If your house is calling May Day, do not fear: May's Fledgling Flyers are here

[LinzerTorte]

Welcome to the May edition of the Fledgling Flyers' thread. Thank you to Nettie for her splendid leadership of last month's thread.

If you're living in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome), this is the thread for you! We follow the tips on the FlyLady website in an attempt to restore order to our homes, but advise against signing up for the e-mails; all the information you need is on this thread.

Each day, I'll be posting the links that will enable you to do any of the following:

• start or repeat baby steps

• repeat babysteps and do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

or

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.

More information about the babysteps is here.

So please join us - there's always plenty of chat, tea, cake, encouragement and the occasional to help us on our way!

I am waiting for the washing machine to finish so that i can put ds' uniform in the tumbler. He appears to have brought half the school field home on it. Boys are grumby little creatures. And i refuse to buy any new trousers for this year, he has destroyed 2 pairs already.

[puts an end to party and tells party goers to go home]
done
all the recycling (that took an hour and out on the pavement [yay!)
sorted out the bins [triple yay!)

dd's friend played happily till nearly 8pm
then I read new Jacqueline Wilson to dd
then did recycling after reading the Guardian oh dear what a dull life I lead

off to bed now

Morning everyone,

The babystep today is to learn how the routines developed. Don't forget to continue checking your control journal every morning, afternoon and evening.

Today's mission should be a quick one ? dust the tops of the door(s) and window(s) in the master bedroom.

It's Wednesday, so Anti-Procrastination Day. Wednesday's reminders are here. According to FlyLady's Basic Weekly Plan, it's also time to clean your fridge, plan your menus for next week and write your shopping list.

Finally, this week's pamper mission is to wax your eyebrows. (You were ahead of the game, Lady. )

It is tooo early.

We've had a lovely morning playing in the garden/drinking coffee before school started.
DH is slumped in dejection about work, and says we are the only things that cheer him up - that's a bit of a surprise but it is nice to hear.
Anyway I hope his work improves today, usually he loves it.

done
gave away an anorak, two shirts and a raincoat on the way to school I feel like a walking yard sale
was very tempted by some walking boots that someone had left out to recycle but I manfully resisted

House a complete mess - but I am going in to school to help with the library after several months hiatus, as it is re-opening again. Also need to write dd's absence note.

bbl

No flying today apart from routines as have masses and masses of paid work with a great big deadline of today! And two meetings...

Maternity leave going well

interesting concept of maternity leave that pmpy.

Carrot cake is iced. 2nd load of washing is about to go on. Today has been truely strange and is definetly not running to plan. I am going to head out to hospital to visit a friend in a bit but that is going to throw my haphazardly planned day into complete chaos as it means the one thing that is fixed is not going to happen, well not by me anyway. must go get something nice to bribe ds with on way home from school.

Party in the naughty corner for those who can be arsed.

Did pluck a couple of stray hairs that had the audacity to grow back within a week of waxing

Washing done and on line.
Boiler man been and serviced boiler - that's done for another year.
In home office sorting contracts and enquiries.

Uh-oh post has plopped through the door - may have to stay in office a tad longer before coffee break!

See you all later

[lays out paniers of ice, white wine and beer in naughty corner and plumps up bean bags; removes fag ends from last night (harrumph)]

Feeling better today - although a bit feak and weeble from not eating

Promised faithfully I would help dd belatedly construct her garden this afternoon (special free-standing deep bed) which will involve hauling lots of bags of earth about. Timing not ideal but heigh ho...it is anti-procrastination day

Thank you Lady my tweezer is my friend. Any connection between de-fluffing and visit of boiler man ???

See you later CHB

Poor you Pushme that sounds a bit grim

Linzer not sure, it says 'ferrosi sulfas' on the pkt - not very helpful - will investigate. Rang doc while in extremis yesterday, she said try taking half tablets and if that doesn't work , there are alternatives apparently

Huge waves to Toffee Whoknows Pa Nettie Ellie Swan Scatty Blue Mummy CheerfulY Janey and everyone I've missed

SC Hmm, that does sound rather like ferrous sulphate... I think FeSO4 tablets are among the worst for side effects, probably because they contain one of the highest doses of iron. Are you still taking them on an empty stomach and if so, would taking them with some food be an option? I've been taking ferrous sulphate for nearly 20 years and still feel sick if I have my tablet before rather than after breakfast. I've just checked my packet and it says "Although iron preparations are best absorbed on an empty stomach, they may be taken after food to reduce gastrointestinal side effects." If they're giving you a stomach upset, you're not likely to be absorbing as much iron anyway.

I don't think I've got time to join the naughty corner party. :( Need to spend the afternoon working to make up for going clothes shopping all morning! Routines are done and 2 loads of washing on the line though.

Waves back to SC - I hope you can get something sorted with the tablets - and to everyone else.

No need to snatch Linzer i am most willing to remove your surplus unobrows in a painfree manner - I used to do it professionally dontcha know

SCI No, no connection there, though between you and me, he could have done with some help as i could see his chest hairs poking up through his T-shirt collar.

Just baked some cakes with the eggs MIL brought round for us to use up whilst she swans off to the Canaries Isles for 2 wks at the drop of a hat (booked it yesterday and left immediately - how the retired live)

Must dash

Spent this morning helping to teach DS2's classmates about road safety, then went on a three-mile walk in beautiful countryside with DS1 and DH. Only just got back. Haven't touched the house today. Am just drinking a coffee and hoping it'll zap me into action like it did yesterday.

Sorry to see that I missed a party in the naughty corner last night. Hope it was fun. I went to bed early for a change.

Not sure where to start now: washing mountain, kitchen tip or general clutter? I think I'll start in the kitchen and work my way round the house.

Lady I would take you up on your offer if you were a bit nearer! A beautician friend of mine does eyebrow shaping and I keep meaning to ask her whether anything can be done about mine.

After an afternoon with six children, I am utterly exhausted. I had to pick up DS's friend and his two little sisters (aged 2 and 3) at 2 pm as their mother was working, which meant that the DDs hadn't had time to do their homework before the house was invaded by four noisy under 5s. Actually, it was only the boys who were noisy; the two little girls are adorable, but the younger one has only just come out of nappies, which was hard work. Her mum said that I might need to ask her if she needed to go to the toilet but that she should be OK. Well, we got through six changes of clothes in three hours and I was starting to run out of things to put her in (one of DD2's dresses came down to the floor on her!). I took them all to the playground while DD2 was at ballet and foolishly decided that two changes of clothes woud be enough. It wasn't.

Now need to do something about the chaos that I had no time to deal with this afternoon. I think I shall need a large this evening.

Linzer - you deserve this....

Thank you Toffee, much appreciated! Just putting the DC to bed (am on the computer printing out some questions for DD1's test as DH has decided she needs to revise now) and will be back to down savour the rest later.

WOW!! Loving my new washing machine. Its huge drum and takes loads, so what would normally have taken at least 6 loads (and 2.5 hours per load) will be done in 3 loads and in less than 3 hours!! I wish I had a big one like this when the DC were little.

Also got a new phone today and am sat here lovingly stroking it waiting for Orange to transfer my contract over to the new sim.

Working from home today and I managed to get twice as much done as I would have done in the office.

Took DD3 out for a coffee and cake.

Sorry for not really being very communicative on this thread at the moment, I am finding it hard to get the time to catch up with you all, but massive waves to you all.

linzer, that sounds like a handful!

PA Yay to new phone and wm.

I am feeling smug as I have finally paid off my visa bill . My budget is working (though hard to stick to). Need to start saving now (to avoid building up another massive visa bill).

Have been busy with Rainbows (meal out!) and beavers.
Catch up tomorrow.

Well done on the Visa bill Scatty

PA - I'm struggling to find time to post much as well, glad you are pleased with your new toys.

Toffee - I'm lined up to do the road safety thing with Yr 2s after half term, am a bit about how much time it is going to take though, have already had to sit through 2 hours of training ourselves and am going to have to spend 3 x 2 hours delivering the training as well, what with that, the PTA and the gardening club I am going to be spending more time at school than in my paid job I think. DS keeps asking me when I am going to come in and do reading with his class again too (used to do it weekly but stopped when gardening club started up).

Linzer phew, you really ought to be charging for your childminding services!

Waves at everyone and departs to naughty corner. Although I have had a busy day (school/work/Rainbows/DCs haircuts/3xwashing) there still seems to be a lot to do.

Have some fancy crisps, they're port and stilton flavour left over from Christmas and still (nearly) in date.

Finished the work - Yay!! Feeling quite smug as have written a whole 21 pages of ecological management strategy. The reptiles of south Wales will sleep well tonight

However, have forgotten to feed my mum's cat and the keys to her house are with DH, DD and baby at MILs, which means I will have to go when they get back. Bum.

Well done scatty! Its a really good feeling isn't it?

Is the party still on? Not sure how long I'll last - been up since 4.10! The Dcats woke me up an hour before the alarm was due and I decided it would be fatal to go back to bed. CHB does carrot cake count as one of my 5 a day?

x-posts PMPY and Whoknows

Port & stilton crisps sound fab! I've got some triple chocolate cake

Feeling much calmer after a glass of (and very glad we have the potty-training stage behind us!). I suspect I may have overdone the wine somewhat, however, as I have just signed up for my first ever race. There are a variety of routes, ranging from 3.5 k to 21 k; guess which one I?ll be doing.

There seems to have been rather a lot of talk of food on the thread today, most of which seems destined for the naughty corner. As I have done very little in the way of Flying yet again, I shall be joining the party.

CHB iced a carrot cake and visited a friend in hospital.

WhoKnows has had a busy day but still has lots to do (I know the feeling).

swan had a relaxing start to the day before turning into a walking yard sale.

PMPY is overworked despite being on maternity leave, but the reptiles of south Wales are very grateful.

Lady offered her eyebrow waxing expertise and baked chocolate muffins.

SC was feeling better and helped her DD with her garden.

Blue managed her routines and washing, worked and shopped (but not in that order).

Toffee helped out at school, had a long walk and hoped that coffee would spur her into action.

PA has been stroking her new washing machine and phone, and has had a productive day interrupted only by coffee and cake (and possibly some more phone stroking).

scatty has found that budgeting is paying off and has been busy with Rainbows and Beavers,

DWM has been up since silly o?clock (an expression that greatly amused me on my last trip back to the UK) and has triple chocolate cake. Sacher Torte has nothing on Death by Chocolate.

Today's babystep is to look at the bottom of an e-mail from FlyLady. For research purposes, I checked my yahoo e-mail (which I only really use for FlyLady's e-mails; I thought I?d unsubscribed and just had about 1000 e-mails to delete, but was shocked to discover that I had actually subscribed to the daily digest instead of unsubscribing completely ? and now have almost 4000 e-mails in my inbox ).

At any rate, at the bottom of the e-mails it says: "You received this email because you are a member of the BigTent group FlyLady". Hmm. I think the sentence she is actually referring to is this:

"You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?"

Today's mission is to deal with the hotspot on your bedside table.

Today is Errand Day. Here are your reminders for Thursday.