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.

Nettie - sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. Back later.

Nettie so sorry to hear about your friend.
Myhouse and janey welcome
I haven't ever had a control journal, but quite like the idea of putting the routines on an i pod. Just need to get an i pod then.

Update on to do list

hot spot x 2 done x 1
swish and swipe x 2 done
buy tickets done
15 mins declutter done more tidying of the shelves
unload dishwasher done
hang out wet washing done dried nicely in the sun
put away dry washing done
get ready for school pick up done
buy art supplies done
go to second hand uniform sale done bought summer dress for DD
go to yet another concert done

This evening I need to

get artwork ready for tomorrow
eat and clear up
lay out clothes for the morning
put some washing on ready to hang out in the morning
hot spot x 1
get to bed at a decent hour (I'm very bad at this one!)

Good evening all, its round up time

thanks for your thoughts everyone, she was lovely and i'm glad i knew her.

Anyway onto April fools round up.

cheerfulyank played FlyTag with her Dh and had the very best time saving advice. make sure DC sleep in their clothes, clothes then are still technically 'laid out for the morning'. To answer your question "making beds" is kinda like making pancakes, not easy to flip and often a bit lumpy
feetheart put on her serious , it?s a bit like her secret smile but more a . She mothered the children with crafts galore then attended her own ds mother day fancy. Hope it was fun.
Linzer rose to the challenge both flying and avoiding tantrums, booked flights, had excited children and paid lotsa money for Betriebskosten costly business that Betriebskosten
swan had party nightmares, won sil awards for looking after dn and is off out. Passes swansome confidence building
whoknows laid lots of tasks to bed and was worried about waylaying the Wii as ds punishment. My ds has been on a ben10 diet for a week due to bad behaviour and hasn?t actually grumbled too much. Hope this afternoon was ok. She also has a super shiny bin never even crossed my mind to shine the bin
toffee another one to avoid the tantrums, brill prep.

Hello everyone, no personals tonight but big waves to all.

Need to do a quick update if I am to get to bed.
First day of challenge hasn't worked that well, I knew it would be hard with everything else going on.

• Morning routine - did most of it in bits and pieces and finished at about 8.30pm
• Wrap and post Mother's Day present/card - done
• Sort out school Mother's Day gifts that have already been done and get them to classes - done
• DD Recorder concert at 10am - done and it was lovely
• CRB check sorted and handed in - need more ID
• 15 min decluttering in living room - no
• Tidy tiny hallway - not really
• Mother's Day crafts at school - 50+ children - done
• Coffee and cake in local bakery if time before.....no time :(
• Joining all the Mums in DS's Reception class for Mother's Day session with children - done I now possess a sparkly bracelet, a pasta necklace and a tissue paper flower :o
• Afternoon Routine - done
• DD to dance with packed tea to eat in car - done
• Evening routine - sort of done
• Collapse in heap after slightly insane week - oh yes
• EARLY NIGHT - going now

Tomorrow will be better :)

Thanks for the welcome.

Well, we have just had a ginormous toy storage system made and spent the evening putting things in it. Now DH is clearing away loads of boxes, I hope!

Tomorrow I need to:
Wash towels
Put away laundry
Bits of ironing and mending
Tackle the dining room
Buy a birthday card for friend's 2-y-o

Hello all. Sorry i have been awol for a few weeks, haven't been feeling well, and have had a hell of a time with DD teething, and then the cold!
Hoping to sort myself out this month!!!!
Thanks to wwkttg for doing a fab job in March - i wasn't always actively flying, but was lurking about sometimes! I hope to do better in April, although DH is home, so not sure how that is going to go!!! Looking forward to you leading the way nettie, and i am sorry to hear your sad news.

Evening all,

Thank you to those of you who have posted wise words about DS and his behaviour, I have had a good chat with some RL friends today too and have got some ideas to try out. He gets frustrated easily and boils over, it is hard for him. We have had a nice evening, DD went to a friend's after school, when I went to pick her up DS came too and we ended up staying for an hour while everyone played and chatted in the garden.

DH obligingly came home from work early, so I was able to go for my run before the DCs went to bed as well.

Toffee - re lids on Brabantia bins, according to this thread Brabantia the company are very good at providing replacement lids free of charge, might be worth a try!

Just wanted to say hello to all the newcomers and Thank You to Nettie for a Flying start to the new thread.

Glad it's going well WKWTTG !

I haven't really begun my Fly stuff yet (it's 5 p.m. here) but have been much better all day about putting things where they belong instead of leaving them about.

Before I begin, what's swish and swipe? Whatever it is, it sounds like something I ought to be doing! :)

No 'bed at decent hour' for me tonight, thanks to a grizzly DS2 waking up as I was on my way to bed and needing a drink, a wee, Calpol and then a cuddle. Oh dear, does that mean I have failed the challenge? I have done everything else. I finished my morning list and added three extras to it as well (ironing and two extra loads of washing). I spent two minutes on my kitchen hotspot, which is looking a bit better, and I spent 15 minutes decluttering our bedroom. I have also done my afternoon and evening list (it's lovely ticking it all off with a red pen). My sink is shiny and I have even laid out our clothes so that we can get off to a good start in the morning.

Nettie - thanks for the round up. I'm so very sorry to hear about your friend.

CheerfulYank - swish and swipe info here. I don't follow Flylady's instructions to the letter, but I do swipe down the sink and surfaces with an e-cloth, then spray the loo with antibacterial spray and clean it out with loo paper. It is part of my daily routine now. It's lovely knowing that I never need to worry about the state of my bathroom when people visit. It's one of the most useful Flylady routines, in my opinion.

WhoKnows - am off to check out that thread title in a minute. Thanks.

MissJulie - sorry you've been ill. Good to see you back here.

BlueEyeshadow - am of your new toy-storage system.

Feet - congratulations on completing your routine in spite of a frantically busy day. The Mother's Day presents sound sweet.

Sorry, can't go any further back on the thread or I'll never get to bed. DS2 is moaning again though, so I'm not sure if bed is likely at the moment anyway .

Sorry ds2 is keeping you up Toffee.

Good to see you back MissJ was wondering where you were and how you were doing.

Thanks for the mentions ladies! That's lovely! Cheered me up! xx

was wondering about the other up all nighters too. The wedding must be very soon. There hasnt been an up all night thread in ages!

I have hardly been on-line in about 2 weeks! I keep in touch with one of the all nighters by text, it was her wedding, and it has been and gone! She had a brill time! Remind me who you are again lost - you've namechanged??? Got a memory like a sieve!

DS2 has finally stopped moaning, but now a car alarm is going off outside. I'm not having much luck tonight. Am going to bed anyway because I can't keep my eyes open any longer.

Good night, MissJ and Lost - you are both very late birds tonight.

Morning all! I havent gone awol in the first days! I am away at mum's caravan for the weekend so no flying whatsoever! I hope you all have a lovely weekends. Back in earnest tomorrow night. Dh has got a couple of weeks work so that means my live in housekeeper has gone and am going to have to get my arse in gear

See you Sunday

Morning all,

DH has taken the car to the garage to get the summer tyres put on (as winter finally seems to be over) and the DC are all playing nicely together (having two friends here definitely helps), so I have time to get on with a few things. Am going to try and get as far with my morning routine as I can before DH gets back - so far, I've just made the beds and put a load of washing on.

Toffee Well done on getting all your routines and the decluttering done; you're racing ahead already! As usual, things went downhill here as soon as the DC came home - although even getting my morning routine and the mission done was quite an achievement for me. I doubt I'll get very much done this weekend (although some decluttering would be nice), esp. as we'll be at my ILs tomorrow for their golden wedding anniversary.

Nettie Actually, I still haven't paid the Betriebskosten (similar to council tax, so not very interesting!) - will go and fill in the bank transfer form now, as DH has been hassling me about it.

Good morning

Welcome back missjulie. toffee and lost hope you both got some sleep.
Ellie have fun at caravan
blueyeshadowhope you have fun filling your new storage system
whoknows it's always lovely to get ideas and reassurances from
Other mums. Glad you had a nice evening.
cheerfulyank hope you enjoy s/s I like this one too and makes a difference to me.

I was right (phew) it is family fun day
www.flylady.net/pages/df_saturday.asp

My list is huge

Dc up breakfasted, bathed and dressed-in bath now with bath crayons it's calm but messy
Put away clothes in their rooms
Tidy up toys and the snug
Strip their beds and remake
S/s bathroom
Get washed and dressed to shoes
put away my and dh clothes
Find bigger box for kitchen declutter to take to charity shop
Tidy kitchen, finish putting away what I took out two days ago
Find something fun to with dc prob bike rides to inlaws.
make braised mince batch for future dinners.
Heat up curry for dc and me, make rice
Get ready for a night clubbing

Hope you all have a lovely day

linzer glad it's spring enough for summer tyres at having friends round for dc already this morning even with time difference.

All was going well here this morning until the phone rang. It was my MIL asking what time we were coming over today . Turns out DH had casually mentioned, a couple of weeks ago, that we might come over today and she was expecting us . He had then forgotten all about it. I felt really sorry for her and guilty too. Made DH ring her back to apologise, although he says she had misunderstood him and had taken it as a definite plan, which it wasn't. Luckily, I have already ordered a big bouquet of flowers for her for delivery tomorrow, but I know that's not the same as seeing us all. Oh dear.

Finally got to bed about 2am this morning. DS2 is fine today, so I have no idea what he was fussing about. He often complains about his legs aching in the night - growing pains?

Was a 'good mum' this morning. Read DS2 a story whilst he had breakfast, then surprised him with a mini Lego set and helped him to build a speed boat. No telly because he is still too busy playing with his new Lego .

Today's list:

Get dressed
S&S done
B/fasts done
Laundry on done
Empty d/w done
Reload d/w with breakfast stuff done
T/D
'Family fun day' - walk into town to visit the farmer's market and the library
Lunch
What's for dinner? Sausage casserole
D/W
Put laundry away
Before-bed routine

MissJ and Lost - hope you got some sleep in the end.
Ellie - have a lovely holiday at the carvan. Gorgeous sunny weather for it.
Linzer - hope the children continued to play nicely. Maybe you even got a cup of tea and a sit down?
Nettie - you sound very organised! Enjoy the bike ride.

Hope everyone has a lovely Saturday.

there was an explosion here last night. The vase of flowers on the side decided to blow itself up and has coated two loads of ironed washing with flower water meaning it all has to be rewashed Carper also needs washing.

Ds slept till late and am only just about to get up. Got errands to run first and then tackle the mess. One step forward two steps back.

head::wall.

Our morning didn't quite turn out as planned, as the visiting three year old suddenly came down with the D&V bug that's doing the rounds here (we've managed to avoid it so far, but I don't know whether we'll continue to do so now). So we took DS's two friends home (they'd stayed overnight, Nettie) and then went out shopping - have finished the weekly food shop, got a present for my ILs, bought new shoes and slippers for the DC (children have to wear slippers at school and kindergarten here) and also managed to fit in a visit to a cafe.

Lost Oh no, how can a vase explode?

Toffee Poor MIL - at least you got your DH to apologise and the flowers are a lovely gesture.

Nettie Enjoy the clubbing! I wish I had the energy...

Good afternoon, where has the time gone today

lost arraaagghhh i feel your pain re sodden clothes and carpet.
toffee aaarrraaggghh to you too, nothing worse than feeling bad about plans that you never knew of in the first place. I hope she was ok in the end. my ds has growing pains lots in his legs. i remember them myself very painful.
linzer arrraagggh to you to d and v. hope you stillmanage to avoid it. sound like good shopping trip.

I'll add my grrs to the mix. my darling pussycat has pulled up the brand new carpet and peed all over the underlay and carpet. grrr.

today is rapidly disappearing and i have nothing to show for it. i think ill stay in all day tomorrow to catch up. heres my list hoping its better than i fear.

Dc up breakfasted, bathed and dressed-in bath now with bath crayons it's calm but messy -done, white vinegar cleaned it off
Put away clothes in their rooms-nope
Tidy up toys and the snug-nope
Strip their beds and remake-nope
S/s bathroom-done hooray
Get washed and dressed to shoes-done
put away my and dh clothes-nope was going to when discovered cat pee
Find bigger box for kitchen declutter to take to charity shop-nope
Tidy kitchen, finish putting away what I took out two days ago-ongoing
Find something fun to with dc prob bike rides to inlaws.-done and Karaoke for the kids and playpark.
make braised mince batch for future dinners-nope
Heat up curry for dc and me, make rice-done
Get ready for a night clubbing - am hoping the alcoholwill give me the enegery

right off to put away mine and dh clothes in an attempt to make it look like i have progressed before he returns from work at 5.

Lost - please explain how the vase exploded! I'm so sorry that you now have to rewash two loads of washing.

Linzer - sounds like a busy morning. I hope you don't catch the D&V bug.

Nettie - did your cat mistake the carpet for grass? Interesting to hear that you and your DS had/have growing pains. Whatever it is that sometimes wakes DS2 up crying, Calpol does trick.

We have just come back after an extended walk into town, followed by a visit to a park. DS1 was pale, tired and grumpy, and kept saying he wanted to go home, but he did eventually cheer up, so the walk did him good in the end.

DH says he never made a definite arrangement to see his mum and that she misunderstood him. To him, it was a casual remark, but to her it was a commitment. You are right, Nettie - it's very annoying to feel guilty and bad about something that is nothing to do with me. I think I feel worse about it than DH does!

Just about to put the washing in the T/D, then I might fit in a short nap before making dinner. Am feeling decidedly jaded after my late night.

Hope you enjoy your clubbing tonight, Nettie .

no idea what cause the vase to explode. But there was no one near it and it just blew up. Shattered. Completely mystified as to how it happened tbh.

Errands mostly done but as usual took the whole day due to their nature. now about to feed the screaming one ds and shoot out to do the last few errands. I want and need my bed right NOW. Will hopefully be back to catch up as this is a flying visit and i am not actually here

Sorry about the vase and the washing, Lost. What a nightmare!

I have only done the routine stuff today - dishwasher, swish & swipe etc. There wasn't enough washing to justify putting the machine on after yesterday's madness.

I have managed to buy new school shoes for my DDs today - both had somehow managed to get their shoes to the 'unwearable and embarrassing' stage at the same time. As they are 12 and 13 I think this is a major achievement - two pairs black shoes purchased with no storming off!

Also found a knee-length school skirt for DD2 which we both found acceptable. This is a miracle.

With those horrible errands achieved I feel I have accomplished something, even if it wasn't strictly FLYing

One thing I need to work on is the meal planning bit. I do try to buy the right number of meals for the week but I always feel resentful about having to be responsible for the weekend meals and this makes me careless about the plan, if you see what I mean. So although I know there are meals (technically 2 or 3 left because I shop at the beginning of the week) I'm not sure which one we're having tonight. This doesn't really fit with the new organised me I'm trying to create.