Author: DrKim

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You Can Do Anything for 15 Minutes! Babystep Challenge to a Peaceful Home Day 10

You can do anything for 15 minutes.

Yes, anything. Things you don’t want to do. Things you think you can’t do. Things you think you shouldn’t bother with because you think it won’t make a difference.

You can. You should. It WILL make a difference.

How do I know? I learned from Flylady. Over and over I am amazed at what 15 minutes of focused time will do. And then I don’t do it (see, it hasn’t become a habit), and then when I do it again, I am amazed. Again.

This is my entrance hall. The view from our dining table (lovely for ambiance, isn’t it?) and the view as you walk in the front door.

How welcoming.

FOUR minutes it took me to make it like this. FOUR.
Including quickly spraying it down & giving it a wipe. I’ve been looking at that stuff for DAYS, thinking I didn’t have time to do anything about it and wishing someone else would, feeling a little sorry for myself that I have such a messy place and obviously I can’t handle this by myself…


A little more welcoming, don’t you think?

What am I going to do with 11 more minutes?

This. This is our liquor cabinet & we also keep our keys&sunglasses basket here. As you can see on top, it’s also got bottles up there. I hate that. Besides looking messy, it makes it seem like we must drink a LOT. Which we don’t. And off in that little nook there is stuff piled on those drawers.

And here’s what it looked like afterward. Notice the CLEAR SURFACE!

Still 3:33 on the timer. (yes, I stopped it to take the pictures!) What else?

This is our hall closet. It has a curtain that falls down when my toddler plays with it because it’s not really attached. It’s been down for days, and I just “haven’t had the time” to fix it.

And here it is with the curtain. Much better.

Still 2 minutes on the timer. I guess I can take care of this little hot spot.

You can do anything for 15 minutes. I dare you!

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Declutter. Babystep Challenge To A Peaceful Home Day 9

This is where the challenge heats up for me. Where it becomes….a challenge. Where I have fallen short in the past.

I’ve done these things before, but I’ve not made it a habit to do it every day. And it NEEDS to be done every day.

Flylady’s babystep #9 says to declutter a few minutes at a time. I have a few minutes. I’m sure I do. I just don’t know where I left them. Have you seen my few minutes? Maybe they’re hiding under all this stuff…

A 5 minute room rescue is the assignment. I can do that. I’m going to take 5 minutes before I go to bed and see what I can do with all those clothes that get piled up. You know the pile. It’s the not quite dirty but not clean…..unless it’s the clean laundry that didn’t get put away.

I’m tired. I want to go to bed. But, how can I say I don’t have five minutes? I can’t. Because I do. And afterward, I’ll be glad I did it.

Here’s Flylady’s explanation on how to declutter.

What have you decluttered today?

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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.

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3 Ring Binder-Babystep Challenge To A Peaceful Home Day 8

And we are on day #8 of the Babystep Challenge to a Peaceful Home, following Flylady’s recommendations.

This is easy. Get a 3 ring binder and put paper in it. Of course, we all have office supplies hanging around the house. I love office supplies! I LOVE to go to Office Depot and walk around looking at all the things….weird. But I bet lots of you are the same way.


This is where I write down my morning and evening routines; one on each page. I’ve already been practicing them all week. Now I have them written down so that I can check them off and make sure I don’t forget anything.

I’m still cheating a little because most of these have already been habits of mine, and I already had them written in my Control Journal. But, I look forward to re-doing whatever needs to be fixed as I go through these babysteps again.

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Menu Plan Monday-June 8

Another Monday. With all that’s going on around here (potty training, new bikes, forest fires causing us to evacuate–you know, the normal stuff), I didn’ t even remember that it’s Monday, and Monday means “post your menu plan”. And all I can say is that I am SO glad that I actually already had it planned out. In fact, if I’d been more on top of things, I could’ve already had it scheduled to post. Maybe next time.

Ha ha. I have to laugh. I just looked at my calendar and realized that I actually MISSED Monday, and today is Tuesday! Well, better late than never!

So, on with it.

Monday: Eggs scrambled with veggies. Toast.

Tuesday: Chinese Fried Rice. Pictured above.

Wednesday: Sweet n Sour Cabbage Soup. Dark rye bread.

Thursday: Mediterranean White Beans and Rice

Friday: Crockpot Sausage, Peppers, & Onions over pasta

Saturday: Leftover Cabbage Soup

Sunday: Mexican Taco Casserole

Have you made your menu plan yet for this week? It’s already Tuesday. What are you waiting for!

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Pick Out Your Clothes For Tomorrow–Babystep #7

I love this one. But mostly for the children.

In the morning, it’s chaotic enough to get everybody ready for the day without all of us still needing to pick out our clothes. Inevitably a child will tell me that he can’t find socks, or a shirt. (This is because I really need help getting the stuff folded & put away; but I’m working on that. ) Here’s one of the ways I help myself to get the laundry put away.

So, I figured, since it’s so helpful for me to pick out my clothes the night before, just think what a help it is for my kids to do it! And it is. It gives me time to find the missing piece while we’re not hurrying.

As for me….yes, it’s a good habit. But, honestly, I don’t have a huge wardrobe. I usually rotate between the 3 or 4 things that are my favorite for the time of the year. Since I stay home most days, nobody sees me. So, I don’t really mind that my clothes are repeated frequently. I don’t change my jewelry, so this is a simple one.

It takes me about 1 minute to grab a comfortable dress, my underclothes, socks, & lace up shoes. If I worked outside the home or wore more complicated outfits, I’m sure this habit would make even more of a difference!

And in the morning, it’s one less thing I need to do. I like that.

How about you?

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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.

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Babystep Challenge Day 4- Write These Things Down

Day 4– Write These Things Down.

Writing down what we need to do reminds us. I definitely need this, but I think I don’t. This is the danger. I keep it all in my head, and most of it I remember. But some of it I just don’t fit in, and I let it just go….

I have a decent Control Journal. It sits on my counter, buried under papers that I never get to.

I don’t use it much.

I’ll start it again.

Do you put post its up around the house? What works for you to remember what you need to do next?

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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.

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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!