"You can do anything for 15 minutes."

Almost five years ago, my friend Carolyn introduced me to www.flylady.net. I HIGHLY recommend a visit to her website if you have ever struggled with weight, procrastination, house work, clutter, finances, etc. It's totally free and is moderated by a woman named Marla Cilley who has quite a life story of her very own. She is not a psychiatrist, psychologist, author, or official guru of any sort--she is a pudgy middle aged lady who lived through an abusive marriage and commited herself to a psychiatric hospital at one point. She was overweight, overwhelmed, stressed out, guilt ridden, and seriously lacked self-esteem. She knows a lot about how we women feel--even if we try to hide it.

Anyway---FlyLady (Marla Cilley's altar ego) says, "You can do anything for 15 minutes."

I have not gotten home before 5:30 any night this week, and Monday night and last night I had to go BACK out after dinner. Tomorrow I have after school tutorials until 4:30 p.m (we begin our school day at 7:30 a.m. where I teach), then a VBS meeting with my friend Susie at 5:30.

My goal for this week was to be in bed every night by at least 9:00. It is now 9:19.

My point. . .the floor is almost impassible, lunches need to be made, I need to finish getting stuff done for my VBS meeting, I WANT to take a shower, and I have not made my 9:00 cut-off one night this week, but the kitchen is clean--because I set my timer for 15 minutes after dinner and cleaned it. I will set the timer again and pick up junk out of the floor. I will set the timer again and make lunches. Then I will take a shower and finish my VBS stuff. This does not happen every night. . .when I'm not living on such a tight schedule, I get a bit lax--and that is an understatement. Tonight I will not be in bed before 11:00 (don't tell FlyLady on me--she wouldn't be happy about that). . .but at least it seems possible to do thanks to FlyLady and her admonition about 15 minutes.

She also says, "You are not behind. You don't need to catch up. Just jump in where you are."

That FlyLady is a friend of mine.