Keeping It Clean Part II: Keep Keeping It Clean and Consequences

Here's the bad news about yesterday's "Keeping It Clean in 4 Easy (Enough) Steps" post: you have to build about 6 weeks of momentum before the temptation to quit stops stopping you. Oh, and here's worse news: any early successes were a big part of my temptations to quit. Success didn't breed success. If you are anything like me, you will love getting the plan together and enjoy the process of putting your aspirations to paper. You might even get a few days into the implementation of the plan, see neatness and order begin to emerge from the clutter, and find that the little bit of success is so inspiring you will think to yourself, "Wow, would you look at that counter! It's CLEAN! Was this a smart thing for me to do, or what?! I'm AWEsome! AAAAAaaaand I'm done. I never ever want to do this again."

Yes, indeed, that little bit of accomplishment satisfied me just enough that I was ready to move on to something else. Human nature. It's just so annoying sometimes.

Fear not, my friends, I am here to tell you that housework is just like dieting. You are going to clean and reclean the same mess you keep making just like you lose and relose those same 10 pounds!

Yuppers, that's how that's probably going to work. This is where that die to self, pick up your cross, and offer it up Catholic pep talk would come in awfully handy, but I just got tired, demotivated, and uninspired remembering that in a few short hours I have to start cleaning again. Again. 365 days each cyclical year (minus Sundays). Ugh.

There's a reason they call it housework and not something fun like...uh...chores...or, um...drudgery...*scowl*...

(You may quit reading now...)

Really, it's like that. You know it is. Do it anyway. Take one for the team. Be a saint. Yadda yadda. Play the tape. When you mess up, start over. Whatever you do to motivate you when you fall down or quit, do that and get the ball rolling again. And again. It's likely going to stop a few (thousand) times before it's really running well.

...Hello?...

Ah, you're back. Okay, then, you've rallied and are ready to read on. So, then, right about here, when you've mustered your resolve and thought, "It'll be hard but I can do this!" you are going to remember that you have to keep those kids of yours motivated, too. But, if you think about it, if YOU don't want to do it, how much less are those semi-socialized little people who live in your house going to be motivated to do it? You're going to have to think of a way to keep you all at it until the routine builds up enough momentum that it starts to become a routine. Then you will have to manage to keep your temper, your perspective, and your sense of humor while doing it.

"She wants a clean house, boys! GET HER!"

It's Tougher Than You Think. In Fact, This Is War!
Remember that virtues are habits of doing good. In this case you are working not on your house but on the Cardinal Virtue of Diligence. Satan hates that. He's going to throw everything at you to keep you from making the effort in the first place. You and all your well known flaws are the first thing he will throw at you. Your kids and their quirks that accuse you of your own shortcomings come flying at you next. Then he'll toss in any flaws in your parenting. After that he'll have to get creative enough to give you the flu. Twice. Just brace yourself because...well, it's warfare. Remember that whole spiritual warfare business they scared you with in Sunday School? Deciding to do this type of thing as a service to your God and your family draws attention. It's like getting a promotion in the field of battle.The enemy can see clearly see your shiny new officer insignia and will aim right at them until they become dull and banged up enough to either kill you and your efforts or to stop attracting so much notice. Why bother then? Why tell you right up front that it's too hard? Because this is good, the less you want to do it the better it is for you and your soul if you do it anyway. Satan is going to thwart you in every step of doing this because he knows that once a habit gets to the auto-pilot stage, most of the battle is over.

Now, you know it, too.

It'll get easier. Can you hang onto that? The first six weeks are the hardest. Then the auto-pilot starts kicking in and success will build on success and you'll get to the point where you will get up off your flu-ridden-deathbed for the 45 minutes it takes to do the house. Why? Because it's just easier that way.

Until then, though, let me help you get around some of the pitfalls that are going to be dug for you.

6 weeks. Remember that. Don't forget to pray. Pray before you open your mouth to address any problems. Pray before you start your day or your timer. Pray a lot. You'll need the backup.

Consequences: You have to have them.

Consequences come in two forms: positive and negative.

Negatives 
Like every system in life, the system works but the people won't. Ah, concupiscence! How we loathe, thee. I have to admit, I'm one of the worst offenders around here for daily malingering.

I'm going to quote myself, "The kids have their list and I have mine and nothing...nothing at all...happens until those things are done. No snacks, no toys, no radio, no games, no TV time. Nothing. Nada. Zip." Not only do we not allow for interruptions of any sort during the 45 minutes, one of the consequences of not doing your work is that...nothing...happens. If my preschooler comes up and says, "I'm thirsty!" during our 45 minutes, I say, "You can get a drink when the timer rings." By the same token, if the 45 minutes are over and the jobs haven't been done, when a child asks for juice, I say in the most sympathetic Mom voice I have managed to cultivate in my 9 years of experience, "Oh, sorry! You didn't do your chores today. You have to have water."

By the way, my kids hate when I apologize and nod at them.

Do you get it, though? Nothing happens. Whatever they ask for, whatever you see them doing that is fun or interesting that isn't school related, that's what gets nixed. "Oh, sorry! You didn't finish in time, so no Legos today" or "...no wearing pink today" or "...no music during coloring today." You can just fill in that blank as the opportunity arises.

In addition to that technique, you'll need a few back ups. I have a list of privileges that I've got stuck on my bulletin board, so I don't have to think much on my feet. On it is stuff you wouldn't normally consider a privilege but won't kill anyone to do without for a day or so, like...

• wearing your favorite color
• using your favorite cup
• picking your outfit (yes, I make them change clothes)
• Legos
• Computer Time
• TV
• dessert (some days the only reason we even had a dessert was just so someone could miss out on it: my husband loves those days)
• Big Kid bedtime

By the way, have some fun generating this list with your husband when the kids are in bed tonight. "Hey, honey? You want to plan some Godzilla Parenting? Mwhahaha!" (That'll teach those kids not to get out of bed and listen in on Mommy and Daddy time ever again, won't it?)

Okay, so you've drunk a glass of wine with your husband and giggled your way through generating a list of 10 or so privileges to hang on the wall. Now you find yourself three days into the routine, eyeball to eyeball with a rebel who has determined to draw the line at socks. He will never, ever, ever pick up a sock and you are a bad person for even daring to utter that s-word in his presence. What do you do? It's simple enough, you just go to the list and jot little Paul Revere's name down next to #1. That becomes a revoked privilege until something improves.

"Well, the sock gambit backfired. How else can I get out of this mess?"

Oh, and no disrespect allowed. At all. Period. Even a disrespectful gleam in the eye needs to be nipped in the bud. Let's take a metaphor from the blog's garden-related title here: Weeds are easy to yank out when they are seedlings, but allow anything to take root and you are going to need gloves and a shovel. Behavior is the same way. So, while you are working on housecleaning, you can work on nipping backtalk in the bud at the same time. (Really, what else is this woman going to add to her endless lists!!!) It's a simple fix. When they make a face at you over their name going on the list, nod and say sympathetically, "Oh, sorry. A bad attitude loses another privilege," while marking their name next to #2. Easy.

Well, except for the whole Biblical "wailing and gnashing of teeth" routine you are going to get while they test the system. You don't have to be Super Mom for this to work. You just have to be a fraction of a second more stubborn than any one of them. You have the advantage there. Your stubborn has 20 years more experience behind their stubborn. Just remember, nod and say, "Oh, sorry," a lot.

They hate that.

Nip It In the Bud: Their Future Co-Workers and Spouses Will Thank You
We are all responsible for learning how to maintain a clean house and we are all responsible for doing our work without adding to any one else's job by being a pain in the bohonkus, so yes, I hold them and myself responsible for not griping. In fact, I have a phrase, "School your face!" that the kids hear or even say to me (no, they can't say it to each other). It means that they and I must wear either a pleasant or a neutral expression during that 45 minute time frame. That may sound silly or even over-the-top outrageous, but we discovered it was necessary when we spent a week or more of chaos and breakdown when the scowls led to complaints, led to squabbles, led to kids hitting and screaming and mom yelling and reprimanding. This system is based on a "nip it in the bud" philosophy. All the jobs are designed to nip clutter in the bud, and all outward displays of inner attitudes are designed to nip conflict in the bud, too. If any one of us isn't happy, there's 23.25 other hours left in the day to show it, discuss it, and deal with it, so just school it!

Where Were We?
We're getting a little long here, so let's review just a bit. Don't nag, don't beg or plead. (In fact, this whole system works better if you maintain a neutral attitude and don't add the incentive of "getting Mommy's goat" to the temptation to misbehave.) If the work isn't done when the timer rings, nothing happens until it gets done. nothing...nothing at all....

The negative consequences grow out of the situation at hand or a name is simply placed next to a lost privilege, like "Favorite Color" (wearing it or using it to color with) or "Computer Time" (sorry you have to use this heavy and voluminous Encyclopedia for that research today) or "Recess Fun" (your recess is going to have to be dusting the coffee table) or "TV" (while we get to watch the video, you have to finish your job. See you when you're done!). Then, if the job doesn't get done by the end of the day, the next day is a "Blackout" and all privileges from the list are revoked. There's no fuss, no muss, and any undo whining or complaining (the early stages of backtalk and rebellion) gets your name placed further down the list.

Your children will pull together to get the job done:
the job of organized rebellion!

We don't add time to our timer when one particular child (or mom) is feeling particularly naughty and wants to test the system (it happens). It goes off and we move on to our very next thing. For our family it's Homeschool Time, and while everyone is getting their pencils, a malingerer's name goes on the privileges list, sometimes pretty far down the list until their job is done. And after that timer goes off, the job has to be done on their free time because work time ran out. It's a simple system. 

Until the job is done...that phrase brings us to the next category of consequences...

Positive Consequences
Repentance, a return to polite cheerfulness, zealously re-attending to duties earns back a privilege. Reward any steps in the right direction! Hug, smile, and brag on any child who repents. Cheerfully and theatrically erase that name from your privileges list. Make it very clear that you've been waiting, practically hovering, ready to pounce on them with praise and restored goodwill. Get just as creative in giving back imaginary privileges as you are in taking them away. Make as big a deal as possible as you pull a 2 liter bottle of generic root beer out of a bag. "You know, guys, I hadn't planned on getting soda when I ran in to Wal-Mart this afternoon, but I remembered how quickly your brother turned his attitude around this morning. It was so impressive that when I passed the soda aisle, I decided we could all use a little treat in his honor."

You get the picture. I'm talking bribery, here. Bribery and emotional blackmail. If you aren't enough of a snot to enjoy out-thinking your kids on occasion, at least you can enjoy the root beer.

Just like negative consequences flow out of the situation, so do positive ones. With our system we have 45 minutes after breakfast to do the chores that in theory can be done in less than half that time. Any leftover time you have left over is yours to do with as you see fit. The reward for doing a job in a timely manner is...time.

Which brings me back to that 6 week learning curve I mentioned in the beginning. After 6 weeks to train, to rebel, to fail and begin again, your new routine is now routine and you will have everyone playing tea party, reading, or creating Lego masterpieces by the end of 20 minutes. Usually.

Six Weeks, You Say?
You can do this. You really can. I know it's possible because it's happening right here, right now in Amarillo, Texas. It's happening because I'm not shooting for perfection in my house, merely improvement. Any progress toward the goal is counted as progress. If you can keep your sense of perspective and keep your sense of humor, it could be just enough to keep the ball rolling. Besides, six weeks from now puts you smack dab in the middle of Lent. You know how much fun Lent can be. Just consider this a head start on the sackcloth and ashes.

Happy Suffering, y'all!

------

Next week: The Dice of Doom "dun-dun-duuuuuuuuun!"

Keeping It Clean in 4 Easy (Enough) Steps

Micaela Darr, a fellow blogger over at California to Korea, inspired me to write this post. I happened on her lament "I NEED HELP MANAGING THE CHAOS!!!" while perusing through the 7 Quick Takes over at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary last Friday. I started on a comment that grew longer and longer and longer. That comment found its final form here...

I know most people don't consider a clean house a necessity in their marriage. In fact, it is very likely not on anybody's radar when we mentally compile a list of issues contributing to marital stress, but people fight about cleanliness. They really do. I've learned, after years of pretending it wasn't so important, that it was vitally important in my own marriage and family life. After a few years experience, tons of prayer, and flying around with The Fly Lady, I've learned how to manage housework at a level that makes everyone happy, including me.

It hasn't been easy. I prefer a clean house but don't mind clutter. I will gladly scrub the toilet, sweep the floor, and wash the dishes, but as long as the pile of books by the bed is dusted, I'm content. I tend to pile things up instead of put them away. My husband can live with the grime as long as the books are back on the shelf. You get the picture. I tried to convince my husband that mine was the best method and he tried to convince me that his was the best method, sometimes nicely and sometimes not. Enter my son. He has Autism. He came along seven years ago and settled the question firmly and finally: our house shall be clean AND orderly, not either or.

Sensory overload is a moment by moment occurrence for those with Autism

Because of the Autism, neatness is vital to my son's ability to think clearly. His senses do not provide orderly input. His eyes see everything, all at once. His ears do the same. Imagine trying to think while hearing the fly buzzing like a chainsaw on the windowsill, the whine of the transmission of the car passing by, the cat breathing like Darth Vader in the corner, then imagine all this while smelling the perfume in mommy's deodorant and the dog's spit as he licks a paw and this all mixed in with the acrid stench of the soap heating up in the dishwasher as it cycles like thunder through a wash. There is no volume control; his experience of any one of his senses is almost unbearably intense. With visual order, he has more mental energy to spare. He can concentrate on filtering out the barrage of over stimulation from his other senses. Without my diligence in keeping order in my home, my son spends his energy not in play or learning but in keeping his world from spinning out of control.

Since I have scrabbled and clawed my way to a "Clean Enough" house through trial and error, let me spare you some of the effort and frustration I had to experience by sharing what I've learned and where I learned it.

1. Make a List of "Daily Dos"

 The only thing that worked for me was trial and error. For weeks on end I set a timer for an hour and cleaned everything up in the public rooms (the kitchen, living room, and dining room). I wrote down what I did, monitored my son's reaction during the day, and checked in with my husband at night. "How's this level of clean? What do you notice?" I went through the room with him with my list in hand. If he noticed a job was done, I put a check by it and kept it on my Daily Dos. If he didn't notice, I pointed out the job, asking, "Do you care that this was clean?" If the answer was, "No," that job came off the daily list and was added to a Weekly Dos. If the answer was, "No, but thank you!" it stayed on. From this process we created our list of the absolute essential, do-every-day-or-annoy-my-husband chores. It's posted on our bulletin board in pencil in case any adult needs to add to it or erase from it. Like the title Daily Do implies, we do those same little jobs every stinking day.

To give you an idea of where to start making your list, I will share with you my hard-won list and refer you to the Fly Lady Page which was the inspiration for my family's list. She has her own system and lists ready made and I highly recommend reading her philosophy on cleanliness and using her system to get the house out of chaos and into order! We started there a few years ago but had to adapt that method to our family: we needed some jobs done more frequently due to the size and needs of our family.

My Daily Dos

We start with #2 as soon as our main meal (breakfast) is done. Everybody has their list of jobs to do and everyone has 45 minutes to do it in. This list keeps our house in enough order each day that everyone is relatively happy.

1.   Come to breakfast dressed and brushed (hair and teeth)
2.   Dirty dishes to the counter
3.   Wipe table
4.   Sweep under table and wipe any spills (chairs and floor)
5.   Straighten bedrooms (make beds, sweep rooms, put away toys)
6.   Sweep every floor
7.   Vacuum living room rug
8.   Wipe down bathroom
9.   Dust a room (every room gets hit eventually, including bedrooms)
10. Breakfast dishes

Just in case you think I have my act really together,
this is the actual list, torn edges and all.

In addition to this 45 minute mad morning dash, we have two 10 minute straighten ups during the day. The kids put away all their games and toys while I fold laundry or tackle my clutter spots. Anything not picked up in that 10 minutes goes into Mommy's Basket and does not come out again until Sunday or I remember, whichever comes last.

Which brings us to tomorrow's post...

Consequences: Bad and Good.

Stay tuned for that tomorrow. For today, focus on getting your list of Must Dos together before you start thinking of all the problems that get between you and the smoothly running machine you are trying to invent!

2. Divvy It up

Dividing up the chores takes some doing and the divvy list is always flexing for several reasons: kids need to learn how to do all the jobs by the time they are ready to move out on their own and Mommy needs to do every job periodically to ensure that an "adult level of clean" is attained at least weekly. We found in the process that we had to make or buy some child-sized tools (we cut a broom down to a child's shoulder height until a Godmother bought us a real, usable child's sized broom as a gift). We also found that some tools were essential to invest in and some were not worth it. Our house has one carpet in the living room and hardwood or laminate flooring everywhere else, so we invested in brooms and floor dusters and skimped on the vacuum.

Age and Ability Guidelines
A toddler can be given a basket and with some supervision play "Put That Away" games with the toys spread on the living room floor. (Mommy or an older child can be responsible for emptying the toddler basket and putting the toys where they live.) A three year old will be able to clear the table of silverware and unbreakable plates. A four year old can dust anything that is within reach. Five-year-olds can use a dust pan and even stand on a kitchen stool to scrape food scraps off the dishes before someone older loads the dishwasher. A six year old can manage a child sized broom to sweep a room (at least as long as Mommy gets in to sweep the corners out each week). A seven year old can be trusted with a nontoxic cleaner (like vinegar and water) to wipe down counter tops and doorknobs. An eight year old can plug in and run a vacuum. A nine year old can be trusted to feed and water household pets (with supervision) and even to clean up pet related messes indoors and out.

A special note on special needs
My son with Autism has his jobs, though he requires a longer learning curve and more supervision than another child his age might. My 45 minutes of work includes working with him and his jobs. He is no different than my four other children. He will one day need to run his house, too, and every human being thrives with a healthy balance of work and leisure. Please don't forget anyone and their need to work. Work and a sense of purpose is essential to our sense of belonging and well being. Even in the Garden, Adam had his work (Genesis 2). Don't leave anyone out, no matter how much work it costs you to include them!

Get started!
I work with a child who is given a new job to show them how to do it and to put some fun into it. The first time my four year old was assigned to dust my bedroom, she was filled with stories of the objects she was dusting. In particular, my husband has a picture of his deceased sister and I have a picture of my deceased brother on our respective nightstands. As we dusted, she heard about her aunt and uncle in Heaven; she asked questions and was answered. We discovered in doing this that our daughter considered the moment a rite of passage. For the first time ever, she was allowed to touch those and other treasures. The other rooms are "kid proofed" and much less interesting for that reason, but it gives you an idea of the fruits these little labors can produce.

3. Set a Timer for 45 Minutes

The kids have their lists (which are assigned weekly) and I have mine and nothing...nothing at all...happens until those things are done. No snacks, no toys, no radio, no games, no TV time. Nothing. Nada. Zip. At the end of the time our Homeschool Day starts. If a child finishes ahead of time, that child's extra time is "Free Time" to do whatever he or she wants. Most days, after about 6 weeks or so on the learning curve, my children are done before I am and are called from leisure tasks rather than a work task to begin our Homeschool Day.
 
Remember that the entire list of jobs should take no more than 45 minutes or so for Mommy to do, so none of the individual jobs should take a child that long unless they want it to. A toddler should have one job to do. A three year old one or two. A four and five year old two or three. Nothing in combination should take a child the entire 45 minutes to do once the job is learned and done diligently. In fact, my rule of thumb is no more work than 20 minutes worth for my oldest, who is nine. My list began with what it takes me 45 minutes to do uninterrupted on my own, so in the worst of days, and these will happen on occasion, I banish everyone to their rooms with a book and do the whole list myself. Trust me, that's a treat and a break for everyone, especially Mom!

As I mentioned before, in addition to the 45 minutes in the morning, there are the two 10 minute straighten up sessions that happen each day. Ours are done before dinner and before bedtime. Mommy sets the timer and all is cleaned up or it goes into Mommy's Basket and disappears. Whichever way it happens, the mess is cleaned!

And just in case some of you noticed, I've not mentioned my husband in the chore list. My husband is the kind of person who putters constantly. The trick to get him to function at a reasonable level, is to keep him from working himself until he is worn out. When I do my jobs right, he only does his.

4. Do It Daily

This is the big part of the job, the diligence. We do this every day between breakfast and the start of our school day. The only exception is Sunday, the Lord's Day. I get these jobs done even when I am sick as a dog. Frankly, I don't want to spend my recovery trying to dig out from under the piles of undone work, so it's worth spending a little under a half hour* in the morning exerting myself when I have the flu. I make exceptions for the kids during their illnesses, but since they have to lay in bed while we clean, it is the rare Martin child who wants to be left alone for that length of time unless they are sick enough to need the sleep.

*It takes significantly less time to do this on my sick days because the kids are appealed to cut the shenanigans for the sake of their poor, sick Mother, and I do more and supervise less just to get it over with!

The system isn't perfect, but it works when we work. The house still has a few clutter spots, but I try to ensure those stay out of sight. My messy desk is purposefully located in a cubby with doors I can shut when I walk away. My pile of books by my bed now lives in the bed stand that has a door to shut them behind. Since all the jobs don't take all the time we assign to them, I can tackle problem spots each day until the problem is fixed. I don't try to do everything at once and I don't try to start with a clean slate. We started where we were with the hope and the promise of improvement over time. I can promise you, from experience, that that promise proved out. The cleanliness level has improved and is improving as we go. We're at five children now and the house is kept cleaner now than it was when we had no children. The work got harder and the job bigger, but I got smarter and more diligent.

Virtue is a merely a habit of being good. My virtue has become wrapped up in my habits of serving my family and husband in lieu of myself. Cleaning at a level I do not prefer has been my call and my cross, so for me, cleanliness really is next to Godliness. Sometimes it takes everything I can give and more.

God is where I go to find more.


--------

This has been a Wifey Wednesday Post. To have an even more Wifey Wednesday visit Sheila Wray Gregoire at To Love Honor and Vacuum.

Order from Chaos: 3 Tips for Keeping January's Resolutions

"Let all things be done decently and in order" (I Cor.14:40)

God is a God of order. Like cold is what happens when heat is absent, chaos is what happens when God is absent. Without the hand of God, or your hand as His child, all things will revert to their original state: nothingness. The process isn't pretty. The first few stages are mere messiness and disorder. Left alone, these degenerate into chaos. Chaos ultimately ends in obliteration and annihilation.

A wife and mom is in a constant fight with the descent into chaos.

It's the oldest story out there. Creation was orderly and functioned well until we introduced the chaos of sin. After that all Hell broke loose, literally. To make a near eternal story short, if you are battling the Home Depot web page or a counter top that continually fills up with junk mail, half finished scribblings, hair ties, dog collars, dirty coffee mugs, broken crayons, unsharpened pencils, random lists and rubber bands, you can blame Adam and Eve for it.

Thanks guys!

Though, from the looks of my counter top (and no, I will not be showing you a picture of my desk), I'd be the last person to ask about organization, I do have an insight or two into the process. I know how to get organization schemes wrong, I know how to fail, and since that's about it, let me help you avoid some of the pitfalls as you enter into January's Resolution Season.

#1 Let God In
Since God created order and you need Him for that, begin any home improvement project with prayer. Don't try to go at the house on your own steam. Don't even try to go at it with some expert's scheme. None of that is going to work as well as simply starting from the premise that you can't tackle this problem alone. Face it, the Universe is spinning out of control, your counter tops and dusty baseboards are merely evidence of a problem greater than mankind. Entropy is a law you are trying to break! Which leads me to my next point.

#2 You Are Doomed

Not my actual counter...

You are going to fail. You may quit reading now or you may build into your system this humbling realization. Like we continually fall into sin and laziness in our spiritual life and need to be continually repentant and prayerful to battle that tendency, you will continually fall into it in your physical life, too. Whatever your new plans are, a new diet or a vow to keep the gas tank above a quarter tank, you are going to do very well on your new system for a few weeks and then you will slip up. No matter how diligent you think you are, one day in the dim gloom of a drizzly February day, you will look up in surprise to see that counter looking worse than it did when you started. It will hit you that you have failed and you will be tempted to look upon all the effort you put into it to change yourself and your life was a great big honking waste of time! My thinking usually sounds a bit like this, "Almighty Me has put for a bit of effort and now the job should run itself without anything more from Me. It isn't fair!" If that sounds in any way familiar or if that random Internet pic of a messy counter top is yours, swallow your pride, pray, repent, and get back to the job. That's just how that works.

#3 Be Smart and Be Lazy
Be lazy enough to understand that a little effort every day avoids the tremendous effort once a week/month/year. Putting off a job multiplies magnificently (horrifically?) the effort it takes to do the same job. You may think you are being lazy by ignoring a problem spot, but the really lazy person designs her life around the least effort humanly possible. If 10 minutes of cleanup twice a week is all that it takes to keep the counter top clear, but 5 seconds of putting away a piece of mail in the moment is all it takes, be lazy enough to pick the latter. That's just smart.

So, enjoy your New Year. Keep your Resolutions, but do so armed with the understanding that breaking an old habit of disorderliness with a new habit of orderliness is going to take time and a bit of human frailty. Always keep in mind that first thought, that God is a God of order. If you find your February beginning to bloom with the flowers of your old familiar chaos, remember that like cold is the absence of heat, chaos is the absence of God. Laxity in your physical world may be a sign of laxity in the spiritual, so begin weeding it out with prayer and repentance. That could never hurt.

Click Here for an even more Wifey Wednesday

Housework It, Baby!

Rolling in the deep cleaning

Nothing makes me feel quite like Cinderella than mopping and singing to Adele. I may not have birds and mice flitting around my head, but I do have some soul.

"Throw your toys through every open door!
Walk in my dust pile and find out what this broom's for!!"

Everything on my Housework To-Do List

is on this list!

...if I had been smart enough to write it down, that is,