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.

Thanks for all the shoe storage tips. I think I'll use a big wicker basket too toffee , I have 2 big ones and I'll get a shoe rack like that Mrsdinky and let plenty of air at them, the cupboard they are all thrown in now pongs too much when you open the door .

In the hall I have an Ikea bench with 8 holes underneath for shoes but that's just 2 holes each and we have piles of winter boots, wellies, trainers etc.

Kitchen is tidy, dc in bed early due to exhaustion of first day back at school! Ds had lessons from 8am to 3pm and dd from 8am to 1pm and both had homework, going to be tough going this year by the look of the new books and timetables.

Dh applied for assistant professor job in Canada tonight haven't even finished unpacking this move and he's applying for big ones like that. I'm off to bed, he's already snoring on the sofa.

I've just lost a long post due to pressing the wrong button and ending up on the first page of the thread - aargh!

Anyway, have had quite a successful day here flying-wise and decluttered lots of books, games and toys from the DC's room with my mum's help. They now only need one of the two bookcases in their bedroom, so there should be enough room for DS to have a proper bed when he outgrows the cot mattress that he's sleeping on at the moment.

We also had a trip out to the nearby farm park, where the DC fed some lambs (huge and quite lively - rather scary, in fact!) and we went on a tractor and trailer ride (highlight being a man/woman - couldn't tell - dressed up in a rabbit suit, a new feature since my last visit!).

MrsD The DC's bedtime has been getting later and later since the holidays started, but I'm trying to be a bit stricter now that we're at my parents' as I know they like their peace and quiet in the evenings (my mum always used to insist on a 7 o'clock bedtime to preserve her sanity when I was little!).

Nick I refuse to do post-its too - we have enough clutter around as it is!

ellie Glad to hear your day got off to a better start. Hope your visit to the dentist's went OK.

admylin Good to see you back! I take it you didn't fly with Ryanair, then, as they're very strict about their baggage allowance. I've twice had to unpack and reorganise my luggage at check-in, once because each piece was 1 kg over due to faulty scales and the other time because I'd paid for an extra bag - only to discover that my luggage allowance remained the same; I'd just paid for the privilege of being able to divide my 15 kg betgween two bags.
Re shoes - we have a shoe rack for my and DH's shoes, a tray for the DC's shoes and a shoe cupboard in the hall, plus the DC and I have yet more shoes in our wardrobes, I have an underbed shoe storage box under the bed (obviously) and we keep winter shoes, wellies and other shoes not currently in use in the cellar. Can you tell we have too many shoes?

feetheart Hope your wisdom tooth settles down soon; it must be awful (I hate having toothache).

Toffee What's Kumon maths? DD1 is supposed to be doing half an hour's schoolwork a day during August; we've brought two maths books over with us but it's such a struggle to get her to do anything - DH is not going to be impressed.

SC Hope the weather improves for your trip. We've surprisingly had v. little rain since we've been back (have had weeks of non-stop rain on previous summer visits - all par for the course on the mid-Wales coast).

DEM I had hoped to escape Lego here - but no, all my brother's old Lego has come out and is currently strewn all over the DC's room. It took me ages to persuade DH that DD1 has more than enough Lego of her own already and really doesn't need all his childhood Lego too - what is it about men and Lego?

PA Sounds like a large glass of wine is in order for you this evening!

not just men linzer was a lego fiend when little and still am. just hate badly looked after lego. I sneaked a small wizard kit and spider into the order for me

oooo, admylin, where? (nosy emoticon)

apols for earlier, was all set to post, then looked at the keyboard and saw teeny bugs when i pressed the keys! sorted it but then had to go to work.

off to do my jobs now but having a lazyish day so not many of them (it would appear the cba virus is going global...)

(the only 'write down what you hear' i've got for today is - 'i am such a moron. i should correctly identify acquaintances before congratulating them on the birth of a newborn that actually has another 4 weeks gestating left to do.'

fortunately it was the father-to-be and not the heavily pg woman, but that might have given me a clue, no? i always get the two men mixed up. aaargh. haven't worked out how to turn that one round to a positive yet though... particularly as i asked him if he was getting enough sleep... they both work with dh too. worse, he knew who i thought he was, and corrected me... we've been to their house for dinner ffs.

dw-done
wm-done
ironing - later with sytycd results
get stuff out of the freezer for dinner
make batch of marinara sauce to freeze
organise what i'm wearing tomorrow - only work but had wardrobe quandary this morning.

question - should i start going to early-bird swim? could feasibly manage and might make me feel a bit more positive about body image and might even open up a few more wardrobe options... the pool is about 100 yards from our house.

linzer - we were very excited when m&s opened near us in germany, but then distraught it started with just food. still had to organise the annual underwear pilgrimage.

pa - urgh. i once spent 4 hours waiting for the AA on the side of the M4, because their call-centre had received a bomb threat and they had evacuated... hopefully the cars can be sorted with minimal time, money and stress x

Too sleepy for many personal messages, except that I wanted to say

Linzer, you can read about Kumon maths here. There are threads on Mumsnet about it. My son's maths has really improved with it (he's been doing it since Feb), but it is very boring and he hates it. I have promised him that he can stop when he reaches the next level.

PA - so sorry for your awful day .

Nick - thanks for sharing your embarrassing moment. It made me laugh. I do things like that too. Mortifying. Did the classic thing of congratulating someone on her pregancy the other day and she said no, she'd just been eating too many pies!

Have folded my washing, put crockery away and shined my sink. Off to bed now.

oops! a classic indeed.

night!

Good morning everyone

Cba has reached Essex too. I very reluctantly cleaned my kitchen yesterday after the gym and the bathroom as I had covered it in hair dye.

My dfolks and db arrive tonight. Work this morning coffee with friends this afternoon and every contractor (exaggerating of course) in the world is gonna be at my house today.

So my list for this morning before work and this evening hopefully before the wrinkles turn up goes something like this.

Ds wants pancakes for breakfast my last attempt were a disaster so wish me luck
S/s
Make bed
Dw/wm
Sweep floors
Deal with kitchen hotspot
Living room hotspot

Hope you all have lovely day. Bbl to catch up with you all properly.

Morning all,

Am posting and running this morning as am in that horrible 'day before you go on holiday' panic mode.. Promised myself would be organised but have failed miserably!

The babystep for today is hot spots.

The mission for today is here.

Have a good day everyone!

Hi all

Ditto Ellie! Good luck with it!

My cba-week has caught up with me today and I'm also in a rush to get things done before our departure tomorrow.

This morning:
Glass recycling DONE
Despatch dd to last day of pony club with sandwiches and PAs choccy oat slices DONE
Morning routine including dw on, wm on, s&s, and prolonged master swipe HALF DONE
Sort out teetering pile of books in bedroom
Change all beds ready for our return
General tidy up of 1st floor
General tidy up of ground floor
Clean kitchen surfaces
Hoover ground floor

This afternoon:
Collect prescription from gynaecologist
Pack up on-line shopping parcels
Finish party invitations
Apply thumbscrews and force encourage dd to write thank you letters for birthday presents to close family
E-mail friends we are visiting
Check enough gp supplies for 'gp sitter'
Ironing
Manicure

Forgive lack of personal messages - must get cracking -

Just wanted to ask PA about consistency of choc oaty slice thingies - they have turned out very well - very yummy - but mix was very solid when put in tin - is that right? Turned out like refrigerator cake (but cooked) if that makes sense. Should mix have been a bit more liquid and should they have risen a bit more (given they contain SF flour)? Hope you have a better day today - that interview went well - and you've recovered from your motorway experience!

Waves to everyone else and if I don't get back on here - see you in a while and happy Flying!!

Good morning all :)

MrsD - Congratulations on the proper use of post-it notes
Can I join you on the 'getting DC and DH to tidy up even if it kills me' campaign please? DC will be a breeze compared to DH though

PA - hope cars are sorted out quickly and cheaply

Linzer - I'm with DEM, Lego is not just for the menfolk. I loved it as a child and was delighted when we got DH's out of the loft last year. All 4 of us spent all day playing with it, barely stopping to eat

Nick - re Earlybird swim. Are you am Earlybird? I am and am usually up before everyone else so when I am running (coughs, shuffles and looks embarrassed as haven't run for about 4 months) I do it then. Gives me time to myself and sets me up really well for the rest of the day as it makes me feel really smug

Thanks for sympathy re tooth. Dentist's trip was worth it as tooth finally starting to feel like its getting better - makes the FOUL mouthwash and the taste of oil of cloves almost bearable.
Surprisingly got most of yesterday's list done though some of that was due to arriving home to be greeted by dead bird feathers all over tiny hall and flies all over stairs and landing (need a Yuck emoticon) Knew latter was due to something festering so had to track it down and then get DH to deal with it - I do most things but NOT maggots (yuck, yuck, yuck) Bl*dy, bggering cats
Has made me realise just how many places there are for released rodents to hide in amongst the clutter so I'm on a mission!!

So today's list includes:

• Declutter landing
• Hoover landing
• Clean carpet on landing
• Put clutter away where it belongs
• Morning routine
• 2 mins Hotspot
• Room Rescue in living room
• Hoover living room
• Mission or two
• Go to bank, library, charity shop, new Simmons bakery :)
• Make pizzas
• Make cake
• Post ice-cream recipes
• Maybe ironing in front of Masterchef (have all of this week's to catch up on)
• Early night

Long list but we have a clear day and DC are happy at moment to take it slowly - DD in our bed reading, DS watching DangerMouse DVD :)
I will get dressed and get moving.

Good luck to all those frantically running round trying to pack, that will be me this time next week I have no doubt.

That's a HUGE post, sorry

Morning all.

Thats's a big list stillcounting . Good luck! Those chocolate oaty things are so good - made them once then put them on the danger list as I ate far too many of them!

Nickoftime the job is in Manitoba near or in Winnipeg, not sure exactly. Anyone ever been there? Dc are stressing already that we might have to move.

Today I have done the shopping and now have to go and sort kitchen out, washing also done, am ignoring ironing pile and will probably end up doing some of it Sunday night.

Dc already have lists for school stuff, we have to provide all paper, books and art stuff over here so afternoon will be spent shopping for that.

HAve a nice weekend everyone.

Can I just ask - what is cba?

Ellie and Still - good luck with your packing and huge lists (Ellie - I know you have a long list in your head). It will all be worth it once you're on holiday. I will be packing on Monday to go to my mum's in Essex. Am going by public transport with the boys for the first time (DH usually drives us), so will have to pack everything for a 10-day stay in a rucksack . Have to survive two train journeys and three buses - should take us about four hours. Am trying not to worry about it.

Feet - yuck to the maggoty dead bird. That's horrible. My DH hates maggots too, so I have to deal with anything involving maggots (he's good at getting rid of spiders though).

Ad - you have done the shopping by 9.24am! I'm impressed. Good luck with the rest of your list.

I waved DS2 off with his childminder this morning, so have some free time to get through my list today (assuming DS1 entertains himself). I need to:

Finish morning routine
Hang washing out
Tidy kitchen
Tackle hotspots
Order holiday insurance for France
Order name labels for school
Buy tickets for outdoor concert tomorrow
Sort out PE stuff
Collect prescriptions from chemist
Email work (am really hoping they don't want me at the beginning of September as childminder is away and DS2 won't be at school yet)
Read to DS1 (reading him 'Oliver Twist' - he loves it!)

It's our wedding anniversary today (14 years, but 24 together. Gulp.), so we are going out for a meal tonight. The good thing about never going out is that I feel ridiculously excited when I do. So I am feeling very at the thought of it.

Right the emergency bother i have forgotten to do that and i must have it sorted list has been done and we are about to leave after some lunch. Only 24hours late

enjoy your weekends and happy flying. may it be as productive as you hope!

Toffee - cba = can't be ar*ed

Quick update, have done:

• Declutter landing
• Hoover landing
• Clean carpet on landing
• Morning routine
• 2 mins Hotspot

Have also got DC to hoover dolls-house and DS to whack rug with a stick - has usual little boy fixation with sticks but not usually allowed to hit things with them so very happy

Lunch now

Thanks, Feet. I know that feeling. Have spent all morning on the computer and no flying at all. But I did book travel insurance, so that was a Good Thing.

Did - have a lovely holiday.

SC The oaties are quite dry-ish and dont rise too much. I press it into the baking tray and it sticks together quite well. I have done really nice plain ones too, with just the flour, no chocolate. My DCs like them to be crusty-ish on the outside, but slightly gooey in the middle still, but we have had them all sorts of varieties of everything!!

Sorry I am posting and running again at the moment as we are just off out. DH has just gone to collect the car.

Going to Cowes for the last day and big celebration with wonderful firework display tonight, which is always brilliant.

I swear my rabbits have a conspiracy. Last evening the buggers darlings gave me a merry dance when I tried to put them to bed at 10pm. I was too knackered to be running around the garden chasing them. I put squidge in the hutch, raced after marble, opened the door to put him in and squidge escaped for another jump and play!! Rabbit stew was looking very tempting I can tell you!!

Dont worry Ellie I promise to be around and keep the troupes on track during your absence and will post each day.

Right, off now. Will really tyr to catch up properly soon with you all, I feel as if I am neglecting everyone, but massive waves.

Hi Ladies

I just wanted to drop by and say hello as I've been missing you all. Unfortunately I did not have my MNing under control and have had to enforce and complete ban on myself! Glad to be able to keep in touch with a few of you on FB (which I can just flit in and out of without spending hours ranting writing helpful answers to posts about things I am totally unqualified to comment on).

I hope all is well with all of you and that you are managing to get away for some holidays and/or spend some time with your families.

My flying is going ok and we're managing to declutter a bit before the baby arrives too. We're going to have to move fairly soon but should be ok for the next 6 months to a year if need be.

Baby No.2 is another boy although DS keeps telling people he will be having a sister!

DS is doing well, talking loads, gave up his dummy and today we have embarked on potty training...5-2 to my floor so far . Poor little love got quite upset about it at one point and asked for "[n]appy" but was then quite happy to watch Cbeebies perched on the potty for 15 minutes!

I hope to be able to drop in to say hello from time to time but in the meantime, happy flying and well done to everyone for flying on this thread for the past year - it certainly is a lovely, supportive thread x

Just got back from last pony club run of holidays

Coffee break!

Thanks for further oatie info PA- I'd hoped that was how they were meant to be and it wasn't just my cack-handed cookery skills at fault! The little blighters polished off the lot anyway! Have a great time at Cowes (I love fireworks!!)

Yay! Mini-M how lovely to "see" you. Great to know that your pregnancy is progressing well (congrats on having a ds!!) and that your ds is thriving. Good luck with potty training and decluttering. Go steady xxxx

Thanks for encouraging words Toffeefudge (fingers crossed for your journey on Monday) and Admylin - not doing too badly but still loads to do. Serves me right for cba-ing earlier in the wk contrary to Fat Fairy ethos.

Update:

This morning:
Glass recycling DONE
Despatch dd to last day of pony club with sandwiches and PAs choccy oat slices DONE
Morning routine including dw on, wm on, s&s, and prolonged master swipe STILL HALF DONE
Sort out teetering pile of books in bedroom DONE
Change all beds ready for our return DONE and I still hope to hoover/dust a bit too (maybe tommorrow am)
General tidy up of 1st floor DONE
General tidy up of ground floor DONE
Clean kitchen surfaces DONE
Hoover ground floor DONE

This afternoon:
Collect prescription from gynaecologist DONE
Pack up on-line shopping parcels
Finish party invitations
Apply thumbscrews and force encourage dd to write thank you letters for birthday presents to close family
E-mail friends we are visiting DONE
Check enough gp supplies for 'gp sitter'DONE (have bought more)
Ironing DONE
Manicure

Back later! Waves to everyone I've missed ...

Happy Anniversary.

I have just joined FlyLady.

Can I join you to do 'it' together? Am I on the right thread.

I havn't been on MN for ages. I have been trying to declutter three years worth of living in a new House and I do not have one room finished after two weeks. I am fed up.
I read about flylady ages ago but feel the time is to give myself over to swishing and swiping!

I have DS (4.5) starting school this Sept and want to be in a good routine by then and I am relaunching my business (event based selling doesnt take up too much time) and starting Open Uni course in Oct.

I am not very good at mornings and today have done nothing - I am fed up not one room is finished but I have been to:

Rubbish Tip x 4
Charity Shop x 2

Organised Council collection of large bulky items
Organised collection of decent furniture by charity.

Done loads but....

Actually my kitchen is 'Done'.

Hello!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh.

Welcome namechange to our little thread! You are definitely on the right thread .

So hello to you to! And goodbye for 2 weeks because I am going on holiday!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

Back later because I'll still be packing at midnight .

Welcome Namechange this definitely sounds like the right place for you, we are all more or less in the same boat. I joined the thread in November with 10 years worth of clutter to deal with, and am getting there slowly, although it's two steps forward one step back most of the time. The house definitely loooks better for it though.

Someone posts the babysteps and missions every day on the thread, stick to babysteps at first and decluttering and don't overdo it and burn out. Sounds like you've made a good start with all your tip runs etc.

Well, quite a good day here, DCs have been tidying as they go along. We went to town shopping for an hour, needed bread and milk and came back laden with three enormous bags of stuff, why does that always happen. Then off to the PYO fram this afternoon. Have also managed the following:

Hoovered downstairs - middles of rooms only
Washed kitchen floor
Dusted living and dining rooms
Clean toilet and basin, need to do bath.

I dropped my contact lens in the bathroom a couple of hours ago, and grovelling around on the floor around the basin was a bit yuck, so really ought to clean that floor too.

Made strawberry ice cream.
Someone has recommended the Ben and Jerry Recipe book, my credit card is poised. But I keep reminding myself I need to lose weight .

Ellie - have a brilliant hol.
SC - sounds like you have banished the CBA tendency
PA - some of my former colleagues down Gosport way always go to HillHead to watch the Cowes Week finale, apparently it is brilliant from this side too.
MiniM - hello, I know how you feel, often feel I ought to reign in my MN time, but just can't seem to do it.

Waves at Admylin,Nettie,Toffee,Feetheart,Nick,DEM,Linzer,DEM - apologises to anyone I've forgotten.

Another cool and drizzly day here, but staying indoors all day isn't an option with the DC so we went out to the local arts centre, had a look round a couple of exhibitions there (one included a tea cosy featuring a Daily Mail quote that 45% of fathers feel under pressure due to household duties, according to a MN survey!) and went to the cafe and bookshop. I was quite excited to discover that you can take books into the bookstore and swap them for other customers' old books. One of the books on the shelf was My Sister's Keeper, which I'd been wanting to read for a while - so I rushed back home to rummage around in the Oxfam bag to find a book I could swap for it.

DEM and feetheart I hope it didn't sound like I was trying to suggest that Lego is only for boys/men! DD1 is actually far more into Lego than DS is. It's just typical of DH and my brother that they've kept all their old Lego (and all their toy cars...).

Nick We used to have an M&S not too far from us in Germany (and there used to be three in Vienna before we moved there), but then they decided to close all their stores on the continent - I was devastated! They seem to have opened quite a few in Eastern Europe since then, however, and luckily we're not too far from Slovakia.

Nettie My DS would love to have pancakes for breakfast, but I haven't introduced him to that idea yet - he wants them often enough in the evenings (they're a fairly common evening meal in Austria).

SC I think I'm having a CBA month, if not CBA summer... The problem is that we're away so much over the holidays that it doesn't seem worth putting much effort into flying over the summer - even if I could with the DC around. I keep telling myself that I'll make a determined effort in September when things get back to normal.
Hope you have a good trip btw!

admylin I don't really know Canada at all (have only ever been to Toronto and the Niagara Falls), but a friend of mine moved to Canada (Nova Scotia) with his family a few years ago and he loves it there. How would you feel about moving/leaving Germany?

Toffee Happy anniversary - hope you have a lovely meal out!

PA Enjoy the fireworks!

MiniM Lovely to see you - we've missed you too, although it's been good to keep in touch on FB. Well done on staying away from MN; my enforced break while we were on holiday made me realise how much time I waste spend on here normally. I'm trying to restrict myself to the couple of threads that I'm on regularly and feel like I have things much more under control now.

Hello namechange and welcome.

ellie Good luck with the rest of the packing, and have a great holiday - we'll miss you!

MrsD It's great that your DC will tidy up as they go along; that's definitely something we need to work on...

Must go as a cup of tea is waiting for me - my tea consumption virtually doubles whenever I'm back at my parents'.

Thanks MrsDinkey and LinzerTorte.

I have shined the sink!

I am getting slap n shoes ready for AM and going to the gym - I havnt bothered with this for two weeks because I couldn't justify anything unless I had 'done my jobs' except soft play which seemed like a huge treat under the circumstances.

I should say becasue of all this I have let DS play on Wii far too much, normally only twice a week on age appropriate games!

Now DS knows all about the tip and notices when the various skip things have moved etc, but thankfully is fascinated with the digger thing that squashes rubbish, least he'll get to tennis tomorrow.

I must say I am tempted to distribute the huge piles of alien items from the living room to their proper rooms tomorrow. But I musnt burn out!!! more likely to burn it!!!

Good evening everyone.

Plans for Cowes Week Finale and fireworks have been a wash out and we all came home for tea and warm jumpers and an evening of "Lets pretend its a horrible cold wet February evening". I could not see any point in standing in the rain for 2 hours (at least) to see some fireworks, then spend another 2 hours driving 7 miles home due to all the millions of cars.

MrsD - I have the Ben & Jerry's book!! Ordered from amazon on Wednesday evening, arrived today only £2.50!! It looks really good and has the story of their business in, which is fun. DS has been drooling through it.

A huge welcome to Namechange. You are very welcome. Have you signed up for the emails from the fat fairy website? I think we have all given up on them and just log on here for the support and the odd kick up the bum!! But mostly for a lot of chat and moaning about what we havent done in a day!!

I do think that the post-it notes is one of the more stupid babysteps. They make far more mess than they help to get rid of in my house!!

Linzer, I wonder what % of females feel the pressure of housework????
and for all you discussing M & S knickers, I used to take a trip to the mainland twice a year to stock up on M&S knickers. They then built a store within a 5 minute walk of my house and I have NEVER bought ANY knickers from there since it opened!!!

AD Hope you get time to settle in one place before you are packing boxes again. At least if you keep moving around, theres no chance of accumulating clutter.

Happy Anniversary Toffee and I hope the evening out lived up to all your expectations.

Hi MMM and lovely to hear form you again. Glad you are keeping well.

Ellie Hope you have a fantastic time away.

If Ellie doesnt post before she goes I will post first thing in the morning - I dont want to upset her tonight!!

SC - I think you should change your CBA to stand for Can Be Achieved and think positive!!! Hope you have a good time away, "see" you when you get back!!

Waves to Feetheart DWM DEM and evryone else.

I dont want to embarrass myself with my woefully small done list today, so will try to do more over the weekend. Too much time spent watching bunnies, stroking bunnies, feeding bunnies and chasing after bunnies1! (and reading the B&J book!!)

Are you all sure that I am not suffering from amnesia and I have forgotten that we have had summer /autumn and have gone into the winter. Its AUGUST I should be on the beach, not wrapped up in my thermals begging for the heating to be allowed on!!

If you are away over the weekend have fun and relax and I will "see" anyone remaining tomorrow.