Dear FlyLady,

I can do anything for 15 minutes …. even ironing!

When I first started to fly I thought ironing must be a dirty word because I couldn’t find it anywhere in the routines … and it was my personal mount washmore … the final stage of laundry was where I let the process pause, stop and stagnate.

Here’s the great thing! I can do anything for 15 minutes, even ironing!

I gave myself permission (thank you Flylady!!!) to set the timer for 15 minutes before even getting out the ironing board and to put it away as soon as the timer went off … even if there was more ironing to do. It is AMAZING how much I can do in 15 minutes … even in 1 minute before the timer is about to beep.

Things like where my ironing board lives and where I do my ironing have changed slowly over time as I have tackled them. It became clear if getting the ironing board out was a struggle and why (clutter in the way? ironing board home too far away? no definite place to do the ironing?).

There goes my timer for 15 minutes computer time

Time to do today’s ironing

Laura in Dublin, Ireland

Even Ride the Scary Ride

Dear FlyLady,

I have been FLYing on-again, off-again ever since your original email group from the old SHEs’ forum. I guess you won’t find it surprising that each successive time I think I’ve fallen off the system, I find that I’ve fallen less and less, and this time it didn’t even take me a whole day to see that I wasn’t really spinning out of control because of the routines I’ve stuck to– even though I’m not reading each Mission and doing them, it’s usually just one or two hotspots that are “driving me crazy” when I know I need to get back with the program “religiously” for awhile. This time the “hotspot” only had five items– just two days of mail!?!  I guess I am truly FLY-washed!

In fact, your mantras are so engrained in me, that I have to tell you this funny thing:

This past weekend my “DH” and I went, with our adult son and his girlfriend, to Ohio’s Cedar Point (a big amusement park known for its roller coasters). DH and I were probably the oldest people in line for the coasters. We hadn’t been there for over ten years, and there are several new, very intimidating thrill rides. Waiting in long lines is nerve-wracking enough, but when DH and I finally got buckled into the seats for what I thought was the scariest ride, there was some sort of delay in the ride’s operation and we were sitting and sitting there, waiting longer, feeling more frightened as seconds ticked by.  I muttered something under my breath and DH asked, “Did you just say what I think you did?!?”

I grinned, and said, “YEP! FlyLady’s right! I CAN do ANYTHING for 15 minutes, even ride this scary ride, and it won’t even take five minutes.”

The ride started, and I loved it, and now I have more great memories! Just like keeping a home with perfectionist thinking, the anticipation of a dreaded amusement park ride is much, much worse, and takes much, much longer than the actual doing the thing. And you have such enjoyment with the results.

Love you all!
Janice