January thread for the Old Timer Flyladies!

[wendyhappysmile]

Hello everyone
Thought I'd better update to January given that my baby is now one month old and hadn't arrived when the last thread was begun!! Can you believe a month has already passed!

Wendy yes, definitely show no interest in the Beavers sessions Show utmost confidence in their experience. And if he doesn't like it, it really doesn't matter, as he can always join Cubs when he's 8 and you will save yourself a lot of bother...ho hum...

thanks guys fear i am already roped in though

evening all

wendy hope beavers went well and you didnt get too roped in!

swan I hope cheese on toast has restored calm!

star very productive day by the looks of it,shame you didnt get sawimming though.

right...well....day has been OK. Work was busy, but productive.
DD4, who was slightly unwell last night,seemed fine this morning...went to school, but I had a phonecall at lunch time to say she wasnt well. Thankfully the Nanny was able to go and collect her and bring her home,as it would have been very difficult for me to leave work - yay for having a Nanny! She is still a bit hot and not well, so may be off tomorrow too, bless her.

The cottage pie however was apparently a disaster apparently Nanny is used to using packet sauce for cottage pie (and jars of sauce for everything else it seems ) so will have to work on that...but tis just a small glitch!

Managed to fit in a quick(well slow really!) 4 mile run this evening yay!

DH has now gone to DS1 options evening at school - how on earth can he possibly be old enough to be choosing GCSEs already

right...going to chill for a bit, then bed!

BBtomorrow

Hi OFM Nanny sounds very good. Get her a Delia Book and tick the ones the kids like. I am a BIG Delia fan. Or hire my Mad Mum to teach her My Brother and sister want to take photos of my Mum cooking and write down her recipes & then reproduce them in a book (I think they can do it at Jessops) then give one to all her kids & grandkids.

I going back downstairs for more sewing.
I now have a table at a table top sale

yest eve got worse and worse....don't ask
but ended with calm, and dh was rather amazed at tidy bedroom! but this morning is in state again

Delia's actually too fancy. I would stick to chop carrot, chop onion, fry mince till brown, add chopped tomatoes. tsp of salt, tsp of herbs, and simmer for ten minutes, bung in oven, with sliced boiled potatoes on top. Can't go wrong.

Fish pie may be too tricky for novice, white sauce IS very difficult, my mum has never mastered it Maybe just buy easy food for first weeks? Spend a little on peace of mind to begin with?

Evening all

Sorry I've been ill for the last two nights and not been around. Was in bed last night for 7.30 when DD went to bed but feeling much better today.

OFM sounds like DS is doing better than was at nursery and I'm sure will settle when he gets use to Nanny.

Wendy hope you don't get dragged into Beavers and don't worry about feeling like need to get into exercise. I find winter a really hard time to get motivated to get moving

Swan inspired by your tidy bedroom - that it next on my list

Hello scatty, Star and all who follow

Jobs done

• Uni morning - Looking at how to get your first teaching job YIKES
• Food Shopping
• Parcel wrapped and delivered
• Been to argos
• Picked DD up from GPs - School was closed today so she has had a day out

To Do

• Go tidy bedroom
• Put bins out
• Tea - Freezer tea tonight as DH out
• Sort out desk - Can't see desk top for paperwork
• Put more books and DVDs online to sell
• Uni prep for tomorrow
• Tidy lounge - am gradually being taken over by Toys again

BBL

evening all
star your Mum does sound fab!

swan sorry to hear yesterday evening dfint go well, hope tonight has been better.

MC glad your feeling better today. Quite exciting thinking about teaching jobs though!

am V tired today. My sleep has been rubbish again last few nights...not sure why as things are generally running more smoothly this week Not helped of course by DS2 waking up at 3am and not wanting to go back to sleep

Day has been OK though...busy but OK!
DD4 stayed off school, although has apparently seemed fine all day and was indeed full of beans this evening! It was nice though not having to stress about being off work for her to stay home!

Chicken Casserole for dinner seems to have been more succesful! I DID leave VERY specific instructions as to how to make it (using your line swan of "this is how the DC are used to eating it"!)
I will do the same for other meals I think for a while....white sauce is going to be the main problem I feel...too tricky indeed, which does limit things.....(I did provide a jar of sauce for tuna pasta on Mon as an emergency solution But I am off tomorrow so it is me doing fish pie so thats OK LOL

have had my starting date for new hours confirmed as 14th feb, so have to make the most of next few weeks of doing only 3 days/week!

Tomorrow have to drop car to garage after school run, then home with ds2....am hoping to do some baking, then maybe local playground...cant go far without car though..

I have managed quite well to stay on top of the washing this week, so not too huge a mountain to tackle tomorrow!

right...need to go put dd3 to bed...
bbtomorrow

I can't do white sauce either .

When will you be looking for jobs MC?

GCSE options OFM! That is scary.

BB in a mo

I have a brilliant recipe for white sauce/cheese sauce where you bung it in a blender/food processor then simmer it with all the floury bits and chunks of butter, and it magically disappears! Shall I dig it out and post it?!

Doing ok here, all three DC asleep - I am tired too - have managed to do MOST of my very mundane chores and make 3 lemon drizzle cakes (lemons needed using!)

bb tomorrow

Hi scatty
wendy cant believe you had time to make 3 lemon drizzle cakes (yum!) well done you!

All easy white sauce recipes grateneral etc) efully received!I used to not like making white sauce, but I use it for a lot of things(tuna pasta bake, fish pie, pasta sauce in general) so I actually now find it quite straight forward to make...but I do think it may panic our Nanny LOL

right, have finally pursuaded DH to sort out signing up for Childcare Vouchers from work ...seems the website was proving a challenge for him, so I have talked him through the form LOL (including supplying dc dates of birth...will he ever learn these?!?)

DS1 is being especially grumpy tonight, and I have just shouted at him sometimes he really just pushes me too far...sigh...

DH also seeming especially grumpy...sigh...

am off to bed very soon BBtomorrow

oh this stupid laptop...keeps jumbling my words...but you get the gist of what I was saying above LOL

Evening all need to go and eat just dropped Mum off at her meeting
Happen to see this on the flylady site.
What is the Weekly Home Blessing Hour?
The Weekly Home Blessing hour is the time FlyLady spends slipshod cleaning her home. No detailed cleaning required; vacuum the middle of the floors only!

FlyLady sets her timer for 10 minutes to work on each of 7 tasks:
Vacuum
Dust
Mop
Polish Mirrors and Doors
Purge magazines
Change Sheets
Empty all trash

This takes approximately one hour; some tasks take less than 10 minutes.
This is what I'm going to do tommorow I think S& S bathroom is needed
Goodnight all

Morning Have a builder coming around at 10-10.30am so must do the 1 hour thingy.
Lot more to do but will post later
have a good day everyone

morning all

day going Ok so far...

star hope you survive the builder!

so far today have:
6 dc up , dressed breakfasted.
rebooted laundry
5 dc to school
pop to morrisons on way home
dropped car into garage
walked home with ds2
snack for ds2
made cupcakes (in oven now)

small disaster when I discovered my weighing scales werent working any more so have had to use cups and sort of guess...DS was all ready to bake though so I couldnt leave it!

DS now playing with the dolls house (his new favourite toy LOL)and I am having 5 mins...

Then:
washing out of machine
dry washing away
lunch - me and ds
bake more cupcakes
make fish pie for dinner
collect dd4 from school
playground
collect dds 1,2 and 3 and dd1 friend from various clubs at school.
Drop dd1 friend home
Home
dinner
reading with dd2,3 and 4
bath time
bed time...

right, BBl

Another horrendous day yest ending with dd at Brownie Pantomime and me helping at Beavers(tho had its nice bits). I've deleted post, because it's all too boring and more of the same!

Kitchen tidy now, hall colour looks good Builder still here with knobs on though
am going to put all the children to bed on the DOT at 7.30 from now on, as the repercussions of being cuddly mum are now getting worse and worse. Tiger Mum style - I've told dd she is no longer going to Brownies unless she goes to bed at 7.30 every other night, as when she is overtired she is a complete and utter nightmare, impossible to put to bed, and impossible to get to school the next day. {more screaming and refuseniking this morning) Ds2 is no longer getting his football to take to school unless he gets it ready on the DOT at 8.30. And ds1 is having a shower every night on the DOT at 7.30 whether he wants one or not.

And husband is in the doghouse unless he can be polite to me

At least I can make a white sauce!
I use the put everything in the pan cold and whisk on low heat until thickened method! And use an excellent heavy pan....

MC very exciting about job placement! You are nearly a teacher - wow! Hope you can take all us stressed parents with a pinch of salt now

Oh Dear Swan - Sounds like you need to put your foot down though (although your post did make me chuckle a little - sorry)

OFM hope your baking turns out good even without weighing scales

Star I am intrigued by your one hour session - let us know if it works.

Well DD taken to school and I have done loads of uni work, now I am off to uni for a short session (Shorter than the drive there - I'm not bitter!!) and GP going to pick DD up and take her to ballet.

I started tidying the bedroom yesterday - need to finish this today and also Bathroom I think and two loads of washing

Day off tomorrow so hope I can get more flying done then

BBL

afternoon all

swan there is such a fine line between being loving cuddly mum and dc walking all over you, and then the other extreme of monstor victorian mother V reasonable in control Mum with consistent boundries....impossible to get the balance right all the time! Hope new rules pay off!

mc hope (short!) uni goes well

well, buns look OK...they are for little tea party with cousin on Sunday as she couldnt come to dd4 bday party and dc were dissappointed, so I seem to have offered to do mini tea/bday party with cousin this Sunday...this is seeming to be the longest bday ever LOL
Am going to attempt to make them look pretty with swirly butter icing and pink glitter LOL

DS2 is being remarkably good today He seems a lot more settled, I think he much prefers the nanny to nursery. She certainly seems to have lots of energy and patience for him (more than me!)which makes up for her inability to make white sauce LOL

I have done lunch, cleared up and run D/W
Have also 3/4 made fish pie (including white sauce ) and just waiting for pots to boil so I can mash them and top pie....
Then will be cuppa time to gather strength before school pick up, which today includes walk to garage to collect car and lots of hagning around and after school club collections...sigh...

BBl

Hi all
The whole thing with the builder has upset me. Not him he was very good and highlighted alot of details that are wrong with our plans. Mainly details of our roof which we conceded to get planning permission is not logical and would be scary expensive to build. I have wasted hours now reading on the internet, stuff that doesn't make any sense to me. So in a mo I'm going shopping (after I checking my bank balance)
OFM I think I'll do fish pie for tommorow night. Have to do exactly what Delia says otherwise it goes amazingly wrong. DS wants to use the bread maker to night. If I train him he could do it every few days
MC Well I made the house presentable for the builder but have to do the 1 hour thingy tommorow now
swan Yep! Bedtime has to be 7.00pm in this house. This does include a bath and story so its nearer to 7.45 before lights out.
DS was a nightmare over Christmas hols because he went to bed to late and it continued a little into school days too. Back on track now and sleeping better.
Right off out!

evening folks

well...stressful couple of hours... picking up car from garage took ages as they didnt have the paperwork ready (despite assuring me it would all be ready by 2.45 at the latest) so then I was late collecting dd4...then had to hang around cold park for 40 mins (although actually dd4 and ds2 had quite nice time) then went to collect dd3 from sports club. She was exhausted, and I think a club after school is really too much for her, and we had about 200 meltdowns from her whilst waiting for dd1 and 2 to finish signing club...then also had to take one of dd1s friends home....ds2 totally fed up by this point and screaming...

Anyway...survived it all! Got in at 5.00, and DH was home early so I escaped for a 3.8 mile run!
now very tired...but feeling less stressed!

Need to reboot laundry and do some kitchen clearing just as soon as I find the energy...

BBtomorrow

I do the 1hr thingy star. I just about do it in 1hr (if not interupted). Tis a very quick clean though.

swan ofm my dd also prone to hysterics when tired, but if she goes to bed too early she just wakes up in the night TSK!!

Hi MC .

Done:
hotspots
laundry
shop list for tomorrow
DC bathed

well, tigermummying (or was it dragons went suprisingly well. Possibly due to no after school complications! Made kids have shower at 6pm...dd still not asleep till 9pm, but lights out at 8.30 for once. amazing how long it takes to get her upstairs...she really has every delaying tactic up her sleeve, and she has trained the cat to appear at 8.45 pm and sit on her bed purring thus eeking out bedtime that little bit further...However all calm, which is main thing, including poor husband, who got to eat his supper in peace...
He actually apologised to me for getting so cross with me yesterday, which was kind of him.

Star oh dear, how stressful..we were lucky in that not in a conservation area when doing loft so no pp - did your friend with extension have any advice? I think builder probably know far better than architect was in and isn't possible, financially viable..Structural engineers can also be quite helpful over basic stuff and draw up plans when knocking walls down. You probably know all this, sorry.

scatty dd NEVER wakes, that is the problem

OFM complex pickup arrangements bring me out in cold sweat..I find myself steeling myself for disaster and I think kids picku pon this and start behaving accordingly yesterday I was reduced to gibbering jelly by different pickups and dropoffs, all perfectly manageable really, but somehow it was all too much...

what's in not was in star
typin gin bed suprisingly difficult!

Swan have spoken to DH and we will probably have get the Structural engineer in now. I'm still angry that the council. They are such nobheads here. I will draw a line and see what happens. WE can't afford to move and we are lucky that DH bought the place 25 years ago so a medium mortage (we have had other work on the house that pushed that up. I have sent a letter to the local counciller.
Have a peaceful night everyone.

Morning all Back in a mo after I've made a cuppa