September Flying, Fledglings are trying; holiday steps were slow, back to work we go ...

[Stillcounting]

Welcome to the September 2010 Fledgling Flying thread!

This is where from the 1st of the month, we attempt to declutter and follow the 30-step wisdom of the Fat Fairy, with lots of chat and support and mutual motivation along the way. (More info available here! )

Many thanks to our previous splendiforous thread leader Ellie for guiding us through July and August and to her dynamic deputy, the one and only PA. You've both made it a lot of fun!

As usual we will be following a three-pronged approach (and don't worry - we are all at different stages):

• 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.

Together we can do it! All newcomers welcome!

Good morning,

Must get back on track today after the last two mornings were taken up with work. I have no excuse for yesterday evening, however, apart from needing to recover from seven children creating chaos running round all afternoon. One of DS's friends dumped a huge pile of sand in the middle of the lawn (having a big toy dumper truck in the garden is not the best idea, as it's not the first time it's happened) and DS and another friend managed to cover the entire floor of the playroom (and beyond) with iron beads (if that's the right word in English) while I was helping DD1 and her friend with their homework. I got the DC to make a start on gathering them all up before they went to bed, but admitted defeat about half an hour after their usual bedtime so the playroom still looks like a bomb has hit it.

SC Hope you have a better day today; it's amazing how wine can put things into perspective though, isn't it?

Ihate Oh dear, not what you want to return to after a holiday - I would be tempted to walk straight back out again! Glad you enjoyed your holiday though.

Toffee Hope your DS is better today. It sounds very similar to what my DS had a few weeks ago (awful cough, which then made him sick) - he was diagnosed with laryngitis, but was back to normal within a day or two so I hope your DS recovers equally quickly.

I must admit I don't look at the babysteps most days; there are a few I try to stick to and an equal number (or probably more) that I ignore! I've done today's as I already have a page in my control journal for my afternoon routine. It's actually getting round to doing it that's the problem; things tend to go to pot once the DC get home...

Date night will have to wait, as I prefer your suggestion about "go to bed early with a book" night SC - I still haven't caught up on the sleep I missed out on a few nights ago when I was up late working.

Today's list:

Bank done
Morning routine
Write letter
Send belated birthday card
Yesterday's and today's missions
15 min decluttering (30 min if I have time)
Make shopping list
Weekly food shop
Make M&S shopping list
Afternoon routine
Check out location of Tesco in Bratislava
Invoices x3
Pay deposit for holiday in October done
Fill in bank form done
Evening routine
Discuss summer plans with DH

Waves to everyone else; have a good day.

Thanks for the good wishes, SC and Linzer. Linzer - it does sound like the same sort of virus - laryngitis and croup. I'm encouraged that your son made a quick recovery.

My lovely CM had offered to take DS1 up to school this morning, but he woke up feeling ill too, so I now have both of them at home. DS1 is tucked up on the sofa, watching telly. DS2 is in bed, sleeping fitfully. His chest sounds terrible, poor thing. I was up several times in the night with him, trying to calm him down. He was really frightened by his wheezy chest, poor boy (which, of course, made it worse).

Am feeling properly autumnal now: leaves falling off trees, rain, new school term - and sick children.

Have to send latest chapter back today. Managed to finish it during the night, whilst sitting up in DS2's bedroom, and am going to check through it this morning before returning it. I hope DS2 keeps on sleeping for the moment.

Have done my swish and swipe, but that's it today, so far. Kitchen is full of dirty dishes. Clutter everywhere. Am doing my best to turn a blind eye.

Hope you all have a good day.

Good morning all,

Can get on now, as boss out and assistant not due in for about 15 mins (Note, must have a chat about her timekeeping.)

SC hope your day is better.

Toffee hope you and dcs get better soon.

bob hope your dd's ear infection gets better too. My ds had one when he was 7 moths old, and he was miserable, so I can quite sympathise.

linzer Bratislava sounds interesting, but I think I'll need to renew passport (and get DP to get one, as he's never had one) before jetting off anywhere!

And hello to ouch, pluto, nettie, MrsD, MissB, Swan, and anyone else I have missed.

Managed to get my list completed yesterday, including going swimming for the first time in months. My arms ache (but I did manage to complete a kilometre) My aim is now to complete a mile in my time limit, as I go after dropping dd off for guides, and pick her up (with friend) at the end, giving me a swim time of 50 mins in the pool.

Today:
Morning routine done
kids prepped for non-uniform day (wear something silver for LOROS, a local hospice) done
work, work and more office work
collect dcs from school
deliver said dcs to gps for tea
shopping
make docs appt (1 for me, 1 for dd)
mop tiled kitchen floor
dishwasher
washing (1 load) I get one a day done during week, with weekends to get extra done if needed.
Plan next year's holidays with dp or we'll never get dates to match.

Tomorrow:
Open morning for local secondary school - dd is in Year 6 and we have two local ones to look at.
Coffee with the ladies (may have mentioned this before, I meet up with the ladies of the family and friends; if you ever happen to drop by, you're welcome........)
Print photos from db for mum
And flake..........

Amazingly DS2 has been asleep since 9.10am so I have got loads done...

Get DS to print his hw (techno break-downs this evening)done
Make something out of all the bits in the fridge and meal plan for next week.done
Laundry sort and wm on a couple of timesdone
catch up with some of the missionssorted bedroom drawers
pack overnight things - DH is away with the lads this weekend so I'm having Friday night with the DCs visiting my parents.done
Shop for a birthday present and book theatre tickets when ds wakes
oh yes - and what a surprise - do some more marking! no chance :o

I think I had better go upstairs and check he's OK...

Time for a post-lunch coffee break before I take DD1 to her dyslexia lesson. DD2 and DS have both gone to friends' this afternoon so I have a whole hour with my book to look forward to while DD2 is at her lesson (it's not worth coming back home in the meantime and there's not much to do nearby).

For the third morning running, my routine was interrupted by the arrival of some urgent work. Luckily it was only a couple of paragraphs to proofread so didn't take me very long, but it took up valuable decluttering time.

Toffee Poor you, you must be exhaused with both DC ill and all that work. Do you still have work to do or are you finished for now?

Darts Coffee would be lovely, but I fear I may be too far away! Whereabouts are you? Bratislava is mainly interesting due to the fact that it has a Tesco and M&S (so not very exciting for anyone who lives in the UK), although the city centre is supposed to be nice - I must admit I've only ever been for the shopping, though.

Darts I miss the days of long naps - or even naps at all, in fact (though there are plenty of days when I think that both DD2 and DS could do with one...).

Sorry, that last comment was aimed at Pluto!

Bad day yesterday.

Today's list
Get number plate reattached done
Report incident to police (someone tried to steal my numberplate)
Wash bedding
date night -hmm trainging night here. but that is my idea of fun so if the fat one dont like it she can.....
Dw on
Something productive cba
Fabric shop trip done
Sort out presants for the great grans for christmas material bought and pattern cut.

mweh cba rules here today. ds slept across the bottom third of my (single) bed so i am tired. drinking coffee and taking the day easy.

Sewing I think is order of the day. I am putting pictures up on fb so if you can find me then you have a nosey. decided against an mn profile. if u know linzer you might have a head start.

unable to focus...alas, as usual very impressed by everyone's grasp of detail
did boil beetroots and make quiche and give friend forms, failed yet again to plant bulbs

however..morning spent at hosp appt with dd (nothing serious, just teeth) so now going to tackle some flying! bbl

Linzer Hama beads! evil pestilential stuff, not to say very dangerous to incite children to use irons
Sand. Have banned sand from garden.
M & S. Have banned M & S food too, as it makes it thoroughly pointless to cook anything.

Linzer - have just this minute finished my work and sent it off. DS2 has been wheezing and sleeping all day. I am exhausted, so I'm now going to fall asleep on the sofa next to him (and pray that he doesn't make a miraculous recovery in the next hour or so!).

We need a sleep emoticon.

ZZZZZZzzzzzzzz.........

Hope you all have lovely evening.

right evening, not quite caught up with you all but almost caught up with the house. just wanted to panic and i thought where can i do it and here seemed like the ideal place

i am hosting a party tomorrow for 32 children and 4 babies!!! my ds and dd joint birthday party. all sorted visitors here tomorrow so just got all my ingedients for huge spag bol apart from mince. It being delivered by the wonderful Ocado along with all the party food so i can get cracking. "Brill" i hear you say! "organised" i hear you say.

BLARDY OCADO ARE RUNNING OVER AN HOURE LATE ARE NOT DUE TO ARRIVE TILL 9.30PM/10.30PM INSTEAD OF 7.30!!! [ANGRY]

Of all the times to suddenly fail in their normally good service it would have to be today.

bbl when ive calmed down

one the plus side i know have a little Ernest whomim renaming Red

hope you are ok, now off to read what everyones been up to

Oh no, Nettie - have a glass of wine. Am very impressed at you hosting a party for so many - I find any more than about five children stressful enough!

Ouch Great photos; I love the ceiling in your DS's room - very calming. I wish I had your creativity.

Toffee Well done on finishing your work; I hope you can have a relaxing weekend now and catch up on some sleep.

swan Aha, Hama beads! Yes, they are evil - and quite why the DC need several thousand of them is beyond me. They will be ironing them well into their eighties.

Flying has been abandoned for the day, as I'm too tired and have had too much wine. Got the food shopping done this afternoon, but not much else - suddenly realised just as I was about to put the DDs to bed that they hadn't done any piano practice yet again (lesson on Monday, and they hadn't practised since the last lesson) so they had a later bedtime. Now watching a film in a token nod to date night (I think I've probably been in Austria for too long as I'm struggling to understand the German accent), but it's not quite the same as being at the cinema (DH ironing doesn't help).

Linzer DH ironing doesn't help - well it might not with the film but it does with the Flying.

Ouch - good night for Pompey! DS has just gone to bed a very happy boy and I am a very happy mum. Apologies to any Leicester supporters.....Have sent you a FB friend request, in case you are not sure, my first name starts with A.

Ellie - have a lovely day tomorrow

Nettie hope Ocado finally turned up

Waves to everyone. Not much Flying today but did a supe declutter of arts and crafts area and kitchen now looks much bigger. Night all

Did I achieve any Flying today?
mopped floor
finished the umpteenth laundry load
cooked something unusualllyfried
cleared kitchen straight after supper rather than heading for the winerack

????must have done something else [scratches head] ah well I must have been having important conversations

Ellie have a wonderful day tomorrow, thinking of your stepfather too, very sorry
Linzer LOL at the piano practise, you are very organised - I NEED to get my star chart rebooted, they are becoming feral again in their habits

Evening. Was scratching my wondering who this A was. So thankyou MrsD. Must try to catch up on the match later. Must havs been a fabulous feeling to watch. made me :o to read it and :o when i saw the 6 goals status.
Tops of a good night training. Although have no worked out was i have a random blisters on my index fingers - lace tightening. Going to have to start putting plasters on or something.

Right not an early on but must sleep. night all.

Good morning one and all

Sorry not to get back on here yesterday. Just one of those days ... topped off with unexpected visitor in the evening.

Today's baby-step, no.25, is here! It's a bit of light reading about how the routines developed. Worth looking at for 2 mins if you haven't done so before. Equally poss. to skip!

No zones or missions today because it's the w/e or more specifically "Family Fun Day" or in my case, catch up on all the Flying you haven't done this week day!!.

Will catch up with yesterday's events once I've slapped myself around the cheeks with a wet kipper woken up properly!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Morning.

Ds has been weird. Yesterday we had the big question "why did you take me away from my dad?" before school. He came back from school in a really good mood and he decided that he would tidy his room - completely cleaned as well and announched that here really feels like home but he likes it better when it is tidy and this morning he crawled into my bed got dressed and gave me big cuddle. went and got himself breakfast with no mess and came back for some custard creams which i'd promised him. He has been sat in a duvet downstairs chilling out and watching tv. generally being a saint. And let me sleep . Oh and he did his homework last night, without any fuss

Going to get up and spoil him a bit.

Right, a few minutes while dd is at ballet to catch up with everyone. Lovely sunny day here.

Waves to Ouch sounds as if you are taking this training thing very seriously indeed. Well done! Hope you have a better day today. (Don't do fb but all your projects sound wonderful.)

Swan I think I may add "clear up kitchen instead of heading for wine rack" to my 11 Flying commandments! Actually my alternative is "don't sit down until you've finished" (too lazy to winch myself up again otherwise). I find that if I don't clear up after supper, the whole Fly system collapses around my ears.
Is it good bulb-planting weather with you today???

MrsDinky congrats on arts & crafts decluttering

We ALWAYS notice your absence Ellie - never the same without you - no apologies necessary though - you certainly ARE busy!!! How exciting!! Hope the wedding goes brilliantly and you managed to find ds an outfit. Sorry to hear about it being your stepfather's anniversary though and hope you and your mum are OK. Good luck to your dh with his speech too!

Linzer glad to see you were relaxing last night for once! DD does her piano practice first thing in the morning as it always seems to get lost in amongst homework, playing and eating in the evening. Don't know if that would be practical for you with yr very early starts though?

Oh crikey Nettie 32 dd and 4 babies !!! You are a braver man than me!! I'm assuming you have lots of helpers on hand!! Hope you, your ds and dd and everyone has a fantastic day and that Ocado got there eventually (I would have been knawing the paint off the banisters in frustration too!!)

Toffee
"Am feeling properly autumnal now: leaves falling off trees, rain, new school term - and sick children."

I think you win the prize for quote of the week!

So sorry to hear that both your dss are poorly now...sounds horrid for them ...hope you all manage to get some rest this w/e.
Well done for getting your work finished in v. difficult circumstances btw!

Pluto Bravo! You sound really on top of things. Enjoy your weekend away.

Dartshasbegun (loving the slight name variations btw!) Well done on starting to swim regularly and everyone on here who are managing to exercise regularly. I so need to start my 10-week pre-Christmas walking plan this Sunday ....

Right, I'm all scrolled out

Huge waves to PA (hope you are still taking it steady), Bob (hope your dd is feeling a bit better now) MissBennett Feetheart Ihatecobwebs Namechange Hobbitmama Nick ¨Dolanette Kitpuss
Mini-Marmite and of course the littlest Dinkies

And if MummuyD Chairmummiaouw PushmePullyou or Optimistic are lurking at all, helloooo to you all, you are missed!!

Waves to anyone that I've left off the list!!

x posts Ouch - more power to your elbow - difficult to have to handle questions like that - this Flying business is obviously rubbing off on your ds bless him!

Forgot to post my own schedule:

To do:
Morning routine to finish inc dw on
Clean bathroom properly
Laundry ad infinitum
Supermarket
Cashpoint
Wash uniform
Polish shoes
Change beds
Master swipe
Takeaway food tonight thank heavens

Must dash and collect dd from the land of pink nylon tights and pirouettes ...

Hello

Dd is much improved but is now milking it refusing to sit in her indoor chair or wheelchair, only I will do apparently.

Today
-Morning routine
-Whites wash
-Colours wash
-Sort ds chest of drawers, he's growing like a weed!
-Make pizza dough
-Hoover through

• Sort dds medical stuff, it's rapidly expanding but I don't know how best to organise it!

Hope everyone is well and having a nice weekend

Very quiet on here tonight which hopefully all means you are having/had had lots of fun and relaxation today.

Bob glad dd is feeling better and hope you managed to get a bit of time for yourself today... even if just 5 mins ...

A grandmother of a friend of mine had heart and breathing problems requiring lots of medical equipment and they stored it in an open grid plastic tour thing like this with individual pull-out boxes. Not very pretty I know but did the job. (There's was taller and thinner than in the picture.)

If not there is this sort of thing here very expensive for what it is ...but include because there are lots of other ideas on that site. Ikea would probably be worth looking at too.

I've done OK-ish today:
Morning routine to finish inc dw on done
Clean bathroom properly done
Laundry ad infinitum done but not enought
Supermarket done
Cashpoint done
Wash uniform done
Polish shoes done
Change beds done
Master swipe half done
Takeaway food tonight thank heavens eaten!

Waves to everyone!

I hope you will all forgive me but I am taking the liberty of posting the baby-step for tomorrow, Sunday 26th September here! tonight because we are going away for two days (it's a teaching day on Monday so dd not at school) leaving at crack of sparrows tomorrow morning.

It's a consolidation baby-step that you can feel free to ignore - but does contain some words of wisdom about not giving up if you find you are not completing all the baby-steps perfectly! Just carry on!

I may not have access to a computer on Monday morning either (depends where we end up) so if I haven't posted by 7am UK time would some kind person please mind posting the baby-step, zone and mission for Monday 27th please whenever they get on here? Thank you very much and apologies for late notice!!

Here's as much info as I can glean off the site so far:

Baby step no 27, for Monday, is VERY IMPORTANT relating to meal planning in advance.

The zone next week (at least from Monday 27 to Thursday 30th is here the sitting room.

No individual missions or sneak peaks showing on Fat Fairy site yet.

Thank you everyone! I'll be back Monday evening. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!!!

Have a lovely time SC!!!

Morning. yesterday was a nightmare in terms of flying. we tried to make waffles for tea but the recipie that i always used didnt work and they were horrific couldnt face clearing up last night. Although ds and I had a lovely day and went to Joderall Bank for the last time before the new visitor center is open. It closes for building work today. :(

Today I am taking ds to enjoy my sport and get spoilt with attention. but have got the flying bug caffine overload

Dicover kitchen half done
DW running
WM 1st load
Folding up to date
Lounge started
Wash kitchen floor
Rubbish sweep (empty all bins)
Not kills ds who is in mischief mode. struggling - third mess already created and the shouting has commenced