It is not just any watch. It is a Timex Ironman watch. It probably swims, bikes, and runs all by itself :). Although I do not know all of its capabilities, I do know that it has a great little timer. When the kids go to a friend's house to play, I set the timer, put the watch on their wrist, tell them to take good care of my favorite possession, and to come home when the timer beeps. I use it when I bake because our oven timer beeps for five seconds then stops, allowing me to forget about the thing inside the oven. (That should be a requirement for all oven timers to beep until someone actually opens the oven door, don't you think?)
My Ironman also helps me to clean. I set my timer for five minutes, concentrate on one room, and just straighten, dust, or clean as fast as I can. :) I find this method is especially effective when the house is a MESS on Monday morning. Just this very Monday, the task of cleaning the house seemed overwhelming, but when I set my timer and started in on our master bathroom, cleaning the house became a game! Wow. An hour after I started, the upstairs looked grand. I have to admit though that the kitchen takes longer than five minutes. Unloading the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, straightening and cleaning the table, and straightening and cleaning the countertops get their own five-minutes.
I thought it was such an original and creative idea, but when I mentioned it to a friend the other day, she asked me if I had gotten the idea from the fly lady (I have never looked at her website, but friends have told me that she has ideas for cleaning efficiently), and then when I told Angela and Alison about my cleaning game the other day, Alison smiled and said that she does the same thing. Hmmm. I wonder if I got the idea from her?
Anyway, I love my watch. The timing possibilities are endless . . .
