August's 1st Anniversary Fledgling Flyers: It's our party and we'll fly if we want to.

[elliepac]

Welcome to the August edition of the Fledgling Flyers where we are going to attempt to restore order in our houses, chatting as we go.

This month is officially our first birthday so we are celebrating sink shining and swishing and swiping in style!

Here you can do any of the following:

• repeat or start baby steps (again!)

• repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

or

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering

For those who are curious, these are the Babysteps which we all hope will restore order in our homes and make our lives a little bit easier with lots of support (and chat, and wine, and a little more chat )

So please come and join us for our birthday party, old and new, from August 1st.

RIght, I just did a lovely round-up and i pressed some random button and it all disappeared so now I am going to round-up, quick fire fashion. Average 3 words per person!

nettie zoo, lovely, contractors in bedroom

ihate massive list!

pa averted CHAOS, tipsy

toffeefudge dreaded holiday list, gold star!

elliepac sod all

Good Luck to pa's DS and om's DS/DD if she's lurking and to my own class of 22 and 70 others in the History Department.

Time to face the music!

Today's babystep is Swish and Swipe. This is a beautiful babystep, so tiny yet so significant!

The mission for today is here.

Have a good day everyone!

(quick reminder to the fabulous pa that I am going away on Friday for Bank Holiday weekend and she kindly said she would step in because I love her )

Morning all,

It is bucketing down here this morning - everyone was saying that it was the last day of summer yesterday, although my iPod is forecasting sun and 27 degrees at the end of the week .

I managed to get far too distracted yesterday morning so despite my short and manageable list, I didn't get a great deal done. I'm determined to do better today.

Today's list:

School/kindergarten run done (and we quite literally had to run as soon as we got out of the car)
Baker's done
Morning routine
Put washing away
Bake cake
Mission - have finally worked out that baseboards are skirting boards!
15 min decluttering
Write thank you cards
Kindergarten lunch tickets for Thursday and Friday
DS to doctor's for 4 year check up if friends leave early enough this afternoon

Nettie A postcard of the mountain railway will be winging its way to your DS soon!

ellie Well done to DD; it's so much easier when they decide to train themselves, isn't it?

And good luck to all those with DC/pupils awaiting GCSE results today.

Woke up late to find DC downstairs together, very happy, eating sweets from a bag that my aunt had given them (that I'd hidden in the kitchen cupboard) and playing on the Playstation. Decided that I am currently on holiday from Mum duties, so crept back to bed with a cup of tea .

Thank you for awarding me the Gold Star for yesterday, Ellie!

Today's list:

Wash DC's sheets
Unpack from holiday with Mum - still not done
Take DC to playground
Tidy clutter hotspots
Clean windows
Buy flowers for window box and indoor pots
Throw away dead flowers on kitchen window sill
Hoover upstairs
Clean bathroom
Hoover and clean the stairs
Find best deal for Euros
Practise some basic French with DC (watch Usborne video) and read them library books about France to get us all in the mood for our holiday
Iron labels into school uniforms
Print out important forms for holiday done
Make sandwiches for lunch
Afternoon routine - think of dinner for today as the big spag bol that was supposed to last two days was all eaten up yesterday
Evening routine
Go to bed at decent hour

Positive and Ellie - hope your DC get the results they are hoping for.

Right, off to check today's mission.

Hmm. I can't even see the skirting board in our bedroom thanks to all the mess. Extra 'to do' on list -

Tidy bedrooms today.

Morning everyone

Been very busy this morning

S/s ie scrub all paint off that dh left there last night and I didn't notice
Beds made x3
Banana cake oops forgot raisin
Pa oat biscuits in muffin tin tasty but look a bit funny
Unscheduled one hour session in naughty corner with dd
Mopped living roommfloor
Swept kitchen
Cleaned kitchen after baking mess
Now awaiting friends arrival
should clean sofas but thought I'd post instead

This afternoon
Carpet shopping
Party plate shopping
Play park to make up for letting dc watch tv all morning

Dinner already in just got to cook rice late
Gym
Home for bb final woop woop!! [sorry]

Catch upmpropwrly layer... Off to clean sofas

Just a quicky from work.

I'll be fine to do the postings on Friday and over the weekend, Ellie.

DS had a sleep over last night at a friends house so he wont be getting his results til later - Grrrrr I am impatient!!!! Meanwhile, he is just not bothered!!!!!

Just a very quick skim read through the posts and took a double take as I read that Nettie was having contractions in the bedroom. Made me look!!!

Just finished work here. DOne job No 1 and No 2 today, so a good day so far! Home for a relaxed afternoon I hope, although need to go to pet shop for supplies and either celebrate or console (which takes more wine??) with DS.
Ellie I am so pleased that I am not going totally mad, the GCSEs have always been on a Thursday, thats why I though Thursday, so I ma not SUCH a bad mother as I thought!!!!

Swish and Swipe I think is my favourite babystep. I cannot go into a bathroom in the house now without doing a quick S&S where it is needed. We ahve three, so I tend to make sure I go in each one once a day and it works brilliantly, even when I fail on the others!!

Have a good day everyone.

Ok, can I nominate myself for the worst mother on MN award??

DD3 is all upset because she has no GCSE results to receive because she hasnt been at school properly for 2 years, due to her illness and today she has reaslised how much her friends have moved on without her.

But my awful mother moment was when DS came through the door very close to tears and handed me his GCSE results envelope, I took one look and before my brain had got itself into action, my mouth said "Oh my goodness, that is terrible!" I know, I know, I dont think I could have said anything worse really!!! Before I finished speaking I knew I had said the wrong thing, but my mouth works quicker than my brain and I could not stop!! He was in floods of tears by the time the words were out and is now convinced he si going to be a drop-out for the rest of his life and there is no point in education anyway........

Ellie - quick advise for a terrible mother, please!!! What can I say, other than "Do you want to share my drink with me tonight?" (only joking, he's only 14, so not allowed alcohol, honest!!!)

He took an RE GCSE 2 years early (he's only year 9) and got an "E" - predicted an A. Science was not quite so bad, predicted a B and got a C. He is feeling rather down, though. Bloomin exams, stupid big mouth!!!

Now they are both moping around like wet weekends and I cant seem to do anyhting right.
Perhaps I will go and bake a chocolate cake and amke some nice chocolate sauce for pudding, they like that and I know I can do that right.

Aw pa as the owner of a mouth that goes without thinking through I feel for you.

I hope it all calms down and he gets over it! It sucks not passing exams but sounds like he is doing well even though he didn't get quite what he was hoping.

If it's any consolation when I told my
Mum I was getting married she asked Why? She is just not good with surprises.

Hope both dd and ds feel better soon

PA chocolate cake is the solution. Whatever the problem
You are definitely not in the running for rubbish mother award though - it can be so hard to keep foot out of mouth!
DD1 not happy with results for AS level last week - I have told her nothing is irretrievable but it took copious quantities of hot chocolate and iced buns before she felt better :)
Am sure DS is not a total drop out and he has plenty of time to retake if he wants to.

DD1 currently on walking holiday but toe still poorly so she hasn't walked today :(
DD2 back from Gibraltar (guides trip) - had a fabulous time and it was such a big event over there they were in the paper twice and on the news once! They spent a morning with the army and she now wants to join the army as 'the food was really nice and they looked cute in the uniform'

I have done very little flying but H is doing a lot of shredding prior to moving. So the house is now full of orange bags of shredded paper. Perhaps I should use it as bedding for us all and save on washing sheets

Nope I get to claim the bad mummy award for having to tell a 5yo that he cant go see great grandma ever again because she is too poorly for visits from little people and she is dying. He handled it remarkably well but is visibly upset. Poor kid has 3 sets of g-grandp's who are in their 90's. He has just realised that in the next few years they are all likely to go.
OUCH!

Been very busy with the DIY. got that room finished. DOing Ds' room next week and the other half of lounge in october half term.

Today's list:
hopital for allergy tests
Joderall Bank
Homemade pizza
watch fab little films on lego website. Must recommend if you are feeling down.

No flying today but first day of no diy and having ds back. He goes away again in a week :(

I have been trying to go to bed since 8:50pm, still on the computer and having to reboil the kettle for my hot water bottle for my back and reheat the oat thingy for my neck. This is when you know you are getting old!

Well I've had a moment's inspiration and cleaned the bathroom and then sorted out outfits for tomorrow, Thursday AND Friday
But it's alright now - I'm sitting down til the feeling goes away :)

i'm nearly back, honest.

Late on here again, DH late home again, so he's just finished eating and heading to bed. Washing up to do and my sink to shine, and a bit of work to finish, before I depart too.

Today's list
Morning routine - done
Swish and swipe - done
Retrieve bin and recycling boxes - done
Washing in machine ready for tonight - done
Weekly Home Blessing - done
Clean fridge - done
Menu plan for next fortnight - done
2 min hotspot - done
Get sleeping bag dry - about done, left in front of Aga for the night
Blanch and freeze beans - done
Find CGS renewal form - done
Decobweb bedroom - done as far as I can, we now have a tideline until DH can do the rest.
Bedroom declutter 15 mins - done
Request new CC pin as I have completely forgotten it (as realised when I stood in shop and just looked at the keypad, then had to ask to start again with another card ) - done
Cook tea - done
Clean Aga - done

DS and I played with games (alphabet, word and number) and jigsaws this morning. He wants to be able to read, but is finding it hard to understand that to do this he needs to learn the alphabet - just wants to dive right in with reading books properly. Any suggestions? Spent part of the afternoon just playing with him, and having a cuddle on the bed.

Good morning,

I'm not going to post a list this morning as a) it would look pathetically short compared with everyone else's, and b) I'm just going to concentrate on getting my morning routine done and having a general tidy up (using a shortened version of Flylady's crisis cleaning method: 5 min per room rather than 15 min - although I suspect that 5 min won't be enough in every room).

PA I find that tea is the answer to every problem. But seriously, it sounds like he's doing well if he's taking GCSEs two years early. I feel for you, though - it reminds me of when my best friend phoned me up to tell me my degree results. I'd done better than I was expecting; I then asked her what she'd got - not quite as well as she'd hoped. I said "Oh well, that's not too bad..." - I was cringing for ages afterwards.

Ihate Have you tried Jolly Phonics? It's supposed to be an excellent method, although I must admit I didn't have much success with it with DD1 - we seemed to spend ages learning individual letters, colouring them in, practising writing them, etc. but not getting very far with the reading itself. Having said that, we found out later that she has mild dyslexia and she would probably have struggled whatever method we used.

DD2, on the other hand, learned to read by looking at simple books with me - I didn't teach her the alphabet beforehand, although she did know quite a few letters. She picked it up so quickly (I didn't really need to "teach" her at all) that I'm using the same method with DS as he's very keen to learn to read as well. We're using the Oxford Reading Tree books, which he loves - if he doesn't know a word, we sound it out and he can often work it out from that, but again he doesn't know the whole alphabet (I do point out what letters are when we come across them, though).

It's great that your DS wants to be able to read - I think that's actually half the battle (DD1 was never very motivated). I'm sure that if you're reading to him a lot and backing that up with alphabet and word games, it's getting him off to a great start. How old is he, btw?

Waves to everyone else; have a good day.

Morning all,

Quick post from me this morning as sitting down is agony. I slipped (while wearing flip-flops, it was sunny when I left the house) on a wet floor, my legs went from underneath and I landed full force on my coccyx. I am in serious pain!

The babystep today is another nice easy reading one.

The mission fotoday is here.

Have a good day everyone, back later when I have put an ice pack on.

Ouch sympathies ellie.

Ihate- schools at the moment work with phonics. we didnt use the jollie phonics version but another non free version (thanks exmil) which got him reading words as soon has he knew the sounds of 5 letters. Ds reads fluently but is still learning his alphabet.
c a t h s I think were the first letters. can look it up. But the important bit is the sound they make rather then their names. You rarely use the name of the letters in words. How old is ds?

Here is a do stuff with ds day, and a sewing day. didnt bother to tidy kitchen last night as was tired. Soooo regret that this morning I have decided I like my tidy kitchen!

Oh sorry to hear you are in pain Ellie.

The link appears to be broken on the mission, for me anyway, so I will post it again for anyone with the same issue

But then again it could be my computer at work as I am having problems doingg half of what I normally do, like getting my emails.

Right, four weeks of DH loitering being at home is officially enough. He goes away on Monday and will be home at weekends for a few weeks. I ahve to say I think I need the break, . Evening TV will be mine. I can cook when I want to, what I want to. I can clean when if I want to. , no, I mustnt let it slip....

Anyway, I have been at work already for 4 hours, so just waiting for DS to meet me and I ma taking him for breakfast somewhere of his choice, to make up for yesterdays big mouth disappointments .
DH and I are going out tonight - if you look carefully I am sure there will be pigs flying over a blue moon!! I have booked a table at a lovely place that I love - cant wait!!!

Today I need to pack DS for a trip he is going on tomorrow to visit DD1 for 5 days. (8 hours on a coach!!! )
Need to buy DSs school shoes
Then looks as if DD3 is at boyfriends house, DD2 is working, DD4 is very good at amusing herself with DS on Wii, so I can have a little quiet time. YAY!!!!

Off now as DS has arriveed for me.
HAve a good day everyone and catch you all later.

Stepmum here today - argh! Friend offered to have kids for me for a bit so I could tidy up, but now I'm not sure if she can do it. Have a sparkly bathroom and kitchen (apart from a bit of breakfast washing up), but house definitely needs a crisis clean. Lots of clutter hotspots all over the place. And I have a cold too .

Ellie - I don't like the sound of your injury. Make sure you get it checked out if you are in a lot of pain. MIL broke her pelvis slipping over once and it was agony (mind you, she would have been a lot older than you!).

Ihatecobwebs - I also have a DS (4) who wants to learn to read, which is refreshing after the struggles of DS1 (who turned out to be dyslexic). He has learnt his letter sounds already and I am using a book I ordered from Amazon - 'The Reading Lesson: Teach your child to read in 20 easy lessons' by Michael Levin and Charan Langton. Not cheap, but has proved good so far. Your child doesn't need to know the whole phonic alphabet to use the book, as the sounds are taught step by step. The first letter sounds taught are c o s a t. DS is now reading words with those letters, eg. sat, cat, cot.

DS2 also loves Alphablocks on Cbeebies. You can play Alphablocks games on the website.

The bedroom missions are making me laugh (a bit hysterically). My bedroom is full of boxes because there is nowhere else to put them . All I need to do is find the key so that I can keep nosy SM out of here and pretend I have a beautiful, tidy bedroom behind the door really.

ellie - ouch, ouch, ouch :( Official Flylady sick-note for you today

PA - I agree with MissB, chocolate is always the answer. Hope everyone is feeling better today. 14 is young to be doing GCSEs so he must be doing well.

MuckyDucky - poor DS, that is hard for a 5 year old to realise. If its any consolation they are often tougher than you think - we lost my Dad suddenly when I was 7 and my DB and DSis were 5. It was awful but I still feel like I had a wonderful childhood.

MissB - Calm down dear [said in best Michael Winner voice] If you are anything like me tomorrow's and Friday's clothes will be covered by other detritus when you come to put them on
Definitely up for tea and cake. Actually live quite close to the famous airport and Simmons have just opened locally :) Easy to get into town too so lots of choice. Not sure if the MN CAT thing still works but I used it years ago. If not I will have to start getting cryptic with email/Facebook!

Ihatecobwebs - I'll second Jolly Phonics as that seems to be what they use in most schools. DS likes www.starfall.com/Starfall (as did DD before him) though it is American so some of the letter sounds/pronounciations are different but DC understood this once it had been explained and its not that many.
Just make sure you use the letter sounds NOT the letter names - 'buh' NOT 'bee', 'zzz' NOT 'zed' if that makes sense as that helps to decode the sounds in a word. Then you have the fun of trying to look for words that can actually be decoded this way - how anyone ever learns English is a mystery

Right, need a list:

• Work done
• Morning routine
• empty airing cupboard and put stuff away done
• Hoover most of house!
• Kitchen floor
• Make fish pie for dinner
• Park with DC and friends
• Plum cake with plums I was given yesterday
• Do something with windfall apples (and find LOTS more recipes as our 2 trees are groaning under the weight this year and they are all going to be ready at the same time!)
• Afternoon/evening routine
• More label sewing
• Bed at decent time

Need to get going as its nearly time to go to park

Have a good day everyone

Evening everyone

muckyducky aw that's tough having to explain to a 5 yr old. Well done
feetheart hope you had a lovely time at the park and it wasn't as soggy as here
toffee hope sm visit goes well. I'm glad someone else is giggling about missions. It is almost impossible to get to our bed at the moment!
pa it's nice to get tv back when dh is working I love it and find it very difficult to fit his programmes in
Hope breakfast with ds was lovely and shoe shopping bearable [sceptical]
Ellie hope you are feeling bit better if not put your feet up
linzer looking forward to postcard (me) and ds
ihate that's brill ds wanting to learn. I'm info gathering on all these as have no idea when or where or what to start with when it comes to teaching dc's
tm hi
missb hee hee well done and I'm hope the feeling has passed.

Today I have
Been to work
Been to dr another coil failed and now have no idea where to go with family planning
S/s
Sink cleaning
Wm/td
Indian meal ordered
Dc clothes out for nursery
Ironing put away

Got to sort out banking stuff for tomorrow and present for a 4th old boy.

Off to get my things together before dinner arrives

Have lovely evening

Thanks everyone for your learning to read help. DS is 3.4, and is desparate to read his books properly. His current method is to remember what I've said as I'm reading to him, and to repeat this (nearly word for word) as he turns the pages by himself, but he knows he can't read and it frustrates him. He's a funny lad sometimes, and can be very aware of things he can't do yet - eg read, ride his trike on his own, colour within the line etc, and then decides he's not going to have a try because "I can't do it". I can spend a lot of time encouraging, helpiing, demonstrating etc. I'll have a look at the phonics stuff and see where we go from there.

Today's list
Morning routine - done
Washing out of machine and onto airer as its raining again - done
Allotment until rain stops play - done
This afternoon: chatting with mum, playing games with DS and mum, making tea - done
Washing up - done
Shine sink - done
Clean Aga - done
Work - done
Blanch and freeze beans - done

Rest of evening
Make bread
More work
Mending
Declutter bedroom - 15 mins

(or give up and go to bed early!)

Breast clinic appointment is tomorrow, so have to get DS over to mum in the morning. Don't think there will be much Flying done tomorrow, and I know there wasn't today either.

Hello all, is it too late to join? I was on the Christmas one, yonks ago obviously but I have a shiny new laptop so don't have to go to house siberia now to catch up.
For my first post I would just like to share that my dishwasher has been broken for 2 weeks
I am sort of coping but feel like I'm ever doing is ruddy washing up! (any tips gratefully received...)

ihate hope appointment goes ok tomorrow

Welcome wherehasthedaygone
eh hints and tips..... Get it fixed lol sorry couldn't resist it! A broken dishwasher would be hell don't think I'd survive