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.

swan They're just normal shop-bought veggie sausages - I really should make my own, shouldn't I? The problem is there's not a great range of vegetarian food here; if we were still in the USA, I could have a tofurkey! (I wish I'd tried one.)

OM Ooh, how exciting - please keep us updated! I hope the post is a bit more efficient where you are; according to the Amazon website, my parcel has been out for delivery in my parents' town since the 16th but still hasn't arrived...

DEM Hope you manage to get some rest today.

OM - welcome back! Please, please come on here and tell us when you get the Oxbridge letter. I really hope it will be good news. I am excited and I don't even know you in RL - if I was his mum I would be paralysed too!

Linzer - lol at you reading water meter by mistake . Good luck with your busy day.

Did - sorry you had a rough night

Swan - I see you are now such a Flying expert that you can even take on a friend's kitchen

Arabella - have you shined your sink yet?!

Feel soooo much better today and have got my energy back again. Two days' worth of lists to do now:

Post last few Xmas cards done
Morning routine - unload d/w, reload, put washing on, swish and swipe in bathroom. No school stuff because we are on hols.
Find cards for MIL and DC (lost in the clutter)
Wash school uniforms and PE kits
Ironing
Put clean washing away
Put Xmas boxes away
Buy choc for boy next door
Deliver cards to neighbours
Borrow hammer from neighbours (have lost ours in the house - can you tell we are still not on top of the clutter? )
Send Xmas email to boss to remind her I'm still here
Find/buy string and hang cards up
Today's hotspot - piano top
Crisis clean in dining room (table full again)
Clear and clean fridge
Lunch
Tesco delivery (like you, OM, am hoping it gets through. Has all our Xmas stuff in it)
Arrange get-together with CM done
Get boys to wrap and label their presents
Buy ingredients for playdough (playdate tomorrow)
Phone parking people
Dinner - make double shepherd's pie and freeze half

Good luck with your busy days everyone.

Toffee - yes, I have shined my sink and got dressed to my shoes(thanks swan).

I've also done some laundry, cleaned and reorganised some drawers and cleaned the kitchen (imperfectly!).

Have also been keeping my 10-month old entertained although calpol for teething was required. The teething really makes her irritable and discinclined to watch housework

I hope that you people who've been unwell are better for Christmas.

Are everyone's relatives still able to come for Christmas despite the snow?

Glad to hear you're feeling better, Toffee - I can tell from your list that you've regained your energy.

I have about 45 minutes to get on with things while the girls are at their piano lesson, so will repost my list to help me stay on track...

Morning routine part done
Make muffins for class party done
Phone gas company to admit I read the water meter by mistake done (but delegated to DH as I was too embarrassed)
Finish letter not done, but wrote another letter instead
Hang up Christmas cards done
Prepare English lesson
Wrap DH's presents
Find veggie Christmas recipe
Menu planning
Birthday cards x2 one found, one still to buy
Piano lesson DDs there now
DDs and me to hairdresser's
Afternoon routine about to start
Ironing
Pick up DS from friend's
DD1's class Christmas party
Evening routine

Was about to press post when the doorbell rang... two gas men to reread the meter (not sure whether as a result of DH's phone call this morning or because they'd suddenly realised I had to have given them the wrong reading). So had to go through the embarrassment of explaining that I'd read the water meter by mistake; to their credit, they didn't appear to be trying stifling a laugh. At least I didn't have to face the gas man who came to take the original reading and who sent me down to the cellar a second time to check that I really had written down the right number.

Mmm, too many 'c's in disinclined, sorry!

Afternoon everybody!

Well, things have finally calmed down here. DN is out of hospital and recovering well all things considered. Dsis has consequently calmed down and things can return to normal. As I have said I do apologise for being missing but I am back and ready to get cracking.

I noticed from a very quick skim read that Arabella has joinedus. A massive welcome from me, I am the world's crappest leader this month but I hope you enjoy the thread.

Quick CHristmas update from me. Interspersed with lots of ferrying around/listening/family stuff, this weekend I have tidied/cleaned the whole house including our bedroom. It is not perfect but it is all relatively presentable which makes me chuffed.

To do list looks like this for today:-

washing
drying
ironing
putting away
dinner
food shop list
School work.

Back later.

Well done on the babysteps, arabella - it sounds like you've achieved a lot despite a teething 10 month old!

Re Christmas - we're hoping to travel back to the UK early next week, but there seem to be lots of problems at German airports (we're changing planes in Germany so that we can fly from Vienna rather than Bratislava) and there are currently no trains to where my parents live (according to my mum; no problems according to the website ). We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Glad to hear that your DN is on the road to recovery now, ellie. There's really no need to apologise - you've had more important things to deal with.

And now I really am going to get on with my list...

I haven't done a single thing on my list except
cook casserole with leftover lamb and veg
invite some children round which has created more mess and quarrelling
painstakingly clean kitchen which now deterioating again

toffee I can reassure you that I lost the hammer some days ago, the stamps and now the hoover! Where has dh hidden it??? Tidying up for party is to blame, darn it.

Having shined my sink I'm afraid to use it! She says you've got to dry it off each time, so I'd go through a LOT of kitchen roll!
And surely a dishcloth would get wet and stinky if it was left out for drying the sink all the time? And would look messy sitting around?

Can I just have a clean sink with water marks please?

This all sounds like I'm thinking about my sink a lot more than is healthy. Can FLYing cause OCD?

Ellie - welcome back. I'm so glad to hear your neice is out of hospital and life is returning to normal. Hope she's getting the support she needs. Sounds as if you have been incredibly busy in your house. I'm impressed! I'm not even attempting to tidy up every room before Christmas (closing the door is quicker ).

Arabella - well done, you have achieved loads - and in spite of a teething baby. I feel as if I am still catching up on all the stuff I couldn't get done when my boys were little. Flylady has some tips on what she calls 'Flying with infants' here. Doesn't sound as if you need any tips, mind you!

Linzer - hope your travel plans to your parents aren't scuppered. Plenty of time for the weather to improve by then, though - hopefully.

Swan - glad I am not the only one who loses stuff. Recently, I have lost: two television controls (might have been thrown out with the papers ), my favourite eyeliner pencil, a DVD of the latest Penguins of Madagascar episodes which I'd ordered as a pre-Christmas surprise for the boys (am wondering if that's being thrown away too as it was still in its Amazon box and maybe I thought it was empty), two kitchen vegetable knives, Christmas cards for MIL and my boys and, of course, the hammer. I have not lost anything as large as the hoover though!

Right, quick update on my list to see if I've achieved anything so far:

Post last few Xmas cards done
Morning routine - unload d/w, reload, put washing on, swish and swipe in bathroom done
Find cards for MIL and DC (lost in the clutter)
Wash school uniforms and PE kits still doing
Ironing
Put clean washing away
Put Xmas boxes away
Buy choc for boy next door done
Deliver cards to neighbours
Borrow hammer from neighbours
Send Xmas email to boss to remind her I'm still here
Find/buy string bought some and then found the string in a cupboard
Hang cards up
Today's hotspot - piano top
Crisis clean in dining room (table full again)
Clear and clean fridge done
Lunch done
Tesco delivery still waiting and hoping
Arrange get-together with CM done
Get boys to wrap and label their presents
Buy ingredients for playdough (playdate tomorrow)
Phone parking people
Dinner - make double shepherd's pie and freeze half

Persuaded DS1 (11) to dry up whilst I was washing up. He demanded payment (cheeky boy), but he did help in the end and did a good job. This is definitely the way forward. At the moment, there are five people in this house and only one of them does the housework, washing, cooking, washing up, etc. And three of them (all male) leave mess wherever they go. I just can't keep up with it all.

Rant over. Back to work....

Arabella - I don't do the drying off my sink business except at night, when I use that day's teacloth, which I then put in the washing machine. It's just not practical to dry it down every time if you are using it a lot.

Btw, I did become quite obsessed with having a shiny sink for a while when I started following Flylady. It was quite OCDish! It didn't last though. I think it just gave me a sense of control over something when the rest of the house was in a mess.

Phew, glad to hear that's what you do toffee. I'll copy you and dry it at night only

Thnks for the tip on cleaning with infants, I'll check it out later.

Hi everyone

Sorry to have been awol. Things totally mad/bordering on out of control in the office. Dh under so much stress he is walking around like a zombie and barely able to articulate words after 8pm. We are playing 'ships in the night' atm which is adding to pressure as keep having snappy brusque conversations about arrangements for day when we are at our worst - ie early morning and late at night - and no time to discuss anything else. DD picking up on tension! Arrrrggghhhh

Hectic at home too (endless Christmas concerts, school-and church- related social events, and have my first visitors here already - close family thankfully). More coming Thurs/Fri.

Feel totally out of touch with you all - hope everyone ok - just wanted to pop in and say a mahoosive "hellooooo". I knew December was going to be busy but didn't realise it was going to be quite this mad with 4 inches of snow adding to chaos (looks lovely though!)

Main bulk of visitors arriving Friday (when dd breaks up from school). Then another set of visitors coming day after Boxing day. Yikes! Thank heavens I did some early prep because absolutely no time now even though master bedroom still in chaos. Keep trying to tiptoe-tidy-up for 20 mins at end of day but dh (justifiably) complains because he is trying to sleep! Resigning myself to the fact that anything on my list that isn't done by now just simply won't get done.

Ellie If you are the crappiest of thread leaders (which you are definitely NOT) then I am definitely the crappiest of back-ups. Apologies - I've been no help whatsovever. I think you've done brilliantly to manage work, a family crisis, this thread, AND to fly at same time.

So sorry to hear about your niece but glad that she is out of hospital and things are calming down a bit. I really feel for her (my god-daughter went through something similar). Life for adolescents in this day and age is so incredibly stressful and I think adolescent girls in particular are under ridiculous amounts of pressure to be "perfect" in every way both academically and in terms of looks. Too many images out there of women with perfect (surgically enhanced) figures, clothes, careers etc. There are not enough influences "the other way" ie life is NOT perfect, we are NOT perfect,"normal" people have big noses, and smelly feet and sometimes, boring jobs and that's OK!!! [Having a dd, this is one of my "bugbears", can't you tell??!!] Hope she comes through it ok xx

Anyway, well done for managing to clean and tidy the whole house on top of everything else!! (top Flying marks)

A very warm welcome to Arabella - don't be put off by the chat - we do also Fly some of the time

Toffee thanks for brilliant round-up. Glad you and dc are over the worst of your bugs. Judging from your list, you are definitely on a roll. Top marks! [If it's any consolation, I'm always throwing my favourite vegetable knives in the bin by mistake or I leave them behind in holiday cottages along with my favourite alarm clocks and books. I also lose my glasses car keys and mobile phone about eight times a day + I only ever seem to have one glove atm)

From way down thread - yes, DEFINITELY poss that my ghost sighting could have been trick of light or result of half-dream (this is what I am hoping anyway!!) Just can't seem to escape strong feeling in difference of house when he is 'here' and when he is not but I definitely have a huge appetite for strong drink an over-active imagination

Swan bravo. Sounds like you are prioritising the important stuff: dc and good food.

Linzer good luck with the snow and safe travelling!! Hope your ds is feeling better now. [SC swoons at thought of sheer aesthetic loveliness of REAL candles on tree]
Plain old LED lights here

Deck glad you had a lovely pre-Christmas Christmas!!

Fingers and toes crossed for your ds Optimistle - how exciting!!! Hope it's good news!!

MrsDingDong hope your in-laws + travel plans are working out OK.

Well done Ihate you sound on top of things despite deep snow

Got to go and cook supper. Sorry no more time for personal messages but mahoosive waves to Nettie Darts [swigs more of Dart's brandy] Madwoman MiniM Systems Feetheart Bob and PA and anyone else I have inevitably missed.

Keep warm everyone!! Onwards and upwards and all that

For those of you interested in veggie Christmas recipes - there are good ones in both Nigella and Sarah Raven Christmas books. Will look up and report back.

Today's list:

finish sorting ss gift -got to change plans and will have to go out again :(
get box for ss gift done and get it sent
get more wrapping paper done
finish writing the christmas cards and get them sent
pick up the material for the urgent project. (from two different shops in two completely different directions) done but had to change plans as the first shop was shut for christmas already :(
Hope that the roads thaw enough to be safe to drive anywhere done and now hoping they dont freeze too badly
check to see if there is french club after school done
Sort emergency party food for ds to meet with his allergy needs done

MUST remember to look for local breakers yards to replace wheel rim Very very very urgent!!!

Quick hello everyone, and welcome to Arabella. I rarely dry my sink, in fact am a bit less diligent about shining it at the moment, but it is a lot better than it used to be. I bleached it at the weekend and was a bit at how much cleaner it looked afterwards.

I've been prioritisting food and DCs too, partly because I am on a mission to cut down the amount of time they spend in front of various screens, partly to fatten up DS who has turned into a skeleton after having been ill twice in three weeks. So to kill two birds with one stone we have just made some garishly decorated cupcakes. We usually use glace icing, but decided to try buttercream so we could pipe some big swirls on, but then realised none of us actually like it as much as glace icing . We also went out to deliver Christmas cards locally on the sledge and played Bingo complete with rhymes (two fat ladies etc).

Other than that, have managed to give DS's bedroom a fairly good tidy and hoover (it wasn't too bad to start with) and make a start on DD's which is a tip (it's not that DS is any tidier, it's just that he has less stuff). I despair of ever getting the toys completely tidy, I always end up with boxes of small parts which belong to toys in other parts of the house.

Anyway, I will pop back later and catch up with the thread properly.

Hello again, Still and welcome back. Glad I'm not the only one who loses stuff.

List now...

Post last few Xmas cards done
Morning routine - unload d/w, reload, put washing on, swish and swipe in bathroom done
Find cards for MIL and DC (lost in the clutter)
Wash school uniforms and PE kits do rest tomorrow
Ironing no chance
Put clean washing away done!
Put Xmas boxes away nah
Buy choc for boy next door done
Deliver cards to neighbours
Borrow hammer from neighbours
Send Xmas email to boss to remind her I'm still here done - and she has more work for me in the New Year
Find/buy string bought some and then found the string in a cupboard
Hang cards up
Today's hotspot - piano top
Crisis clean in dining room (table full again)
Clear and clean fridge done
Lunch done
Tesco delivery arrived! Put away
Arrange get-together with CM done
Get boys to wrap and label their presents
Buy ingredients for playdough (playdate tomorrow)
Phone parking people done
Dinner - make double shepherd's pie and freeze half done

Still have to tidy up the dining room as I have two boys round here tomorrow morning (don't mind about them, but don't want their mum seeing it .

Evening all,

Well, haven't got much achieved tonight. DD is poorly, nothing major but cough cold temperature etc. At least it means I get cuddles! Have managed to put some washing on and some drying and maintain order but that is it for now. Am trying to keep warm because at last look the temperature outside was -13 , at it's peak today it reached the dizzy heights of -9!

Am still trying to catch up with what everyone has been up to so you will have to forgive me the roundup tonight whilst I look through the last two/three days!

Am still trying to decide when to do the food shop. Was going to go very early on Thursday morning but some weather forecasts are saying we will get a huge dump of snow on Thursday after having managed to avoid it this time round so far. Am thinking I might d it tomorrow night instead......am still pondering.

Arabella I never properly shine my sink...I have a life .

toffee good rant....i feel your pain!

Better go as have some last minute school work to catch up with. Will post the steps first thing in the morning!

Feel like I'm running round like a headless chicken at the moment and the more I panic, the more I tend to forget things. Had a very frustrating afternoon yesterday, which all started to go wrong when I locked myself out of the house. I'd planned to go to the hairdresser's after the DDs' piano lesson but had also managed to forget my purse, so had to return home, dig up half the garden in an attempt to find the spare key (also buried under several inches of snow), rush back to the hairdresser's on the other side of town (where the piano lesson had been...) - only to discover I still didn't have my purse on me. I found enough loose change in the car to be able to buy a birthday card for a friend's son so our trip wasn't completely in vain. However, I have now lost said card - and his birthday is today. The rest of the afternoon didn't get any better (not enough time to finish homework, not enough time to pick up both DS and DD2 before the class Christmas party so asked DD2's friend's mum to bring her, only they couldn't find us...) but I won't bore you all any more with my tale of woe!

I'd like to say that today has got off to a better start, but I would be lying. DD2 is being very difficult in the mornings at moment and it takes twice as long for everyone to get ready, what with all the coats, hats, gloves, scarves to be put on, DS's snowsuit to be remembered, etc. We were crossing the road to get to the car this morning when DS let out a squawk - he still had his slippers on! He had managed to come all the way down the path without realising, so I had to run up back to the house to fetch them. Also discovered when I got back home that DD2 hadn't cleaned her teeth this morning, but that's the least of my worries.

ellie Hope your DD is better soon. And I thought it was cold here! In comparison, it's positively tropical at -4° this morning.

Toffee I find that buying a replacement is usually the most effective way of finding whatever you'd lost. Hope the boys all play well together this morning; we have DS's friend and his little sister coming over this afternoon, so I need to think of some activities to do with them.

MrsD I also despair of the amount of toys we have and of ever being able to keep them tidy; I'm just dreaming of the day (a long way in the future) when they won't want toys any more - although I know that the toys will end up being replaced by something else. Hopefully nothing with small parts, though!

SC Sounds like you're having a very hectic time at the moment - I feel exhausted just reading about it! DH and I are also like ships that pass in the night; too tired/not enough time to have a sensible conversation with each other and DH is also under a lot of stress at work, so I know how you feel. Hope you have a lovely time with all your visitors.

arabella I never dry my sink, I must admit. In fact, it's quite an achievement at the moment if I even manage to shine it.

Today's list:

Morning routine
Prepare English lesson
Find, write and post birthday card
Post other birthday card
Finish letter
Wrap DH's presents
Find veggie Christmas recipe
Menu planning
DDs and me to hairdresser's (attempt no. 2)
Afternoon routine
Pick up DS and friends
Evening routine

Linzer - poor you! Your day sounds like a nightmare! Don't worry the non-toy stage will arrive quicker than you think. Hope today is better.
Ellie - So glad your DN is out of hospital. Now it's all out in the open she can hopefully get some help through CAMHS. Lots and lots of teenage girls have a crisis similar to this at her age as I'm sure, as a secondary teacher, you know. Big hugs to you and yours!
Toffee - at tidying up for the mother of the friends!! Whatever it takes....
SC - one foot in front of the other! Don't worry about DD - children need to see effective conflict resolution!!

Well...the post did arrive... and quite unbelievably my DS1 has got his place at Oxford!!!!!!! . He is going to read PPE at Christchurch if he gets the grades (but we won't worry about that minor detail for now ). I really, really expected a 'no' because I knew he would be up against great candidates and he was so laid back!

Can't think what I'm doing flywise today because I'm too excited to settle!!
DS on the other hand has already come down to reality with a bump as he's gone up to London with his dad to do some paid work so that he can buy his GF a pressie!!

Must go and wake up DD and DS2 to see if they still want to attempt a trip to the local shopping centre for their Christmas shopping! Will look at traffic first I think!!

Big waves to DEM, arabellaMrs D and anyone else who I have missed....
Back later with a sensible list!!

That's wonderful news OM - a huge well done to your DS! You must be so proud of him. I'm sure that if he's capable of getting a place at Christ Church, he's more than capable of getting the A level grades he needs so you're right about it being a minor detail. Am so excited for you all!

Wow Hoo OM! Fantastic news! Congratulations to ds!!!

Morning. Another rough night here. Ds was up 4 times, i woke up twice and had to get up at 3am to take some meds. Dont actually feel like i have been asleep.

Had to completely scrap my plans for ss present so have to dig the car out first thing, rush to shop, pick up something suitable, get it wrapped up and in the post.

Write essential christmas cards and get them in the post

there is a theme. SO much that got started and abandoned that it is untrue.

In short my list goes:
Dig car out
buy ss present
panic
wrap up ss present
panic
christmas cards
panic
stand in queue at post office for ages
stick 100s of stamps on
panic
collect ds from school (really hoping its a full school day today)
put away clothes
collaspe into bed.

I think i have allocated enough time to panicing. Right must move. need to be out asap after 9am and currently still in bed. Dsis promised to take ds to school today so i got to be still a whole extra 40mins. lovely.

**

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO om...a massive congratulations to your brilliant DS. A superlative proud mummy moment if ever there was one.

I am not a happy bunny this morning. It is so cold that I had to de-ice the car in three stages, each one interspersed with going inside and cuddling a radiator for 3 minutes. In addition my whole family are at home today and I am at work. Grrrrr. DH finished yesterday, earlier than expected but it is too cold to do his work and DS school is shut today due to frozen pipes. DD is ill so she is at home today as well. Grrrrrr.

The babystep for today is Ask Flylady. ENtirely superfluous when we are all in that mad pre Christmas craziness!

The mission for today, should you choose to accept it is here.

Hope your day gets better deck....keep calm, 15 mins at a time. Take your own advice lady .

See you later!

Tis the season to be jolly
fa la la la la la la la la
stuff the turkey burn the holly
fa la la la la la la la la
santa's grumpy
gravy's lumpy
fa la la la la la la la la
Tis the seaon to be jolly
fa la la la la la la la la.