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!

Evening everybody :)

I've beaten the washing mountain which appeared over the weekend, hurrah. I also moved the furniture in the lounge to hoover and dusted everywhere. I am utterly stuffed full with roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese and mashed swede, I love winter food, could squeeze in some banana cake though Nettie

DS is going to play at a friends tomorrow so I'm going to try to finish my home blessing from Monday and iron the uniforms.

Hope everyone is enjoying half term/

Right must be productive tomo so a list:

Declutter lounge.
Washing
put clothes away
ironing
Paint door
declutter desk in bedroom
declutter chest of drawers in bedroom
shredding x 15mins

might be a bit optomistic but am hoping that i will wake up in a more productive mood.
Night all.

Evening all,

Well, first things first, the November thread. Thank you for volunteering DID I think Ellie volunteered for November or December at some point too? I do think it would be best if one person did the links throughout the month because of the way you can have the OP's posts highlighted, makes it MUCH easier to find the links. TBH it's the roundups that take the time the links are quite quick to do. Maybe a jobshare, one person does the links and the other helps out with the roundups?

Anyway, today in Fledgling land

Bat - changed into Dragon - if we just call you DID then you can always revert back to your other name at some point too...

Swan - has swanned off to Ireland hopefully, have a lovely time

SC is also off on her travels imminently.

Bob had a productive day and managed far more than I did.

Nettie - snot cakes, yum!

Linzer - I still cannot get on top of my clutter , it is better than it was, but Iseem to lack sufficient will power to really crack the FLy system, just keep plugging away.

I took the little Dinkies to the beach at Southsea today for a mooch round and an ice cream, I used to live there many moons ago, nice to go back occasionally. We did a detour to take DS to see Fratton Park, home of his beloved Pompey, I'm going to have to take him to a game there soon (good news that they are finally out of Administration DID). DS is having a sleepover tonight in DD's room, they get do this every school holiday for a treat.

Have caught a cold from DS, sore throat etc, so have taken it easy tonight, toad in the hole for tea, watched Masterchef from yesterday (trying to catch up) and The Apprentice. Much to my surprise someone I know popped up, one of the buyers (the one who bought 1000 shower heads).

In mitigation (flying wise), I did do some filing, hotspot DD's bedroom, clean the oven, spend half an hour cutting back dead foliage in the garden and start making a Christmas shopping list. None of which has got anything to so with this week's zone, but never mind.

Thursdays Links

Babystep. Eat well, drink water and look after yourself.

Mission. Dusting the high up bits.

Reminders

Aye fabulous news re pompy. Was southsea beach as bracing as ever this time of year. I miss being down near coast sometimes. Seems years ago now, over half a decade how did time fly that fast?

I am happy to leave as organised. And will offer services up if needed in the new year if Ellie wants to take control of the thread. She did a marvoulous job last time.

i am going to go mither MN to see if they have magical cures for poorly ears....

Didn't get on here yesterday though can't claim to have been too busy Flying. However did get to defrost freezer in garage - big job but hugely satisfying, made gingerbread spooky things with DC and they spent AGES decorating them, wandered to shops via park with bike(DS) and dollies pram(DD) and made pizzas for dinner and strawberry ice-cream. Nice, laid-back, slightly productive half-term day I think.
Hoping for more of the same today:

• Work though am procrastinating and on here instead!
• Morning routine
• Feed friend's animals - we did eventually get in on Tues but it took all day and finally had to be done in the dark by the DH of a friend of a friend of a friend who happens to be a locksmith - cue large pair of bolt-cutters and a new, working padlock.
• Costco as 'treat' for DD and to get a few things for DS's party and newly cleared out freezer
• Some of the missions
• Freezer list - usually do this but have slipped recently. Was [hshock] to realise how much meat and fish was in there - I'm a bit of a reduced price tart so have all sorts of weird and wonderful things in there! Might menu-plan for the month.
• DS's swimming lesson - MUST NOT FORGET [hblush]
• Some of the ironing pile so don't have to do it all on Sunday night
• Bed by 10.30pm

Faffing about over, must work!
Have good day everyone.

I also need to stop procrastinating and actually get on with things - I got back from the school run 1.5 hours ago, and since then have only managed to empty the dishwasher and update my calendar and diary. Time for a list, I think:

Morning routine
Mission
15 min decluttering (don't even know which zone we're in this week [hblush])
Make muffins x2? (depending on how many get eaten this afternoon, when four of the DC's friends will be here)
Menu planning for next week
Check time of DD1's lesson tomorrow
Send dermatologist's bill to health insurance company
Finally sort out travel insurance
Send off holiday forms
Buy motorway sticker for car (by 1st Nov.)

Am feeling much more motivated this morning, so no longer need to ponder the difference between demotivated and unmotivated (neither of which are in my dictionary!). [hgrin] Having investigated further (yes, I really do have too much time on my hands), feeling unmotivated is internal while feeling demotivated is external, i.e. if someone or something causes you to lose motivation. So I think I may be unmotivated after all.

MrsD Glad to hear I'm not the only one lacking in willpower. I can get to the point where my house isn't looking too bad, but then just get complacent and can't face decluttering properly - I seem to be doing more of a surface declutter IYSWIM. Must work at a) being more efficient in the mornings, i.e. spending less time on MN, pottering around, etc. and b) getting something - anything - done at all in the afternoons and evenings.

Morning all

A morning off paid worl for me so was hoping for great things flyingwise, but am a bit knackered tbh as DD was up about 5 times in the night and needed a cuddle each time. Between that and general pregnancy uncomfortableness I think I managed about 3 hours sleep.

My living room is actually reasonably passable at the moment but I need to start sorting the rest of the house out fairly soon as we have no space at all for a new baby!

Routines
Washing * 2 minimum
general tidy
sort through my clothes for charity shop
sort through DD's clothes for charity shop
Intermediary bathroom clean (kind of an S&S+)

sneaking in at work and should be bank reconciling.

Glad you cleared up the un and de motivation issue linzer [hgrin]
PMPY be kind to yourself chill out.
bob well done on washing mountain
feetheart sounds like some lovely family time. Whatys your gruesome gingerbread men like? have they got missing limbs?
mrsd south sea sounds lovely
dragon good luck with todays list. Loved you facebook post re DS comments.

Right today is the day...for what...ehh!!

work work and more work
Pick DC up from nursery
snack bathe and bed for dc
then home to put away ironing
gym for me
home probably to bed too

thats big enough list, if i even find my duster again i will contemplate dusting those hard to reach places. [hgrin]

have lovely day all

Just checking in on all you Flyladies. Am at my mum's now. She had to go out today, leaving us to look after her house. I am having a lovely holiday from Flylady routines: have left all the washing up still to do and allowed toys to stay strewn all over the house. Will have a massive tidy up before mum gets back tomorrow, but, in the meantime, it is very nice to be a complete slob. Definitely a cba day today.

Going out in a minute, so waves to all.

Afternoon everyone! Sorry I have been AWOL for a while. Ofsted really took it out of me mentally and physically and dh kindly took that opportunity to throw spanners in the works relationship wise as well. All is sorted now thankfully. Have had a lovely few days away with mum and dc's and everything is a lot calmer. So I can get back to flying! Have managed to keep downstairs and bathroom presentable despite the madness and am currently ploughing through the washing mountain that mr ofsted kindly created. Will read through whole thread later but picked up on discussions over the next thread. I know I said I would do December and poss November. Quite happy to still do that or was November a job share month. Somebody tell me what I need to do and I will do it. Back later to plough through all the posts. One of our busiest months I do believe! Hope everyone is well.

Hello all,

Have managed to prise pc away from grubby ds, whose tooth fell out this morning. He's already mentally spending his tooth fairy money, but I told him he wouldn't get enough for a Nintendo DSi... [hgrin]

PA I see you're going to need an op? I'll keep my fingers crossed everything goes to plan, when it happens.

I've noticed that Bat is now Dragon. At least it's saved me from the faux pas I made with the last name change [hgrin]

Swan is having a lovely time, I hope.

Ellie Glad your Ofsted report was good. I was in one school last year where the head got the call, and the next thing was the staff all frantically milling around with words to the effect of "Ofsted are coming! Ofsted are coming!" Panicky or what. Luckily, not the school I'm governor at [hgrin]

Big waves to everyone else including MrsD, Linzer, Bob, SC, Nettie, Feetheart, MissBennett, PurpleWednesday, Tigger, MiniM, Toffee, Namechange, Just13 and everyone I've forgotten.

Meanwhile, just a suggestion for the new thread (nicking other people's good bits):

Remember, Remember to Fly in November; shine your sink and don't lose the plot!

(Sorry about that one, I wanted to work plot in somehow[hgrin])

Back to today:
Morning routine done
work done
collected kids from school (including some extras) done
shopping on way home from work done
de-cluttered bedroom done
shined sink done

To do:
Tea/dinner (not cooking today)
evening routine
a bit more of the cross-stitch I really need to finish
collect DD from Guides. She took her Promise last week, at the big centenary event. I was so proud of her, even though I couldn't watch as it clashed with darts and we don't have a reserve. To do it up in front of all the people. [hsmile]

Ellie - if are doing december and SC(?not sure if memory is correct, stupid computer is on scrolling strike) can only do half of next month would people like me to do next month? I seem to be about a lot anyway atm and it might help keep me on track. Am happy to do whole month as it is easier to the steps in the now highlighted op posts.

Not much flying done yet today. poorly sick again. Sinus infection this time. Have felt rough all day, so have run some errands. Hopeing when the next lot of meds kick to get a few bits of stuff done. but will probably do more sitting down stuff then actively manic stuff.

Re thread title are we keeping up with the tradition of having fledgling in the title so as not to be confused with the other flying threads?

OK, how about DID to do November, Ellie to do December and someone else to pick it up in January again? I'm quite happy to deputise whenever necessary, I'm sure so would SC.

How about "Remember Remember, Fledglings Fly through November?"

Back later....

I like that MrsD it is simple and to the point.
Will set up new thread later/tomo and linky for people.

Evening everybody, I feel awful that I've not posted on here for so long that the thread had disappeared from my Active Threads! [hshock]
However, I have been popping in daily to keep track and check out the baby steps and missions. I won't try and pretend I've DONE any of the missions, but I have been rigidly sticking to at least a swish and swipe and making the beds every morning, in the hope that it will save me from becoming too de/un-motivated... [hwink]

As its half term I've really enjoyed having DD to myself a lot, and we've been up to all sorts of lovely half-termy things, walks in forests with picnic, baking gingerbread spooks, carving pumpkin etc.
Luckily my house has stayed reasonably clutter free and tidy, due to my mega cleanse last week because of cat fleas, so a quick flick round has been enough to keep it ticking over until DD goes back to pre-school and I can concentrate on flying again.

Big waves to everyone and sorry for being so slack. [hblush]

mrsd I love you. March on in and sort us all out. Still haven't managed to read through all thread, damn children keep getting in the way .

did you are going to make a fab leader. You do realise that will mean you will have to keep the same name for a month .

I know how on earth will i manage

Why thank you Ellie. It is hard work keeping up with the thread chat. Though I'm sure this time last year we were having to have 2 a month as we were going over 1000 posts, no wonder most of us never quite manage to graduate into Fully Fledged Flyers!

Another nice mild day down south. DH had the day off work, so we went off out for lunch with the DCs then off to a butterfly farm/animal sanctuary which we all like (it is ancient and decrepit but all the more charming for it I think). DH has just phoned for pizza, I'm about to hoover the last bit of downstairs and turn the computer off and catch up with a bit of telly.

Sitting - don't worry, there have been plenty of times when I've gone AWOL for a bit, sometimes I just haven't felt like I've done much either in terms of FLying or interesting stuff to chat about but I always come back. Most of us have our ups and downs on here I think it would be fair to say.

DID that you are feeling poorly, think my sinuses are starting to go again too, it's not nice.

Darts - was it DS's first tooth? My DS swallowed his and had to write a letter to the tooth fairy explaining.

Toffee - CBA days are allowed once in a while, I think they are essential!

Nettie - hope you managed to get to the gym before falling asleep this time

Linzer - glad you are re-motivated!

PMPY - hope you get more sleep tonight.

I might not be able to get on the computer much (Ipad only and it's really hard to do links and asterisks on it) for the next couple of days, so I am going to post babysteps tonight for the weekend as well as Friday. I will pop back on Sunday to checkuponyouall catch up and get myself onto the new thread (thanks BTW DID). If anyone feels like rounding up for the next couple of nights that would be brilliant and could I add that I have really enjoyed doing the thread this month.

Phew, that was close, just did a preview and found that I had started a sentence with the word and .

Friday, Saturday, Sunday Links

Mission. Place something pretty in the room which is just for you. And watch the kids trash it....

Babystep for Friday - set time to do the weekly pamper mission

Babystep for Saturday - check our calendar for next month

Babystep for Sunday - Keep Flying, presumably on your broomsticks.

Hi all!

It's been a rocky few days -- poorly BabyScout and today is his first birthday and, coincidentally, he seems to be bouncy. I have been doing my own version of flying with 15 minute Hot Spots, 27 things to throw (though ends up being more like 50 cuz I get on a roll) and 30 minute de-cluttering.

I was glad to read earlier that it takes time to see progress. I am already seeing progress, but it feels so much more slowly than I had hoped. But I see it and feel proud of myself. I am also continuing with a daily to do list (instead of a weekly/running one I had been doing) and feel accomplished by the end of the day. I think after today and BabyScout's party this weekend we're going to need a decent sized toy box (have a small one now) so hoping if I get one soon I can prevent his toys and books from taking over my new found spaces.

mrsd I'll round up for you if you like for the next couple of nights, will help me to get back up to date!

scout 14 months in and I still haven't cracked it it really is about setting up routines and not doing things slowly! You sound like you are doing brilliantly.

Have had a read of the last three pages. Everybody seems to be doing lots of lovely half term/Halloween things.

bob am so sorry about your dh's friend. .

I also saw om flew in. If you are lurking lady, hope you are alright. Come back if you can, I miss you .

That's it for me tonight. See you tomorrow ladies.

Balls scout I meant to say it is about doing things slowly, instead I managed to make it sound like I was telling you to pull your finger out! Sorry!

Double balls , also meant to say to pa hang on in there. Sounds like you can begin to move forward now and have got lots of people behind you who can help. You are coping brilliantly, just remember to take it easy and take some time for yourself. Keep us posted when you can. Thinking of you.

That really is it now

You sure ellie?