“Finish the rug,” my mom said, “It will build character.”
So I laced. I grumbled. I laced some more. Two weeks passed. I looked at my ball of braid and realized, “I’m almost finished.”
Rug making is much more satisfying once you figure out how to make it lay flat. For me, that meant deciding to break the number one rule of braided rug making. When you are lacing an oval rug, you lace every braid until you get to the end where you have to increase and skip a few braids. You are NEVER supposed to skip braids on the inside only skip the outside braid. This would work great if I had been more careful to make sure that my braids were always the same thickness and the same tightness. The number 2 rule is that you NEVER skip on the flat sides of an oval.
With my braid size varying, I would stay consistent with my lacing only to find that my rug resembled a basket. I broke the rule and started placing skips on the inside and outside braid as necessary. Then I broke the #2 rule and placed skips on the flat sides of the oval.
The rug was still humpy and bumpy when I got done, so at my husbands suggestion, I turned the iron on hot and steam pressed my rug flat. The fabric was mostly cotton and the lacing was 100% cotton. I wasn’t convinced that ironing my rug would work, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try. I put the rug on the floor beside my bed. Yep, that’s my crazy quilt thrown on top of the bed. I actually wove the seat of the stool in the picture too.
As I was preparing my little corner for this picture, I realized I have a bedroom that is actually decorated, and I am not ashamed to show it to you. This is my happy place.
“What do I do with my life now?” The house is clean. Our plan is working. What can I do after Messy Room Syndrome?
I took three days to just think about my future. I have wasted so much of my life already fighting this battle, I don’t want to waste another minute.
FOCUS
The key that brought me into this new situation was learning to focus on just one thing. I know I need to carry that habit forward. Flylady says, “Focus makes me fabulous.” Dave Ramsey calls it “gazelle intensity.” I just know it gets the job done.
Maybe instead of trying to do everything in balance all the time, I should focus my intensity on on project. If you look at a day or a week in my life, it may look out of balance, but over the course of a year or 5 years or a lifetime a pattern of balance will emerge from the periods of focused intensity. What’s more, the periods of focus will result in goals met and dreams accomplished.
What’s the next big thing?
The next thing that has been irritating me for a while is the extra 35 pounds of fat I am carrying around. This is Fitness Feburary in my house. I’m setting up my own at home Biggest Loser Ranch and working to lose this extra weight and built some muscle. Hopefully it won’t take me quite as long to declutter my body as it took to declutter my house.
Hi my name is Sunny and I’m a messy. Flylady would call me a SHE (Sidetracked Home Executive). I’m not lazy, I just distract myself rather than making the decision of where to start. I’ve never been a cleanie. I was not BO (Born Organized). I call it Messy Room Syndrome–a genetic tendency towards disorganization, difficulty making decisions, and a love of projects and crafts. The combination spells disaster. That and lots of unfinished projects.
Wiggles, on the other hand, I think he is BO. Born on his due date, first smile at 6 weeks, rolled over at 2 1/2 months, first tooth at 6 months, crawled at 6 months, walked at 13 1/2 months… He thrives on order. Even as a little bitty baby I could tell the difference in his disposition when the house was clean compared to when the house was messy. At 9 months, he started helping unload the dishwasher. His job is silverware. After every meal I hand him a wet wipe and he washes his hands before proceeding to wipe down his high chair tray. Somewhere way back in the family line there must have been a recessive BO gene. Wiggles got it.
My mom told me to foster that cleanie instinct in him. I promised to do my best.
I used to wonder what life would be like living in a clean house. After I found Flylady, I went on a 5 year decluttering binge. I could see gradual changes in my home, but something still hadn’t clicked. I was quite distraught after my Birthday decluttering. I could only find a few things to part with.
“I’m running out of stuff to declutter” I complained.
“That’s wonderful,” my sweet husband replied.
“But the house still isn’t clean.”
Only then did Brenton let me in on a little secret, “You know, you might actually have to start cleaning instead of just getting rid of stuff.”
Oh how I loathed the thought, but I knew he was right. I began looking for a system that works for me. My root problem is not that I am lazy, but that I have a hard time deciding where to start working. I look at a room and feel overwhelmed. Instead of deciding where to start, I find a book or pick up the computer and distract myself from the stress.
Brenton was reading the parenting book Dare to Discipline which suggested using rewards to motivate children. Now, we have a chore chart posted on the fridge. Brenton and I have 4 daily jobs each and we get our pay every 2 weeks. We are paid per the jobs completed and if all the jobs are completed for 14 days, we get a small bonus pay.
For a month, the house has been clean. Brenton’s mom came to visit and we did a quick clean the night before but nothing as tiring or stressful as my usual marathon of hypocrite housecleaning before company arrives.
While she was here, she helped us take care of some nagging projects. When she left, I looked around the house and said, “What do I do with my life now?”
The house is clean. Our plan is working. What can I do after Messy Room Syndrome?
Anything I want!
