December's Fledgling Flyers: Christmas time, swish and swipe and wine, flyers sing to the fat fairy rhyme.

[elliepac]

Welcome to the December Fledgling Flying thread.

From the 1st of the month we shall be decluttering and taming the chaos using baby steps, missions and zones. A great big thank you to DEM/DID who looked after us last month and did a fantabulous job

We are not strict followers of the fat fairy and take some of the babysteps wearing shoes indoors with a pinch of salt. Also advise against signing up for the fairy's emails.

All are welcome, jump on board for one of our three methods of chaos attack:

1. Baby steps
2. Baby steps and 15mins decluttering in current zone
3. Re-inforce the baby steps and daily mission

This month the fat fairy is gearing up for the feastive period. So I shall also post the christmas mission for those who wish are brave enough to look.

In here the motto is:

*"No perfection! Do what you can, but be realistic about what you can do."

Happy flying.

welcome to insamemumma and plentyofparsnips. jump on board and join in. Do what you can dont feel overwhelmed by the lists. look carefully sometimes the are long because they have lots of tiny things Anything is progress.

Mutters something about there being a house here under the chaos really and disappears.

Morning all!!It's Dec 1st - hurray - and we now have 12 inches of snow!!!
My DSs school shut, my DD's is open although there is absolutely no way she can get there - we have jack-knived lorries and no trains at all. (My DC 'commute' to school as do all their peers...)
DH - undeterred and pretty unimpressed with my DDs decision not to try - has walked for half an hour to get to the station to find all the trains cancelled ,. He is now walking home via the petrol station with chocolate!!!

Right flying.....

Clear up downstairs
Hoover downstairs
Swish and swipe
Hoover upstairs
Get down advent decs etc
Check rabbit has enough hay - she is now in the garage I hasten to add...
Do paperwork hotspots.

That'll do for now..

Welcome to insanemumma and plenty of parsnips.

12 inches! Whereabouts are you, OM? It's snowing here too, but we don't have more than an inch or so. Thankfully DD1 and DD2 decided this morning that they want to walk all the way home from school together, which is probably safer and easier than getting the car out. Not to mention giving me an extra 20 minutes or so to work.

Welcome insanemumma and PlentyofParsnips.

Morning all and welcome to those who have just joined us! Apologies for short post but Internet not working properly so am posting on phone. I have never seen so much snow here I don't think. Up to my knees having just been to the corner shop. All schools in town are shut and the roads are littered with abandoned cars.

Back later.

Hi all, I havn't made any progress since last week with the house. DH alternates between being understanding and having a go.

I am really in a hole with it all and now and I am despairing at where to start - I know the answer but I feel so down (why have I got to here etc) Its like I am frozen.

We were supposed to be putting up decs today with mince pies etc and feel like I've let everyone down.

I fell over in snow yesterday so have a sore bottom and DS was sick this AM again so he is off with me and the car needs petrol and is covered in snow.

I am sorry for moaning but I have no where else.

Hey namechange. sorry you are having a rough time. I know how you feel. just do a bit in the worst area. You have done loads. but it takes time and dh's are often on a different planet about what is actually involved in looking after kids. My dad has only just grasped this concept when babysitting the other weekend and he is nearly retired. Its the first of December and whilst it would be ideal dont beat yourself up. there is a lot of christmas yet.

Hang in there and feel free for a bit of a moan. we love a good natter in here and there are words of support and arse kicking as needed. You CAN and WILL do this and it WILL be a fabulous christmas!

Hello oh my goodness is it December already!!? How did that happen????

Thank you DEM for my lovely tidy and less cluttered house!

We had a bit of a disaster here last night - on one of the coldest days of the year, our boiler died at 5pm. We have to get a new one (looks like we might be able to get it fitted on Friday, thank heavens) but until then we are without heating or hot water. Brrrrr. Holding it together so far but putting FLYing on hold for a couple of days!

We have ONE blower fire, which is moving round the house with the DCs (they look so funny snugged up in all their warm clothes trying to play with their toys with restricted mobility). I am still in thermals and pyjamas but about to brave a wash (kettles are great, aren't they??) and getting dressed.

DH said "think of it as camping, but with all the comforts of home" .

namechange start small. Do one thing and it will help. And be gentle with yourself. Holding a home together isn't easy. Have a and a hug from me.

Welcome to Plentyofparsnips and insanemumma. Plenty of support and chat on here and even some Flying :)
Another comment about the lists (they used to scare me when I first tried Flylady) - if you look closely some of us seem to have the same thing on a list for many several days.

Namechange - sorry you feel low, poorly DC are hard work and sore bottoms don't help. I still have moments of despair when I feel like the house is winning and I've been here since last January. I find concentrating on babysteps (and maybe a Mission or two) helps me feel like I am regaining control but its often 2 steps forward 3 1 step back. Not fair of DH to have a go, how much does he do to help?

PA - GREAT to hear from you and so glad your tumour was benign. Do take as much time as you need to recover (don't let anyone else rush you). We will be more than glad of your company whenever you fancy dropping in on us :)

Lots of festive feeling on here. Are you doing an irritating songs Advent for us Nettie?

List today:

• Morning routine
• Work - monthly invoicing on headed paper for first time - am I sad to be excited by this
• Sort out Argos order for School Assoc
• Sort out ELC order for School Assoc
• Sort out list for Asda for School Assoc
• Order book for Mum and socks for stepfather (his request )
• Order toy of the devil Hama beads for DD
• Order Book Club stuff - Knights for DS, Astrosaurs for DD :)
• Hoover living room, hall and stairs
• Mission or two
• Make chowder for dinner
• Make bread to go with above (better do that soon as will take forever to rise)
• Anything else I can think of if I have time :)

Lots of non-Flying related stuff as usual - mostly fun, Christmas-related stuff though. School Assoc have decided to give each class £50 to spend on a fun present and to give each class a 'Party in a box' for their Christmas party. Orders are in, and very varied, now need to buy things

Happy Flying start to December everyone :)

Highlighter - Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! (need blue, shivery emoticon)
Lots of warm drinks and running up and down stairs needed. Plus many visits to friends/library/swimming pool needed I think.

Good luck

Thanks deck high and feat

I have emailed the DH and he has said I should have a bath and that he is sorry etc. He also said not to worry about Decs as and I quote 'Chris Moyles said this weekend is when they should go up'

He sent me a link to cheer me up from one of his colleagues here try it

www.portablenorthpole.tv

Its nicely done and my DS (4) was spellbound by it all.

Get timer
Dishes
Laundry in

That'll do for now x

Glad you are feeling a bit better, name. Chris Moyles is soooo wrong! IMO it's far too early to put up decs! .
Just do your 15 min thing again if you can. I'm doing 10 mins in each room today and it is amazing what you can get done....

Linzer - I am in West Kent but I have to confess that it is 10 ins not 12! . DD has just measured it with a tape measure!

Talk later...

Progress list. Am afraid there will be alot of these today.

bathroom - bribe ds to do bath and sink ds has done and toilet has cleaner soaking in it
landing done but needs hoovering
hall
Move bag of shoes
panic x6 done x1
Laundry - finish washing 1st load on, finish folding, finish ironing, all away
get ds to finish writing his christmas cards, start making decorations, finish tidying his bedroom progress has been made.
Panic some more
Taming kitchen and kitchen sink delogating and in progress
15mins in bedroom done

Ha ha I'm still sitting here ooooooooo twitter!!!!

Suspected gas leak yesterday, which turned out to be false alarm (my oversensitive nose)havoc with afternoon, which was otherwise turning out to be nice and cosy

Today have failed with recycling, routines, as desperately need to to PTA stuff, which I've been doing all morning so far.

School dinners have been cancelled till Jan, due to kitchen problems, which is such a pain, takes me so long to get the wretched things organised - and now I need to find some lunchboxes having decluttered them previously. (bows to PA for having managed so many sets of sandwiches last year)

List
go back to shops for PTA stuff
finish wrapping more PTA presents

then attempt to tidy up - kitchen table, playroom, more laundry hang out and wash 10 mins each thing...

PA enjoy your coffee, I'm glad you are taking things easy even if you didn't want to take them easy!
Linzer good luck with today's work

Morning all and a big welcome to PlentyofParsnips and Insanemumma, welcome back to Madwoman and PA.

PA you take it easy, hope you get out for your coffee today.

We''ve only got about 2 inches of snow, no school closures or such like, but side roads and pavements are treacherous. Luckily our road is flat and leads to a flat main road, school is only 10 mins walk away too, so OK for now.

Namechange try not to worry. I have been feeling a bit this way myself, I have both DCs at school and I don't go out to work, so why can't I keep my house clean and tidy? It's a complete mess most of the time. DH and the DCs are chronically untidy. DD sets up "shops" full of stuff all over the house. Hang on in there with a bit of hotpsotting. I haven't even been making lists yet alone doing them. However today iOS the first so it is a fresh start, that's one of the thing I like about this thread a fresh start every month.

So, for me, a list.

School run and stay till 10.30 to help - done
Give something away on Freecycle - done
Washing and DW - both on
Clean kitchen
Back to school at 1.30 to prepare for Christmas Fair
Home about 5.30 I think
Collapse after fair probably
Better have a think about an easy dinner now.
Apprentice night, that's the goal to have all routines etc done by 9 and sit down to watch it with a big glass of wine.

Who was it asking about our PTA present wrapping, was it you Swan? We ask for donations of unwanted gifts etc for the presents and charge a pound. I think I've been moved to Elf duty outside Santa's grotto, in the freezing cold with whinging children is my guess.

namechange Glad to hear you're feeling better. DH has been very un-Austrian and got the Christmas decorations out already, but I do think it's too early... the Christmas tree only goes up here on the 24th, btw.
I would second what OM said about 10 minutes in each room - actually, I find that even 5 minutes in each room can make a big difference, although I think that FlyLady recommends 15 minutes in her crisis cleaning plan.

OM Will let you off as 10 inches is still pretty impressive! We're slowly catching up with you, and now have about 4 or 5 inches. Must get the shovel out this afternoon; at least the DC are usually willing helpers.

Back to work... have finished more than half of what I'd planned for today, but the girls will be back soon so I have another evening on the computer to look forward to.

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody

UPDATE:

pin up hair properly done (well, it only fell down once)
clear front steps done - and I did next door's so am feeling all virtuous, warm and fluffy
hang washing (shirts) done
new load of washing in (sheets and towels) done
breakfast done
washing up done - took ages as I did a big roast dinner last night and hadn't done any washing up yesterday.
shine sink done
wipe and sweep kitchen done - and I scrubbed two sides of the fridge and a manky bit under a cupboard
HAND CREAM! - not done yet as I am about to knead some bread dough and don't want it to smell funny.

Wow, that's more than I've managed for ages I now have bread rising and am going to do my christmas lists. DS has gone out in the snow and DD has gone back to bed. At this rate, I'll be watching Lord of the Flies on my own.

Namechange - glad your DH is being more understanding. Enjoy your bath.

PA - hope you have a good outing - don't overdo it.

bathroom - bribe ds to do bath and sink ds has done and toilet has cleaner soaking in it, as does the shower
landing done but needs hoovering
hall done but need hoovering
Move bag of shoes done
panic x6 done x3
Laundry - finish washing 2nd load on, finish folding up to date, finish ironing, all away
get ds to finish writing his christmas cards, start making decorations, finish tidying his bedroom progress has been made.
Panic some more
Taming kitchen and kitchen sink delogating and in progress
15mins in bedroom done
Dining room done but needs hoovering
back half lounge nearly done and will need hoovering

Ds has been kicked into the garden for max of an hour - his asthma will kick off before then and he hasnt had any lunch so will be hungry. Hopefully this will burn out what little energy he actually has. At which point he will have lunch and have a soak in the bath. Mum has said she will keep and eye on him so i can use his hour long soak to run a few errands in the village. Then it is back to decluttering.
In the mean time it is lunch me thinks.

Can I join? I'm not entirely sure what I'm joining, but it seems to be about decluttering and getting yourself organised which I definitely need. At the risk of sounding totally clueless - is FLY an acronym, what does it stand for?!

Hi daimbar and welcome. FLYing is named after the FLYlady (so called because of something to do with fly fishing) aka the fat fairy, who has a website to support people in cleaning and decluttering using small but regular steps. The links ellie posted above will take you to the FLYlady website and you can have a look around.

Would post more but have so much to do and have mostly been doing boiler-related things this am so must get on with work work.

ps the links I am talking about are right at the top of the thread - second post

linzer yep, tis Nick. although now i've got madwoman back, i realise belatedly that i could have had a christmas namechange (saintnick derivatives). ah well.

so, still dark here, (for all those who think i've just crawled out of bed in the middle of the afternoon ) and kids are running riot getting ready for school.

today's list:

shovel paths/ steps
clear b'fast stuff
dw
wm
shine sink
5 minute room rescue a la mission (living room - it needs about 3 hours...)
check budget a la christmas mission (car transmission gone and enormous pile of rusting yukon will need at least $1000 to fix. just what you want right before christmas...)
school council minutes
track down the lady who might have found dd2's glasses
call paed for appt for ds1

dd1 ballet bag
dd2 brownie bag

and for this week:

cubs planning
pathfinders planning

i've got my first day off at home since about may. can you tell?

on a slightly different note - our tenant has now left the little house in the mountains, and all of your stuff is being delivered from storage on saturday. it's currently a minimalist temple to fly. dh and i are now fraught with anxiety that we won't actually be able to fit it all in! fly nightmare! i'll be offering up small sacrifices (dust bunnies ?) to the fairy this week.

Thank you - it is all much clearer now!!! :)

Not on original list but done
Get christmas decorations out of the loft done
Get plastic sheet for washing rug done
watch the massive snow dump that has just started. aparantly we are due 12inches. i suspect it is more like 12cm but still

Right must get cracking again...

Thanks all the encouragement - I went on to FLY.net crisis cleaning and made a start, late in the day but a start

I am not getting into any chat at the minute on here purpose so don't think I am rude.

Get timer using kitchen clock
Dishes mostly done some need a steep
Laundry in

Bag up rubbish done
Wipe over all surfaces inc hob done

Errrrrm have doubled followers on twitter

Thanks you are a great bunch x