Trying to FLY

Okay, so I finally gave in after reading a great deal of Sink Reflections and yesterday I shined my sink-- and almost poisoned my son in the process.

At one time I signed up for the Flylady website, but I got like twenty emails a day from them, so I quit. I never actually got started on the program because I wanted an overview of how the whole thing worked before committed to doing it. That's why I bought the book. Because Kristin uses the system and I know it's working for her and we've discussed it, I basically knew the concepts, but I still got hung up on that first step. You want me to soak my sink for an hour? Why? I scrub it everyday after I do the dishes. It sounded insane, but I decided to try.

So, yesterday I filled the sink all the way to the top with very hot water and poured about a cup of bleach in each side. Then I left it to soak for an hour.

In the meantime, my real estate agent called and said she wanted to show my house on Wednesday. I said, "Great!" then looked around and about burst into tears. What a wreck, and I have to have it totally clean by Wednesday! I started frantically folding laundry and scrubbing showers and tossing junk into drawers. Suddenly I realized that it was past time for dinner, so I went downstairs and started cooking.

The boys came inside from playing, and I said, "By the way, stay away from the sink. It has bleach in it."

They replied, "What's bleach?"

"It's a chemical. It will ruin your clothes, and it's poisonous."

Dylan starts to cry. "I drank it! Am I going to die?"

"What!?!" I exclaim. "When? Couldn't you taste that something was wrong?"

He calmed down and explained that he dipped a glass in it, took a sip, swallowed some but spit the rest out. Still, he was worried and wanted me to take him to the doctor. I read the label, had him drink twelve ounces of water and fed him dinner. He wasn't showing any signs of being poisoned, but he kept bugging me to take him to the doctor. Finally, I relented and called poison control, who told me if he wasn't vomiting, he would be fine. The little burn in his throat was all the side affects he would have.

So, there's what I get for trying to have a shiny sink-- a phone call to poison control. And, I decided later that the mental boost I was supposed to get from shining my sink actually came later. When all the kids were in bed, I polished my dining room table. Every time I walk by it, I do a double take. So now I know. Skip the sink and polish the table! (With non-toxic furniture polish.)