Dear FlyLady,

I have been flying with you here in Jerusalem for 6 months and feel very happy with the positive change in my life and home. I am naturally a kind of disorganized person and following your system helps me a lot in the house and out. You have influenced me so much and I don’t even know you. I tell friends and family about your site, forward your e-mails, translate your ideas into Hebrew and often speak about your system and messages. (FlyLady, I am spreading your word around the Holy Land!!)

One of the most helpful evening routines is preparing a launch pad for the next morning. This has saved me many times from hectic mornings trying to get my 4 DS’s and myself to school on time.

Lately it has become harder to keep up my FLYing. After a year on sabbatical with 3 whole free mornings a week (I am a high school English teacher), it is now Summer Holidays and I spend all day, every day, with my 4 sons. These last couple of weeks I let go of my routines here and there and my house didn’t look as good as before. This week I planned to take them to the swimming pool, bought tickets ahead of time and arranged with my Mom to come along so I have some help (my 2 youngest are twins aged 4). The evening before, tired after a long day, I didn’t prepare a launch pad.

Needless to say, the next morning was a nightmare. By the time I collected all the equipment to take to the pool and fished out the swimsuits from the laundry basket, together with trying to get 4 kids dressed, fed and ready, it was almost noon.

When we finally arrived at the pool I realized to my horror that I had forgotten to put the tickets in my bag. I had to drive all the way back home to get them – 4 sweaty, impatient kids plus one very frustrated Flybaby.

At that moment It was suddenly perfectly clear to me that I need to get back FLYing that very day and should NEVER SKIP PREPARING A LAUNCH PAD. After the pool I put on my timer and fixed up the messy house and piled laundry in less than an hour. I felt so much better.

Soon I am going back to full time teaching, which I know will present a challenge in terms of keeping up my routines and maintaining the peace and happiness I found in my home during the year of my sabbatical (thanks to you). I will no longer have free mornings at home without the kids and it will be harder to fit in routines. If you have any advice about how to keep up FLYing through such a change I would appreciate it.

Thank you so much for helping me feel good about myself and my home

God bless you

Fluttering Flybaby in Jerusalem, Israel

You Saved My Sanity

Dear FlyLady,

I just had to send you a great big THANK YOU for the high quality tools you have available for us to purchase.

I recently went through an emergency home repair situation that had it not been for the Rubba Sweepa, FlyLady mop and dustmop, purple rags and feather dusters, I would probably have had a total meltdown! But 15 minutes at a time and the right tools made cleanup a breeze.

My “situation” started as a window that leaked causing wet wallboard and insulation, subflooring, mold, and then we found termites!!! OMG!! I was absolutely horrified when I saw all that, and we ended up having to have an entire outside wall completely removed and new studs, insulation and wallboard installed. (Oh yeah, the exterminator had to come to treat during this time too.) The new window comes later when the rest of the new windows are being installed. You can imagine the dust, wood shavings, and nasty stuff from the wet wood, insulation, wallboard, etc. that had settled on my furniture and floors. But as luck would have it (I could definitely use some when all this was discovered) I had ordered some new “tools” just because I needed them for regular cleaning.

The new “tools” arrived right in the middle of this repair work so I could start using them right away. Boy, did they get used!! And now, in less than a weekend, my house is back to normal and I did it 15 minutes at a time using my FlyLady timer. We have even gotten rid of the old wood, etc., by hauling it off. Didn’t want it staying around here, that’s for sure!

As I said, the rest of the windows will be installed later this month, so the “tools” will be used a lot during that time too. I am so glad I ordered them when I did. Never did I imagine they would be put to the test like they were, but they performed beautifully and faithfully. Thank you, thank you, thank you for teaching me to focus and for reinforcing the old adage of “the right tool for the job.”

It certainly paid off for me.

Faithful Reader in Kansas