Happy New Year, January's here, fly with the fledglings to get clutter clear

[ToffeeChristmascake]

Welcome to the January Fledgling Flying thread. A very big thank you to Ellie, our intrepid leader, for guiding us through the frantic Christmas month.

We are not strict followers of the Fat Fairy and take some of the babysteps - such as getting dressed to lace-up shoes - with a pinch of salt. We also strongly advise against signing up for the FlyLady emails.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's tips on restoring order to our homes, using one of the following methods:

1. Babysteps
2. Babysteps + 15 mins daily decluttering
3. Babysteps + daily missions

Following the babysteps helps to establish daily routines and build a weekly plan.

This month's motto is: You can't clean clutter! See here for Flylady's advice on decluttering.

If you are overwhelmed by the mess in your home, start with just one thing: shine your sink.

And if you need to sort out the house after the New Year revelry is over, a crisis clean is what you need.

Back shortly with tomorrow's babystep .

(With apologies to Ellie for plagiarising some of last month's intro')

he is 6 he has gone from discussing the integracies of science theory to noise. I am banning the ds from my car, he can have books. He is quiet when he has his books. He used to talk two ways, but now just talks and talks and talks. He used to wait for an answer and now you dont even get time to open your mouth before you are being yelled at for not answering. It is driving me mad.

Swan - I like all your thread titles, but prefer the 'nest' one by a small margin.

Pushme - as new leader , you should choose.

Makingchanges - I hate it when people say stuff like that (you looking tired). But I'm glad that you had a lie in. Hope you enjoy Peter Kay. Also hope that you will soon feel comfortable on our thread. We are a lovely, welcoming bunch, honest !

Lair - earplugs? DS1 and I used to wear them when DS2 went through a screaming phase at mealtimes. (Ahhhh, such happy memories of my babies...).

Linzer - hope you got your coffee. I don't like the taste of coffee, but sometimes it's the only thing that keeps me going during the day.

Not sure about it being a 'Family Fun Day' here today. DS1 is now feeling really ill, but DS2's energy levels are back up again, leading to all sorts of conflicts. However, I am about to get DS2 to bed and DS1 wants to watch 'The Spiderwick Chronicles' DVD on his computer in bed, which leaves DH and me to watch 'Notes on a Scandal' (hired from library this afternoon) downstairs without children. Ok, it's not quite the cinema trip we had planned, but it's getting closer.

No missions tomorrow because it's Sunday (Flylady says we need to 'renew our spirits'). The next babystep is to set time to enjoy the weekly pamper mission. I have never paid any attention to this, so am off to check it out right now. Back in a mo.....

OK, the weekly pamper mission is about doing our nails and it's here. I cut my toenails this morning - does that count?

Wendy - welcome to the thread! . Big at the snuggly nap with your baby. Hope it gets you through night duty with said baby!

Lair - you have my sympathies.

Looking forward to my Sunday lie-in tomorrow .

Goodnight, Fledglings.

evening all

I will eventually get to know you all and manage individuals and keep up with thread...honest!

for now...a quick update....
Day been quite good.... managed 45 mins gardening this morning.... am planning a baby stepping approach to my garden this year to avoid feeling overwhelmed by wildernas of a garden! I WILL have the garden looking good by summer
Then went to 1st Coimmunion class with DD2...
Then took DD1 to horrendous packed-- local shopping centre for her to buy hair accessories, and we had a coffee (well DD had milkshake!) and she got her hair cut.... she was in need of some 1:1 time, and she seems to have enjoyed it!
DH seems to have managed the littlies whilst I was out without decending into foul mood...although house is in chaos...but WILL catch up tomorrow!

wendy good luck with car choice. We have a
citroen synergie... we are limited though as we need 8 seats not 7 LOL I will just say though that sliding doors are a HUGE advantage, and dont ever go for anything with a back door on only one side.

think I may have to review how to do "proper" FLYing as I may have drifted somewhat in recent months LOL

oh...willingly accepts any crisps and wine going spare from toffeeChristmascake

oooohhave been reading back and realised it's organised on here isnt it...you have a leader??? Does that mean we actually have to properly FLY??? gosh!! will really have to pull my socks up(inside my laced up shoes LOL!!

And roundups

Hello OverflowingMum, yes we have a leader every month, originally it was just to post the daily missions and babysteps, it has evolved into also making chat roundups. TBH there is far more chat than Flying for most of us so don't worry! We start a new thread every month, sometimes the leader stays for more than one month, generally it is a different person each time.

Back later.

OverflowingMum - I'm afraid Makingchanges and Wendy have polished off my welcoming bottle of wine, but, luckily - ta da!

They've polished off all the crips though.

DS1 has a temperature of 101, poor thing. DS2 is in a foul temper and won't go to bed . Definitely school for him on Monday!

.

roundups sound useful!!
and maybe this is just what I need to help me fit FLYing back into my new "working Mum" routine LOL

...gratefully pours glass of wine form offered bottle.

toffee hope dd better soon...(and that ds wakes up in better mood!)

right...must go as DH has his "your spending too much time on the computer" face on!!
BBtomorrow

That face sounds all too familiar, OverflowingMum (which is why I've escaped upstairs to "download some podcasts" before I go to bed ).

Well, DH got the coffee maker in the end although had to go to the next town to do so. And then the jug broke within about 5 minutes of DH unpacking it so he had to go back for a replacement. He was very fed up and said he felt like he spent half the afternoon in the car. But at least we will have coffee tomorrow.

I've finally got round to booking my and the DC's flights back to the UK for the summer, so can now send the form back to kindergarten (they need to know when DS will be there over the summer by February). The flight times aren't great and we probably won't be back at my parents' until around 3 am, but I'm not going to think too much about that yet.

Toffee Poor DS1 - DD2 had a temperature of 39.8°C (nearly 104°F, I think) the day before yesterday and was utterly miserable. Hope you persuaded DS2 to go to bed in the end. The girls (DDs plus neighbours' daughter) are still wide awake here, and it's almost 10 pm - I hope DS lets them sleep in tomorrow (will have to watch him like a hawk in the morning).
Sorry you didn't get to the cinema in the end. I've just finished reading Notes on a Scandal, so would love to see the film now. We were planning to watch the Apprentice final tonight but the DVD wasn't working - aargh!

Welcome Wendy. We bought a Ford Galaxy last year and are really happy with it; I especially like the way the seats in the back fold flat when you don't need them. The fact that there's more room in the middle row means that we can easily fit three car seats in and the older two can now strap themselves in, which definitely makes life easier. I used to have a Polo and was quite worried about driving, and especially parking, a larger car, but we had parking sensors retrofitted and I actually find it easier to park now than the Polo. It feels like driving a smaller car; the only place I notice its size is in multistorey car parks, where I do find it much more difficult to manoeuvre than the Polo. The only thing I miss having is sliding doors (I had to fork out several hundred euros a few years ago on a blustery day when I was strapping in DS and the door blew into the next car, and always said I would have sliding doors on my next car), but otherwise it's great to drive.

Evening all, welcome to all our new Flying friends,

Got back from the funeral trip about 7 last night, surprisingly enough driving from Yorkshire to Hampshire through the Friday afternoon rush hour wasn't too bad. Funeral was, well, very sad, but comforting for all concerned, the church was packed, and it was good to catch up with a lot of the relatives I don't see very often.
DH managed to hold the fort while I was away, inasmuch as the DCs were fed watered and fetched home from school, but the house looked like a bomb had gone off. I decided not to say anything (most unlike me!) and was pleased that while I was out taking DD to a party this morning DH did a sterling job of clearing the worst of it up.

I am definitely in the mood for decluttering, two DCs birthdays so soon after Christmas = chaos. My charity box pile under the stairs is overflowing, so will sort that all out this week.

Overflowingmum - I decided to apply Flying principles to the garden last summer to good effect, generally it is strewn with footballs, buckets and spades, you name it, but it was much better last year, also managed to grow quite a lot of stuff.

Glad you got your coffee Linzer - our machine broke just before Christmas and had to go off for repair (under warranty) we really missed it.

Lair - drink?

Chairmum - hope you are feeling better today

Swan - feel your pain, DD won't give away so much as a cardboard box and also has a very long memory.

Toffee - poor DS1, hope he gets better soon

DH is out tonight, so off to watch several episodes of Corrie without him asking constant questions, because despite all his protestations that he can't stand it, he just can't help himself.

Right everyone, we have a shiny new February thread here.

I must admit I'm feeling very nervous given how organised everyone else has managed to be when leading. Not sure I'm going to be up to your standards .

Also hoping to get to the end of the month without giving birth

Don't worry PMPY, you'll be fine. If I can do it anyone can. My top tip is to save the mission, daily reminder and babystep URLs in your Favourites, then it is easy to link them in every day.

I also meant to say, thank you to everyone who has made supportive comments about the funeral.

Oh, great tip ogre, thanks . Glad the funeral went as well as these things can.

oh message vanished...special good wishes to Ogre - that must have been a long and tiring day yest
dh back
will continue the search for serenity and order tomorrow

Ogre - glad the day went as well as can be expected yesterday. How wonderful that the church was packed. Your uncle was obviously very loved.

Sounds as if your DH did a good job at home too.

Linzer - how funny that you are reading that very book! DH didn't want to see the film at all tonight and watched it just to humour me (although Cate Blanchett might have helped ), but he was hooked from the start. It has a wonderful cast: Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench are fantastic (both Oscar nominated for the film). I recommend it.

Pushme - thank you for setting up the new thread. I'll pop over there in a minute. I was surprisingly nervous too, but I really enjoyed being thread 'leader'. Apart from the enjoyable chat, it had the good effect of making me focus on the Flylady routines and babysteps every day.

Swan - hope you find your serenity tomorrow .

Neither of the boys would settle to sleep tonight, so our film-watching was punctuated by a lot of interruptions. DS2 didn't settle till after 9 and DS1 is still awake now .

Am so looking forward to my Sunday morning lie in tomorrow.

Goodnight, Fledglings.

Oh bloody hell, I forgot to remove myself from the naughty corner. . Am back now and hoping that the new month will get me off my lazy arse spur me into action. I haven't caught up properly but noticed several lovely new fledglings who like wine, I suspect they will fit right in . Today I am going to get the tidying done so I can fly into action on Tuesday, although having said that I have parents evening on Tuesday so after spending 3 hours speaking about the little darlings I may not feel like swishing and swiping! Busy month ahead with lots of parents evenings and options evening and dd's 3rd birthday in the middle. Anyone got any genius ideas what to buy a 3 yr old girl who already has waaaaaay too much stuff because we are currently stuck.

Anyway, am going now to watch the tennis tidy up .

One of those giant cardboard castles you colour yourself
A slide if you have a garden
A Sylvanian something or other
A playmobil something or other

nothing wooden if you can help it unless it's a treetop walkway sort of wooden

[laughs bitterly]

no they have played with Playmobil today, dd's arrangement of Hospital a year on is a masterpiece of neatness and efficiency..
greeted by far too much screeching this morning - no clean clothes for ds1 - ds2 not budging from laptop - dh complaining no cereal assortment

However it is lovely to have him back.
Do have to cook a proper lunch though

done
wrapped present, showered ds1, sent him off to party till 3.30
made porridge
made burnt popcorn
decided to go to church at 6pm instead of 10.30

ds2 is stroking my head with his goalie gloves - am I now supposed to go to the park...[runs and hides in empty cereal cupboard]

Alright my plan is

todo
go to Morrisons and buy delicious food/make lunch
sort out my clothes in bedroom and hang up
put one wash on
put all tiles in one place
piano practice whilst playroom free
go to B & Q after lunch, buy picture hooks, more tiles
pick up stuff from laundrette - have just found ticket from last week!!!aaargh

dh is taking twins out to park

Ellie - tidying up watching tennis here too, wish Murray would pull his finger out :)
Has DD got one of these? DS got one for his 2nd birthday and was using it almost daily until we replaced it with the next model up for his 5th birthday in the Autumn. Expensive at the time but the best value present we have ever bought. They come in other colours too if you can't bear more pink!

Welcome to new ones, you'll be fine, far more chat than Flying usually (though maybe that's just me!)

Not often on here at the w/e but DH is working today, which is unusual, and I think I'm going to have a busy week so I thought I might get a few things done.

List includes:

• Watch tennis
• Morning routine whilst doing above
• Lamb in slow cooker (must do this soon - need injury break!)
• Do Big Garden Bird Watch thing if we can remove girl cat from her current position under the bird table
• Pack up stuff I managed to sell on ebay
• Relist stuff that didn't sell
• Bit of sorting in DS's room
• Do something with DC - cooking or craft, not sure which
• Some homework with DC
• Bins emptied
• Ironing

Not too ambitious and last 3 are sort of Sunday routine anyway so should be possible.

Hope everyone has a good day and poorly DC are feeling better.

Ellie our mini micro scooters have also been one of our best buys ever, DS has the larger one now, DD is still using the small one aged 5.

I have cleared out my cupboard of doom!!!!!!

OK it's not perfect, but I have three big bin liners of rubbish to take to the tip so I am feeling quite pleased with myself.

Not planning on doing too much today

go to tip
feed parent's cat
buy bed rail for DD
Buy some maternity trousers
Buy shoes for DD
Buy some live food for DH's goldfish
Build DD's cotbed
Make beef bourgingon for tea
Mop kitchen floor
Washing * 2 (ideally 3)
Dishwasher
Clear dressing table
Clear my bedside table
Clear DH's bedside table
Change beds
Hoover stairs
Dust bedroom
Do a bit of paid work as I have got very behind recently

Actually that's quite a lot isn't it. Don't expect I'll manage half of it, but at least it helps focus the mind!