Part 2 - If you're house is cluttered and you're Mad as a Hare, join March Fledgling Flyers and get it all square

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

This is the second March Fledgling Flyers thread, all newcomers are welcome.

This is the thread that follows the Flylady website (loosely) for getting your home decluttered and your housework into routines, whilst dispensing tea and chat freely.

We have a fairly relaxed attitude to Flying 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.

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.

If you are overwhelmed by the mess in your home, start with just one thing: shine your sink. It's amazing what you can achieve by just doing a bit at a time!

Morning all,

Very stressful start to the day here - a friend phoned to say her DD (in the same class as DD2) is ill and to ask whether DD2 could bring the school work home for her. Cue hysterics, wailing and a refusal to get up on the part of DD2; I really don't know what the problem is but we had exactly the same thing last time it happened (and DD1 was the same when DD2 was ill so I ended up having to go into school myself to collect the work). I had to drive them to school in the end as they were too late to walk, but at least I managed to persuade DD2 to bring her friend's school work and homework home after all. I was on the verge of tears myself!

I need a to help me calm down now, and need to get organised as I have a busy day ahead. I'm meeting a fellow MNer for coffee later on this morning as she's coming to our town for a job interview, so have arranged for both DDs to go to friends straight after school in case I don't make it back in time. Then need to make sure that both DDs get their homework and piano practise done (concert the weekend after next) as well as help DD2 practise for a dictation test tomorrow before we go to visit my English friend half an hour away.

As I've already said on the new thread, I'll take you up on your challenge Toffee . I'm really struggling with motivation at the moment so it's exactly what I need. The only thing I feel motivated about Flying-wise is shining the sink, thanks to my lovely new Lakeland sink cleaner! So are we starting tomorrow? Not that I'm procrastinating or anything.
And yes, DD1 is quite immature compared to other children her own age - when we had her tested, the child psychologist said she's about a year behind her peers emotionally. She's still very much into Lego and Playmobil, whereas her friends tend to be more interested in clothes, Hannah Montana, etc. It's great that you were allowed to play with toys for so long; I remember being desperate for a baby doll when I was 10 or 11 but being told I was too old for dolls now!

Linzer Swan and Toffee I think that your children sound delightful. I'm a big fan of letting children be children for as long as possible. They have so long to do boring adult things, why rush? My 12 year old happily plays with Lego, Playmobil and even dresses up. I have a theory that the more imaginative children play make believe games for longer and that it is definitely a good thing.

Back with list later to motivate myself.

Linzer poor you, that is sooo stressful. It just comes out the blue doesn't it? Enjoy coffee.
Today ds2 had a tantrum just before school about some wretched plimsolls he needed for school play. I had sent him in a pair already last week as part of outfit, but one plimsoll has disappeared...and he claimed he was going to get a detention. He is already "inflammable" enough so this is last straw. I'm cross with school for issuing these edicts, and I just wish there was a teacher at the school gate who could field these little difficulties/mixups as they know he's prone to hysterics and gets special help for social difficulties/getting in a muddle. I suppose I could have sent him in, but just can't face inevitable screaming, and then he's even worse the next time something goes wrong. So we are off to buy another pair of the (very cheap) black plimsolls when shops open.

Other than that, rather like ds2, I've lost my spectacles!
Remembered the violins, violin music, the homework and the waterbottles though

oh and another wet bed dd this time...I blame the clocks, and Brownies I might just give up changing sheets, as the beds seem to get changed with monontous regularity now when I'm not expecting it...

Lost Loo rolls for sweet peas means you can transfer the seedlings to soil easily, and then cardboard biodegrades. Never tried it, so it is an experiment

Linzer and Swan so sorry that you've had stressful starts to the day. My DD hasn't had a wet bed so far this week (crosses fingers, touches wood etc.) She has written a little note for herself and stuck it to her bed "GO TO THE LOO, OR ELSE!" I hasten to add that the "or else!" was entirely her own idea, I'm not quite sure what she's threatening herself with. Anyway she has hopped out of bed several nights on seeing the note so I suspect that she has been going to bed with a full bladder quite often, which can't have helped.

done

dishwasher on
washing machine on
shiny sink
hot spot x 1
handed in form to school office
marked DS2's maths
houseblessing (for the polish bit of this I decided to take down and wash the curtains that go across the glass doors to our conservatory and clean and polish the glass, thus clearly revealing the mess that lies beyond. )

to do

swish and swipe x 2
15 mins declutter/mission
make tea for DCs and babysitter (DS1 has a concert tonight and has to be there quite early so it will be a mad rush later)
put bins away
buy quick cook spaghetti (every minute saved will help later!)
take back library books
go and see DS2 in yet another school performance
various texts and emails
DS2 music lesson
lay out clothes
hot spot x 1
order flowers for my mother and send card (mother's day on Sunday)

Now feeling fed up, my whole morning has been spent buying black plimsolls and sorting out blocked card at bank in order to buy said plimsolls (luckily across road from plimsoll shop) then ds demanded food fuel, only just back home.

done
washed all work shirts for dh, now dried and waiting to iron
stripped our bed and wash on
bought after school fuel for visitors - cakes and biscuits and bread from bakery

now to write his name in shoes in large fluorescent letters
practise his spellings before lunch and send him back in time for school lunch
his part in play was miniscule and they were rehearsing the production all morning, so hopefully he will have missed the rehearsal now which was cause of all this aggro

Ds2 has gone back to school in excellent spirits.

I'm going to start in master bedroom today and work down.
bb in hour to see how I've got on.

Linzer and Swan - so sorry about your difficult starts to the day. It just happens sometimes, doesn't it? Awful. DS2 was really tricky this morning too. He was cross because I didn't have time to read to him at breakfast time (he threw the book across the room), then he wailed that he couldn't go to school. When I asked why, he said: "I'm having problems at school." (Wonder where he's heard that phrase ). I said: "What problems?" "I can't remember." Then he decided he was too ill to go to school and wanted me to carry him up the hill. After wailing all the way there because I wouldn't carry him, he switched it all off as soon as he reached the classroom, sat down and started drawing in his book as if nothing was the matter.

Fun - I love your daughter's note to herself - and it's great that it seems to be working. And yes, yes, yes to letting children be children as long as possible. I think children stop playing imaginative games earlier these days because of other demands on their time, such as television and computer games. And it's a shame.

Right, had just said - on the April thread - that I was going to shine my sink, so had really better get on and do it now.

having just updated my birthdays list i have come to the conclusion there is something to be said for a small family. [dispair]

All work and no play makes ellie a very dull girl. On the plus side dh has singlehandedly cleared mount washmore for the first time in months!

A mahoosive thank you to whoknows for this month, a great leader you have been. See you in April!

Good evening, it very late isnt it

todays activities

Get up-done
Dc bath/breakfast/dressed/nurseries-done
Dw-done
Wm-done
Td-done
Me dressed-done just as well work would have beeninteresting otherwise
Sort out cards for df birthday on Saturday.[-nope oops
Sink shine -nope
Couch cleaning-nope
New dresser filling-some
Lay out clothes-nope
Gym-done
Dinner-done
Bed-not yet.

Ah well tomorrow is a new month

thanks you whoknows its been fun see you all in april

just in case anyone is lost

over here

Just back from DS1's school concert, having been to DS2's performance this afternoon and DS2 has a concert tomorrow evening. I'm trying to video as much as possible (didn't dare to at DS1's thing as it was very formal and his role was tiny) as DH isn't able to get to anything at the moment as he is virtually living at work. Home at 1am Wednesday morning. Finished at 6am this morning so didn't bother coming home and got 2 hours kip on the floor of his office and he isn't home yet today. Thank goodness for helpful GPs who babysat tonight.

to do list

swish and swipe x 2 done

15 mins declutter/mission no but have done spent quite a while wiping grime off woodwork and walls. Now have a "tide mark" around the house marking the furthest extent of my reach standing on a chair.

make tea for DCs and babysitter (DS1 has a concert tonight and has to be there quite early so it will be a mad rush later) done We were half an hour early I hate being late for school things and it's a standing joke in the family that I end up being ridiculously early. Luckily DS1 had brought a book and a snack.

put bins away done

buy quick cook spaghetti (every minute saved will help later!) done

take back library books done and paid fine

go and see DS2 in yet another school performance done

go and see DS1 in yet another school performance done

various texts and emails done

DS2 music lesson done

lay out clothes not yet

hot spot x 1 not yet

order flowers for my mother and send card (mother's day on Sunday) done and did DH's mum too

See you all in the April thread. I've just spotted an early April fool (at least I hope it is!) on the BBC website about gravity varying in different parts of the Earth.