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!

Uh oh. DS2 is awake and crying. He says his bottom is itching. He complained of an itchy bottom earlier today, as well. Is it.... worms? I've had a peer at his bottom (lovely!) and can't see anything. I've put Sudacream on him, but don't know what else to do to stop the itching.

More to the point, he is sleeping with the class bear. Does this mean he will have given the class bear worms?

"I showed Bear how to do magic. Bear helped kook dinner. Then I gave him worms to share with everyone at school".

He's crying again. If it is worms, how on earth do I stop the itching?

I think it might be a long night.

He's asleep. Am giving up on work for tonight and going to bed.

Hope all you Flyladies are sleeping soundly.

Morning all,

I'm determined to keep up my routines today despite work (which I'd really like to finish today or tomorrow) and am hoping for fewer interruptions (the English lesson later on this morning is enough).

Toffee If it's worms (and it sounds quite likely, as the itching is usually worse at night), then they might go away if you're vigilant about hand washing etc. but it's easiest to treat them with medicine (the whole family will probably need to be treated, but it's usually a single dose). We have to go to the doctor's here, but maybe you can get something over the counter in the UK?

WhoKnows Well done on the Couch to 5K; I can't even imagine running for 20 minutes!

funambulist I also remember feeling bored when the DC were tiny - definitely no time for that now! (DD1 sometimes complains that she's "boring"!)

Morning all. Back to work today i think. Busy day. Work then an hour tutoring a friends son for his gcses and then swimming. Flying wise not much planned apart from some washing and i am going to attemp a proper clean of the bathroom.

toffee my 2 have both had worms once. Dd had them before she could talk properly and it was thr itchy bottom and inability to sleep that made me realise what it was. Althougb this is tmi check his poo today because with ds you could see them. You can get over the counter remedies and you should treat the whole family. Good luck!

Better get on!

Good morning

(note to self read thread at any other time but at breakfast) {shudder} at worms.

This mornings list

S/s
Bed making
Dw loading (emptied last night)
Wm on
Dc ready and nursery
Me work.

Hope you all have a lovely day all round!

I almost gave the same advice ellie but then decided it was TMI.

Thanks Linzer and Ellie. DS is on the potty right now - I'm standing by for inspection! (Apologies to Nettie and anyone else reading whilst eating their breakfast).

I have decided not to say anything to the teacher yet, as I don't know if he has worms or not. Thinking about it, if so many children have worms presumably a lot of the children who take the class bear home to cuddle will be passing on the worm eggs on the toy, won't they? It just never occurred to me that it might be my son they needed to worry about .

Right, inspection coming up....

...nope, nothing there. But he says his bottom is sore .

We are late now!

Toffee i have PM'd you. You will know why you can't see them when you read it later

Hi to everyone. Thanks so much for the good wishes you sent for DH and I on our anniversary yesterday. We had such a lovely day; breakfast in bed, then champers, followed by lunch at the hotel we had reception at, then walk down the beach (beautifully sunny just like our wedding day). A friend had kindly picked DD up from school so we could have a drink with lunch and i picked her up at 7pm - such a treat!

Got the decorator coming in a minute so won't have much time for FLYing today but will try and carry on with the master bedroom when I can grab a moment.

Window cleaner is due too and i like to clean the insides so they look amazing once he's been but don't think I'll have time today!

Ellie so glad that you are feeling a bit better.
Toffee sympathy. I'm sorry but I agree with the others that it does sound like worms, especially since the itching is worse at night. Can you wash the bear, or if you need to give him back, suggest that the school washes him? You can get stuff over the counter at the chemist in the UK. No one tells you about all this when you first have children do they? I was mystified when DS1 got impetigo and now I'm an expert.

I haven't really got started yet today and have to go out shortly.

done

shiny sink
dishwasher on

to do

hotspot x 2
swish and swipe
hang out wet washing
put away dry washing
put more washing on
change DDs sheets again
book restaurant for DS1 birthday meal
top up shop
buy blue pen for DD. She got her pen licence this week. Very exciting!
take DD and DS1 to music lessons
declutter/mission
arrange coffee with friends - well I haven't had coffee with friends for at least, hmm, 24 hours

Have finished work for the morning (which in practice probably means for the day, unless I can find the energy to drag myself upstairs to the computer this evening), so am now about to print some handouts for the lesson before I wash my hair (long overdue - I just haven't had the time ).

Toffee (please avert your eyes, Nettie!) I've only actually seen the worms on a couple of occasions, but the medicine has always got rid of the itching (the DC have had worms three times now) - just because you can't see them doesn't necessarily mean they aren't there!

funambulist I'm still mystified by impetigo (have heard of it, but have no idea what it is) - and what's a pen licence? DD2 can't wait to start using an ink pen at school, but she has to wait until September (her second year); DD1's class started using them in the second semester, which seemed very early to me.

LadyInPink Sounds like you had a wonderful day yesterday.

Hello everyone

Just thought i'd pop in to say I'm still here and hoping to break myself back in gently to flying (and a bit of paid work) today!

It already seems like a lifetime ago, but thankyou so much for all your messages when DS was born .

He is gorgeous and snuggly and (so far) a much easier baby than DD! Just seems to feed and sleep and look around at sparkly things!

I'm going to post a long list today but it is mostly to get the things that need to be done out of my head and into the 'real' world. I don't anticipate list completion today!

Check and organise finances
Put shopping away
Washing *3
hoover stairs and landing
dishwasher unstack and restack
respond to work emails
read and edit work report
empty living room bin
throw away dead flowers
record meals on Weightwatchers
tidy living room
sweep and mop kitchen floor
tidy kitchen
clean kitchen sides
sort out DDs clothes
Find a good sling online and buy it (any recommendations? I've got a moby wrap but find it too bulky)
swish and swipe
clean and dust living room
clean and dust our bedroom
Have a sleep!
Change nappies * about 1000!!!

LadyinPink - what a wonderful day you had! I'm so glad it went so well.

Hi Pushme! Lovely to see you back here again. I have been wondering how you were getting on. I'm afraid you have come back at a rather unsavoury moment, as I am having a threadworm crisis. Well, not me personally (I hope), but DS2.

Thanks for all the information, everyone. Now can you help me with my moral dilemma? I have returned the class bear. Teacher was annoyed with me, I think, because we were late. Do I now have to go in and tell the teacher that the class bear may be riddled with threadworm eggs and should be washed before passing onto anyone else?

Is it very bad of me to keep quiet?

I'm going to pop round to the chemist later and get something for DS to take after school.

Why, why, why did this have to happen when DS brought the class bear home?

Oh dear Toffee, that's a tricky one. If only you'd known last night, you could have had "giving the class bear a bath" as your activity! If the teacher was approachable, I would probably have a quiet word with her - or would have kept the bear at home to wash (too late now, I know).

PMPY Lovely to see you again and to hear that you're finding things much easier second time round (I did too - which lulled me into a false sense of security with no. 3 unfortunately!).

Off to the English lesson now - having once again achieved very little in the way of flying, although at least work is almost finished now.

Oh dear Toffee. Everyone gets them though at some point I think. I certainly remember having them as a child. There was a horrible raspberry flavoured drink called Pripsen (I think) that you had to take that was so vile it could make you instantly sick. In fact I just retched a bit remembering it! Hopefully the treatment is a bit more palatable these days!

Linzer I will remember that advice, I was saying to DH this morning that this is so much easier perhaps we should have a third!

Oh Toffee you poor thing, and when you were feeling a bit swamped already - these things always come all at once!! I think you need to tell the teacher, you could always offer to take the bear home and wash him, it would be much worse if ds mentioned something to the teacher and they discovered you hadn't told them. No shame in worms, he probably caught them from someone at school anyway, they all get them at some point but the timing is horrid for you.

The clutter is creeping back into the house, as expected, after my decluttering frenzy, and I have dropped out of routine and run out of clothes; but I am hoping that at least some of the gain will be there underlying when I get back to it! Actually I need to bear in mind I have reclaimed a whole room - our dining room with my new desk in is now for the first time somewhere we actually like to be. AND I was on strike yesterday and used the time (once off the picket line, oh yes) to sort through nearly all my outstanding filing! One big bag to go and then we are officially organized again for the first time since birth of ds nearly 5 years ago. After which - back to the decluttering

Well, I am going to be a complete coward and keep quiet. I'm sure my son isn't the only child in the class with threadworm, anyway.

DH has just come back with a packet of Ovex, so I'll give that to DS2 tonight. DH didn't buy any for the rest of us though. Maybe I should go and get some more later? (Would we know if we had them?).

Back to Flying...

Have unloaded and reloaded the D/W
Swished and swiped in the bathroom
Taken in Tesco delivery and put it away

Er, that's it. DS has done some Maths Whizz and is now working on his sea-creatures topic. DH is off work today and dealing with his mum's move, which is all getting a bit stressful.

Back later.

Toffee - maybe the bear is what brought the worms in? Perhaps say to the teacher that it suddenly occurred to you that this might be how DS caught them and that it ought to get hot washed just in case.

Whoknows I don't think that it happens that quickly.

Toffee poor you, how stressful. You could say to the teacher that the bear is looking rather grubby (which it is) and could do with a hot wash before it goes to the next parent. Or tell a white lie to the teacher and say that when you got home you found that DS had wet the bed and since he was cuddling the bear all night could you borrow it back to give it a good wash before it goes to the next parent. Or find out which family is having the bear next and tell them it needs a good wash first thing giving the real reason or either of the ones above.

You are quite right though, I bet your DS isn't the only one in the class with threadworms. He must have caught them from someone.

DS2 had a playdate a while ago and his friend spent the whole time scratching his head. I had a real feeling of foreboding. Sure enough a couple of weeks later DS2 was scratching his head too. Actually the same child gave DS2 molluscum contagium (not sure of the spelling there), which he then passed onto DS1, who has eczema, and it took ages till we got rid of it. The joys of parenthood

systems well done with your decluttering. I really must do some myself. I've not been too bad with the actual cleaning this month but have noticed that I have to keep shifting things in order to clean and really it would be much quicker if I didn't have so much stuff.

PMPY lovely to see you. So glad you have an easy baby.

Linzer impetigo is a skin infection. In DS1's case it meant that a small scratch (which I put a bandage on) turned into a horrible weeping, oozing sore. I was really concerned as rather than healing it just got worse and worse, not helped by the fact that he has eczema so his skin tends to react badly to everything. Fortunately the doctor diagnosed it instantly and although we had a few difficult days of applying ointment and changing dressings (it had got quite bad) it did heal up.

The pen licence thing is new to me as well, although DD is my third child. She is in year 3 at school and, at the start of the year, the class was told that they had to write in pencil until they could write really neatly and would then be given a "licence" to write in pen. The anticipation has been huge A couple of weeks ago we had the exciting news that the teacher had sent away for the licences, then last week DD said that they had arrived. Finally, on Friday, the first group were given them. DD was so excited about doing her homework on Friday as she could do it in pen and spent the whole weekend finding excuses to write something.

It's true, no one tells you about all this stuff. DD got impetigo last year, she had a few spots on her chin, I was chatting to another mum in the playground (who has much older children) she just took one look and said impetigo, I wouldn't have had a clue. Worms is one thing we've managed to avoid, but I know far more about headlice than I ever used to......

funambulist Impetigo sounds nasty - your poor DS. The pen licence is a great idea; I wish children continued writing in pencil for a bit longer here too. The thing I really can't get my head round is that DD1 uses an ink pen for maths - I used a pencil all through primary and secondary school for maths and an ink pen just seems wrong!

Toffee I was told by the doctor that the whole family should be treated, even if only one person has symptoms. It's highly unlikely that your DS is the only one in the class to have worms - maybe another parent has already experienced your dilemma! - so I don't think you need to feel guilty about causing a class outbreak, and of course you don't know for definite that he does have them. If you're still feeling guilty and can overcome your embarrassement, you could always tell the teacher at a later date that you've just discovered that your DS has worms and that he may well have had them when the class bear came to stay. Otherwise, funambulist has some great ideas.

systems You've done so well on the decluttering; I keep telling myself I'll make a start on it when I have a bit more time, but am just going to have to make time.

PMPY I put the fact that DD2 was such an easy baby down to the fact that I was a much more relaxed parent - and then DS came along and taught me a lesson! Mind you, if he'd been as easy as DD2 we may well have ended up having a fourth (we always wanted three or four, but I quickly realised after DS was born that I couldn't cope with any more!) so it's possibly not a bad thing that he was quite hard work.

Fun - Oh no, not the dreaded molluscums! DS1 has had them for about 18 months. The last one (huge!) is on his back. Luckily, he scratched it by mistake the day before yesterday (his back was itching) and knocked the top off. He was in agony (he would never let me touch them), but at least the bloody thing will go away now.

He has had impetigo too. Goodness, is there anything my children haven't had? I do bath them, you know!

WhoKnows - To be honest, I'm not sure how to wash the bear. He might disintegrate or go out of shape if he goes in the machine. I may make a comment as you suggest though - that he looks a bit grubby and could do with a wash. It won't be me washing him, anyway.

Just had such a helpful phone call from the SENCO at school about DS1. All the children in his class are missing him and want to send him cards, which would be lovely for him. She suggested that he start coming into school just for playtimes, so that he can get used to it again. I said he couldn't do it as he is at the moment, but it's good to know the offer is there. She also said that he might be able to start secondary school on a flexible timetable as he is at such high risk of being a school refuser. I have been worrying so much about how on earth he'll cope with secondary, so this is very hopeful.

Back to work again.

WhoKnows I'm quite relieved that we haven't had any experience of headlice yet. The DC would have to stay home from school until they had a doctor's certificate to prove they were lice free, and the thought of having a perfectly well and probably bored child running around at home while I'm trying to work doesn't exactly fill me with excitement!

Molluscum, that's another one both of mine had, lasted a about a year on each of them, luckily neither got it on their faces.

Toffee could always spray him with a bit of water and zap him in the microwave for maybe 30s (carefully!), then overnight in the airing cupboard to dry out.

Linzer - that is probably why you haven't had headlice, schools here are completely powerless to enforce any action for them, so they just go round and round...........