Finally Loving Yourself

Joanne made a good point in her comment on my last post. Looking back, I'm surprised I haven't mentioned it yet. This whole getting-the-house-and-life-in-order thing? It really only makes sense and works if you're doing it for yourself. Not for your mom, or your partner, or to keep up with the Joneses. And while I've been a habitually untidy person most of my life, I actually do harbor a desire to live differently. I get tired of walking into my cluttered house, losing things, and not really knowing where some things go. And though I do have people over, when a new friend visits for the first time, there's a little embarrassment about it.

I would love to have the kinds of habits that result in a house where I feel ease, or even pride, when showing someone in for the first time. So I'm approaching this as a scientist, if you will. The preliminary results from my first flight with FlyLady are promising, but I still don't know whether long-term maintenance of the habits I want will work for me. This current attempt at getting (slowly, with baby steps) back into the FlyLady groove is my way of doing that bigger experiment in the best way I can figure out. And it's for me -- though others in my life certainly may appreciate it!

FlyLady (aka Marla Cilley) originally adopted that handle because she was a fly-fishing instructor. But after she started her housekeeping email list, one of her readers suggested that FLY should stand for Finally Loving Yourself, and FlyLady picked it up and hasn't looked back.

So... about Day 3
Today's instruction is "Do what we have already done." This pushes my "faster, faster!" buttons, but I'm going with it. So, dressed to shoes: Check. Sink shined: Check. And to keep things interesting, FlyLady also asks Day 3 flybabies to read this essay and to spend 2 minutes reading some of the emails that came today from the FlyLady crew. Check.

I'm noticing that with this deliberate, relaxed pace, I've gone from dreading my next move-in chore -- putting up wall-mounted shelves in the family room -- to being eager to get started. (I need to wait until the contractor finishes putting in a heat-exchange system today so there will be room for the initial rearranging that the shelf installation will require.) This has to be a good sign!

And the knitting...
I got in some good knitting time last night and at DD's class this morning, and I have turned the heel on the Simple Stripes sock. Here 'tis:



I'm torn about whether to continue upward in stockinette or 2x2 rib. I guess you'll have to tune in tomorrow to find out! I know ribbing works from past efforts, but I'd sorta like to see this stripe pattern continued the same way up the leg, and ribbing is bound to look different. Suggestions welcome -- ever knitted a stockinette-only (ribbing at very top only) sock in this gauge that you were happy with?