Straight from The Horse’s Mouth

Just before we took off on our tour of the Caribbean I found a web site that teaches organization and supports those of us who are not Born Organized. It's called FLY LADY. (FLY stands for Finally Loving Yourself and the lady is a wonderfully loving southern gal, Marla Cilley.) Since my internet life would come to a stop on the boat, it was a shame I found the site when I would not be able to take advantage of all the services they offer.

Flylady.net is a large web site that gives lessons on household management, as well as chat groups, daily e mails, and positive reinforcements for learning efficient strategies and simple routines.

The work load at the THM Coffee Shop has multiplied recently when we introduced fruit freezes and smoothies. I had no idea it would be so time consuming and labor intensive. At home there's a little more added to the work load since Craig joined us, and next week my younger son, Christopher will be moving in. They say God doesn't give you more than you can handle. He also gave me a wonderfully supportive family, good friends and re- minded me about Fly Lady.

On Memorial Week End I spent some time with the relatives, and a lot of time cleaning and organizing my home. Before, I lived in CHAOS (can't have anyone over syndrome). It looks so nice now; we're ready for visitors! Because I care about the comfort of my guests at home and the customers at THM it means a lot to me that the place is clean and tidy.

Although I am not naturally a detail oriented person, I recognized some of my perfectionist tendencies while learning Fly Lady's tricks. I'd put off doing chores because it would take more time and energy than I thought I had. Y'all might laugh, but now I have fun using a timer to see how long it takes to vacuum the floors or empty the dishwasher, etc... When you're in a race against the clock, there's not much time to be picky. Plus, with the Fly Lady Routines, it all gets done, quickly!

I'm all set at home. Next week at THM, I'm going to be using Fly Lady's tactics and my timer to get more organized and have a boat load of fun doing it!

p.s. Visit www.leoncountytoday. com and click the links to the archive of these articles, and the FLY Lady web site.

Happy Graduation Chris, I'm So Proud Of You!