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!

I finally have a chance to catch up with the thread, although it looks like it was very quiet on here yesterday anyway.

We had a successful trip to Bratislava yesterday - new undies from M&S, British food from Tesco and M&S, and (the main point of the trip) a slow cooker. However, as some of you may have already seen on FB, I am struggling slightly with the instructions thanks to my knowledge of Eastern European languages being virtually non-existent. I'm starting to think it would be quite useful to learn Slovak given the frequency of our trips to Bratislava.

Anyway, a question to those of you with slow cookers - there are three temperatures: low, warm and high. From what I can gather, you would normally use high for 7-8 hours, so what would low and warm be for? I've e-mailed Tesco to ask if they can send me the instructions in English, but in the meantime any advice would be much appreciated!

SC Hope you enjoy your few days away! I'd be happy to post the links tomorrow morning, but I have a doctor's appointment at 7.15 am UK time and am not sure what time I'll be back. Also, I know that MrsD said she would deputise when SC is away, so I don't want to step on anyone's toes.

Hope everyone's having a good weekend.

Ouch ds sounds like he was very sweet on Sat/Fri(? sorry not sure which)- they make a mess but they love tidiness waffles would floor me too, you are clever to have EVER managed them. pancakes that stick cause no end of trouble here, wailing and ranting kids, batter blues I call it! FWIW my kids were away from dh for 4 weeks in summer,spent a lot of time tantruming about it. It made me really upset, because sometimes when dh is there, that's when the tension builds (although we are not separated). The minute he returned, they started arguing with him and wailing I want Mummy. So It sounds like you have to just explain that he is going to see Dad, lots and you want him to xxx. Ds2 who is v aspie is completely obsessed by his dad, I think it is part of really being adult focused rather than peer focused. Anyway hope I haven't said lots of irrelevant pointless things. ENJOY SUNDAY

Morning everyone! Had an absolutely wonderful day yesterday. Really relaxed wedding where everybody just relaxed and enjoyed themselves. I spent mostly the day running around after dd! Ds was an absolute star! Bride saw him sing ' chasing cars' by snow patrol at his school concert and asked him if he would sing it at the reception as it was the groom's favourite song. He practiced all week but I thought he would get stage fright but he did it. Got up in front of 50 people and sang on his own beautifully. Proper proud mummy moment, bride and groom in tears along with lots of women! Doing nothing today apart from washing school clothes. Two tired children ( dd just taken herself of for a nap!) and a hungover dh! But a wonderful day so absolutely worth it!

Swan that makes sense as although ds is getting more child orientated it is only when they are physically in the room. Out of sight out of mind. I think the problem has been that his dad talks about him going to stay with me and home being where he is. As I explained to ds he has lived here away from his dad a lot longer then he lived with his dad and me together. That seems to have settled it down. Funny really calm is restored as the mischief was cause but the trip out. ANd will definetly help in the sound desensization and touch sense rebalancing work we have been doing with him. He listened so much better today :0

ellie: sounds like you had a really lovely day yesterday. Awww at ds.

Dicover kitchen half done
DW waiting to be unloaded
WM 2nd load on
Folding up to date
Lounge started
Decluttering in the bathroom 30mins done
Wash kitchen floor
Rubbish sweep (empty all bins) in progress
Not kills ds who is in mischief mode. and count...
Skating done
Lunch out and a dawled around pets at home to look at the animals done
School night routine
Ironing
Rehem school trousers
Polish school shoes
reading
Spellings
Pick up missing bits for pizza done

Well lovely weekend for me - was taken out by old friend for - wait for it.........tea at Fortnum & Mason's!!! So elegant and decadent - champagne, tea, little sandwiches, scones and cakes - all sitting in arm chairs and a pianist playing! And then to see Les Mis - I felt truly spoilt and like I'd had a holiday. I could get used to that

So no flying done at all. H still sorting stuff out and no further news on when he's moving so don't feel I can make much progress. I know patience is a virtue but mine is beginning to wear thin!

Will try and do a bit better this week though - hoovering is becoming essential

Still here, but comp still broken, we're waiting for a part from Germany.
I've just spent the week decluttering to keep me going. Fingers crossed for this week!!

Evening all,

Sounds like you've had a good weekend on the whole, a nice wedding for ellie, a productive shopping trip for Linzer, a fabulous tea for MissB, Jodrell Bank (always makes me giggle with regards to cockney rhyming slang) for Ouch, decluttering for Tigger, time away for SC, a happier DD for Bob, a party for Nettie, not sure what Toffee, SR, PA, Darts, Pluto, Ihatecobwebs, Nick were all doing, but hope it has been a good one, and waves to anyone I have not mentioned.

Linzer my slowcooker has the same settings, I tend to use high if I am putting it on at lunchtime and low if I am putting it on in the morning, basically. High bubbles away quite merrily with mine, and you can get stuff starting to burn round the edges a bit if you leave it on for more than 3-4 hours. I only use the warm setting to keep it warm for DH if he is eating later than the rest of us. Sometimes use High for an hour or so to get things going then switch to low for the rest of the day. I normally use it just for the afternoon as that suits my lifestyle with not working outside the home.

I will have a go at posting links for tomorrow in a separate post in a minute, might as well get in the practice for when I take over, thank you for offering though Linzer.

Mondays Babystep

Babystep 27 - meal planning - very important, but I don't always do it.

Monday's Mission - should appear here by the morning, this week's zone is the Living Room

Mission

Still being busy here. drank too much coffee earlier so need to burn off some energy. so posting an update. Not sure how much i will sleep but will make the most of it whilst i am inspired.

Dicover kitchen 3/4 done
DW waiting to be unloaded and reloaded
WM 6th load on
Folding up to date
Lounge 1hour decluttering done
Decluttering in the bathroom 1 1/2hrs done
Wash kitchen floor
Rubbish sweep (empty all bins) done
Not kills ds who is in mischief mode. fast asleep having done all homework without too much fuss
Skating done
Lunch out and a dawled around pets at home to look at the animals done
School night routine just sandwiches left to make
Ironing tomo's job
Rehem school trousers
Polish school shoes cant find polish
Reading done
Spellings done
Pick up missing bits for pizza done
Make lemon fairy cakes and ice with lemon run out done
Make apple pies done
get ds to write cousins birthday cards done

I suspect burn out tomo

Just popping in briefly on my way to bed (far too late, as usual). Glad you all had good weekends -

Ellie - the wedding sounded lovely, especially your proud-mummy moment . Well done to your DS.

MissB - sounds like you had a wonderful time at F&M and then Les Mis. And, no, I'm not jealous .

Have had a busy weekend. DC are both much better, but I am going to bring DS2 back from school after lunch today, as I think it'll be too much for him to do his whole first day after missing school last week.

Managed to tackle the kitchen this weekend and rediscover my sink. It was lovely to come down to an empty, shiny sink again this morning. Shined it again tonight. Also spent a couple of hours this afternoon decluttering and tidying a cupboard upstairs in preparation for birthday and Christmas presents. Made me feel very organised.

Long list for Monday (though not as long as Ouchs):

Check emails for work stuff
Packed lunches x 2
Morning routine
Visit from friend
Buy BD presents for various children
12.30 Collect DS2
Make phone calls
Book visit to local secondary school
Make huge shepherd's pie (enough to feed DS1's friend who is here for a sleepover and eats like a horse)
Book haircut
Collect DS1 and friend

Also, try to achieve:
Mission
PM routine

And, later, the evening routine.

That'll do. Time for bed now. Sorry for lack of personal messages, but good to see you are all here and have been enjoying yourselves.

PS Thanks for the Flylady links, MrsD

I have absolutely nothing of worth to say this morning apart from I hate Mondays. It's cold and miserable, I need a weekend to get over the weekend, full teaching day and my house is a tip.

I will return later when I am not a mardy moo!

I've just got back from my annual check-up at the doctor's, so can finally have some breakfast now (I had to have an empty stomach for the blood test) before I make a start on my morning routine.

Thanks for the slow cooker advice, MrsD. The mother of one of DD2's friends speaks Hungarian and she was able to give me a rough translation yesterday; apparently low is to heat up food that has already been cooked, high is the normal setting (cook for 7-8 hours) and warm is to keep food warm for up to 4 hours. It's interesting that you said food starts to burn after 3-4 hours on high, as another MNer with the same slow cooker told me that 4 hours on high usually does the job - I shall have to experiment. Just need to find some recipes now!

swan I must reintroduce star charts soon too; it definitely makes the DDs keener to do their piano practice (and is also a good reminder for me).

Ouch Hope your DS had fun yesterday. I'm thinking about enrolling DD1 for a course when the open-air rink opens in November, although I am trying to limit afternoon activities this year...

MissB Very of tea at Fortnum and Mason's; DH and I went there years ago and it was wonderful. We wanted to go again when we were in London in August, but the top-floor restaurant was fully booked so we had to go to the cafe downstairs - nice but not quite the same.

tigger Well done on the decluttering; hope your computer part arrives soon.

Toffee Glad to hear that your DC are better and well done on the shiny sink - it does make a big difference, doesn't it?

ellie It is cold, wet and windy here too - not the type of weather to inspire you to get out of bed on a Monday morning. I always feel like I need a weekend to get over the weekend, and we didn't even do anything particularly exciting this weekend (Bratislava trip aside, but even that is hardly something you need to recover from).

Anyway, must get on with today's list:

Doctor's done
Morning routine
Post ever more belated birthday card
Write letter
Mission
15 min decluttering
Afternoon routine
Piano lesson
Invoices x2
Pay Betriebskosten (property costs/council tax-type expenses)
Bank (+ pay membership fees)
Get DS's piggybank and savings book ready for Kindergarten tomorrow
Evening routine

Yes, house is tip here too after weekend, l'm lucky I have got time to clean it, althought the prospect is not inviting

Ellie [I would have been in tears too another band to add to my list of modern music for ds1 (I feel so ill-educated - the last album I can sing the songs off was Sting in 1990's) Aged 10, he absolutely loves singing along, and so does dd at 8 (ds2 can't sing at all) So far I need to buy Coldplay, Chili Peppers, Mica, Black Eyed Peas, McFly, (or is that for babies?) for Xmas stockings. Dh was sat in the living room listening to the Merry Widow last night, and before that, Othello.. not very upbeat, in fact seriously tinkly/autumnal/depressing...

Linzer - I think, just bung the food in for say, a conventional meat stew (less liquid than you think) put it on high and see what happens after 4 and then 7 hours! I have an Aga with slow/simmering oven, and I've given up working out how long exactly things will take (although I did manage to burn flapjacks in slow oven last night - how is that possible?

Ouch you sound like you have had wonderful day, lemon cakes, skating, decluttering, homework done! Brilliant.

Linzer star charts need considerable parental input I think I need to restart all mine. Habits have been formed though Bedmaking (ds1) piano (ds2) and homework (dd) although none do anything else off the list. And I need one for ME! Five hours of housework and I get a cappucino and a pair of sparkly tights! 10 homecooked meals and I get a M&S readymeal! 10 piano practise sessions and I can buy recently reviewed piece of classical music!

Good morning all.

Have to admit to being in a lousy mood. Weekend most definitely went pear-shaped. Did manage to get some housework done.

It all started when I parked near my parents house after dropping DD off at the secondary school for the "taster session" as we are in the process of choosing schools now. Went to collect car to collect DD and some twunt (or suitable unprintable word of your imagination, I think I must have used them all for 5 mins without repeating myself) had blocked my car in. A bloke, I've seen this car before.

So off I trot (well it had to be faster than that ) to reach the school at the other end of town..........to find that DD has an invite to spend the afternoon at a friend's house [groan].

And it all went downhill from there, although I'm happy DD went to visit a friend. It was another 2 hours before my car became free!

Anyway, enough of that. Ellie, I sincerely hope your day does get better. I'm sure mine will (after at least another two cups of tea ).

And a proper hello for SC, Linzer, ouch, bob, MrsD, MissB, Tigger and swan, and anyone else, my brain feels like mush at the mo.

This morning:
Morning routine done
Bins out done
Fuel for car done
bags of clothes into charity bins done
arrange time for electrician to call done

At work:
Check boss's emails done
prep finance end of month stuff
Check status of next training course
And so on........At least when the boss is away, we can get these things done calmly!

After work:
Collect dcs
deliver to gps
Mum & me to go into town (she wants to check out a coat I'm umming about)
Plimsolls for DD (new ones)
dishwasher
washing
dinner (haven't a clue today)
distribute School Governor papers for a meeting, by email (here's the joke, I got elected Vice Chair of the board Ha Ha Ha!)
Check security stuff on Facebook as they've added some new applications.
Evening routine (must teach DD to make own sarnies.....)

morning. suffering burn out so drinking coffee and will take today gently.

WM 1st load on
DW mostly loaded
Kitchen - finish discovering
Ikea trip
Homemade pizza
Ironing.
folding
clothes away
finish handwashing.
School night routine

Hope you all have good days. Happy flying.

Oh, and I did manage to get a shiny sink......

And star charts sound like an idea to investigate. DD needs to be encouraged into keyboard practice now, and DS needs encouragement in any case for anything!

swan That's a great idea - I wouldn't have any problems coming up with rewards for myself! Must make a start on one asap. I really must think of some non-financial rewards for the DDs, as DD1 is already obsessed with money and ridiculously acquisitive. Ideally non-food too, as they're given far too many sweets as it is (it drives me mad). I was wondering whether DD1's old teacher was the exception, but no - DD2 told me last week that their teacher had given them sweets too. Have come up with a book so far, but otherwise am drawing a blank.

Right, list to focus mind
music on
dw
sink
saucepans
table
milkbottles
lego

beds
s & s
hoover bedrooms

supper

errands/phonecalls

tip

redo starcharts

New task for list:

Add recipe to MN file: cake with marshmallow icing......

It went down a treat for DD's birthday, and sometimes I make the cake without the icing as an everyday cake; it couldn't be simpler. Will post it later.

struggling to find motivation:

WM 3rd load on
DW mostly loaded
Kitchen - finish discovering
Ikea trip done
Homemade pizza mix in bread machine ready to go
Ironing.
folding up to date
clothes away ds' done
finish handwashing done
School night routine
finish finding lounge
hoover lounge, hall and stairs

ouch tip - don't finish discover finding lounge, just do hoovering now in the middle o the room or you will like me finish tidying only to find you haven't got time to hoover

BUT HAVE HOOVERED, just not made beds or dealt with lego...
s & S
tidied bedrooms, cleaned out behind beds etc
dusted polished

stilltodo
everything in kitchen
errands
starcharts, which I will start at 2.15 [stern]

Check emails for work stuff done
Packed lunches x 2 done
Morning routine mostly done
Visit from friend done
Buy BD presents for various children notdone
12.30 Collect DS2 done
Make phone calls
Book visit to local secondary school
Make huge shepherd's pie (enough to feed DS1's friend who is here for a sleepover and eats like a horse)
Book haircut
Collect DS1 and friend

Also, try to achieve:
Mission
PM routine

And, later, the evening routine.

Visit from friend interrupted by phone call from school to say that DS2 had a bad nose bleed and asking me if I would take him home (he was only meant to be there another hour). So no chance to dash into town as planned and buy presents.

Brought blood-stained son home. Haven't been able to do any more jobs since.

Just realised that Monday is meant to be my 'house overhaul' day. Can't fit it in though. There are not enough hours, are there?

Linzer and Swan - have just started using star charts again. Used them a lot with both DC when DS1 was going through a difficult time. I was given lots of advice from a clinical psychologist and the main things I remember are: focus on only one or two things you want to change (eg. no hitting, no rudeness); rewards can be normal nice things that you do anyway, but you simply stop doing them until they are earned, eg. swimming on Saturday, walk in the park, 20 mins playing with Mum; surprise the children with something halfway through to reward them for their efforts, eg comic; lavish praise and don't make a big issue of the bad behaviour.

Star charts are enormously hard work for the parents, though. And they are always meant to be administered by both parents, but my DH never wants anything to do with it, so I end up looking like the disciplinarian.

Oops - time for school pick up. DS1 is having a friend to stay the night tonight, so should be there on time today.

Swan unfortunately i have to finish as it is only the middle bit that needs doing. PLus i need to lift the rug tomo which means that even if i dont get hoovering done today I must get everything tidy today. decorating prep.

WM last but one load on
DW running
Kitchen - finish discovering
Ikea trip done
Homemade pizza in bread machine
Ironing. done
folding up to date
clothes away ds' done
finish handwashing done
School night routine
finish finding lounge
hoover lounge, hall and stairs
Decluttering Utility room 15mins done

right must got get the probably tired one from french club.

dw done
saucepans done
milkbottles done
table done
bins done
food compost done
recycling outside done
snacks for kids administered
errands x 2 done
starcharts - doing - good advice toffee will keep it simpler and focus on teeth, homework and music for twins. Ds1 likes a wide variety of tasks as it increases the target area!!!!and the likehood of possiblygetting one star
hoovering done
s & s done
supper in slow oven - spare ribs but don't ask me for the recipe!done
laundry x 3 done and 4th load in!

well that was a whole day of housework, so I could have done better I suppose. Kids back now, so

todo
sweep front path
supervise homework
supervise practise
wipe worktops