As I wrote in my daily blog, today is hard - no big deal, just headache and period pains.

But I'm really proud to say that I've stripped my bed, swished and swiped in both toilets, shined my sink and made Tom's feed.  I've added the latter to my morning routine which is my first personal step.  It was really empowering to add my own "suggestion" to my control journal.

I've also ordered a rubber brush to deal with my stairs.  I'm only sad to say that I couldn't buy it from Fly Lady as the shipping cost was twice the price of the brush...  never mind.

I now have a control journal!  I printed out the Fly Lady's flight plan for today, and I'm proud to say that I've followed every step!  Kelly's mission is a little trickier because I have so much decluttering to do, but I have a tidy bedroom albeit one that desperately needs a hoover!!

I also tackled the hotspot that is the hall chair.  My sink continues to shine, the table was laid by Tom and Kesia this evening and my dinner was all planned (until I found out that Nick had stopped by his parents' house for dinner on the way home - good son checking on his Mum).

The house feels different, and even seems to smell different.  I don't know how really given the very baby steps I've taken, but as I got up for pain medication last night, it smelled... good, and definitely better.

Thank you Fly Lady.  I'm learning step by step.  Mostly, most importantly, I'm learning that there is no amount of tidying I can do for my kids... they have to do it for themselves.

I'm hoping tomorrow is the day that Kesia decides to shine her desk.  As soon as she starts, I'm there, all helping hands to the deck!

I am taking my babysteps, and learning.  I think that this process gives me hope because I am the one doing it.  I don't care that the house will look a mess for a few weeks.  At least I am learning to "make" my home in a way that suits me. In the past I have either blitzed it myself, or had help to do so, but nothing has ever lasted.

It makes it difficult to consider asking for help.

Onto the good news, then!  My sink is still shiny!  I have brought my ironing board out of hibernation, although I'm going to need a stool of some kind to do the ironing properly.  My toilets are also shiny, and I have adopted a new Fly Lade habit - swish and shine!

More than anything else, I love that my darling Nick is embracing the Fly Lady principles and helping out.  I fully expect most people who know me to laugh at me - another of Benedicte's hairbrained schemes I can almost hear them thinking.  With Nick it is usually much quieter and more accepting, but he is actually participating.  He has even beenheard to voice the words "Fly Lady" out loud!

On related news, we have been reorganizing our finances and embarking on a major savings spree - well, rebudgeting!  It's a little hard to have to do it, but there is something very empowering in regaining control of such things!!

Cooking follows such endeavours, with a hearty wholesome soup being on the menu lastnight, and a big batch of mince having been cooked a week ago and used in about 4 separate meals.

Now if only I can keep this up, I think I can keep the darkness at bay.

Most of the time, for most of the days, I feel as if I am falling off a cliff, and trying to grab onto any foot or handhold.  As I reach something, I discover that the cliff is made up of bales of straw and that all I can grab hold of are those loose pieces of straw.  So while I keep trying to stop my fall, and maybe even climb back up, all I do is keep falling.  Good thing the cliff seems never ending so far.

All this to say that today I made my sink shiny.  I also got dressed to my shoes and have not taken my shoes off yet because my day is not yet over.

But, I also tackled and cleared one of my major hotspots - the paperwork cupboard.  All my papers are now in order, although much of the house is totally chaotic!

Amazingly, proudly, I also announce that m

Most of you are probably thinking that I have finally lost the last vestige of my sanity.
Ho, ho, but you'd be wrong!  Fly Lady is an american system of housecleaning, organising that takes thing one tiny step at a time. 

Again, most of you will be thinking why?  But I am not a homemaker (hate the word housekeeper), and my fibromyalgia is such that I need this to be efficient!

So Day 1's job was to make my sink a shiny sink.  It's taken close to two hours (including one hour soaking in bleach), but every last bit of dirt and staining is gone, and it is now gleaming.

I so want to do Day 2, but am making myself stick to the slow and steady!