yours. Blessings.
Carmen
Comment by Carmen Rockett — December 16, 2005 @ 1:13 pm
The Seven Sevens! It will take me a while to think about these. I like reading other people’s, but I’m not sure what I’d write.
Thanks for that inspiring quote by Sheldon Vanauken. I do feel like the clock is my enemy most of the time. To be perfectly honest, the hectic pace of life in the U.S. really gets to me — and I sometimes imagine how fun it would be to take our family off to a third world island — and spend hours sitting by the sea, watching the sun rise and set, memorizing David’s psalms. Instead, I set my timer…and write in a blog.
Comment by Heather — December 16, 2005 @ 2:34 pm