SHEs Organized

Macro has a couple of definitions I can apply to homemaking:

As a noun, in computing, macro is a single instruction that expands automatically into a set of instructions to perform a particular task.

As an adjective, it means large-scale; overall. i.e. "the analysis of social events at the macro level"

[As in an expanding instruction]I find there are certain tasks that, when done, automatically trigger other tasks being done. Sometimes this is in the context of distraction, P&P brilliantly illustrate this in the poem The Housewife (on page 6 of Sidetracked Home Executives.)

But the idea of clearing off just one space in a room and perfecting it (a coffee table, making a bed, the kitchen sink) also expands to trigger you to get more done. So in a way, we all have 'macros', little actions that help us keep going and accomplishing more.

Alternatively,

Every once in a while we need to look at things from a Macro Level. P&P went through a transition like this from the original card system that focused almost exclusively on homemaking chores, to the Happiness File system that brought in activities that were not housekeeping, but included other people in your family and other demands on your time. After all, if you have to drive the kids to 5 activities in a day and then had a church activity in the morning, you don't have time to do all the chores, so you need a bigger picture approach. Happiness File morphed into the BTBO planner system since, for women working outside the home, that has a major effect on what you can get done, both from the amount of time you have for chores but also in the amount of energy. And then BTBO, a paper based system, morphed into Flylady's online version.

At times, if things aren't working well for you, you need to look at things from a macro level and make adjustments. Part One of Happiness File illustrates this as P&P conclude "With the right amount of sleep and one and a half hours to ourselves in the morning, we had the energy of two young beavers thrown into a pond that needed a dam, and we were ready to do some serious building with a plan for success."

Since this is a bit of a holiday in both Canada and the US (it is provincial Family Day in Ontario and Federal Presidents' Day in the US), if you are feeling you need to rethink things, maybe look at your situation from a macro point of view and see if there are any macros you can put in place to help automate homemaking.

My Monday Macro is stripping the bed.

The act of stripping the bed prompts me to put the sheets in the washer. I have two sets of sheets so I can either immediately remake the bed with fresh sheets, or put the clean ones back on later. My other responsibilities on that particular day dictate which of those it will be. Today it will be remade almost immediately.

Once the sheets are in the washer, normally, the fresh sheets go on, and then I finish tidying the room and put last week's towels in a basket, and fresh towels out for dh and I. Then I carry that basket to the laundry room. Sometimes, depending on how slow I am, it is time to put the sheets in the dryer and so the towels go into the washer immediately. This is a nice change from when I lived in the house because, with the septic system, I spread washer loads out more. As well showering and laundry can be done at the same time here, something that wasn't preferable at the house.

Through the day those two loads of laundry progress because my laundry room is off the kitchen and I get visual reminders it needs attention.

Also, while in the kitchen, I usually remember to water the plants, quite often because, having done a few of my Monday Chores, I'm looking around for another quick 'win' in my quest to be an effective homemaker.

Through the day, the folding and putting away of sheets or towels is much easier than dealing with a load of socks and underwear, so completely finishing off the two loads of laundry adds more quick 'wins' for the day.

So, the act of stripping the bed expands into getting the most important of my Monday chores done.

When I get ready for bed there are fresh towels in the bathroom, then I climb into a bed made with fresh sheets.

Monday House Blessing also includes: dusting and vacuuming the apartment and mopping the floors are often a reach-ahead chore (they are technically a Tuesday chore since that is my 'wet' house work day.)

BUT, when I am in the depths of depression, I counted that Macro of bed stripping as 'enough.' And I don't think there was a Monday that never happened. There were weeks that vacuuming never got finished or dusting was skipped a few weeks in a row (except in the bedroom which really does need doing weekly because of our body dust and the minerals from the humidifier but that room is so bad, it is a pleasure to dust because a light swipe creates a major positive result.)

Harriet: I would expect your daily appointments are causing your desire to nap and not depression.

Heck, any daily appointment, even those without physical effects, will make me want to nap. That's why I nap when dgs naps, the daily demand on my time is exhausting even if I'm not moving around much.

Your appointments have a physical effect on you. And, as someone who prides herself in protecting her health and energy, it must be hard to deliberately damage that. The Macro picture is this is going to be good for your health in your future and is logically an extension of your healthy lifestyle.

Please view your naps as healthy habits and not as a sign of anything else. It will take a while for this to flush from your system and for you to get all your energy back. That is a depressing thought, but this too will pass.

At the same time, this is such a normal reaction that I bet your health care team can refer you to a counselor to help you process all that is happening if you feel you need that. And, thanks to the pandemic, such appointments can be done virtually so create little additional physical demand on you. (Actually this is a blessing from the pandemic, since people suffering from depression can seldom summon the energy to actually get to appointments.)

In the meantime, embrace your naps and your 'inner cat' and look for wonderful places to nap.

Maybe one of those places can be in your sewing room with your curvy sided cart in place now to announce that this new house is most definitely your home now. Could your dh move into the room a chair you can nap in? Then you can rest, and perchance nap, fingering a piece of fabric to dream about in its final form. Let your imagination have the fabric and your other supplies figuratively sew a protective cloak of many colours to protect you during this time. And if you need a reminder of this cloak, take a piece of its fabric with you to your appointments.

Dh was still in the bed when I left the bedroom for my tea and chocolate. So I'm still here at the computer without having started my Monday Macro.

Today is warm (although cloudy) so I did some stretches on the balcony while my tea steeped in order to get some fresh air.

Now I'll push away from the computer and hopefully by 9 I'll be able to turn off my "Are you dressed and ready to go?" alarm, s2s, the bed stripped and remade, and laundry started.

3 - 2 - 1 POOF!

Thanks for the thoughtful opening today, Kathryn.

I have a hair cut appt in about an hour so I've s2s-ed and am finishing breakfast. Dh is home this a.m. so he will walk the dog. He's going to go to work for awhile and clean his desk play catch up from being out last week etc. I'm looking forward to some time w/o him home. He was out on Friday until 2 p.m. or so, and Saturday afternoon for awhile. Otherwise, we've been together 24-7 for several days. I really dread his retirement.

I'm working on finishing a.m. routine. I need some upstairs time today!

I told dh that I wanted today to be a day that I wasn't going to do anything. He said he would like that because "you worked all day yesterday."

Unfortunately I discovered that the bathroom floor needs attention. The kitchen is a mess, so I need to tackle dishes. Because septic was overloaded due to rain, I couldn't do "wet" jobs for a couple of days. Even emptying 1 bucket of water after mopping the floor had the pipes gurgling. I actually want to carry on with what has become my routine of doing the floors every morning. Why should I have to walk on sticky floors? I sure can't go barefoot until they are done.

I don't think there is much laundry.

I think we are having leftover soup for supper.

...A few minutes later

I was walking from the closet where I keep the vacuum and bucket with the bucket and I heard "PUT THAT BUCKET DOWN!! I thought you were taking a day off." LOL!! I told him I had to do the bathroom floor and then I would take the day off.

Morning…

I’ve been to class, had my coffee, stripped and changed my bed, start a load of laundry, made my breakfast, I am now eating it, and cleaned up my kitchen before I ate.

Headed to HD to buy more dirt and plan on planting more sunnies. The ones I planted last week are already up and following the sun!

LadyM… I never nap unless I have a headache or am not feeling well. When I was a teenager, I would take a nap on Saturday afternoons so I could stay awake till midnight when I was on a date. As I got older and was married, we had friends that we got together with both Friday and Saturday nights. Everyone called me Cinderella because I would fall asleep while everyone partied around me! Lots of fun, great conversations, good food and loud music, but my eye winkers got heavy around midnight!

d rose - I was the same as a teen - my dh and his family were huge night owls and my family were early birds - I finally got dh to my side of the sleep schedule. (lol it took years). I used to fall asleep anywhere. One time my dh's friends sister stood over me with her brother and said boy she could sleep. I am also was a light sleeper.

hello d everyone.

it's been a challenge here. Dh is home. I can say this here, but this time I am worried if he will get past this. I feel for him so so much.
the day before yesterday was a scary bad day- he got scared because his blood pressure dropped. Yesterday was very good. Thursday all the equipment came in (the stuff we ordered came in too - so everything was in chaos - Thank goodness for dd's!!!).
Girls ordered a bunch of rolling clear organizing drawers and it has been a God send. All the equipment is separated and labeled for easy use.

Today dh has an appointment and I am praying he can get to the car without panicking and loosing his oxygen. I am tempted to buy an oxygen machine but I will see.

Cheering you all on!!!!

Blessedw2 you can't have anyone in the house that smokes if you have oxygen. If it is a portable machine, the same thing applies. Nobody in the vehicle can smoke when the portable tank is in use. Just so you know in case there are any smokers in your family.

I really want to do something today. Dh wants to stay home. Right now he's in the shower and I can hear the pipes gurgling again. I'm going to empty and refill the dishwasher.

I think naps are a good and healthy habit. I have read some cultures have daily siesta with stores closing during that time.

Kathryn - Thank you for the start and well thought out macro information. When I first saw the Macro title I thought today would be about macronutrients.

The first 4 hours of my day have been smooth with all those hourly tasks completed except for one. I was sitting at the table with DS14 doing homeschool and goofed up last hour by not paying attention to hourly step goal. I was FOUR steps short to reaching my hourly goal. Part of me knows to not get caught up in the weeds and to accept that it is close enough, but the app counter doesn't fudge the numbers. My total hourly step goal will be short today. Ohs well....life happens.

The fence contractor is here working. I chatted with them this morning and learned the latest information. I need to adjust my expectations. They hope to get the cee purlin installed today and have the solid metal on by the end of the week. Then they are going on vacation and will come back in 2 weeks to do the gates. I expected this project to take a week, but it turns out it will be more like 6 weeks. Ohhhs well. life happens. Reminding myself in the overall scheme of things the fence building taking longer isn't something that really matters

I leave in 30 minutes for monthly infusion therapy #10. DH will go with me, and we will go out to eat afterwards.

So hard bw2 to see our loved ones not well.

Ugh, my list for the week even busier. I rescheduled trip to get lenses in sunglasses - I missed it last week when dh was in the hospital. And the display to my laptop, purchased last summer has a pinkish cast. I understand there are some things I can try but I hate to potentially make it worse, so I'm going to drop it at Best buy tomorrow. The one close to us closed, I was hoping to take it in the same time as the sunglasses - both are near the mall - but no luck. And I didn't write down the time of my vet appointment but it's either Wednesday or Thursday a.m. and I'm keeping those clear.

I need to do some planning for dinner for seven people plus us on Friday night. Dh is going to grill chicken and steak, need to figure out what else to prepare.

I'm upstairs and desperate for genealogy time, so that's what I'm doing.