April Fledgling Flyers: April Fools we are not, babysteps and decluttering makes our thread hot, step right in and mark your spot.

[NettieSpaghetti]

Welcome, come away in you?ll have had your . This is the April Fledgling Flyers Thread.

Thanks to WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes who was champion at leading us through March.

We are trying to stick to the Flylady © Website and her baby steps and routines to help keep our houses out of C.H.A.O.S and ready for everyday, maybe the odd visitor or two.

Check her website out but don?t sign up for emails as they are likely to inspire but fill your inbox so full we might not see you till August.

The principles are:

Babysteps (one at a time)
Babysteps and 15 minutes daily decluttering
Babysteps and daily missions.

This month I will be posting the links and leading you down the road to building a routine and keeping your house under control.

It is amazing what you can achieve in a simple babystep,15 minutes a day and a little chat.

Just popping in and then going to get to bed at a somewhat reasonable hours.

Did swish n swipe
Made beds
Dishes
Shined Sink
Tidied DS' room with him
Rebooted laundry
Dinner

Not much else...

The DC went to sleep ridiculously late last night as we allowed them to all sleep in the same room, so I'm hoping they'll have a lie-in this morning. The peace and quiet will be shattered in an hour at the latest, however, when two friends of theirs will be arriving (they'll be with us all day while their parents are at a seminar). Am hoping it will be nice enough to send them all out into the garden for a good part of the day; the DC have also decided they'd like to go to the circus this afternoon as they've had flyers about it at school.

My challenge this week is to keep my routines going while the DC are off school, so I'll go and make a start on my morning routine now. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Morning all,

Not sure what we're going to do today, weather is a bit grey and grotty looking. DCs are having breakfast in front of the telly .

We went to a children's furniture shop yesterday to look at bigger beds for DD(she is in a toddler bed but is 5 now). The DCs got very excited and have decided they want a set of bunkbeds so they can sleep in the same room (they do share quite often). Which is fine, we would get the sort that convert into separate ones later. This morning DD came creeping into my bed with a sad look on her face, saying could she keep her own bed after the bunkbeds come because she loves it and wants to keep it for her babies. Which is very sweet, but is becoming a recurring theme with her and really doesn't help with my decluttering efforts, we live in a small 3 bed terrace so there is not a lot of scope for keeping things for prospective grandchildren. She used to grudgingly accept that other people had babies who needed things and I could give stuff away to them, but now she gets really upset about getting rid of anything. Any suggestions gratefully accepted!

Today I need to do several lots of washing, it has slipped a bit during the week, also give the bathroom a good scrub down and finish off the missions from the week. I also need to prise the DCs away from the telly....

Good morning everyone, and thank you for the round up, Nettie.

Today has already been quite productive, and I'm still the only one up, which feels odd. My parents wore the DDs out, I think!

So far I have emptied the dishwasher, been for a run, and prepared my junior church lesson for tomorrow after someone mistakenly did Palm Sunday with them last week when I had (obviously) already prepared it for this week . Ah well.

On the FLYing front I am not going to do much as it's Saturday, but I do want to change the beds because the weather wasn't good enough to get the sheets dry on the line yesterday.

When everyone's up (which they will be soon because I want to get the sheets in the machine ) we are going shopping to get plates/mugs/pans etc for our caravan, as we are planning to take it on its first outing for a couple of days next week.

Hope it's a good day for everyone.

Nettie - thanks for round up. Mmm, banana cake sounds yum.

BlueEyeshadow - I like the 'chocolate' suggestion

CheerfulYank - hope you managed your 'bed at decent hour' last night (unlike me - MN browsing was my downfall, as usual).

Linzer - best of luck with all those children and the circus trip. And also with keeping up your routines!

WhoKnows - could you take a picture of your DD in her cotbed for her to keep, maybe, and say that she could buy the same sort for her own babies one day? Does she have a special blanket that can go with her from the cotbed to the new bunkbeds? That might help. I'm sure the excitement of the new beds and the reminder that she is getting her new bed because she is now a 'big girl' will distract her.

On the same theme: when my DH was blitzing the garden recently, he carried our round, mini trampoline out to go to the dump. The children didn't use it and, during the winter, its cover blew off and its legs rusted. Also, it took up a lot of space in our tiny garden and, when I propped it up, I always worried it would fall on someone. However, when DS2 saw it being taken out, he wrote a heartbreaking note, saying something like, "Goodbye, dear trampoline, you were my best mate!" He seemed really sad - imagine how guilty I felt. I even considered sending DH back to the dump to reclaim it, but DH was in a clearing-out frenzy, so I knew there was no hope of that.

DS2 hasn't mentioned the trampoline again since. He has been in the garden several times and is perfectly happy out there, so it is clearly not reminding him of his 'best mate'. And, because we have cleared the garden of so much junk, we can all enjoy using the garden more.

Just telling you this, WhoKnows, to show you that your DD will get over having to wave goodbye to her cotbed.

Janey - how very annoying about the church lesson. And how exciting to be getting ready for a caravan outing - makes me feel as if summer is really coming.

Caramel - thank you so much for that link to Menus4Mums. I have already joined up. I have been stuck in a rut with recipes, so it's lovely to have it all organised for me. And, hopefully, will save us money too.

Was woken up horribly early by DS2 this morning, but he did at least let me doze in his bed whilst he played. That was fine until he started using his police-station toy with a siren on it and a big shouty 'emergency, emergency!' voice.

Shined my sink last night, so came down to a tidy kitchen this morning. Had left washing in the w/m ready to turn on first thing. So far, today, I have:

Dressed (always a good idea)
Swished and swiped and cleaned the bath out
Unloaded the d/w
Done everyone's breakfast
Put the first load of washing on
Emptied kitchen bin
Put recycling stuff out
Put stuff in tumbledrier (still no washing line)
Put second load on
Done lunches
Prepared snacks and water bottles
Waved DH and DC off for an excusion, leaving me with time to .....

...continue decluttering the bedroom!

Which I am going to start now, otherwise, DH will come back and ask me if I have wasted all my time on MN. As if!

Enjoy your family days.

Thank you Toffee - she has already said she doesn't like her old bedding and wants new to go in the bunk beds, as if it's not going to cost enough money! Her duvet is full sized so she's going to be keeping it all. You have reminded me about DS when we had to say good-bye to his beloved blue mini micro scooter. We bought him the larger one, and one of my friends offered me £20 for the small one. I asked him about it and agreed that he could have the money as it had been one of his Christmas presents rather than say a cot or the usual sort of thing I might sell. He agreed to all this and was excited about having £20 to spend. The night before it was due to go, I double checked with him that it was OK, he went up to his scooter and stroked it, saying "I love you scooter, you have been my favourite thing but now it is time for you to go". I asked if he was OK and he said fine, it could go. I still fill up thinking about that. He occasionally says he still misses it when we see other children on them.

Anyway, I have done the washing, done a thorough clean of the bathroom (I hennaed my hair last night so the bathroom really needed it).

DH is about to take DD swimming, DS and I are going to do some gardening.

Good afternoon, lie in till 8am courtesy of playdoh and happy dc, the rain has started, playdate over and I am introducing DC to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Must go and pull out all the pre playdate stored clutter which has been dumped in various rooms and then sods law we end up in the garden with garden furniture covered in bird poo. [yuk emotion]

Had a nice time and have crossed the following off my list

Still need to tidy dc rooms-done
pray for sunshine=done (must put some more effort into garden),
change dc beds-done ds,
remove piles of dried laundry from kitchen-done,
move clutter to spare room (close door)-done,
check smoke alarms-not yet,
make banana cake-nope failed, maybe later.

Who is about this day.

cheerfulyank is getting to bed at a reasonable hour, should stand her in good stead for tomorrows baby step.
linzer hope you got a good bit of a lie in and the rain has come over here so you can have some dry weather for the garden. What circus is it? I took dc to an animal circus, much frowned upon (campaigners outside) It was terrifying, front row storming horses etc and tigers. Hope yours in a cool acrobatic one.
whoknows aw that?s so sweet keeping it for her children, how grown up of your dc to say goodbye, I think that would make me fill up too. Hope you manage to get some gardening done.
janeyjampot ooo a proper towing caravan, how exciting.
toffee I had that sudden awoken by an electronic toy thing the other day except it was a microphone shouting one two three, ready! Hope you manage to get some decluttering done.

You have all inspired me?to stare at my bookcase and hope they declutter themselves!

Have lovely day, back later.

WhoKnows - that is a very poignant story about your DS saying goodbye to his scooter. How grown up of him to be able to say goodbye, in spite of his sad feelings.

Nettie - thanks for the round up. I bet you're glad it's been so quiet on the thread for a change today.

I have had a massive decluttering session today : four bagfuls of clothes (mine and DCs) to be given away, plus a big bag of rubbish. Also tidied and decluttered three drawers and my wardrobe. The bedroom is definitely starting to look better and I am feeling very pleased with myself!

Tomorrow, I'm going to tackle the boxes of papers and on Monday DH is taking the desk he made (which, sadly, became a magnet for clutter) to his workplace. Then we will finally have some space in the bedroom again.

DC had a lovely time out at an adventure playground with DH this afternoon and came back pink-cheeked and happy.

Have cooked the DC's dinners and put ours in the oven (chicken casserole), so now it's on to bedtime routines and before-bed routines.

Hope you are all having a lovely Saturday evening.

Toffee - I am still in the middle of my clothes clear out that I started a week ago, so you are doing better than me! I am determined to be ruthless this time, there is stuff I haven't worn for years in my wardrobe. I have a couple of hours free tomorrow to finish it off (DS at a party, DH and DD going ice skating). Took a peak at the FLylady Mission Zone page, next week is Master Bedroom, so I've got to do it!

whoknows love new nickname. I'm my house i know exactly where well done on all your decluttering.

toffee sure am glad for a quite day but I dont think it's been anywhere near as busy as your and whoknows months. Hope you enjoy your lovely new space in your bedroom.

Just back from tesco bought loads of rubbish. Ds loved chitty chitty bang bang, bathed them and bed. Now chilling with a toffee meringue and a glass of .

Going to do links in a wee bit.

Hope everyone is having fun.

WhoKnows - good luck at decluttering your clothes tomorrow. I have too many very old clothes too. I wish I could wave a wand and exchange them all for new clothes. Am very excited that next week's missions are in the Master Bedroom - I might actually be able to do them, for a change (too much clutter usually ).

I was just thinking about watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang with DS! The Childcatcher might be a bit too scary at this point though, maybe we can skip that part.

DS, DH and I cleaned for a good while this a.m. Got the living room, dining room, kitchen and entryway tidied up, everything wiped down, floors swept and vacuumed. Beds made, swish n swipe done, everyone dressed and ready for the day. We're going to go shopping; DS has a swimming party tomorrow and has outgrown last year's trunks, plus we need to get a present for the birthday girl. DS says he wants to get her a "pirate telescope" :)

Oooh, am SO excited for this week's mission too! I've been decluttering my room already and have got out masses of clothes.

Evening all.

Sorry have again been missing in action - extremely busy on placement and not leaving till late. DH and DD both ill as well.

Only read last few posts but so at wardrobe decluttering. I really need to do that but never ruthless enough so have clothes in piles everywhere.

Have had a very grumpy DD today but did manage 3 loads of washing, paperwork sorting and a kitchen declutter.

Tomorrow I am packing for a week away at the seaside (doubtful that sun is involved but hopefully fun is) DH will be tidying cos he needs a tidy house to go o holiday with!!

Back tomorrow with a long list no doubt.

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the hols

cheerfulyank child catcher bit didnt go down too badly. I pre warned ds about what was going to happen and used it as a lesson in stranger danger ds has no stranger danger awareness and talks to anyone and everyone. DS loves Oliver, we just skip through all the dark bits. Well done on flying.

makingchanges hope dh and dd feel better soon. at dh tidying for holiday. Im just like that cant stand leaving a mess. of hols

Babysteps for tomorrow get to bedim very good at going to bed just not so good at switchig off the tv and going to sleep.

Sunday is renew your spirit day. Im going to renew my spirit with a lie in i hope.

Nite all

Been very busy today! Another major falling out with DS1 this morning, than wrangling them round town. Done gardening, another trip to Homebase (DS2 wrecking his shoes by scuffing them under his bike. Grr!), gardening, made hot cross buns, made breadsticks, got boys assembling pizzas, got them to bed, and then collapsed in a heap with pizza and beer...

Tomorrow - laundry, more gardening, write a shopping list...

A pirate telescope sounds like a cool present Cheerful. Hope you managed to find one!

Well, survived yesterday without feeling too exhausted (the DC's friends arrived as expected at 8 am; the boy stayed until 7 pm and the girl is still here as she stayed overnight) - mainly thanks to DH. He took them all to the DIY store and for an ice cream in the morning (he was insistent that I didn't need to come along too) and spent a lot of time outside with them in the garden; I didn't need to worry about lunch either, as he decided we should have a barbecue. I even managed to get some tidying/decluttering done, although my ratio of reading to flying wasn't quite as balanced as it should have been!

The circus was a mixture of animals (fairly small ones apart from a horse and camel) and acrobatics, which were very impressive. I'm not too keen on animals in circuses, but animal rights doesn't seem to have reached Austria. There's a fur shop in town that no one bats an eyelid at (I always think it would be vandalised if we were in the UK). Vegetarianism is fairly unusual here too; my favourite comment so far has been "So what do you eat? Cake?"

I'm also looking forward to being in the master bedroom next week as I keep thinking I really must declutter my clothes in time for summer. I've bought a few new things recently and am starting to run out of space in my wardrobe and drawers.

Right, must get on - we have friends coming over this afternoon and I want to continue the tidying/decluttering beforehand.

Hello,

Your DH sounds great, Linzer, and a bit of reading never hurt anyone :)

Although Saturday was supposed to be a non-flying day I did a bit in the bathrooms that I felt I'd missed last week when my parents were here. It looks better for it, and, more importantly, I got out of car washing which seemed the least attractive chore yesterday.

Today I will probably just do the basics - swish and swipe and the kitchen - and a couple of loads of washing. The weather looks good again.

Love the thought of vegetarians eating only cake. Austria here I come!

Linzer - I'm glad the playdate/sleepover went so well and that your DH was so helpful.

Janey - basic flying on a Sunday sounds more than OK.

In honour of 'renew your spirit' day, I am having a long lie-in this morning (hope you are getting yours too, Nettie). DH has brought me a cup of tea. and taken DS2 downstairs. I can hear the music of 'Scooby Doo' and my son's laughter. Perfect!

Just about to do an order using the 'Menus4Mums' shopping list for next week. Later, I'm taking the boys to an 'Easter Fun Day'. DS2 is hoping for Easter Egg hunts.

Hope you all have a lovely, relaxing Sunday (well, as relaxing as possible with small children ).

good morning. I am sitting in the garden with the birds tweeting all around and a cup of coffee I did get my lie in, i blatently ignored the crying and shouts of hung over dh and stayed in bed.

Feeling very spring like so think i will post a little list.

1. smoke alarms
2. get dressed and ds dressed
3. decide where to take them for the day
4. finish putting away my clothes
5. washing on
6. visit in laws
7. prepare faijitas for dinner
8. get car cleaned inside and out as am driving a car load to agm on monday night and dont think people will want to sit in the crumbs.

I think that will do.

linzer well done your dh he does sound fab. Glad circus was ok. Imnever sure about animal ones either but it was scarey!
toffee your lie in sounds idylic. Let me know how you get on with menu4mums. I wasnt sure when i saw i had to pay. its the scottish coming out
janey i now have a picture of you and Linzer sitting in a big vegetarian meet, big white tent whith a huge vegetarian cake in the middle.
blue hope ds is a bit calmer today. [grr] and about shoes, i remeber doing this when i was little because my friend said that my boots werent cool.

Anyway im going to listen to the birds a bit longer and then check smoke alrams.

Have lovely sundays everyone.

That sounds idyllic, Nettie. I've just been outside in the garden with a coffee too, but DS has now decided that he wants to go in - and wanted me to come in with him too, so we're now indoors doing his Favourites magazine.

Toffee How do you find Menu4Mums compares with the Resourceful Cook website? I really like the Resourceful Cook, although am working my way through some old recipe books and magazines atm so that I can declutter them. Like Nettie, I'm a bit about anything that I have to pay for - it must be my upbringing (buying books is seen as quite decadent when you can borrow them for free from the library, for example).

janey I could quite easily live on cake here (you may be able to tell from my name that I'm a bit of a fan of Austrian cake) - Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake) is one thing that Austrians definitely do well.

DS is demanding my attention, so unfortunately I have no time to report on my lack of flying.

Hi all. .

Yesterday got eaten up with swimming lessons and ballet class. Dd has started level 1 swimming (at 9am!) it took the poor teacher about 10mins to coax her into the water . I have high hopes though.

This morning I have been simultaneously helping Ds build a very complicated model of the tardis (inside) and helping dd make a card with pressed flowers.

In a bit we need to take ds to the cinema for a party and dd to the library.

My main prorities this week are:
catch up with laundry ahead of our holiday in Whitby.
wash windows.
review budget 9its going to be a close thing .

whoknows DD had hysterics when she spotted the dustmen taking her old buggy away! I tend to hide things (in the loft/shed) and give them away when dc have forgotten about them.

Enjoy the sunshine .

Hi all,

Well I have zero motivation at all to do anything :( DH has prepared tonights tea, washed up and wiped the kitchen sides. Im about to crack on with some ironing. Ive done a bit of bedding today and towels, but no actual clothes. Thats it in our house today Im afraid. I did think I was going to get the grass cut, but to be totally honest I think I will leave that another day maybe when I can find some motivation from somewhere.

Anyway hope you are all enjoying any sunshine you might have. I'll be back later.

Such a gorgeous day here. Washing done and hung on the line
Hoovered throughout done
Lunchtime cooking and dishes washed up done
Take DD to Swimming lesson done
Food shop done - YEY!!
Ironing folded and put away done

Have family round for the afternoon and so still have to prepare food for that and my neice is having her first ever sleepover at our house tonight so have helped DD tidy her bedroom done

Have put one of those calgon type sachets in my washing machine and that is doing it's work as I type. Not done it since January so it's well overdue - oops! It's a new machine so i wanted to start as i mean to go on. All best laid plans yada yada yada................

Am now going to sit outside with the paper and a coffee and relax.

See you all later

myhousewbcty I don't bother with ironing. We have so many clothes they just get creased when in storage. I iron the night before for the next day. It's usually ok unless the kids need a change of clothes during the day.

BlueEyes I feel for you re: dishwasher. Mine has been broken a couple of months now and I really miss it. Thankfully I've budgeted to get it fixed next month.

Linzer I think I must be mental starting to fly during the holidays. Good luck with keeping your routines goings.

WhoKnowsWTCG I tell my children they can't have anything new until we get rid of old things. There just isnt space. I think you just have to persevere. Or, next time you're clearing out, clear out more than usual and let her chose a couple of things to keep.

janey Hope your church lesson went well. I've been to church this morning. Finding it a bit of a struggle as I'm in the process of moving churches. The old one isn't inspiring me anymore but I still feel guilty for leaving.

Toffee How guilt inducing was your DSs letter! Menus4mums really is fab. The menus are for 4 people but I find them huge portions. I always cook the amount and freeze leftovers or use for lunch the next day. It's really saved me time and money. Anyone else who is interested. You can sign up for the newsletter and get a weeks menu sent free of charge. No need for payment details

Nettie Am very that you are having faijitas. I adore them. Menus4mums really is good value. I just do the £6.95 subscription. Can't afford to do 6 months in one go. They are good regarding cancelling. I sent an email and it was done straightaway. I had to cancel one month as I couldn't afford it. I print off the menus/lists each week to use again in the future. If you join their page on facebook I'm sure you can get a discount on your subscription. I am happy to send a couple of sample menus/lists if anyone is interested?

Hello to those who I haven't done a 'personal

Well my children are driving me insane today. The boy stayed at Granny's last night so he is over tired and being awful. Earlynight I think. Had a lovely morning at church, starbucks and replaced my charm bracelet. House is looking shiny and ready to jump back in tomorrow