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.

Wherehasthedaygone - its never to late. Welcome back, not sure how much further on things are here since Christmas (I joined in Jan) but the chat is always good :)
I don't have a dishwasher so can understand your pain re constant washing up. The shiny sink thing does help - if I come down to a clean sink in the morning the breakfast dishes don't feel so daunting so tend to get done, same with the lunch ones. Dinner ones are a bit of a struggle but try not to go to bed without doing most of them and rope DH in to help as much as possible. Haven't dried up tonight though and am not going to [rebel emoticon] so morning dishes will involve a bit more work tomorrow - ho hum. Its all good in theory :)

PA - hope lunch and shoe shopping were successful

Nettie - my only advice is to read lots to DC and take any lead from them. DD was interested in letter sounds so we played I Spy ad infinitum a lot before she started school and she picked things up quite quickly when they started to do things more formally. DS starts in 2 weeks time and is already reading, mainly because DD has had spellings, reading books, etc and he wanted to do it too. Not so much I-Spy this time but a lot more 'how do you spell .....?' which makes me out to be a hideously pushy mother when other people walk past
No idea if he has covered all the basics or if we have done it 'right' but he is happy doing what he is doing and loves books so DH and I are happy too.

Ihatecobwebs - hope appointment goes well

Quite a good day here though not much Flying done, as usual.
Park was great, managed to persuade DS not to wear his full school uniform out (he is so keen, I hope it lasts), had good catch up with friend, helped out poorly neighbour, took another neighbour loads of lavendar that she wanted from our bush, DD finished her first ever piece of knitting - a dolly's scarf - and I managed to remember how to cast off! Second masterpiece has been started (a scarf for DS's dolly) and she is now planning a patchwork blanket for her dolly's bed. As for the list:

• Work done
• Morning routine - done sort of
• empty airing cupboard and put stuff away done
• Hoover most of house - no
• Kitchen floor - no
• Make fish pie for dinner - done and served with masses of mash so enough for another night :)
• Park with DC and friends - done Got 3 hours in before rain stopped play so nice tired DC tonight
• Plum cake with plums I was given yesterday - no
• Do something with windfall apples - no
• Afternoon/evening routine - bit of a joke at moment as don't really do much so may leave it out until school starts again
• More label sewing - done
• Bed at decent time - no but going now!

Good luck with your appointment, Ihatecobwebs.

Welcome to the Flylady thread, Wherehas. I had to do without a dishwasher for a year after it broke and we couldn't afford to get it mended. I felt as if I was washing up all the time - I'm sure I spent about an hour a day washing up, if I added it all up. So I agree with Nettie - get if fixed if you can! Or have a rota (never worked in my house ).

Well, Stepmum's visit went well. After lunch, I dispatched DC upstairs to their rooms whilst I did a Flylady Crisis Clean downstairs. The house does look very, very tidy now, so it was worth all the hard work. SM didn't find a single thing to criticise, so it must look all right.

Jobs for tomorrow include:

Errands - buy school shoes for DS1
visit optician with DS1
buy notebooks and pens for DC
buy birthday card for friend's 60th
buy video cassette for camera

Check bank account online
Order school fleeces and sweatshirts online (depending on bank balance)
Label school uniforms
Start packing for the holiday
Do morning, afternoon and evening routines

Off to bed now. Night all.

Morning everyone

I'm posting and running this morning

S/s
Wm/dw
Find gromitty thing so can do online banking
Work
Order glow in dark stars for ds room
Sort out present for one of ds friends
Sort out all our stuff needed for afternoon on beach watching airshow on Friday [rainsuits if this keeps up]

Hope you all have a great day

Morning all.

Still in some pain but a little better than yesterday. Had my fly sick note yesterday courtesy of feetheart so didn't do anything yesterday. Have to get moving today ready to go away tomorrow.

list today looks like this:-

Tidy/clean whole house
Pack
Food shopping

SMall yet huge!

Tis round-up time .

toffeefudge did crisis cleaning in preparation for a visit from Stepmum and she is waking up to lovely tidy house this morning! Lots of school related stuff for her today

feetheart was a good neighbour and a good friend .

wherehasthedaygone joined us. A mahoosive welcome to you. It is never too late to join and we hope you enjoy the thread and the consequent clean house . You have my sympathy re the dishwasher. Mine blew up a few days ago and I con't really afford another one at the mo so am going to be washing up for a while . I post the babystep for the day (which is all you should concentrate on for now) every morning as below. Welcome .

ihate has been busy teaching DS to read. Good luck for the appointment today . Thinking of you.

nettie had another successful day .

pa fixed my dodgy link (Thanks ). Reclaimed her tv and was looking forward to some much deserved time to herself!

muckyducky had a DS day yesterday. Re: telling DS sad news, that is a horrible thing for anyone to have to deal with, paritcularly one so young. I will however second what feetheart said in that children often cope better than you think they will. DS lost his beloved grandpa (my stepdad) to cancer shortly after his 5ht birthday and although telling him was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever had to do, he coped and am sure your DS will as well.

linzer dispensed lots of reading wisdom and did her own version of crisis cleaning. Well Done!

I forgot to mention pa, ooops at foot in mouth moment. However, Year 9 is VERY young to be taking GCSE's and any pass, in my eyes, is a fantastic result. I don't think it is so much about intelligence when taking exams so early, sometimes it is about intellectual maturity, if that makes sense. We had the option to enter Year 10 for half their GCSE this year but decided against it as we felt they weren't mature enough although some of them were undoubtedly intelligent enough (not that I am saying your DS isn't mature). I think taking GCSE's early is a tremendous achievement no matter what they come out with!

My class did very well and I am a very proud teacher. 3 or 4 dipped out but it would have helped if they had actually attended the exam/lessons .

Anyway, enough from me. Better get on!

Morning all,

I managed to get the house into a fairly tidy state yesterday, although there are still far too many things stuffed in drawers so it's only superficially tidy. I will get it properly decluttered one day, but have to keep reminding myself that it's all about babysteps.

It's reassuring to hear that others have DC who are starting to read or already reading before they start school school. Since I wrote that I may have to strangle the next person who tells me DD2 will be bored at school, I have had to restrain myself on two further occasions. I find myself telling people that she taught herself to read with virtually no input from me (which is true) as I'm worried they may think I'm a pushy parent, but they still seem to be a bit about it. For some reason, it seems to be seen as almost unnatural for a child to be reading before they start school (the September after they turn 6). I am rebelliously continuing to encourage DS (who still has two years left at kindergarten) as he really wants to read and is doing very well so far, although I obviously wouldn't push it if he wasn't keen.

Anyway, enough ranting... Welcome to wherehasthedaygone - it's never too late to jump on board.
Ihate Thinking about you today; hope your appointment goes well.

x posts with ellie - forgot to say I hope you're feeling better today. Flip-flops are evil; the sister of a friend of mine tripped up while she was wearing some and ended up with some quite nasty facial injuries.

The babystep for today is yet another reading one. Do with it what you will!

The mission for today is here

For wherehasthedaygone here is an explanation of the babysteps here. JUst in cas you have forgotten!

Have a good day everyone!

Where are you all? Dh has been possessed by the fat fAiry . He has done more in 5 hours than i have in 5 weeks

I'm here, Ellie! Glad to hear about your DH's possession, although I hope this doesn't include speaking like the Fat Fairy too (is he 'blessing' your house?).

DS2 at childminder's, so DS1 and I went shopping this morning and did all our errands. My list now looks like this:

Errands - buy school shoes for DS1 done (£40 - argh!)
visit optician with DS1 done
buy notebooks and pens for DC done
buy birthday card for friend's 60th done
buy video cassette for camera done

Check bank account online done
Order school fleeces and sweatshirts online (depending on bank balance)- do tomorrow (payday)
Label school uniforms
Start packing for the holiday
Do morning, afternoon and evening routines morning routine done

Have also bought lots of travel stuff that is putting me in a proper holiday mood - travel pillows for the boys, money pouch, First Aid stuff, books to entertain the boys on the ferry trip, etc. Also bought some Euros.

Have to collect DS2 in a minute and am hoping he will let me get on with labelling school uniforms and starting to pack. What are the chances of that ?

Definitely not 'blessing'. He is sorting this s*heap out .

I'm here too!

Hope the appointment went ok today, IHate.

Ellie good on DH to be possessed with fatfairy ness! Long may it last. If he runs out of house before the feeling is all done you could hire him out to the highest bidder!!

MissB - Hope your "feelings" are back to normal!!!

Nettie i am impressed with your lists! You go girl!!!

I managed to get the school shoes yesterday. How on earth does my squidgy little pudding end up with canoe feet that are size 9.5!!! Thats bigger than DH!!! Where has my little baby gone........well, my little squidgy baby has gone on a coach all the way upcountry today, all the way to Blackpool. He arrives at 10am tonight. I think he was trying to be reassuring me when we were on the boat when he whispered that it was going to be ok now because he had managed to do a poo at home before we left. Apparently it had been worrying him about what to do if he needed to do one on his 8 hour journey.

Back lounge has been cleared today as I have a meeting tonight here, but DH has just announced that he is going out, DDs are busy, so I could have used the front lounge and not had to do any clearing at all!! He is off bike stroking, in training for a long road race in about 6 weeks time.

So house looks fairly ok at the moment. Washing all up together, kitchen fine, both lounges now fine, bathrooms good [smug emoticon] No show home, but pretty good!!

We had an absolutely amazing meal out last evening. I swear no-one can find a place who does a better steak than this little pub in a tiny village near here. Have to book well in advance, and a bit pricey for a pub, but a million times better than normal pub grub and worth every penny!! DH announced that it was to celebrate his bday, his new job and my bday (in a few weeks). I am now hoping he forgets that we apparently celebrated my birhtday already and will book again. I am sure he will forget......

Have a good evening everyone. Ellie am I posting in the morning, or you?

Ihate - hope today went ok and you dont hve too long to wait for the results.

Welcome back wherehas

Another ds day here. PLus toothache. Must admit to falling asleep whislt he watched willow the whisp. He is watching it again. Need to put the furniture back from decorating tonight/tomo. Gloss has had a week to set moatly unhindered. But we need to start clearing out for nxt weeks decorating job can i hate decorating yet? Ds' bedroom. got 2 days to do whole room. thankfully it is small. Unfortunately it is stuffed, mostly with beloved and current books. Plus it has green skirting boards that need to go white not going to be easy job.

Yay for ellie's possessed DH

Glad you enjoyed the meal PA.

Waves to everyone else. Computer is having a hissy fit and keeps freezing so cant scroll to refresh memory. feel my bed calling and need to kick ds into his own bed.

Evening everyone. Just quickly popping on whilst I finish preparing for few days away. Wanted to say to ihate that I hope it went ok today

pa I will post steps in the morning and then leave thread in your capable hands. I will be back on Monday evening.

Am off to finish packing.

Hi everyone

Thanks for your support re the appointment. It wenk ok, but took 3 hours!!, and the results are that I am fine, just have a cyst. They do the initial consultation, all the tests and the reporting back the same day, so it just seemed to take forever sitting in the waiting room.

Apart from that not much has been done here today.

Morning routine - done
DS to mother (she's keeping him overnight) - done
Emergency wash of DS duvet - done
Emergency bread purchase (as I went to bed early last night and didn't make any) - done
Ever lasting hospital appointment - done
Dash to meeting - done

Come back to finally have something to eat - doing now
Washing up - to be done
Shine sink - to be done

And not a mission completion in sight , but please miss could I be excused if my mum writes a note, as I'd just like to go to bed now (various parts being a bit sore from the prodding, poking and needle) and I just haven't the energy to start doing anything tonight!

Evening in bed too tired to keep eyes open even for big brother quick update on my list

S/s -done
Wm/dw-done
Find gromitty thing so can do online banking-done
Work-hmm done
Order glow in dark stars for ds room-done
Sort out present for one of ds friends-nope
Sort out all our stuff needed for afternoon on beach watching airshow on Friday [rainsuits if this keeps up]-done

Good night catch up in morning sorry

Hi and thanks for the welcome. Day did not start well. Unloaded the dryer to find several things that should not have been there.
Wool jumper, flimsy cotton top, etc etc. Hey ho. We live and learn. Or not.
Hope you all have a great bh weekend. And get a decent rest....

MOrning all. Well, am all packed and ready to go back up to the north yorks coast for a few days. Please pray for good weather. Me and BF are going with all our children and my DN which equates to 2 adults and 6 children in one, albeit relatively large, static caravan. If it rains, there will be murder committed I suspect . I have now figured out why DH was possessed by the fat fairy. He has the whole weekend to himself and wanted to get all the cleaning out of the way so he can trash it slowly .

Tis round-up time .

wherehasthedaygone shrunk stuff in the dryer . We have all been there and bought the T-shirt (albeit a small one). But it is super annoying!

nettie found a 'gromitty' thing (I am intrigued as to exactly what a gromitty thing is ) and was too tired for Big Brother. She is never too tired for Big Brother so she must be super tired. I hope she slept well last night .

ihate had a long and tiring day yesterday but some fabulous news at the end of it. So happy for you . She presented a note from her mother asking for her to be excused from shining sink duties. Now, be aware ladies, I am a master at spotting fake parent signatures (due to the nature of the job). I reckon hers was genuine though so I will not ring home to check. Amusing anecdote warning :- My dad was also a teacher and I went to the secondary school where he taught. We had homework diaries that we had to get signed every week and my form tutor in Year 10 was a scary old witch and you got fired in the pits of hell for note getting it done. I forgot one Friday and forged the father's signature. Got to form, scary old witch was absent. Not to matter I thought, no harm done. But guess who walked in to cover my form....my bloody Dad. I tried to shrink (bit difficult as I am a bit of a shortarse anyway), he came round to me and looked at me in a rather puzzled fashion and then announced that he had no recollection of signing my diary. Did I get a bollocking...oh yes a mighty one. The rest of my form however actually wet themselves laughing. Never did it again .

muckyducky said a very lovely thing about me on another thread and I am now in love with her . She asked for permission to hate decorating and permission is duly granted. I hate decorating and I haven't done any for ages. Her DS watched Willo the Wisp, if that does not bring back nostalgic memories I don't know what will as I know we are roughly the same age.

I forgot linzer, how could I forget linzer? Bearing in mind that children don't start school until they are nearly 6 where you are I think it is not being a pushy parent to want to get them started earlier!

The babystep for today is meal planning. The one thing that I actually do like I am supposed to!

The mission for today is here.

Have a good day y'all!

Good morning

ihate That's great news hope your not too sore from all the poking and prodding. Sorry I missed your post last night I was literally asleep typing
Ellie fab round up loved your poo story I think there should be a book of poo stories have lovely weekend and no rain!!
toffee have a lovely holiday in France
pa hope squidgy pudd arrive in Blackpool ok
mucky I will join your I hate decorating party with 4 to be done this side of November I'm really starting to loathe it! I however loved wilo the wisp ooo does that put mr in a certain age bracket no my favourite is ben10 and brats
linzer I think you are right... You are a pushy mum.... Seriously if they are interested then I think we should encourage as much as possible whether it's dancing, dressing up, reading or maths (I hope not as I can't count and it's too early in being a mum for my stupidity to be realised )

A lie in I had 7.50am wow I'm very refreshed and so far

Have not done anything
Dc at nursery me at work
Airshow this afternoon weather permitting
Home for big brother catch up and tonights eviction! Now i feel i must explain my penchant for big brother. I don't like it really I am purely watching it because I am a sociologist have a degree many moons ago and am studying the sociological effects of social imprisonment bull* alert for my phd dissertation due in 2015

Have a lovely day hope you manage more flying than me

Hello all

I am very very glad to be back home from a very cold campsite. Ullswater was lovely and the campsite has an oldie wordlie bar on it with an open log fire and a small softplay room -where you can shove your kids in and drink- which DS loved and it was all he wanted to do

We actually came back a night early and finished packing tent in the dark and arrived home at 0115 to avoid another cold night.

Breakfast done
Shine sink
Unpack car - grr
Store camping items correctly
Fold laundry from drier
Laundry no 1
Laundry no 2
Laundry no 3
Laundry no 4 (cushions)
Laundry no 5 (blankets)
Hoover (after all the tramping in and out)
Menu Planning
Food Shopping
Paint from homebase (15% day?)
Gym

DH is making me / irritated - they can get under your feet a bit can't they

I am very tired.

Morning everyone,

Where has the morning gone? Or, more accurately, how I have managed to have three child-free hours and so little to show for it?

I finally made it to the bank this morning before I completely ran out of money, and was quite proud of myself for managing to parallel park the car (DH's old one, which now seems to have become mine as the new car is even bigger) - although I did start to panic when I saw another car waiting behind and ended up stalling. I cannot wait for the car to die on me so I can have a nice small car again and keep telling DH so. He has sternly warned me not to crash it on purpose.

Had a lovely afternoon yesterday - as it was forecast to be the last day of summer (again), some friends invited us to their lakeside house. It was quite idyllic, although the water could have been a little warmer, and the DC were in their element. It is indeed much cooler today and the temperature is supposed to be dropping even further next week - just in time for our holiday (we'll be away from Sunday to Thursday)...

Today's list:
Bank done
Shopping done but have managed to forget one of the two items I needed
Morning routine
Finish letter done
Hang up washing
Ironing
Start packing
Thank you letters
Afternoon/evening routine

I must say that the mission today (the pillows in the dryer part) doesn't sound incredibly environmentally friendly. I remember the American magazines I used to read would often suggest warming towels in the dryer as a special treat for your partner after his/her shower - DH would probably think I had gone mad.

Nettie I'm already struggling with DD1's maths homework (although like to tell myself it's because it's taught differently here). But surely you should be a star at maths as you have an ology?

ellie I'll forgive you for forgetting about me - just this once - seeing as your round-ups are so entertaining. Have a lovely holiday!

Ihate That's great news - it must be a weight off your mind.

Toffee Hope you have a lovely holiday too!

Must get on as only have 30 child-free minutes left... Waves to everyone else.

Ihatecobwebs - so glad to hear your good news. What a relief. Well done for getting yourself seen to so quickly though - it's always best.

Thanks for all the holiday messages! Yes, Ellie, I am in 'headless chicken' mode, but I am clutching a Flylady vacation list and a Mumsnet one and my own (very, very long).

Have done two loads of washing already, including sheets (so we come home to clean sheets on our beds ), and have dragged suitcase out of loft.

DH rang to inform me that his payday isn't until next Tuesday - we both thought it was today . We have some Euros, but are going to have to be more careful with our spending for the first few days now. Which is very, very annoying!

Right, back to my list now. Have about 25 to-dos listed on it and have only ticked off six so far. Must try not to panic....

In case I don't get back on here again later, I'll say goodbye to you all for now. We are leaving computers at home, as we have all become a bit too addicted to them. Intending to read books and drink wine, whilst the boys play old-fashioned games in the garden .

Au revoir!

Right quick to do list post:

ds allergy test result thingy done
move furniture back into lounge done
connect tv done
discover kitchen mostly done
make cinamon men
pick up photos
go to ikea for play and hot dogs. postponed until tomo
training. first time in 1 week. yipee!
1 load washing in washing machine
dw now clean but needs emptying and reloading
email
library
ring dentist

Hello can anyone join in? I've been doing my baby steps, which is helping a lot and I'm hoping to be able to declutter properly when school's back on. I completely decluttered and sorted both dc room before the holidays and it has made such a difference, they're both still neat and tidyish.

I'm working on the front door and hall this week hopefully.

Hey bob!
Yep its a case of jumping in and coping with the nattering along with the attempted flying. We have all failed at flying serveral times so dont worry if you have off days not flying til sept.

Our great leader Ellie (who is on holiday) posts the baby steps and missions each morning. I believe the very capable but busy PA is looking after us for the next few days.

As for my list:
ds allergy test result thingy done
move furniture back into lounge done
connect tv done
discover kitchen blush mostly done
make cinamon men nope didnt do, but my kitchen seems to have been invaded by snails, hedgehogs and squirrels
pick up photos
go to ikea for play and hot dogs. postponed until tomo
training. first time in 1 week. yipee!
1 load washing in washing machine done
dw now clean but needs emptying and reloading
email done
library
ring dentist bugger