Christmas thoughts...

The Christmas celebrations over and I am pooped.
Why is it that these holidays make us so exhausted?
It's not like the kids are normally not home for 48 hours in one go, they are on weekends as well.
It's not the cooking and organising and hosting as this year this was all done for us, so we just had to turn up.
So why oh why is it that I am still so tired?
I bet it's the travelling, living out of a suitcase, sleeping in an uncomfortable bed, the being together with family 24-7 and the kids getting all over excited and out of routine every day.

I definately am going to get organised for Christmas next year well in advance.
It's our turn to host, which I also suggested to do this year and no-one wanted to commit when I invited them. So, if people do not want to commit early then they can do their own thing as I am not going to let my Christmas be ruled by other people's calendars. They either accept or not, none of this "Oh, I don't know, we may have other plans". It's not acceptable, you either accept or you don't, but don't let people in the lurch until 2 weeks before Christmas.
In Dutch I would say; "Graag of helemaal niet." (something like; "Yes, please." or "No, thank you.")
If it comes to it we'll just have a celebration with just the 4 of us.

Now it's just New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to get over with, the laundry to do and then pack up and drive (and ferry) back to the UK.

I may need to book a 2 week holiday just on my own to recover from all this...

Nic x

Summer (?) Holiday!

Brrrrr.... the weather has been absolutely horrendous. We've had rain, rain, rain and more rain. It's supposed to be SUMMER!!!!!
The house is fairly tidy and we're keeping up with things.
We went out and bought a whole range of new furniture a few weeks ago and I just cannot wait for it all to arrive, a good reason for emptying all the bookcases and cull loads of magazines and maybe even get rid of some books. Then of course there will be loads of clutter coming out of cupboards, things we didn't even know we had, let alone ever use.
OK - maybe I'm not looking forward to that as much. LOL

Next week it's off to The Netherlands for a week and then 2 weeks Italy. Camping with two children, one is 3 years old and the other will be just about 9 months old when we get to Italy. Now there's a challenge for you! I'm sure it will all run fine, as long as I find a way to keep up with the laundry, as I'm sure we'll need plenty clothes washing whilst we're there.

Well, wishing all of you happy holidays and see you when we get back in September!

SHE is Flying

OK, so here's my first post - I'll have to explain to those 'not in the know' what a SHE is and why this SHE is Flying...

SHE stands for Sidetracked Home Executive. BC (Before Children) I had a very organised home and everything had it's place and I kept things pretty clean and tidy.
Now that I have a husband and kids the organisational skills seem to have left me and I find myself continuously juggling between various tasks and feel I get nothing done.
I start a job and don't get to finish it as something else appears on my path - yes, I get side tracked.
So in a bid to get back on track, I found out about Fly Lady who has developed a way to get one's home and life out of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) into some state of order.

The Fly Lady routines are based on the 'Sidetracked Home Executives' Index-Card file system designed by Pam Young & Peggy Jones.

Fly Lady has been given permission to use the SHE system and she transformed it into a very successful system of home management. Her book 'Sink Reflections' gives a good explanation of why some people are BO (Born Organised) and others live in CHAOS.

So, this SHE is flying - well, I've been following the Fly Lady routines for ages, but never really stuck to it as I keep getting sidetracked - GOSH - surprise!
This time I've sat down and set up the routines to work for the whole family.
Today was the first time test running the routines and so far so good.