Day One

Today is the day. Day one of The New Life Plan: Rough Draft.

Some of you are super excited, like my dear Holly who was up at 4am ready for Work It Out Wednesday (baby steps, Holly, slow down) and like The Renee, who is always up for a New Life Plan and who insists that this will shoot me straight to Oprah Super stardom (remember my fear of her stopping by my house unannounced??).

Some of you are concerned that things will be too organized and proactive around here (I wouldn't be too concerned) and some of you are already making excuses.

People--the excuses aren't going to cut it. We CAN start on a Wednesday, even with very little notice. We CAN do it if we're not feeling good and our family has been sick for a week. We CAN do it if we're in Norway and living in a completely different day than Ashley herself. We CAN do it if we're going on vacation (not while on vacation, but you can do it before and after).

That's the beauty of New Life Plan: Rough Draft (which will eventually have to be called NLP:RD because I just can't be typing all of that out all the time). You can jump in any time, you can do the smallest task that fits under the day's category and still be a winner.

Person with the sick family...you could "work it out" by washing everyone's germy bedding today. Done. Vacation goer...surely you need to pack, gather or do laundry. Done. Our Norwegian friend...the whole time zone thing gives me a headache but from what I can figure, you will either need to completely change your wake/sleep schedule or just be a day ahead of us or behind us, whichever you please.

My two dilemmas for today are big ones. Taxes and Big Kid's room.

1. Taxes. Good! you all say. Good girl, not even waiting til the very last minute. WRONG. I need to do 2006 taxes. I know. Turns out, when you own your own business, and have to pay taxes and keep track of all kinds of shit, you're not in a huDge rush to get your taxes done like all of you who get the fat rebate checks. A-holes.

Well, you say, that *is* a big, overwhelming thing. That will take major concentration and knowledge and time, you have to be very careful when doing your taxes. WRONG. I have a CPA. I pay this guy a bajillion dollars a year (really, a bajillion) but apparently he "can't go to your house, go through your drawers, shoe boxes and miscellaneous folders and gather this information" himself and I have to "get it all together" and "bring it to him".

So basically he makes a bajillion dollars a year to give me advice I don't follow? And fill out some papers every quarter? Or something? He *could* come to my house and gather this stuff himself, I think he just can't be *bothered* to.

So that was going to be my major dilemma solved for the day, since it has been hanging over my head like a toxic dark cloud since April 15, 2007. However, I informed Mr. Ashley about my plan for Work It Out Wednesday and he got nervous looking and said he has to call some people to get copies of some hospital bills. (insert not surprised at all smiley here) I'm still going to get started on the rest of it though, so that's a step in the right direction.

2. Big Kid's room. Whoa. It's unorganized, cluttered, scary and smells like pee. Toys need to be cleaned out, closet needs to be gone through 3,456,789.5 pieces of crap need to be reunited with the pieces of crap they go with, stuff needs to be wiped down.

This is a two punch challenge because little kid CAN NOT be assisting, and the allure of being in bubba's room while bubba isn't there is one he cannot resist, so I'll have to do it while he naps and I need to get it done before Big Kid gets home from school and starts thinking his opinion matters. So I'll be doing it during prime ME time, which sucks, but at the end of the day it will be worth it. I swear. It will.

So those are my things. They S-U-C-K to even think about but will feel really good to get done.

Oh, I'm also going to shine my sink ala Fly Lady. She has a theory that if you make an effort to keep your sink empty and shiny that it will affect your day positively and motivate you to do other little things that help, sort of a ripple effect.

(Please note my correct usage of affect/effect, knowledge that I am proud of. Affect is a verb, effect is a noun.)

Really, I think it is a Jedi mind trick to get you to stay on top of the dishes, but whatever. It does work and it's kind of fun to get out the comet and the sponge and the old toothbrush and fill the sink with super hot water and make it OCD clean and then see it sparkle every time you walk by.

Alright, what are you doing for Work It Out Wednesday? You can do *SOMETHING* people. Any little thing that needs to get checked off of "The List".