(Since everybody always asks...)

Everyone is always asking me, "So how do you do it?" I can never really answer them. Oh, I have used my share of snappy comebacks, such as, "Very carefully," or, "One at a time," or the more honest one, "I don't know." Some days I'm not sure I really do do it!

But in an effort to answer that question, here is a list of my basic daily routines. I developed these with the assistance of FlyLady. Thanks to her, I also have my weekly and Zone cleaning lists, which I work on in between my daily routines. I credit her 100% with our decision to have a fifth child; without her help, I could never have handled it. Of course, I don't always get everything done, not yet. But I can get most of it done most days, and with my fibromyalgia it really helps keep me focused when the pain is on.

Morning

1. Wake up, make bed, weigh in
2. Start coffee
3. Shower
4. Retrieve coffee
5. Check weather
6. Dress, clean downstairs bathroom
7. Make bed
8. Feed and water cats, wash delicates if needed
9. Give kids medicine
10. Get kids changed and dressed
11. Clean everybody's glasses
12. Check calendar
13. Hand out kids' vitamins
14. Fix and eat breakfast
15. Take my medicine and vitamins
16. Clear and clean table, reboot dishwasher, clean counters
17. Plan dinner, do prep work
18. Reboot laundry
19. Clean litter boxes
20. Brush toddler teeth and hair
21. Clean upstairs bathroom
22. 5 minute pickup

Lunch

1. Fix and eat lunch
2. Take more vitamins (I take about 30 a day for the fibromyalgia!)
3. Clear and clean table, reboot dishwasher, clean counters
4. Reboot laundry
5. 5 minute pickup

Snack

1. Make coffee (can't live without the coffee!!)
2. Fix and eat snack
3. Take MORE vitamins
4. Clear and clean table, reboot dishwasher, clean counters
5. Sort mail
6. Reboot laundry
7. 15 minutes paying bills
8. 5 minute pickup

Dinner

1. Start cooking dinner at 6
2. Eat dinner at 7
3. EVEN MORE vitamins (at least it keeps my water intake up)
4. Clear table after dinner, sweep floor
5. Reboot dishwasher, clean counters
6. Shine sink
7. Empty kitchen trash
8. Reboot laundry

Bedtime

1. Get kids clean and into pajamas and picked up
2. Books In Bed time starts around 9
3. Jarod's goodnight routine with it's long rituals begins
4. Lights out for the kids

And now the adults get some adult time...which tends to be taken up by work, in large part. Oh well...

...And then I do it all again tomorrow! And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it is done.