Get up already!

One of the non-negotiables for many of the super organized is to get up before everyone in the house and get yourself ready. I know flylady thinks it is really important to get yourself completely ready every day. She even believes you should get dressed "to the shoes." That goes a little too far for me. What does make a difference for me is doing my make-up. For a few years there I didn't wear much make-up. That was something I was able to do when I was young. I had nice skin and didn't need make-up. I can't pinpoint exactly when it happened but at some point that changed. There have been many, many times I have looked in the mirror and thought, "I can't believe I went out in public looking like this." When I look in the mirror on those days it's a little bit of a shock because that is not what I thought I looked like. I imagine I look like I did ten years ago. Smooth, bright skin. No wrinkles or puffs or dark circles or spots. When my daughter was a couple years old I remember thinking that I didn't want that (non-make-up) face to be the one she remembered. I wanted to look better.

Within the last year I realized I needed to put make-up on just about every day, especially if I am leaving the house. Not only do I look better, I feel better. I don't wear a lot of make-up. I wear some mineral make-up to even out my color, a little bit of eye shadow, mascara and blush. It doesn't take me very long to do it, so that's not the issue. My eyes tear very easy so I have to wear waterproof mascara. In order to get that off, I have to use mascara remover. I use Clinique's Take the Day Off. As I am writing this it doesn't seem like a very good reason to avoid putting on make-up but it is a bit of work to get it off. I was doing really well for a while. Then the last month or so I've put it on less and less. When I don't do my make-up I tend toward wearing huge, old, baggy sweats and t-shirts. That does not make me feel good. Earlier this week (when I had to pick up my daughter from school with "the pink eye" as she calls it) I started thinking that I need to get back into the routine.

Yesterday morning, knowing I was going to be running errands, I did my make up. Thank goodness!! The assistant principal from my daughter's school was at our bus stop. (That is another story and I am not happy about it. No, she doesn't usually ride the bus to school.) It's not just that I want to look my best to make a good impression on those at my daughter's school (luckily Monday I was able to slip in and out without much interaction.) I want to get a job at that school within the next few years. I would have been horrified had I been in my big, horrible sweats and no make-up. I am taking this as a warning. Get up and get dressed. It doesn't take that long and it makes a huge difference.

Fridays

Friday is my bedroom/hall/entry day. On Fridays, I alternate between dusting my bedroom, the hall, the entry and the office/spare room. It's probably not often enough and if my Fridays continue to be as easy as today, I'll have to change that. Fridays are also the one weekday I only have the two year old in the morning so it is also the day I run errands. I got up late today so I didn't even get my dailies completed before we had to leave to meet the bus and then drop off at preschool. The two year old and I ran a lot of errands and on the way home he fell asleep. I do not mess with naps, so there was no vacuuming happening here (that's one daily that didn't get completed today.) I finished the dishes and tidying up pretty quickly. My four year old was at a friends so I had a quiet house and time to myself and I wasn't sure what to to. I should've just sat around and read a book or watched tv but I wanted to take advantage of the time. I decided to handle some things on my to do list I had been putting off. I hate making phone calls and get way behind on emails so I handled lots of that stuff today. In the end, I got to mark some things off my to do list and just enjoyed an easy afternoon.