Dear FlyLady,

Warning: if anyone is squeamish or sensitive about pets catching critters, you may want to stop reading now.  🙂

I have never written to FlyLady before.  The fact that this ‘incident’ happened during March ‘get dressed to shoes’ month is just too ironic not to share.  Why do I do this to myself??  I learn a FlyLady lesson, I KNOW it works, but there are still those days when I refuse to listen to your wisdom.  Today was one of those days when you would have gotten a kick out of saying, “I told you so!”   haha  Actually, my daughter said that very thing when it was over.

Here in Montana we have epic amounts of ground squirrels (commonly referred to as gophers).  Cute little buggers look like prairie dogs, and DIG HOLES like prairie dogs.  ggrrr  After a time or two of twisted ankles from stepping in their holes, and constantly being concerned about your horse breaking a leg in the 200 holes in your pasture, suddenly they are not so ‘cute’ any more.  Thankfully, we have several cats who go on the pursuit daily, and at least keep them out of the yard (mostly).  Of course when cats hunt, they love to bring their spoils of war home.

So there I was today, enjoying one of those ‘lazy’ days…you know how it is…don’t have to go out of the house for anything, so it’s noon and I’m still in pajamas, bare feet, no makeup, you get the picture.  I say I’m ‘enjoying’ the day, but not really, because once you’ve tasted the success of Flying, you can’t fully ‘enjoy’ a day like that without hearing dear FlyLady in your head…”Even if you work at home, you’re more productive when you are dressed to shoes!”, “You are not behind, just jump in where you are!”, “Remember, the DO IT NOW principle!”  lol

Back to the critter story.  My daughter and I hear a cat at the garage door, and sure enough, her kitty has caught a gopher and brought it proudly to the door.  This one is not quite dead, and my daughter and I go through our usual emotions when this happens, back and forth between “good kitty!” and “poor little gopher”.  (Even though they cause no end of trouble, they really are quite cute)  Not wanting to see it suffer, I get the brilliant idea to go outside and ‘take care of it’.  I will insert here that my daughter warned me that it was NOT a good idea to open the door, since ‘poor little not-quite-dead gopher’ was just on the other side.  My great and wise response was to tell her to go in the house so she wouldn’t have to watch.  See how smart I am?  NOT!

You can probably guess what happened next.  As I open the door to go outside, suddenly ‘poor little gopher’ becomes more alive than dead, and proceeds to run in the garage right across my bare feet.  Now, I don’t consider myself a squeamish person, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy gophers running across my toes.  Of course I can’t stop and put shoes on now, because who knows where ‘poor little gopher’ would get to in the garage by the time I went in the house and got shoes on.  Three cats, myself (still in bare feet), and a couple minutes later, the ‘incident’ was over, and ‘poor little gopher’ has gone on to his reward.  I immediately showered, got dressed TO SHOES, and am now ready to face whatever the cat may drag in.

The moral of the story is…FlyLady knows what she’s talking about, her lessons work, and WEAR YOUR SHOES, because you never know what may come in your door!  Why oh why do I have to learn the hard way??

Flying (sometimes away from gophers) in Montana

FlyLady Rebecca here: Do you have a shoe Testimonial? Let us know, and send an email with I HAVE MY SHOES ON in the subject line.

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Gray and Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Get Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!