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.

Well, DS is off again today, he was upset to be missing the class party, but hasn 't stopped coughing all morning, although he is quite chirpy.

I am a bit at having lost all my child free time this week, wanted to wrap presents etc. Never mind. Might drag him out to the shops later, have got a big pile of stuff for the charity shop waiting in the hall.

Behind with everything, better go, see you later.

WHy does everybody finish school tomorrow apart from me .? I don't finish till Wednesday!

We finish next Thursday, ellie!

DD2's friend (the one who picks the toppings off pizza) has just asked me why we always have pasta whenever she's here; I told her that it's one of the few things most children will eat. Unforunately I forgot the plain pasta rule, so she and DD2 have carefully picked out all the chicken and cherry tomatoes ("I usually have cheese with my pasta") are are now grating cheese all over the table and freshly hoovered rug.

Just needed to vent on here before I strangled the pair of them. Now off to do school pick-up part 2.

Ds finishes tuesday next week Ellie.

Right just the landing and lounge carpets to clean then a nap.

Linzer - strangling fully justified in my opinion!

Time for a cup of tea before starting the afternoon -

Done
Morning routine
DS and me to playgroup for Christmas party, with cake, preserves etc to sell, food contribution, present for FC to give out etc
Make beds
S/s
Shopping list
Craft prep for toddler party tomorrow
Find Christmas music for party

To Do
Quick grocery/party shopping
Collect mother, so she can stay over and babysit DS tonight
Clear toys from DS bedroom floor so space for mother to sleep
Vacuum living room floor (DH has tracked dirt all the way through (and I only did it all yesterday!))
Make Christmas biscuits for party
Write DH work's Christmas cards
30 mins cleaning/declutting in living room
Filing
Hotspot
Item from paper file
Cook tea for mother and DS
Washing up etc
Get ready to go out
Leave mother to get DS ready for bed
Go to DH Christmas meal - at least hour driving to get there, (and I'm driving so he can drink)
Get back very late and crash

Have been busy all morning, so I'm hoping I can tick a few things off the list:

Take cakes in to DS2's teacher done
Do the morning routine done
Put MIL's washing on done
Make sausage casserole in slow cooker done
Wrap presents for teachers
Wrap presents for family
Finish Xmas cards (still feeling envy at you finishing yours already, Linzer)
Put string up and hang up cards
Tackle dining room started - table cleared!
Contact window cleaner? (still can't be arsed, in spite of filthy windows)
Order turkey do tomorrow
Add cold buffet-type foods to online order for Xmas about to do
Plan dinner for Saturday
Cancel direct debit that I should have cancelled last month
Sort Xmas card for Mum
Second wash done - DS2 wet the bed again, so had to wash his bedclothes and PJs
Put today's clean washing away
Ironing???? probably not
Pm routine

I have also: finally cleared the hotspot in the kitchen which was really getting me down , washed up, washed the kitchen floor and made lunch for MIL. Phew. Am now going to amend my online grocery order (wish it was Ocado like you, Swan, but they didn't have any delivery slots left next week, so we have Tesco instead ). And then will finish wrapping children's presents and the presents for the teachers, before going up to school.

Both children were tired and weepy this morning. Am wondering if DS2 is wetting the bed because of school, as he has been dry at night for over a year. I think both of them need a break.

Swan - didn't do so well at bedtime last night (midnight because I browsed on MN), so will try and do better tonight. I had so much more energy the day after I had gone to bed early.

MrsDD - sorry your son is ill - and that you have lost all your child-free time. Hope he gets better soon and that you can catch up (Xmas DVDs for him, maybe?)

Linzer - I think the short school days suit the children, not the adults!

Ihate - hope you enjoy the Xmas meal tonight.

Did - your list is scaring me, especially as you aren't feeling well. You need to rest so that your body can get well. Otherwise you might be ill at Christmas, and you don't want that.

Ellie - sorry to hear about the family crisis .

Must get on now, or I will run out of time again.

Linzer latest twist is dd moaning plaintively...plain pasta...that's not much of a supper...I want a proper meal....

tbf i dont think doing stuff is going to make much of a difference to cystitis. Fucking horrible but not much else. I am now curled up in bed and have enlisted mum to do the school run. I get to see the doctor tomo lunchtime. so any survival tips til then would be grand. Am trying to drink 1lt of water ever hour, but have interspaced it with cranberry juice. Paracetamol is helping the back ache and temperature. Anything else i can do?

My house is lovely and tidy and clean! 'cos I have a lovely friend staying for a few days who is extremely tidy and well-organised herself, which was very motivating!! both in not wanting her to see us as complete slatterns, but also in having a really positive motivation for doing the cleaning because I was really looking forward to seeing her (she's a close local friend who's abroad for a year at the moment).

However our bedroom is the place where everything has been stashed and dashed and looks like the seventh circle of hell! so tonight's list (she is going out) focuses on that, if I can get munchkins out of my hair.

DEM sounds AWFUL. Can you take ibuprofen as well? Also drinking bicarb of soda in solution supposed to help.

Poor you Did - I think drinking lots of fluids is about all you can do, but if that doesn't work antibiotics may be the only answer. I've been prescribed birch leaf tea in the past, but am not sure how easy it is to get hold of in the UK (Austrian doctors are quite keen on prescribing herb teas) or whether it's that much better than water/cranberry juice.

Toffee No need to be envious as I'm not quite finished yet - I still have two more cards to get in the post and a couple of local ones to write. Which I should probably do now...

DC still driving me mad with their arguing; it's normally so easy when DD2 has friends over but I think she's overtired from her late night last night (DD1 wasn't back from the cinema until 8 and still needed to eat when she got home), and DD2 insisted on waiting up for her.

DD2's friend looked in horror at our Christmas tree earlier - "Why have you got a plastic tree? Why isn't the Christ child bringing it? My mummy doesn't like plastic trees." I bet her mummy doesn't like plastic tree lights either - it's real candles on real trees here.

Can't be bothered with a list - will write the two remaining Christmas cards to be posted and then just do a few room rescues. Must go as DS has just asked for a leaf to eat (I think he means the basil in the kitchen).

DEM Have just remembered that coffee may make the symptoms worse, so try and avoid if you can.

tbh i think the caffine intake of the last week combined with being run down may well be the source of this. Irony being i only came off a dose of antibiotics last weekend. Thanks for the info.

Dem horrible uti's; you do need to rest though. And keep warm, chill on the kidneys and all that. I get them only when very cold and very stressed. Cranberry juice, and someting called Cystemme from chemist's.

ellie sorry not to have said anything before -just noticed you had a bad eve yesterday -hope today things are clearer.
If it's any comfort about hols we'll all probably be strangling our children ...with rbbon of course..

done
bought hotplate
bought casserole dishes (cheapy pyrex)
bought further party supplies
browsed high street for partyoutfit and luckily could find nowt to spend my ££ on! Dowdy jumpers only for people to buy for their grannies! So saved a bit of dosh there...
gave three presents into school - office staff and Lollipop lady so far
persuaded children to write labels for half the rest of teachers

todo

make casserole, pies etc
sort out kitchen again
1 tins of tomatoes away
2 pasta couscous away

1. more fridge stuff in fridge
2. assemble ingredients for dishes to cook now

what's for supper breaded fish, broccoli tomatoes, baked potatoes, tinned pineapple

write three christmas cards and post NOW!
hoover bedroom!

banish headache with lots of water and cup of tea

linzer that [visitor]child sounds extremely annoying

swan Just a little. At times. Oh, and she did ask me why we don't have candles on the tree. "Because they're dangerous," I replied menacingly - but she didn't seem too bothered.

ellie Forgot to say earlier that I'm sorry to hear about your family crisis; I hope it's something that can be resolved.

My aim for this evening is to tidy up/get the DC to tidy up so that there is nothing more to do once they're in bed. And then to go to bed early myself with a good book - and not to make the most of the fact that DH is out at a work Christmas party by spending the whole evening on MN.

Quick update before I try to get ready for tonight and finish off a few more jobs

Done
Morning routine
DS and me to playgroup for Christmas party, with cake, preserves etc to sell, food contribution, present for FC to give out etc
Make beds
S/s
Shopping list
Craft prep for toddler party tomorrow
Find Christmas music for party
Quick grocery/party shopping
Collect mother, so she can stay over and babysit DS tonight
Clear toys from DS bedroom floor so space for mother to sleep
Make Christmas biscuits for party
Write DH work's Christmas cards
Wrap present for DH's secret Santa for tonight
Wash DS pyjamas
Clean washing away
Washing onto airer

To Do
Vacuum living room floor
30 mins cleaning/decluttering in living room
Filing
Hotspot
Item from paper file
Cook tea for mother and DS
Washing up etc
Get ready to go out
Leave mother to get DS ready for bed
Go to DH Christmas meal - at least hour driving to get there, (and I'm driving so he can drink)
Get back very late and crash
Washing into machine

Hi Ladies

Just having a quick catch up with the thread - you are all very busy as always! Ellie sorry to hear about your family crisis and I hope you are ok and DID I hope you feel better soon.

All reasonably ok here - Christmas shopping mostly finished and house as under control as it can be at the moment (well probably not really but it is ok)! Two sick boys still - all the kids here seem to be catching 2 or 3 viruses in succession .

I'm managing to do a bit of cooking here and there (the slow cooker is really coming into its own now) and having fishfingers etc on the other days.

Can't believe Christmas is just around the corner!

dem I used to just eat a half teaspoon of bicarb, yucky but it works. Not advisable if you have high blood pressure though, because of all the sodium.

Back later

Forgot to say get well soon to Darts. Hope you feel better soon.

And thanks for telling us about your ghost, SC. Is there any way he could have been a trick of the light or maybe you still half dreaming if you'd just been woken up? Anyway, I'm glad he is a benevolent ghost. Wonder what he was reading... A Christmas Carol, maybe?

I have never seen a ghost, but I worked with a man who swore he saw a ghost walk through a wall in a cottage he was staying in once. He said the ghost looked just like an ordinary man and he wondered who he was, then he passed through the wall in front of him. He's working at Hampton Court Palace now, so he must see ghosts all the time.

System - congratulations on your lovely tidy house! It does feel good, doesn't it? Mine only ever gets really tidy when I have very tidy (and preferably critical) visitors coming. And all our junk gets stored in our bedroom too.

Linzer - sorry the children are driving you to distraction today. at real candles on real trees! Do the fire brigades work overtime at Christmas?

Dem - that sounds rough. Hope you feel better soon.

I have done loads of wrapping and if I have another bash tomorrow, I should have finished it all. I have never, ever been this organised for Christmas. Hopefully, this means that I won't have to be up till the early hours of Christmas Day this year. Also, I am planning to do lots of cold food on Boxing Day and use paper plates - so no cooking and no washing up .

Have collected DC from school. DS2 was thrilled by the Christmas party they'd had and couldn't stop talking about the magician who entertained them. Lovely to see him so happy, especially after all his crying this morning.

I managed to get the DC to bed by 7.30 and have the place looking reasonably tidy by 7.45. Also wrote the two Christmas cards and made tomato and butter bean stew (which I just know the DC aren't going to eat), but I don't have the energy for anything else now.

Ihate Enjoy the meal!

MiniM Hope your DSs are better soon. You certainly sounds like you have things under control (I dread to think what kind of a state the house was in when mine were newborns, but thankfully have erased it from my memory!).

MrsD I'd never heard of using bicarb of soda before; so I don't just need it for my fridge then...

Toffee Well done on all the wrapping and lovely to hear about your DS. I must admit I was quite when I first saw that my ILs had real candles burning on their tree. Apparently it's quite a hazard when the tree gets old and dry; I often think that Austria is several centuries decades behind other countries in a lot of ways.

Right, off to have that early night now - am hoping to finish A Christmas Carol tonight but hoping not to see any ghosts!

linzer - i have tried the bicarb soda disolved in water and can confirm it does help. it tastes vile though and it has take all afternoon to drink one small glass as it hits my gag reflex.

Ds crashed at 7pm but he was up at 5am this morning. Just waiting for the washing machine to finish so he has clean dry trousers for school tomo. (will put then on to tumble dry before going to bed. ) He came home in school trousers as he had fallen and gotten rather muddy - rather tbh i think there was more mud then trousers. ex said poor ds re trousers. Nah the kid was covered in mud because he is a mucky boy and he loves getting into that state. must remember to have words about when it is appropriate to get into that state

Done my list except ss but did get ds' hair cut. getting early night. Have good evenings/days tomo.

List tomo:
lay rug
return sofas and other furniture to lounge
doc appointment
get chritmas tree from loft
get lights onto tree
let ds lose on the tree with the aim of it being decorated
ss present - must do this tomo as has to go into post on sat.
christmas cards
rest.

Mini lovely to hear you well! even if with sick little ones...Yay for slow cooker and fishfingers

toffee I'm feeling like that too, slightly unnerving really..ah well I'm sure I'll realise how disorganised everything is tomorrow when kids are at home from lunchtime...
have wrapped all teachers' 8 presents (including TA's, choir lady and an extra teacher) still need to do dd's singing teacher but don't want to give her a bottle of wine so still need to find one more present probably flowers

kitchen still one giant hotspot, slowly tackling; children, despite being in front of one screen or the other, seemed to require constant supervision or [ahem]direction...

our kids had a lovely disco this afternoon at school. Ds is looking over my shoulder as I type...There has been a lot of secret santa-ing going on, it has added grey hairs...

Linzer dh always keeps a bucket of water by the Chrstmas Tree

Evening all,

Ellie - sorry you've had a crisis, hope it is all sorted

MiniM - you sound remarkably in control considering, hops the boys are better soon.

DEM - it raises the pH of your urine quite a bit taking the bicarb, I borrowed some pH strips from work once and checked before and after (TMI?), several units difference. I take it dry as I can't bear the solution either but it gete it over with quickly.

Linzer - candles on a real tree is something I've never ever seen. Can just imagine my mum's reaction, I get a lecture every year about never leaving the fairy lights on when you're out, I could see the point with the old style ones, but think LEDs are pretty safe.

Toffee - glad your DCs had a nice party. DD loved hers today, DS cried because he couldn't go, but was quite chirpy at home. We popped to the shops for some crisps and stuff and had a little party here, plus school sent him home a doggy bag, which was nice. It has actually been very nice having him home this week but I still haven't wrapped a single present.

Ihate - hope DH's Christmas meal was good.

Darts - are you going to be watching the PDC Championships? PA and I bored evryone a bit last year talking about it on here!

Swan - hope your headache is better.

Waves at everyone else.

Managed a few bits of Flying today, thanks to the Wii for keeping DS amused. 2 lots of washing, changed DCs beds, took stuff to charity shop, hoovered downstairs and cleaned the bathroom, enough to keep things ticking over.

Took the boys out to the late-night shopping evening tonight. It began to snow as we walked, all the Christmas lights were on and there was a brass band playing Christmas carols . Back home for hot chocolate and hot-water bottles, then DS1 ruined the happy atmosphere by going downstairs and helping himself to ice cream when he was meant to be getting his pjs on and getting into bed - was I being unreasonable to be very with him?

Today's achievements:

Take cakes in to DS2's teacher done
Do the morning routine done
Put MIL's washing on done
Make sausage casserole in slow cooker done
Wrap presents for teachers done
Wrap presents for family mostly done
Finish Xmas cards do tomorrow
Put string up and hang up cards do tomorrow
Tackle dining room started
Contact window cleaner?
Order turkey do tomorrow
Add cold buffet-type foods to online order for Xmas done
Plan dinner for Saturday done - sausage casserole again
Cancel direct debit that I should have cancelled last month do tomorrow
Sort Xmas card for Mum do tomorrow
Second wash done
Put today's clean washing away nope
Ironing???? of course not
Pm routine done

Also remade DS2's bed and MIL's bed.

Didn't do everything on the list, but not too bad. Tomorrow's list (last child-free day) looks like this:

Put recycling out
Make sure DS1 takes party food to school
Remember presents and cards for teachers
Am routine
Buy Xmas tree
Write and post Xmas cards
Finish wrapping presents
Hang Xmas cards up
Order turkey
Window cleaner???
Cancel direct debit
Visit friend to look after her baby
School run
Take Ds2 to playdate
Dinner
Put washing away
Crisis clean today or Sat (Mum here Sat PM)
Decorate tree with DC
Bedtime routine
Wine, Peep Show, bed.

If I manage to get all my presents wrapped and cards sent by tomorrow, it will be the first time ever that I have been so well organised for Xmas. That is entirely down to Flylady tips and this fantastically supportive and friendly thread. Am hoping I will actually be able to enjoy Christmas this year.

Right, time for the early(ish) bedtime that Flylady (and Swan) recommends.