Getting Dressed to Start the Day
I have to admit that I lacked a certain luster and motivation this morning. I felt very drowsy even after coffee. In other news, I ate soup for breakfast because the acupuncturist at Promises said that it would keep my metabolism going. I was hungry about fifteen minutes after I ate it. This also made me tired. I nearly skipped showering I was that lazy. And then, I checked in with God and He said I’d feel better all day if I showered so I did. It’s amazing what getting dressed does (and listening to God for that matter). It must have started way back when as a baby. Every morning my mom would dress me to start the day, then a few years later I would dress myself and go off to school. Getting dressed is the morning ritual that triggers my brain to say, “OK it’s time to start working now.” It’s the transitional bridge from sleep to awake. After I got dressed, I set my timer and started, as usual, in the kitchen. I know that my closet needs organizing, but I didn’t feel like doing it. There are no rules as to what I must clean so I did what looked like the easiest chore: dusting. I like dusting. It was my favorite chore as a kid. I’m the kind of person that dusts behind the TV every time I dust (even though no one ever looks back there). I realized that dusting also motivates me to straighten up my home since I have to move things around anyway. Sometimes I sit in my home and imagine where things should probably be, but I don’t get up and move them. Today, I feel accomplished because it looks like the lady from Bewitched came in here and wiggled her nose and ZING everything is where it should be.
Day 17
I am learning that a clean home helps me to feel really sane. I like not having a bunch of chores looming over my head. That’s all I can say for now because there’s a protest going on over SOPA, a violation of our freedom of speech. I figured I’d join in since I’m such an avid blogger.
Ten Minutes of Dishes (What?!)
I have decided that it is important to have a day off, a day of rest, a day of no cleaning, and yet, yesterday I did a lot of cleaning up. I had a few friends over to do some art work, and afterward, I had a lot of putting away, washing brushes, and cleaning up to do. It was fun though because I was still feeling my “high” from being creative. I also picked up some dog poo poo yesterday, and (brace yourself this is gross) wiped poo poo off of our porch- yucky! (Aren’t you glad I haven’t started using photos yet?) I used the soap I made a week ago and POW! it was all cleaned up.
Today, I figured I’d get back into my cleaning for ten minutes a day, and as my title gave away, I ended up doing dishes. First, I put away all the clean stuff. Then I noticed we only had a couple glasses, a couple mugs, a fork, a bowl, a spoon and the blender to wash. Easy, right? Yes. Very easy. Well here’s why it took me ten minutes: I used a little too much soap and all of a sudden, BUBBLES!!! A lot of sudsy BUBBLES! Flashback to second grade. Karyna Joseph, Briget Staley and I were all the in the girls’ bathroom at St. Joseph’s during recess. We were playing with the soap and making bubbles when the attendant came in and told us not to play and then to go outside. We were sad. We liked playing with the bubbles. So when I was doing dishes, I decided to take the time to play. Who says cleaning has to be boring?
Pushing Me Forward
Cleaning has been amazing lately. I’ll look around and think there is not much to do, and once I get started it’s like zooooom and pow and hi-ya! I think the thing I love most about cleaning is how it enjoyable it is to sit in a clean and tidy home. Chris and I are finding ourselves hanging out more because we actually feel peaceful and stress free. Yesterday, I got home after throwing Sarah a baby shower and I was pretty tired. The first thing I did was set my timer for ten minutes and I started at the kitchen sink (which I am learning is the best place for me to start every day since there is ALWAYS something to do there). Then I put a couple of items back where they belong. I had a few minutes left, and noticed that the coasters that Angie re-gifted to me were sitting on the table still. They are the kind that hold photographs. I hate empty frames so I went to the closet, grabbed my wedding album, cut out four pictures, and slid them into the coaster. The timer went off half way through so I just finished my little art project. This placed me in a very artsy mood. I noticed that my crayon art was sitting unfinished on the floor. I went over and finished. When I was done with that I made a whole new creation. I am excited to share that cleaning is propelling me forward into making art! I actually have time to create because everything else in the home is done. I feel like its OK to “waste time” (even though it’s actually really rewarding for me to be creative) because I have the time! I am considering adding photos to my blog. I should probably show you what I have done. Some of the photos I would like to add are: the soap I made, the shelf I put up, the coasters, and the new crayon art! I hope I am inspiring you to clean for ten minutes and/or to make something creatively today!
Cleaning is easy?
Woah. I went to do my ten minutes of cleaning, and after ten minutes I was done. Completely done. With everything. There was nothing left to do. Today was vacuum, mop, and clean the toilet day. Seriously, every Wednesday for the past year I have spent two hours cleaning. Today I finished in ten minutes? It’s day eleven of cleaning for ten minutes and I have to say I feel very light, organized, and confident in my own home. I am grateful for this experience! Also, as an added bonus, I hung two guitars and a shelf because I had so much time to kill! It looks great, feels great, and smells great in here.
Cleaning the Shower…Ugh
The cleaning I did today was the worst chore there is. (according to me)…. the shower. I hate the shower, with its mildew. How does it get so scummy and dirty with all the soap and water running around daily in there? Thankfully we have a small stand up shower stall rather than a tub. Our old apartment had two bathrooms which seemed like a luxury, but that’s twice the scrubbing!
The first things I did was make my own soap. I found a recipe on Realsimple.com which taught me to heat up some white vinegar and add blue dish soap to it. It looked a lot like windex- so much so that I wrote “Not Windex” on the bottle- just in case I forget next time. Then I set my timer for ten minutes and started throwing away empty shampoo bottles, dull razors, and anything that looked gross.
Next, I sprayed the whole empty shower with my new concoction. I swished and swiped with my sponge and really scrubbed the floor. I had just washed Abbey, the dog, and there were a lot of dog hairs floating around (TMI?). Then I used the shower head and sprayed all the dirt and soap away. I used a Shamwow that I got as a white elephant gift over Christmas to dry off the surfaces. Then I windexed everything to make it look shiney. In exactly ten minutes my shower was sparkly and I was surprised that I was done.
Day 3- The Handbag
Today was day three of cleaning. After quickly doing the dishes and wiping off my counters. I tackled my purse- it had been a few weeks and the receipts and gum wrappers were starting to pile up. I dumped it all out on the floor, organized my coin collection, and as the timer beeped that my ten minutes were up I threw away two handfuls of trash. My purse feels a lot lighter and so do my spirits. I am surprised everyday that there is ten minutes worth of cleaning available to me. I foresee a day in the future where I can start decluttering and organizing my closets and drawers.
Day 2- Putting away the x-mas decorations
Today is day two of my good habit-forming year. I set my timer after breakfast and decided to put all the Christmas decorations away. I keep my decorations in a vintage suitcase. (We don’t have that many.) With 2 minutes left on the timer all I had to do was put away the string of lights that were around our front door. At :30 seconds I put the suitcase away in the shed and let me tell you it felt really good to have it all done (in ten minutes!). Bye Christmas!
Good Habits
Last year was all about giving up. I said bye bye to Facebook for the year. It went well. I survived. I still have friends. This year I have decided is all about new habits. Today is day one of my habit forming year. I am interested in seeing what adding one habit a month to my life is like.
My first habit is to clean for ten minutes a day. I set a timer and start with whatever grabs my attention. If there are dishes- I do them. If the trash is full- I take it out. I throw out garbage, pick up poop, make the bed and put away clothes. It is amazing how nice the home looks after ten minutes of cleaning. I normally only clean on Wednesdays for a couple of hours, but with my new habit I will be cleaning for an hour and ten minutes throughout the week which I hypthesis will be less cleaning on Wednesdays.
Growing up I had a very messy room 99% of the time and then, if someone was going to visit for a week I’d clean my room to impress them. I never cleaned for myself. I felt very depressed, lonely, and foggy-headed growing up. Looking back, I never wanted to invite people over because my room was a mess. My mom tried to get me to clean it, but finally she settled with letting me have a messy room as long as my door was shut.
I am looking forward to feeling more peace and less stress. Sitting in an uncluttered, clean, organized space does wonders for the soul. Just think about spas, hotels, and fancy stores in the mall. Less stuff, more room, organized (a place for everything and everything in its place) and clean. I want my home to look cataloguesque decorated, hotel clean, and feel as relaxing as a day spa (without the sulfur pool smell).
Did I mention it doesn’t have to be perfect?
Loving Well
Loving well means having no conditions on yourself, others and God. When it comes to true love, no matter what someone does or doesn’t do should not affect the way we love them. Sometimes the hardest person to love is yourself. We come from a perfectionist society where every photo is photo-shopped and makes us feel that much more flawed. Oh no, I have a pimple, I thought yesterday as I looked in the mirror. My self-love-o-meter went down a notch. Shoot, my roots are showing. My legs are hairy. My nails are brittle. My teeth are stained. My glasses are smudged. These are all insecure thoughts I had about myself yesterday. What’s funny is that I was probably the only one who noticed these things because everyone else was too busy beating themselves up too. And it’s not just women, it’s men and children too. this is where disorders come into place; OCD, anxiety, self harm, and anorexia stem from self-hatred.
Since when did becoming a Christian mean not loving the self? Everyday we should say nice things to ourselves. Wow, Amy, you have really been toning up your abs, they look great! That was very thoughtful of you to connect a new member of the church. Amy you are getting an A in math and that is something to be proud of! It’s ok to be kind to the self. Run a bath, linger in a book, and, dare I say it, take a sabbath.
The Lord wants us to love ourselves. He also calls us to love others. In the golden rule, he did not just say people we know. Living in LA, I can tell you first hand, traffic sucks and so do people’s attitudes on the road. My attitude can flip like a switch if someone cuts me off, doesn’t signal or slams on the breaks for no reason at all. I sometimes give them “the finger” or call them a “mo-fo”. This is not kind. I know that it would lower my stress if I simply looked at everyone on the road as Christ’s sons and daughters, as my brothers and sisters, and if I loved these strangers unconditionally. God knows every thought in our brains, and when we judge others in our minds, He hears it. When I think a bad thought about someone, like, “she is so fake,” and then realize, hey, that was not very loving of me to think that, I try to think of some reasons why that person is awesome to squelch the negative thought. She is a great organizer, has great fashion sense and an outgoing personality. When I really get to the root of the issue, the truth is I can be fake sometimes and usually the things I don’t like about others are the same battles I fight in my own life. Dwelling on the good aspects of people is biblical in nature and helps to hold those stinky thoughts captive.
It’s really easy for me to love God when I have money, friends, a cool place to live, a running car, an obedient dog, and new clothes in my closet. It’s the times when someone dies, I feel bored, or I experience conflict, that I question His power over my life. “Why did you let that happen?” “Where were you?” “God, please make this stop!” Who am I to tell God that there is a better way? He knows everything. He invented intelligence, relationships, order, and existence. When I doubt God, I am placing a condition on my full love for Him and this keeps me at arm’s length from Him. To really experience love, there must be zero conditions. Let us die to ourselves and choose to love freely, just like our Savior did when He died so that our sins would be forgiven.
