Getting a System.

If you follow me on pinterest you may have noticed I have an OCD/Organization board. I love love love to try out new ways to keep my life in order so I make sure I live each day to the fullest. I promised myself that 2012 would be the year of no excuses - that I would stick to my budget, I would travel, I would keep my house clean, I would drop more weight, I would workout, be healthy, and sleep enough.

I was pretty half hearted about my pinteresting at first but when I realized how many great organization and cleaning ideas can be gained there, I basically fell in love! I'm literally constantly adding to my 'to organize' list (next up: my cleaning supplies closet and under my kitchen sink).

I pinned the weekly cleaning calender pictured below because I realized that for my house to stay clean, I really need to be doing a little bit every day. Right now with averaging 55 hours a week of work plus bible study, workouts, friends, reading, blogging, cooking, etc I just don't have a huge chunk of time to devote to scouring the whole house AND I don't want it to look like a bomb went off the rest of the week. I also HATE rushing around trying to get it clean enough for company at the last minute. And so I present to you the new plan:

Found here.

Now, we all know I hate to do anything alone. I have Mia to keep me accountable to my morning workouts (at least 2-3 days a week I workout in the AM). I have Jess and Kayla to report my weight loss to every week. I have my small group to keep me accountable to reading my bible, praying, and finishing my homework before our Monday night meetings. You get the idea, there's safety in numbers! And so, I was thrilled with 3 of my sweet twitter friends: Mia, Joey, and Emmy agreed to try this new everyday cleaning with me ( I linked to their blogs so you can follow them, they're awesome).

So how's it going? Well, first off, I should say I think this chore list was made for a family of 5 - laundry 3 days a week seems excessive to me - at least for one! I also don't vacuum three days a week - since I don't have pets, children, or a messy husband to clean up after. BUT otherwise, I've been really pleased with this list! Tuesday morning I felt great at work all day because I'd windexed my bathroom counters and mirrors after my morning workout and before I left for the office!

I love staying on top of the dishes AND keeping the counters clean! It makes the kitchen so much less overwelming. Though I should admit here I pretty much put everything in the dishwasher.

I've nixed mowing since I don't have a yard but I do love that it makes me sort my mail on Fridays. Gr, I hate when mail piles up and feels overwelming (oh wait, that's always). I added a few things of my own: like trash on Mondays and Fridays, cleaning out my car on Sundays (so I don't drive around looking like I live in it), and changing the sheets (I admit, I'm surprised that didn't make the list...).

It's been fun keeping up on twitter with how the other girls are doing with their daily chore list. I think it's safe to say we all agree, we feel great about having a clean house! It's also fun to brag, celebrate, or whine to each other along the way.

How do you keep your house clean? Do you do a little cleaning every day or have one day a week you do it all?

Love,
B

Facebook, twitter, and stalkers, oh my!

Social networking. The ever increasing phenom of social networking is completely fascinating to me. As a ‘member’ of twitter, facebook, myspace (past tense really), blogger, and 20sb.net – I am all over the place with internet updates. However, I got to thinking after a recent episode of Criminal Minds (I’m obsessed), how much information is too much information?

See, I’ve never been someone who posts my drama on facebook. That’s not how I handle fights with friends. I’ve never put a relationship or anything about who I’m dating up on any of my sites (except to occasionally make fun of a guy, without his name, on my blog). And I don’t add people I don’t know, although I do let anyone who wants follow me on twitter and there are people on my facebook who despite thinking they know me, don’t really. I usually confirm all my friend invites, assuming I've probably met the person somewhere along the way and have just forgotten.

During this Criminal Minds episode, the girls who are targeted by the seriel killer are girls who are obsessive with social networking. He finds them via a facebook type site and proceeds to follow their statuses, learning all about them. He later uses this information to know when they aren’t home and he breaks in and places cameras in their houses (I know, creepy). And later he uses the cameras in conjuction with knowing their routines and schedules to carry out his evil plans.

So I realize this isn’t real. It’s 'just' a TV show. BUT there have been plenty of stories in the news over the past year or so of people who’s statuses have gotten them in trouble. Either people breaking into their houses while they know they’re out of town (because of twitter). Guys on college campuses becoming obsessed with and stalking girls via facebook. You get the idea. So despite this show being fiction, I do wonder if there isn’t something to be said for being careful how much you say, and monitoring who you allow to know your business…is it ironic I’m thinking this ‘aloud’ on my blog? Bare with me.

After reading an article about how to keep yourself safe on the internet, I did take my year of birth off facebook (they say this increases your chances of having your identity stolen). I have started changing my passwords with more frequency to avoid being 'hacked'. And my facebook profile only includes my name, e-mail address, and quotes. But the truth is, a smart enough person could probably do some damage with just that! So, do I go through and delete hundreds of people from my facebook and lock down my twitter to only those I allow to follow? What's the course of action here? I don't want to quit social networking...I love staying connected with people all over and keeping up with their lives.

Food for thought anyway...ideas welcomed.

Love,
B

A little privacy please.

Social networking has made little Internet celebrities out of us all. All of the sudden people are paying attention to our dating lives, know where we are and what were doing, see pictures of us daily, etc. Those habits were once reserved for the Lindsay Lohan's and Brangelina's of the world. But facebook, myspace, twitter, linked in, and blogger have changed all that. Now we've come to expect that we can find out anything, about anyone, in 5 minutes or less...from our phones!

The tricky thing about this is finding a balance and keeping some semblance of boundaries on your personal life. Social networking can be an excellent way to keep up with friends from high school or college that you may not see regularly anymore. Or keep up with your family members and see pictures of your little nieces and nephews (I don't have those ...yet). BUT giving people unlimited access to your life certainly has repercussions.

When I determined I was going to start blogging, I had to determine if this was going to be a public or private blog. Did I want to be anonymous or let people know who I am? Just how much more access did people need than the 1500 people who know 'what's on my mind' from facebook or 'what I am doing' from twitter?

For the most part, I put it all out there for you. I don't blog every one of my inner most thoughts. But I'm up front and honest on my blog about what I've got going on in my life and the mistakes, flaws, and mishaps along the way. In my mind it has been worthwhile. I've grown to love sharing this blog with you all.

I do still reserve a few categories for myself though. One being my dating life. You'd be surprised how many facebook messages and e-mails I get about my hidden relationship status. Am I single? Am I dating? Am I in a relationship? Is it any of their business? Not really. I will say this, if I ever start seriously seeing only one person I promise to tell you. But I'm not going to publicize my dating life. I find that awkward and I think it could be problematic. So, that's a 'me only' category. People are only informed on a 'need to know' basis.

If I did get to blog anonymously, I think I would talk about dating. Because I have plenty of thoughts and funny stories about my 'dating life'. But since you all know who I am, where I'm from, and who I hangout with I'm afraid that's impossible. I'd sure hate to humiliate anyone by publicizing their faux pas (or mine) on a blog for you all to figure out who they may be.

In recent weeks I've been reconsidering the number of people who have access even to my limited profile on facebook. I mean, do that many people really need to see pictures of me on my birthday? Or know how I spend my Christmas vacation? Probably not. A friend of mine recently did a 'clean sweep' of their facebook friends and I'm feeling somewhat inspired. It may be time to make some cuts. No offense to all those lovely people I met once in a class at Purdue who friended me and I never defriended later.

I think it's time for a little privacy.

Love,
B

How much is too much?

So, I joined the Twitter cult today. They suggested at my last bible study meeting at Grace that we join twitter and follow one set up for our group so they could give us bible verses everyday. I can't for the life of me figure out how to link to them though, search though I have. Either way, I'm officially on Twitter now and trying to figure out exactly what it is! But this brings me to the point of this blog... just how available is too available?

I've always prided myself on staying up with the times (you know, for all 23 years now). From going to texting as a primary form of communication, to facebook as a way to keep up with friends I don't get to talk to via the phone regularly. To e-mail as a way to get in touch with work contacts and get more done faster. But just how far do we take this technology built to make us permanently available?

From facebook & myspace to texting & twitter - just when do we turn all of this stuff off and let the world survive without us? I got to wondering this after being woken up by a facebook alert sent via my facebook mobile account to my phone at 4am. How much is too much and have I hit that point?

It scares me to think you could really "be my friend" without actually ever spending any real face time with me. You could see me everyday on facebook and myspace. You could read what I'm doing every moment on twitter. You could read my blog to know more about my life, my work, my family, and my friends. E-mail while I'm at work or texting when I'm home. And isn't this similar to how our relationships get sometimes? We don't have time to spend with people so we maintain our friendships in much the same way that we use e-mail to get more work done faster. We let our computers (or phones) do the friendship leg work for us.

I went away this weekend and I set out to talk on my phone as little as possible. I didn't log on a computer to any of my internet sites, I took only phone calls from the friends I was with to locate them. And while I didn't stop texting for the weekend - it still felt like quite a nice break! So why don't I do this more often? The answer is - I don't know. But over the next week or two I'm going to purpose to spend more time talking to people on the phone or in person and less time at my computer virtually being a friend.

Love,
B