Once again the FlyLady has inspired me to new and greater acts of tidyness. To quote her excellant summation: it doesn't have to be perfect to bless your family.

How often do I stop and throw up my hands on the housework entirely for a day because I feel overwhelmed by it all? I can pick up five pieces of trash on my way to the bathroom, I can shuffle all dirty dishes to the sink and deal with the whole thing once a day in the evening- making my sink shine before I go to bed.

Not hard, once I get in the habit of doing it. Of letting go the quest for perfection which insists that cleaning must be done in one act; clean a room from top to bottom all at once until it shines. And that is overwhelming to me when I have a toddler hanging on my leg, a meal to plan, laundry to do, and trash spilling out of the trashcan.

Despite all these things today I've done laundry, taken out the trash, picked up the bits of paper on the floor, and decreed that dinner tonight will be the consumption of leftovers in the fridge. I even had a twenty minute nap. The Toddler had a nap. My house is tidier and I feel better about myself for having done this.