OK The boys start back at School on Monday, so who is up for a Baby Fly thread

[TeaMonster]

But rather than a one a day baby step, we do a two a day one.

I need to get back on top of things, plus I will be on my own for the first time in over 5 years.

Glad you had a good holiday MeMudmagnet. I've never been to IOW - would like to go I think.

It is interesting to see other people's routines, what you can gather from them and adapt.

Glad I don't sound like a woman on the edge - I wonder sometimes if I do, really I do. But I think it's not me, I think people project stuff elsewhere. My friend has a DS the same age as DD2 and another DC, a daughter 6 years older - so I reckon that must effectively be like having 2 only children, if that makes any sense? So I don't think she's got any idea what my days are like.

So the first day back wasn't too bad, but then DH went in at 2 so we managed to get some bits and pieces done.

I've done loads of washing - have emptied (yay!) the girls' laundry basket and slowly but surely getting to the bottom of the one in our bedroom. It might take a few more days, but I can see the end in sight.

The only thing is, I can't get it dried quite as quickly as I can wash it. I did stick a load on the line and it's almost dry, but I'll need to tumble dry it tonight.

I can't put things on the radiator - our house just gets too damp with all the condensation and then we get mildew on the walls (the old lady who lived here before effectively 'sealed' the house - odd shiny stuff under wallpaper and double glazing and concrete blocking air vents - she had mental health issues I heard - which accounts for all the reflective tape on the fascia board and apparently she used to hang up CDs from the ceiling). Do you think a dehumidifier might work?

And yesterday - I completely blitzed the bathroom. It's SO sparkly now.

So - pretty much all of the clean laundry is away (apart from the load just out) - that might have to wait until morning now as kids are asleep now.

And I need to sort out kitchen tonight and DD1's packed lunch and lay out clothes for all DCs for tomorrow (I know what I'm wearing - just bought a new maternity dress from Mothercare online - it's a really pretty floral tea dress - makes a change from all the grey and khaki shapeless stuff in the shops at the moment.

How are you doing KAQ? Did you manage to catch up after the water situation?

Hiya, not yet :( I'm a tad peed off and its affecting my motivation. Google is my friend/google is my enemy :(

I'm finding info which is alternatley helpful / horrifying.

I have a heap of clean and a heap of dirty, and I don't care. If I got off my behind I could have half of it washed and hung up before I go to bed.

And I cannot be faffed.

Tomorrow morning I am going to take the girls to school,
the boys to my mums for the ENTIRE day!!!! (she offered!)
I am going to buy some dr pepper on the way home.
I'm going to sort the house,
the washing,
put dinner on,
and then i'm going to help dp lay the patio.

Somehow I'm going to kick my arse into touch and have a positive attitude at the same time!

For now I'm just going to go to bed and hope I don't dream of google................

Oh! and definatley dehumidifier!!! but research and get a good one!

Also keep your eyes peeled as they do go on sale! last time this one was on sale in was £80.00

Happy hunting :)

Do you dry things on the line all year round?
If not, what do you do with your non tumblables?

I hate having washing hanging all round the house and try to keep it on the towel rail in the downstairs bathroom or just the kitchen radiators when they're on. I always tumble underwear and socks, as I got sick of loosing them behind radiators and long curtains!

I managed most of my list today, apart from the hoovering, the hamster and putting the washing away.
My kitchen looks fab All clutter gone, the muddy, waggy, tail marks and general grime cleaned off the cupboards and oven and hob all sparkly!

I didn't get any work done at all though and can't be bothered to start now.
I think I need to concentrate mainly on getting the house straight, then hopefully I can get into a routine to keep it that way.

DD2 (6) shocked me this evening. After her friend went home and her bedroom was left like a war zone, she tidied it all up herself without being asked. She then moved downstairs and started on all the dressing up clothes, dolls, prams, plastic food etc that had been left everywhere. She left it all put away and spotlessly tidy!!

The summer's fine for line drying but these days it's mostly inside in the tumble dryer. I tend to always tumble sock and pants (mainly because I loose the will to live when I'm pegging them out or putting the on the radiators).

My friend lives round the corner from me and always line dries - but her garden is higher up and breezier - I think it depends on so many things. So I do feel guilty about tumbling so much, but I hate damp washing lying about and then we have our condensation thing.

Bless your DD!! What a treasure? So it influences them then? Very interesting!

KAQ, how are you? Have you found you motivation again? I hope you didn't dream of google.

Well today I finally put the growing, washing mountain away. then went through the girls wardrobes, put away the summer stuff and took out any clothes that no longer fit. I then hoovered and picked up a text from a friend who wanted to know what clothes size the girls were, as she was Christmas shopping.....

.............Well that got me thinking about Christmas, so I spent the next few hours on the internet panicing about Christmas!

KAQ - I hope you're ok. How did the patio laying go?

Right - this leaving the house thing is no good, is it? I had to do jobs in the mornings for the past 2 days - haven't done a thing round the house really. Dirty washing is piling up and the clean laundry monster looks like it's in danger of making a re-appearance.

I had to smile today - I got a text from my friend (the one who'd beeen sending lots texts) - she was saying she was finding it hard juggling everything and getting a bit stressed by it all. (!) Obviously, I sent a supportive text back.

God - Christmas. I'd better pull my finger out and write some cards and sort out a list for presents too - only 7 weeks! Which means it's 8 weeks until DS2 is due (yikes!).

I didn't dream of google!! ( not too badly anyway!)

My day yesterday (amazingly) went exactly to plan! Its been quite a while since I was in charge of a cement mixer DP hs to go in to work tomorrow so hopefully weather permitting the last few slabs will go down on friday and (fingers crossed) the pointing can be done on sunday.

Thereis, a day at home and you'll be back to straight again, you can't do everything you know :)

LOL at your friend!!!

Don't panic about xmas, somehow everything will get done, do as much of your shopping online as you can, if its delivered to you door at least you don't have to traipse about after it! Will you need to deliver much to other people? If so can you arrange 1 day a few weeks before xmas when you can have a present swap at your house?

1 thing, and I don't want in any way to add to your stress, but have you packed a hospital bag yet? Even if you are planning a home birth its good to get everything together in 1 place...

memud! I haven't taken the summer stuff out of the draws yet and they are getting hard to close! Another job!........

Know late in the week but can I join think need some help kick up the arse

with getting things done

am fed up of exploding laundry and chores not done and yet ,once can be arsed to do it I feel better for having a tidy house not thta it stays tidy for long with 4dc

how does it work on here

Welcome goingroundthebend4

Well - we started off listing the things we'd already done, followed by the things that we wanted to achieve next. The only thing is we've had a tendency to lose our way a little (life gets in the way, you know how it is) - so you may be just what we need to get back on track!!

Today I have:

Fed kids and got them ready for school
done packed lunches
taken them to school (DD1 is going round to a friends to play after school - so don't have to do the school run this afternoon)
Done one load of washing.

Hmmm - not too much done so far...

I need to:

Do some more washing
deal with clean laundry monster
clean kitchen
give bathroom once over
wrap some presents
post one present
pick up DD2 from school
tidy lounge and hoover (and hoover hallway)
sort out 'shoe mountain' by the door
hoover stairs and landing
Sort out dinner for tonight

I'm sure there's more I could do, but knowing what I'm like, I'll only get housework fatigue and not do any the next day.

Back later to let you know how I've go on.

KAQ - no I haven't packed a hospital bag - I never really do (I did for DD1, but have had the other 2 at home and planning this one at home, too). I know what you mean though, I should do it...

Hello, Goingroundthebend4!

This started off as fly thread, but then everyone left apart from us. So we sort of muddled on in our own way. This seems to have become a sort of daily confessional/therapy session for the disorganised/slatterns/overwhelmed/under-motivated/overtired....(deleted as appropriate)

Personally I've been rubbish today!
I'm sick of tidying up, washing, cooking, cleaning, etc.. for it all to need doing again the next day :( The chaos is creeping back in to my lovely sparkly kitchen and I can't be bothered to do anything about it :(

Worked today, although didn't acheive much, and more or less ignored the house.

I'm going to pay for that!

Hello! :)Goingroundthebend4!!

Another person on the thread with 4 dc! How old are yours??

Everyones already explained about the fly thread start, there's a couple of bits of it I still do all the time!

No 1 Make sure the sink is clean before I go to bed.

No 2, Swish and swipe the bathroom before coming downstairs in the morning.

N0 3 open all curtains upstairs, straighten all beds, pick up toys. Take washing down when I go!

It took me a while (and a lot of dr pepper) to get the house straight and I still have some truly horrendous hotspots, but I actually feel for the 1st time ever that I am in charge of the house. For some reason I haven't had to use my tumble drier for a week and a bit and I don't have a dry washing monster! (disclaimer!!! I probably will have soon as I'll run out of motivation/dr pepper / both!)

So!!

step 1

step 2

Felt very sluggish again today.
The house isn't in quite the chaos it was, but it's creeping back.

After dropping off dd2 this morning I took the dog for a really good walk to try and wake myself up. Got back about 11ish, then had to collect a load of old fencing from an elderly neighbour for the school bonfire (not quite sure how I roped into that one)

Then came home, tried not to look at the house and got some work related jobs done.

I have managed to wash most of the bedding today, but that means there's now a backlog of other washing. How do you lot manage this with 4 dc'c??

So now, at 6.30 the dc's dinner is cooking and I'm still avoiding the house by browsing through mumsnet! I need a serious shake.

Right, I'm going to start now.
Report back later...

Hmmm - I kow what you mean about the old chaos creeping back in, MeMudmagnet.

It's a bit like going to weightwatchers, isn't it? You start off being full of enthusiasm and because it's all new, you work really hard at sticking to the rules. Then, when you've been going for a while, you get used to the rules and start bending them and that's when you end up putting the weight back on or plateau.

So what shall we do? Re-visit the babysteps (I know KAQ reposted the links a few posts back). I think I might have to.

Would it help to make it more festive - in that I mean, have a bit of a Christmas to do list and see if that helps with the motivation?

I didn't do much productive yesterday - but I went to Tinytalk with DS then I was supposed to go an do the shopping for the bonfire tea party we were having, only one of the other mums had blocked me in and wandered off shopping!! Grrr. She strolled back an hour or so later, with not a care in the world. Anyway, I got enough done for a bonfire, sausages, baked potatoes, and beans and chilli and mulled cider for the grown ups.

So I have the same things to do today that I did on Friday morning - plus a bit more.

Oh well - off to look for Step 1!

I'll check in later

Hi all, Well, the tidyness here is looking a little fluffy around the edges iykwim? A toy on the landing here an odd sock there....chaotic lounge, but most of the daily stuff is done. The visitors I was expecting to come round tomorrow are now coming next weekend, so I'm hoping to get out of the house with the kids for a bit tomorrow and then whizz round with a duster and straighten the rooms. I've changed the kids beds, washed and dryed the stuff that came off ( having guilt trip about the tumble drier) I ironed the kids shirts for school and put them all away.

I have noticed that where before this thread I dreaded people coming round I don't anymore, because it never gets really bad and I'm more happy being here myself too, it all seems like lots of little jobs now rather than one massive one that is too big for me to cope with.

I've sticky taped the morning routine on the inside of my wardrobe door and the breakfast routine in the kitchen cupboard.

Knackered and feeling crap.

I'm wondering if I have been getting mild bouts of mastitis as my supply drops... would explain my repeatedly ill thing....( other that the obvious cake issues )

Time for mind numbing tv... night folks..

Had a bit of a shock yesterday. I went out for the day, left the house about 8ish and didn't get back till 4ish. I came home to a tidy house, hoovering done, a wash load done and hung up, bathrooms cleaned. We'd invited 13 people round for post bonfire tea and the chilli was in the oven too!

I think dh knew I'd got to a seriously fed up point on Friday night. After I'd posted on here, I pulled out the stops and got quite a bit done. He then managed to spill a glass of red wine over a pile of clean, folded washing I had put on the stairs in the vain hope that it might find it's way home to where it lived!
Needless to say, I was a bit cross!

Had a really busy weekend, with friends round and staying over, then out with family today.
But...thanks to dh's and the girls efforts on Saturday, the washing is up to date, uniforms ready, homework done, house not looking to bad. Just need to make a plan for the week, which must involve Chritmas planning! So yes, THEISALIGHT, a Christmas to do needs to be on the agenda I think!

Hope you're both ok and we MUST ALL get back on track next week.

Wow that must have been lovely to come in and find it clean and tidy with everything done! I've managed to keep fairly well on top over the weekend, I'm almost ready for the school run tomorrow, just a couple of jobs left.

stressing about another thread.

I'm having trouble facing the thought of xmas. Its too soon! Back tomorrow, hope you're all ok........

I BADLY need to join this thread!!

Consider yourself joined, loosinas!!

I've got my laundry monster to tackle today.

Will be back when I've slayed it!

These are the the things I need to do today - though some of them will rollover until tomorrow (which is fine by me).

Dusting (tumbleweeds on skirting boards)
Shoe mountain (hotspot)
Change beds
Kitchen
Dining room + hotspot
Lounge
Hall
Stairs
Landing
Bathroom
Girls? bedroom
Our bedroom
Meal for tonight
Ballet stuff for tomorrow
More washing
Sort out magazines

For later (but not too much later)

Christmas card list (and get them written)
Christmas present list
Christmas day meal plan

Then baby arrival plan:

Blitz our bedroom
Plastic sheeting
Get cot from parents' attic
Car seat from parents' house
double buggy from parent's house
order new mattress
newborn nappies
vests
sleepsuits
angle poise lamp
torch
make sure spare set of bed clothes are all clean and ironed to put on bed.

(reluctantly pack hospital bag just in case...)

what do i need to do? list the stuff i need to do.. or hope to accomplish today or what ? xx

Pretty much all we've been doing is listing what we want to get done and reporting back to say if we've done it. It's really satisfying to see a list with things ticked off.

We also post the babysteps from the Flylady to help us build a routine.

Sometimes, we stop and have a rant and go off topic and then come back. We try and motivate each other (I've found the other posters really motivating, inpirational and supportive) and try to keep each other going.

Some of us (me!) have lost our way of late and are trying to get back on course.

I've posted the first 2 baby steps for you below:

Step 1

Step 2

thanks so much !! ive had a crazy day as my grandad is seriously ill... but if tomorrow is a better day I'm going to give this a whirl
xx

Hi loosinas! Sorry to hear about your Grandad, hope every things ok. Nice to see another poster too :)

I didn't manage to post my list this morning, but I have done a major stab at Christmas planning.

Got ideas for nearly everyone, food lists etc
I've now got the dd's writing their wish lists to send to those who've requested one. Will get them sent out later.
I've got my card list on the computer, so I can, hopefully, just print off the labels.

Put a wash on
Dried it and put it away
Gave the kitchen a once over
Cleaned hob
Took dog for walk/swim

Worked for several hours and did some PTA jobs.

THEREIS- You sound very busy and organised!!

Now need to do the dc's dinner...forgot to plan that one!

No - not organised - I find writing lists a great way of procrastinating!!!

Yes, sorry to hear about your Grandad, loosinas.

Doing dinner now - hopefully get the kids to bed earlyish tonight and I can perhaps tick off some of my list at least!