October is here, leaves are swirly, Fly with the Fledglings if your sink is surly

[MrsDinky]

Welcome to the October 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 September thread leader StillCounting for guiding us through the traumatic back to work and school period with lots of support and guidance!

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!

Massive fail here today but I have a cunning plan for tomorrow. Only managed to get the tesco shop done and nothing more. Did however manage to have an afternoon nap and go to our bf's house and spend a lovely couple of hours. In fact spending most of the weekend with them. The dh's are taking the older dc's to the cinema tomorrow morning and then we are going round there for Sunday lunch tomorrow afternoon. My cunning plan is that when dh and ds go out tomorrow morning i will blitz the house. Want to be all sorted because we won't get back until bathtime so don't want to be running around like a headless chicken. Welcome to sittinghippo, I'm crap at getting things done but slightly less crap than I was before joiningthis thread over a year ago!

bat will pop over and have a look at your thread now. Can't promise wisdom buy will give it a go

Good evening, I'm afraid dp wooed me with wine and my sink is un-shined

We had a really lovely day at a SN donkey sanctuary, dd had a ride, ds didn't but he had fun playing. Not much flying but dp fixed the shower and I deepcleaned and de-cluttered the bathroom. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend.

Hello all
Having been sat on my bum all day because i'm hungover poorly, I am filled with a icky, guilty feeling.
I have done bugger all today apart from throwfoodat lovingly prepared food for the children.
My house is winning...clutter everywhere!
I'm in! I will need a great amount of support, please say you'll help?

Hello I'mhere .
We will help! Welcome to the thread! mrsd will be along shortly to utter words of wisdom which fail me right now but I wanted to say a huge hello and enjoy the eclectic mix of chat and cleaning .

bat I have posted an entirely useless responseom hour other thread .

Tomorrow I will do the three box thing and shine the sink. It will have to be tomorrow as my hangover obviously very serious lurgy has turned me into an utter slob.
Is it wrong to be so exited about shining the kitchen sink tomorrow!?

Clearly in rl shining your sink, or rather being excited about said shining, may generate some mildly raised eyebrows and general mirth. But here you are amongst friends who get ridiculously excited about shiny sinks. Just you wait till you get to hotspots, your cup will overflow with excitement .

I have decided I'm sticking at 39 again, after my birthday. It reminds me of my dear brother's "joke" of sending a Happy 40th card for my 39th birthday. Ha! HE's coming up to 40 in two years, so plenty of time to plan revenge....

Hello, to SC, Ellie, Toffee, Linzer, PA, Nick, MrsD, Nettie, Bob, Ouch.

Welcome to sittinghippo, bat, Just13, Imhere and big waves to anyone I've missed off.

Today:
washing, one load done
dishwasher done
cleaned sink done
day trip out with family done

Not much else, but this weekend was planned as a respite, and today's trip was a garden centre, nice lunch and some stuff for the garden, including some raspberry canes (my fave fruit). DD (aged 10) helped dp to pot and plant, she's certainly picking his green fingers up. (Well, not literally..)

Tomorrow:
dishwasher
washing (no school uniform as it's half term for us)
tidy in areas where electrician due to work next week
Prep work clothes for Monday
Have lunch with parents. As Mum and Dad are not really good at cooking, we're not looking forward to lunch, although we will enjoy the company.
Then spend afternoon relaxing

Hotspots!

How has the gratification of a shiny sink passed me buy all these years?

I'm off to dream of a non-cluttered home... Goodnight elliepac :)

Welcome on board to I'mherefornow, lovely to have so many new Fledglings today. It's late, so I am going to cut and paste what I said earlier.

The FLylady system is basically as follows. there are 31 babysteps, one for each day of the month, these are small steps towards a more organised routine. We are supposed to start doing them and keep doing them daily. While we are getting used to that we divide our house into 5 zones, approximately one per week. Flylady publishes daily instructions called Missions for the current Zone, these are the more infrequent cleaning jobs like cleaning the cooker hood. IF your house is in a state because of clutter, you are not supposed to start the missions, but spend 15 mins each day decluttering in the current zone. Only then do you worry a bout the missions. We all mix it up a bit on her, none of us are very accomplished Flyers TBH but we keep trying and having a good chat as we go. Try having a good browse of the Flylady website in
order to pick up some of the terminology.

I remember how excited I got about shining my sink this time last yeasr when I first found this thread, it has definitely changed my life for the better .

Well, looks like we're all taking a fairly relaxed attitude to our Flying this weekend, which is how it should be.

I'm on the Ipad so going to stop now, typing is really tricky on here. Will try and post links in a minute (might have to go back to the main PC) but want to watch the end of Strictly on SKy + first

Hello all and a particular hello to sittinghippo, I think we are on the same anti-natal thread

I haven't done much flying today, but have done quite well with general tidying and the living room still looks nice, so am quite happy with that.

Our fishmonger had a 'do' today and outdid himself with delicious fish. We had razor clams and a lobster for tea. Yum .

Babystep

Welcome Imhere and Sittinghippo I get excited about shiny sinks too. And wait till you start doing your own 'control journal'!

But Ellie is right - best to keep these things to this thread as people in RL tend to look at one oddly if the joy of shiny sinks and hotspots are mentioned.

Linzer - so glad that you also found the resourceful cook website helpful. I've only just started looking at Christmas stuff and have to say the most useful - and cheapest - website I have used so far has been Amazon. But if I find anymore good ones, I'll post them on here. Btw, just noticed your name change - I know it's probably lighthearted, but I'm also sorry if things are getting to you at the moment. Lack of iron makes you feel really rough and it is very frustrating. You should go easy on yourself and hopefully your iron tablets will start working soon.

Off to bed shortly (am not so good at the bedtime babystep MrsD) and looking forward to a lie in tomorrow (DH had one this morning, so it's my turn). Felt so rough today, thanks to lack of sleep and still having a streaming cold. Woke up with bags under my eyes, spots and a red nose. Thought I could creep into town inconspicuously with my two boys for their haircut at midday and creep back again - but oh no! I managed to meet just about everyone I know .

Definitely off to get some much-needed beauty sleep now!

Waves to Ellie, Linzer, PA, Nick, MrsD, Nettie, Bob, Ouch, Bat, Darts, Push, Swan, Imhere, Sittinghippo and Just13. And anyone else I've missed.

Evening. Didnt do anything productive today. But have seen an amazing display of fireworks and caught up with a good friend.

Training tomo if i can drag my sorry butt out of bed in time.

Welcome to the fledgeling newbies. Dont be too harsh on yourselves if you find that you struggle to get the babysteps. Many of us have had to repeat the babysteps because they have slipped.

wishing all a good sunday.

Morning all and thank you for the very warm welcome. Hello pushme, I do recognise you from ante-natal. Hope all is well.

My shiny sink smiled at me this morning, but I confess I was a bit neurotic about it yesterday. Each time DH splashed water in it I HAD TO wipe it down with a towel. That wont last so don't worry, I just wanted it to stay shiny for 1 single day!

Need to put window cleaner on my shopping list, it seems to be FLY lady's favourite product.

Have a couple of hours of house to myself, DH out on bike ride, DD at sleep over.

Might get my bathroom set up ready for swish and swipe...?

And could someone kindly direct me to Big Tent, apparently I should be reading the messages.

Good morning, Sitting. Amazing how the shiny sink cheers you up, isn't it? Makes you feel in control, even if the rest of the house is a mess. It's OK to start out a bit neurotic about it - as you say, it probably won't last. (Confession: sometimes I don't even shine my sink before I go to bed - usually after wine and chat with good friends, when normal rules are suspended).

I now swish and swipe every day. It only takes a minute and I know that my bathroom is always presentable. I use an e-cloth for the sink and spray Milton spray on the loo, which I wipe down with loo roll. Hate loo brushes. As I have three boys in the house (including DH), the loo needs its daily clean (ugh).

I never bother with the messages in Big Tent, which is a forum linked to the Flylady website. I subscribed to Flylady briefly, was inundated with emails (at least 10 a day) and swiftly unsubscribed myself. This thread is all you need - and then you don't have to wade through Flylady's sentimental slush.

Am enjoying my lie in this morning. Was up several times in the night to attend to DS2, who has the same stinking cold as me. So it is absolutely lovely to be able to have a cup of tea in bed and leave DH to deal with the DC for a change.

Hope you all have a relaxing Sunday.

On a more serious note, can I just hijack the thread for a minute and draw everyone's attention to this thread. It is distressing reading, I'm afraid . I have several friends with children who have ASD and, for a time, thought my own son had AS, so I feel particularly strongly about this. Please sign the petition if you agree. (Sorry for thread hijacking and if I have broken a MN rule).

Good morning, and welcome to Imhere. No, it's definitely not wrong to be getting excited about a shiny sink (although it's not something I'd necessarily admit to in RL!) - you're in good company here. Seriously though, having a shiny sink does make such a difference - it motivates me to keep the rest of the kitchen tidy too.

Toffee Poor you; it's bad enough having to get up several times in the night to deal with a sick child, let alone when you're feeling under the weather yourself - hope you're feeling better soon. Thanks for your kind words; the namechange is for Halloween (the name was actually suggested by another MNer on another thread), but I must admit to being distinctly lacking in enegy at the moment. I even sat down and read my book yesterday afternoon, something I'd never normally "allow" myself to do during the day when there are so many other things to be done!

I've just read the thread you linked too - just awful - and have signed the petition.

sitting I don't actually bother with many cleaning products as I find that an e-cloth or microfibre cloth works just as well and is generally quicker as you don't have to rinse off any cleaning product. Swish & swipe is definitely worth doing as the few minutes it takes make such a difference to how the bathroom looks - and like the shiny sink, it encourages me to keep the rest of the room clean and tidy too.

The Big Tent is here but like Toffee said, all the information you need is on this thread and so there's no need to sign up for FlyLady's e-mails.

BatBrains Sounds like a lovely evening.

We were planning to go into Vienna today and take the DC for a ride on the big wheel, but the weather is very grey and drizzly so we've decided to postpone our outing. DH has decided it's perfect Lego weather, so the living room floor is now covered with Lego while he and DD1 continue building their Lego city. (That reminds me - must order the medieval village for his birthday.)

Right, I need a list to motivate myself:

Get new baby card and present ready to send done
Washing on
Ironing
Supervise piano practice x2
Get DDs to write to GPs so that I can finally send the class photo
Proofreading for DH (unpaid, unfortunately)
Decide about insurance for holiday next year
Decide about travel insurance for flights at Christmas
Get ahead on next week's zone cleaning/decluttering (my half of the bedroom is more or less decluttered now, but I have the feeling I'm going to have to live with DH's clutter as I'm not sure he'd appreciate me decluttering his half)

Hope everyone is having a nice relaxing Sunday!

Ahh - now I understand the namechange, linzer - glad to hear it. And good for you to give yourself time to read your book. Thanks for reading the other thread and signing the petition.

DH just asked me what we should do with the DC on this rainy, dull day. DS2 has a birthday party to go to later if he feels well enough, but you have just given me an idea - Lego! We could get all the Lego out and just play with Lego together. It's something that both DC enjoy, in spite of their different ages, and is actually quite relaxing. So, thanks for that .

Well, it's a beautiful day here and all the DCs want to do is stay in and play with Brio train track and guess what, Lego.

Fantastic, MrsD. Hope it stays that way.

Now DS2 says he doesn't want to go the birthday party later because he doesn't feel up to it. He seems fine and is playing happily, but he probably is still feeling a bit grotty from the cold and waking up at night. (I know I am). Am in a dilemma now, because I hate to spoil another child's party - although there are probably enough children there already. Will go and ponder it in the bath .

I've just signed Toffee that poor boy :(
. Hope you and ds feel better soon.

Sounds like a lovely day Linzer my ds has requested more Star Wars lego for christmas, he loves it as does dp

I was a bit neurotic about my sink for a while too sittinghippo but I've since slipped, it went un-shined last night

Today

-Morning routine done
-Roast prep done
-Stuff to tip
-Trip to bottle bank
-Clean fascia boards done
-DS homework done
-Get school things ready
-Ironing

I've been quite lazy this morning, need to do a few jobs then taking the dog out along the coastal road, it's beautiful here :)

Hope everyone has a lovely day x

Hello!
I've made some progress - got the hoover out yesterday and symbolically cleared and cleaned round the computer! Hooray :)

This afternoon I'm going to unearth the dining table as Dmum and Dbro are coming tomorrow for DD2's confirmation.
And the other must dos are:
-make soup for tomorrow
-make chocolate cake for tomorrow
-dining table
-DDs to write bit abhout Guide holidays for 2010 event on Wednesday
-DD1 to finish Brownie craft activity for her pack
-dining table
-hoover bedroom
-hoover downstairs generally
-DD2 to confirmation practice
-surgically remove DDs from last night's X factor(we were all out!)

So quite a list but I am starting to feel a bit more in control - I think!

AFternoon all.

It is a beautiful day here too and DC's have been playing in the garden all morning and are now playing together happily upstairs!

I have been a very good girl this morning. I have:-

Cleaned all downstairs
Washing x lots
Drying x lots
Ironing
Clothes put away
Tidied DC's bedrooms and ours
Cleaned DC's bedrooms and ours
Cleaned/tidied bathroom
Swept landing
Washing up

Consequently this means that I can now go out this afternoon to friends house for lunch and then come back to a tidy house with all clothes etc ready for the morning and just bathe the children and relax in front of strictly/x-factor.

Also need to address the pressing matter of a halloween name for me.....

Back later.

Hello all
Thanks for the warm welcome and non-judgmental attitude to my slatternly ways.

MrsD - I am extremely envious of your Ipad.

Toffeefudgecake - I hope you and your DS get well soon. It's always the same when you look like poo, you'll bump into everyone you know.

Batbrains - Fireworks are so much more exiting than cleaning.

BobLob - You put me to shame As did you missbennett and you elliepac .

I am now the proud owner of a very shiny sink! In fact I got so carried away that I've emptied and cleaned all the kitchen cupboards! They're beautiful and hyper organized. The tiles are shiny too. I got 9 bin bags full of rubbish just from the kitchen
The rest of the house looks like crap though.

It's gorgeous here too so I'm off to take the poor neglected DC and (v.smelly)dog for a walk. On my return I will tackle the hot spot which is the top of the fridge.

i'mhere please don't be under the illusion that I do this everyday, it is because I have been such slattern during the week that i look like superfly woman today .