Well, once, again, I am reminded why I write this blog. Early this morning, I was quickly going through some email before I started the day and I ran across a little description that Flylady had sent out of what the Weekly Home Blessing Hour included. I am totally familiar with the description of the Weekly Home Blessing Hour. But, every single time that I read that mopping should take 10 minutes, I start to laugh.
My weekly mopping of ONLY the main floor of our house consistently takes me exactly one hour. That includes moving the chairs around, sweeping and mopping. There is no nonsense involved. No perfectionism whatsoever. This is a “get ‘er done” approach to mopping. Yet, with a commercial mop and rolling mop bucket, it takes me one hour. Every time. Today, I timed it, again: 7:33am to 8:32am by the computer’s clock.
Now, I am NOT complaining AT ALL about how long it takes to mop my floor. What I am saying is that we mothers of many children simply have to expect that we are going to have to modify almost everything about Flylady’s routines. If we expect that we are going to have to modify, then we won’t be disappointed and give up when it appears that we can’t do exactly what Flylady is describing.
And a bonus (I think) of having to modify means that I will expect to be asking God for His wisdom pretty much every step of my way. Only He knows how I can actually fit all of my responsibilities (and desires!) into one 24-hour period. He guides my decisions concerning how I spend the 15-minute segments of my day, to His glory and my benefit.
So, thanks, Lord, for giving me the physical energy to mop today. Guide me in the rest of my Weekly Home Blessing. And, please show me where I can fit in that creativity….
365 Days with Flylady 
June 21, 2010 at 5:53 pm |
I agree…I love Fly Lady, but when you have a lot of children, it’s impossible to do it in that small amount of time. I haven’t found a mop yet that does my floors justice, so I scrub it then suck up the water with my shampooer. It takes me over an hour and a half to do my living room, let alone the rest of the house!
March 2, 2011 at 3:02 am |
You’re so right! In fact my modifications on SnS for six bathrooms (add swipe floors in each, do each less often) is working so wonderfully that I’ve forgotten it’s a modification. It’s still SnS to me. After all, trying to do “exactly” the formula for each step is the kind of perfectionism FlyLady has told us hurts us and others. The frustration that would result would be the negative voices we are trying to get rid of when Finally Loving (Y)ourselves!
I really liked what you said about it being up to God to show the way for what can be done in 24 hours. There was a day once at work when I was wearing so many hats and working on so many projects against multiple deadlines that it seemed impossible. I completely put it in God’s hands and I will never forget at 4:00 pm riding the elevator and not being able to really understand how it all got done – it was simply a miracle. Finding out what our own Weekly Home Blessing needs to be is just the same. As we are open to the God breezes the modifications will be shown. It’s not so much how we can do a lot more, either – but also what does not need doing – like things done during the week “on the FLY” 🙂 for example my bathroom floors are already swiped all week, no mopping needed. And a 2-second feather duster whoosh instead of detail windexing or polishing will often do. God knows that chandelier doesn’t need a half an hour of our time!