No, I have Not Been Kidnapped By Flylady. My One Hundredth Post.

Those of you who read this blog because I give you nice tips on health & wellness might be wondering what's happened. It seems that every post lately has been about the Flylady and my Babysteps. Enough, already, you say! I want to hear more about Tofu!

Well, I don't think tofu's good for you. But that's not important right now. (Tee hee-Airplane. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you really need to watch this classic movie.)

Yes, I will continue to post about health.

But I also want more peace in my home than I've had. I want less chaos, more order, more SANITY!

And this is where my two worlds, my two paths cross. My world of Health and Wellness, and my world of learning to keeping a peaceful home, raising, training, and teaching children. My reality, my real life.

But at a crossroad, you decide in which direction to go. And if you go in one direction, you cannot go in the other at the same time.

"Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet, " Kipling wrote.

But, these two roads of my life do more than cross. They run parallel to each other.

An orderly home is a peaceful home. It encourages living life, instead of just getting through it. (Which is what I feel I'm doing most of the time.) With systems in place to help my home run smoothly, I can really live my life, enjoying every day. But those systems don't just happen, they are learned. One babystep at a time. Enter: Flylady.

A healthy body and healthy family makes a peaceful family. Its members feel good, have energy, and are able to really enjoy every day life. Do you want to feel good? Do you want your children to get sick less often? Ditch the headache and the foggy brain. Lose that "I just wanna go to sleep" feeling. Be able to eat without feeling blah. No more ear infections, no need to fear the flu. Doesn't it sound nice?

It IS nice. We're each on a journey in our lives. For me, my roads are both about taking babysteps to a peaceful home, and walking out the steps to a healthy life for me and my family. I've been on the path to wellness for many years, and it took me time to get to where I am now. I share with you the way to health, also through babysteps. Babysteps to health.

So, you see, FamilyNatural is about health and wellness. Wellness of peace in your body and at home. I don't know it all; I'm figuring it out too. Thanks for walking along with me. One step at a time.

How fitting that on this, both my ONE HUNDREDTH POST and FamilyNatural's one year anniversary my path is becoming something I can grasp, and share.

This is fun.

PS For my Bloggiversary present, please head over to my Facebook Page and "Like" FamilyNatural! Thanks.

Hotspots--Babystep Challenge Day #6

Time for Flylady's Babystep #6: spend 2 minutes putting out a HotSpot. What is a Hot Spot, you ask? Well, it's a cluttered area that tends to attract more clutter. It's your dumping ground. It's the first thing you see when you walk into a room that makes the room look messy and makes you feel...YUCK. Here's where Flylady explains what a Hot Spot is on her website.

This is my biggest and most frequent Hot Spot: our dining table. Here is a picture of what it looked like before 2 minutes of clearing it.

You can see that my "desk" area is so cluttered that I'd have to clear a spot just to be able to work. And even if I did that, it would hardly be peaceful enough to promote productivity.

































But, after just TWO MINUTES, now look. Pretty, peaceful. And I even changed my location to have a better view, lit a scented candle, have the flowers in sight, and a cup of herbal tea. MUCH better.
And it only took 2 minutes.

Well, 2 minutes plus the time to move & light the candle & make my tea. Still. ;)


In our homes, hotspots can take over. But deal with it regularly, when it is small, and it changes everything.

It's a good babystep for me; I need to do it regularly.

"Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark."

How are your babysteps coming?

Wanna join in? C'mon, it's fun!


In case you missed it, here's why I'm doing this.
And my posts on Babysteps #1, #2, #3, #4.

If you've posted your hotspot babystep, Leave a link with your comment so that we can all share in each other's progress.

Do What We Have Already Done-Flylady's Babystep #3

Today, Day 3 of Flylady's Babysteps is to do what we have already done. Which is:

1. Keeping your sink shining (my step 1 post here)
   
2. Getting up and getting dressed to lace up shoes. (my step #2 post here)

Why am I starting again with Flylady's Baby Steps? Read here to find out.

Today has been a very busy day with grocery shopping and trying to get back on schedule after that. So, I'm glad there is not a new action for today. I'm content to just "do what we have already done"

And, I LOVE the enthusiasm so many are showing. I love the accountability I'm getting by posting publicly, and I'm having fun. So, today I'm just enjoying knowing where these Babysteps will take me.....

Imagine the peaceful home that is awaiting.

You can do it too! Join in, even if you haven't started. Start now.

My Lace Up Shoes-Flylady Babystep #2

Yesterday I practiced Babystep #2: Get Dressed To Lace Up Shoes.

This means getting completely dressed, right away, including hair and face. You act differently, more professionally, when you have clothes and shoes on. When I do this I am ready for anything that might come up (or anyone who might come to the door).

To read Flylady's complete explanation of why to do this, go here.

This is a good habit and is not one I struggle with. Well, now that my baby is almost 10 months and I'm not up at all hours nursing her. With a tiny baby, I'm lucky if I am able to get dressed at all. Or shower. Or have time to use the bathroom.

Wait a minute, I still don't get a moment of peace in there!

But I digress.

As I was saying, I have already made this a habit of mine and so I won't pretend it's new to me. But, I will say that it's a good one. I get all the way dressed before I wake the children. My shoes tell my brain that it's time to go to work.

And, off to work I go!


Did you get dressed to shoes today?

If you want to know more about this series, read this post to know why I'm doing this.


I've noticed that some others are blogging their Babystep Challenge Experience. Let's get together on it! If you have a relevant post, add it below in the Mister Linky! After doing that, please link back to this post so we can all share. Thanks!

It's Shiny, All Right!

Here it is: my shiny sink. I was so excited to have a stainless steel sink when we moved into this house 2 years ago, since my last one was ceramic that looked dingy unless I bleached it at least once a week. So, I never bothered with that step with this one since I always thought it didn't need it.

Now it's cleaner than it was before. Looks great.

How's yours coming?
















I even emptied the dishdrain before I went to bed. I never do that. And it sure did smile at me this morning!

For more about this, read my first post in this series, or visit Flylady.net.

Flylady's Beginner's Baby Steps-Works For Me Wednesday

I was brought up well. I was taught manners and grooming, responsibility and morals. I graduated as an honor student, went to college and got a Bachelor's degree. And then I went to graduate school and got a Doctorate in Chiropractic. I studied hard, worked hard, learned a lot. I'm no brain surgeon, but I consider myself a fairly intelligent, hard working person.

So, when it came to cooking and cleaning my home, staying on top of things, I figured I could handle it.

HA.

I repeat. HA HA.

After a few years of floundering around, feeling like a failure because I couldn't manage my home, I found Flylady.net.

Flylady is an online coach/fairy godmother who lovingly nudges you with very specific instructions that are easy to follow. And if you follow them, you can have a peaceful home with everything in order. No more CHAOS (Can't Have Anybody Over Syndrome).

Now, I'm not new to the Flylady system. I've been "using" it for a few years now. I put "using" in quotes, because although I've learned a ton and made many changes, there are a few things I just haven't made habits yet. Things that really are preventing me from having the peace I want in my home.

A few of my friends on twitter have decided to begin again with Flylady. And I'm joining in. It begins with the Beginner's Babysteps.

Step 1 is to Go Shine Your Kitchen Sink. If you want to know why, you're better off checking out the source.

I'm glad that I can start again, at any point. Taking babysteps is something that I know Works For Me.

If you want to jump in and join us, let me know! Leave a comment!

I'll be posting the daily baby step assignment as well as my progress. Stay tuned for pictures of my shiny sink!

For more WFMW, go to WeAreThatFamily.com