The Story Continues

How are you doing? I know this has been a long and lengthy process of explaining DRS and my story, I just felt it was important to spend the day introducing you to Donna so you can fully understand my desire and need to create this blog. I sure have appreciated the comments and encouragement I have received throughout the day- the support you have given me makes me feel I am not alone in this battle. (Am I cheesy or what!?)

Ok, last I left you I let you in on the secret to what I thought would catapult me into eternal Donna Reed Status- FlyLady. Although, as you can see by the picture I provided with this post- FlyLady does NOT resemble Donna Reed in body; I believe she too is a victim of DRS. For only someone with Donna Reed in their blood could come up with such a tried and true system for keeping your house decluttered and company-ready all with a kitchen timer and a game called the "27 Fling Boogie" (I am not making this stuff up- you can read about FlyLady's plan in "Sink Reflections" by Marla Cilley). With FlyLady's instructions I divided up my home into 5 different zones and documented my monthly, weekly, and daily cleaning plan/goals in my Family Control Manual- I labeled (and I do mean labeled) mine "The Thompson Family Handbook. As is true with most things I do (I believe this is another symptom of DRS), I became obsessive about my zone cleaning and often would try to do several days worth of zone cleaning in one day which was a direct violation of FlyLady's cardinal rule: Spend no longer then 15 minutes a day working in the zone. (For those of you who are completely lost in this paragraph, I will provide a detailed description of zone cleaning when I introduce you to Tidy Tuesdays).

I won't lie- it felt good to be in complete control of my house. And when I feel good, I want others to feel good too, so I began to encourage my friends to jump on the FlyLady wagon. Some looked at me like I was crazy, but others, those with undiagnosed DRS, craved the control I talked about and joined me. One such friend and I began to email each other several times a day to hold each other accountable to our zones. This accountability took my Donna status to a whole new level. On days I just did not want to pick up my feather duster my friend would write me and let me know she was already 1/2 way through her daily zones and day tasks. Just knowing her house was getting clean while mine sat with dust on top of the refrigerator was enough to get me going. (This experience with email accountability played a major role in my desire to create this blog.)


So what happened? How did I get to a point that accountability with one friend was not enough? Why do I feel I must now seek assistance from the world wide web to regain the level of Donna I once achieved? One word..... Cohen!



The next post will be the final for the evening. Tomorrow I will spend the day explaining all the features I plan to offer on this blog. See you soon!