Lexical Light

2012 East Texas Christian Writers Conference

That's where I'm heading today. So thankful for this opportunity to talk about blogging and other social media. Also enjoy learning about writing. And being on a beautiful college campus.

Here's the linkage:

East Texas Christian Writers Conference, hosted by East Texas Baptist University

Luby's for Me

Luby's for me
Luby's for you
I like to eat Luby's in a big brown shoe
(sung to the tune of Adam Sandler's "Thanksgiving Song")

Impromptu lunch with a grown-up while kid4 is dancing.

Last Luby's visit, different location,

(didn't get to finish this post but I'm throwing it up here anyway because it made me smile.)

Day 22: CoziFlyLexical HMP, Flylady Zone List 5

This week we're in Flyaldy's Zone 5: Living Room (& Front Room).  From the Cozi List Library I added the Zone 5 List to my Cozi Calendar & promptly changed it. Flylady has the week split into two zones due to the start of the new month. I'm sticking with one this time.  (Such a rebel.)

I divide the zone lists into an Declutter & Organize section and a Clean, Dust, & Vacuum (or Wipe Down) section. (I throw in a Misc. section on Zones that need it.) Here's the resulting list for Zone 5:

DECLUTTER & ORGANIZE

• Book baskets
• Book shelves
• Dog table
• Entertainment center
• Filing cabinet
• Game cabinet
• Understairs close

CLEAN, DUST OR VACUUM

• Back door, inside and out
• Ceilings
• Ceiling fan
• Front door, inside and out
• Furniture: bookcases, entertainment center, fireplace mantel, piano, table
• Move funiture and vacuum
• Under couch and chair cushions
• Windows: blinds, inside panes, sills
• Walls and baseboards

I'll try the "Choose Your Own Adventure" method for the kiddos to start with on this list and see how it goes.

(Truth in blogging: I published this on 2/28/12, but backdated it would keep the Monday post pattern.)

Testing

Toying with idea of Raw blog via Typepad on iPhone. Testing app.

Day 16: CoziFlyLexical Home Management Project

We haven't done Zone Work since last Thursday, due to lots of activites and a school holiday. I was expecting that, so it's not frustrating. I was ready to see how today would go.

 

 Reflections

 1) Work creates character building opportunities in the kiddos and myself. 

2) I found something else to tweak on the list. Oy. I'm letting go of it and will repost it next month, instead of going back to tweak it this month. 

3) In addition to my Zone Work with the kids, I need to add my own Zone Work, if possible. 

 

Results

Yesterday I didn't plan specific jobs from Zone 4 list. I wanted to let the kids choose their own and see how that goes.

The kids seemed to do a good job of managing themselves. Admittedly, I haven't followed up. I did see one kid come down with a bag of trash. I definitely know what one did. The other two, I'm pretty sure did what they said. 

I did no Zone Work because I was character training.

 

Ready for tomorrow with the same plan as today. Let the kids choose what they will work on. It seemed to work okay today. 

 

Randmoness:  If a 3 year-old Smith kid's pants keep falling down, she'll take them off and go down the RRHS hall w/out them. Thankfully it was a small hall and it there were only dance moms there. 

Day 15: CoziFlyLexical HMP, Tweaking Flylady Zone 4 List

Today was President's Day. The kids were off from school. We purposely didn't do Zone Work, only Daily Duties.

My main goal today is to change Flylady's Zone 4 list to meet our needs. Zone 4 is the Master Bedroom, Master Bath and Closet. (I was happy to see it also included the Master Bathroom becuase I spent last week's bathroom zone time supervising, not cleaning my bathroom, but I'll leave it off the list since the kids will use the list too.)

First, I went to Cozi's Flylady's Zone 4 List in the Cozi List Library. I added the list to my Cozi calendar with the handy-dandy "Add to Cozi To Do List" blue button at the bottom of the list.

Then I choose  to add these items to a "New List" at the bottom of the box that opened in Cozi.

Time to edit the list.

Simply click the title of the list and make the changes. I like to add the zone description to the title so it will print on the calendar. Because I'm not going to have all my kids work in my bedroom & bathroom this week - though that's a great idea - I'll change the list name to Zone 4: Bedroom and Closet. 

Because my room and closet need to be delcuttered, I'll add some of  Flylady's decluttering tools to the list. That will help the kids learn them.

When changing the list, I need to decide whether to group items by task or area. In my Zone 2: Kitchen list, I did it by task. I think I'll do the same for Zone 4. However, because there's so much more to declutter, instead of areas I'll list Flylady's Decluttering Tools with the understanding that they can be used in each area of the room. (I think Kelly had some Mission for kiddos, but I didn't find them all on the site. Check the Flykids Challenge square on Flyladyh's Launch Pad.)

Here's what I came up with for this round. I'm sure I'll edit it for next month. (No bullet points in Cozi, but it makes it more concise here.) Actually, I edited it just now during the cutting'n'pasting from Cozi.

DECLUTTER AND ORGANIZE (I usually alphabetize, but this is a priority.)

• 27- Fling Boogie (27 items trash, 27 items to donate)
• Hot Spot Fire Drill (clean off area that tends to ignite clutter)

CLEAN, DUST, ETC.

• Ceiling fans
• Cobwebs
• Furniture
• Lampshades
• Under the bed
• Windows: blinds, inside panes, sills

CLOSET

• Declutter
• Organize
• Vacuum

  MISC.

• Empty trash
• Flip mattress

For tomorrow, I'll have the kids choose from this list what they want to do and I'll work in my room, with the 3 year-old in tow. I'll have the kids note what they did on the Zone 4 sheet.

Timewise, it will be tought to fit in the Zone Work tomorrow. I'll have them do it right after lunch because I start my "bus route" at 3:45.

Randomness: Got a monkey off my back tonight. Spikos, the rec league vball team I play on, won our second game of the season. They won the first w/out me. Why is this noteworthy? A few seasons ago we moved up a division, coming off an undefeated season, including the playoffs. In the new league we have only won two or three games overs several seasons. Ugh.

I haven't been playing very well. The only game won was won w/out me. Connect the dots. Okay, I know it's not all my fault, but there was some pressure tonight when I found out we were playing the same team they beat w/out me.

Thankfully, we won. In 3 games, but we won - and had a good workout.

Maybe I should give Auggie Garrido, the UT baseball coach some credit. On the way to the game, I heard a clip from him on sports radio. He was talking about trying to hard and not having fun. Both have a a negative effect on a player's performance. Perhaps some of that got in my head.

(That's a lot of randomness righ there.)

Thanks for reading.

Dork alert: I really published this on 2/21/12 at 12:46AM, NOT 2/20/12 AT 10:06 PM and felt the need to add this disclaimer. Truth in blogging, people.

Day 11: CoziFlyLexical Home Management Project

 Ummm...this will be an easy post. We didn't do Zone Work today due to errands, a napping preschooler, the evening schedule, and not being able to get in our cul de sac a different times during the day.  I contemplated trying to squeeze it in, but didn't. The work will still be there.

We probably won't get to it tomorrow (Friday) either. Don't see it happening on Saturday. Oh, well. We made some progress and we can hit this area again next month.

Reflections

1) It's okay to not get stuf done sometimes.

2) I need to add something to the Zone 3 list, but I can't remember what it is.

 

Nothing done here. I'll just leave this here for reference next month.

Results based on yesterday's  plan.

1) Clean stickers off back of bathroom door, if we get Goo Gone. (or whatever it's called)

2) Dust bannister. 

3) Straighten kids' bathroom. (Crazy how that gets unkempt.)

4) Change air filters. (One register is in hall.) 

5) Take ladder out of upstairs halls. 

6) Declutter bottom of hall closet. (Maybe I can do that baby step.)

Day 10: CoziFlyLexical Home Managament Project

(We're in Zone 3 this week. I adapted it to Bathrooms and Halls. See my Lexicalized Zone 3 List for ideas.)

 

Had to be adaptable today. Delayed getting started a little too long. Start time was too close to departure time for a music lesson. Two kids were downstairs already, so just got started with them. Kid who had lesson get started on Daily Duties he could knock out quickly before we left. Other kiddo will do 15 minutes later. Worked out okay.

How did it work out, you wonder? Wonder no more. 

Reflections

1) 15 miutes doesn't seem like long, but I guess it will add up. It's simply spreading the work out. Interval training, if you will. 

2) In addition to lassoing the herd, I also have to plan what to do with them. It's just another aspect of managment. Or crowd control.  (It's all relative. haha.)

 

Results  (based on yesterday's plan)

1) vacuum upstairs hall

2) vacuum stairs

3) clean downstairs bathroom door, including get stickers off (Worked on. Still need Goo Gone. Add to shopping list for tomorrow.)

4) work on hall closet (Hesitant to tackle this, know it's more than a 15 minute job.) (hahahaha)

5) clean white board on bottom flight of stairs

6) take blue locker to van (Decided to wait on that. It has stuff in it.) 

Added: 

7) Change light bulb & clean fixture in downstairs halls. (One of the kiddos suggested that.)

 

Ready for tomorrow with this list.

1) Clean stickers off back of bathroom door, if we get Goo Gone. (or whatever it's called)

2) Dust bannister. 

3) Straighten kids' bathroom. (Crazy how that gets unkempt.)

4) Change air filters. (One register is in hall.) 

5) Take ladder out of upstairs halls. 

6) Declutter bottom of hall closet. (Maybe I can do that baby step.) 

 

Randomness 

Oops. Guess I should go water my tulips. Apparently they like daily drinks, according to the little thing in the soil, which also has this tidbit from John Lennon, "Love is the flower you've got to let grow." My initial reaction after reading that? To edit it. There must be some replacement for "you've got to." Not that it matters. John seemed to do just fine without me. 

Day 9: CoziFlyLexical Home Management Project

(What?! Zone Work done and blog posting at 3:20pm? Get.Out. A small thing in the big scheme of things, but I'll enjoy the small victories.) 

I really wantd to take a nap today. Squeezed in a doze while watching waiting for a kid to finish lunch. Decided to rally and gather the crew. It took a few minutes, but I didn't get frustrated. I got the ones started who were down here. Again, it went pretty quickly. 

This is how it went down.

Reflections 

1) My son is amused by my inability to change the hall lightbulb without a stool. 

2) I need more Goo Gone to get the foam flower sticker off the back door. (Add it to my HEB shopping list in Cozi.) 

3) I need to add few hall fixture things to Jack's to do list on cozi. 

4) It would be handy to clean the light fixtures whenever we change the bulbs. Brilliant! 

 

Results (Per yesterday's plan. Crossed off items are done.)

1) sweep edge of carpet at baseboards (Took entire 15 minutes.)

2) vacuum upstairs hall  

3) vacuum stairs 

4) clean mirrors on vanities and doors 

5) clean downstairs bathroom door, including get stickers off  (Worked on.)

6) change lightbulb in upstairs hall, clean fixture 

7) change lightbulb in master bath, clean fixture 

 

Ready for tomorrow with this list. 

1) vacuum upstairs hall

2) vacuum stairs

3) clean downstairs bathroom door, including get stickers off

4) work on hall closet (Hesitant to tackle this, know it's more than a 15 minute job.) 

5) clean white board on bottom flight of stairs

6) take blue locker to van

 

Randomness

In honor of Valentine's day. Consider the difference between saying "Our God is love" and "Our god is love." 

Until next time. 

Our God is love or our god is love?

Sunday in church we sang, "Our God is love." That's true per 1 John 4:16. 

Mistakenly, people often also think, though they may not say it, "Our god is love." 

This is obvious in Western culture, especially in movies and songs.

Valentine's Day is another time it can be twisted. I'm not starting an anti-Valentine's Day movement.  Just wanted to throw that out there. 

BTW, here's the C.S. Lewis quote I read several years ago that put that bug in my brain:

    "Every human love, at its height, has a tendency to claim for itself a divine authority. Its voice tends to sound as if it were the will of God Himself. It tells us not to count the cost, it demands of us a total commitment, it attempts to over-ride all other claims and insinuates that any action which is sincerely done "for love's sake" is thereby lawful and even meritorious. That erotic love and love of one's country may thus attempt to "become gods" is generally recognised. But family affection may do the same." - THE FOUR LOVES (HARCOURT TRADE: 1971), P. 6-7.