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!

Lady - sounds like your DD had a wonderful time!

Cloudy here too .

yesterday I got nothing done except [hurrah]mending wheelchair, and grocery shopping. Dh looked after children all day, as I felt still very ill. In the end I just went to bed, as he had a whole evening planned of football watching with the boys and nibbles.

Sorted through the original loft conversion documents from under bed and found a blueprint for extending kitchen, but as it involves knocking down walls etc, can't face even starting to think about it. Back to lean to conservatories/boot rooms/utitily areas tacked on....It feels like 10years of going round in circles with the mess mounting up...

Came down this morning to total scuzz factor Suggested to Dh we tidy up for 1 hour, but he refused point blank to admit any tidying/tip run required, and we compromised by him taking two children to Natural History Museum Ds2 is listening to Queen and hopping up and down.
done
recycling
milkbottles
dw
table
fridge
sink
catffood area
laundry
saucepans
shoes
bathroom deep cleaned
dressed

Oh good, ds2 now jumping around in the garden. He is waiting to watch Formula One at 12

Lady I can remember spending a lot of time as a 9-11 year old making lotions and potions out of egg whites, oatmeal, and cucumbers, honey and boiling up rosepetals. Unfortunately we didn't know how to preserve our efforts so they always went mouldy in the bottles

Omg, ds2 has just asked me for some playdough...[???]The one substance in this cluttered house I now longer have...do I have to make some now

BBQ ended up being an indoor grill as weather so cloudy, windy and cold. Friends' kids hardly ate a thing as really fussy but luckily DD tucked in well to make up for yesterdays lack of good food intake (mainly crisps and biscuits from mid afternoon onwards). Our kids played with plasticine which i think is better than playdough as it doesn't harden when left out - do you have any of that? Always have some of that in stock. DD asked for playdough the other week and keeps asking Santa for it hence why i bought in some plasticine as hate playdough. Hope you can distract DS2 with something else

Toffee i have the library as one of my half term activities to do, with DD next week. Borrowed a 'teach your child piano' book last week and DH taught the first 3 pages to DD and she took to it really well and even taught me what she had learnt. I loved getting it wrong therefore making her reiterate the correct way and her feeling proud she could do something i couldn't.

BBL

Swan - sorry you've been feeling ill - and that you then came down to a tip. Do not make playdough! You are not feeling well, so must take it easy (if possible). I used to make rose petal potions at about that age too, btw.

Lady - not good BBQ weather today, although our next-door neighbours seem to be eating outside at the moment even though I can see it raining . Well done to your DD, teaching you piano!

We were all meant to be going out this afternoon, but DS1 felt sick and had a temperature so it ended up being DH taking DS2 out, whilst DS1 lay on the sofa watching telly and I tidied the house. I think I might almost have beaten the ironing monster. I have done it in little bursts of activity, so not quite so boring.

DS2 is waiting for the computer and seems to have counted to over a thousand whilst waiting for me to finish here, so I think I'd better go. Have a good evening all.

Toffee I'm feeling fine today, just that grumpy catching up feeling

Anyway, I have caught up

done
created desk area in playroom
tried very very hard to get rid of some stuff from playroom, almost succeeded, although some of it ended up back in the kitchen cupboard
cooked supper (spareribs, and potatoes)
washing away
tidied two bedrooms
swept kitchen floor
wiped worktops
hoovered playroom
sink
washing up

They are now all watching Sister Act, although I still need to take ds2 out for a run - he has been wandering around the house and garden all day, mostly formula one-ing. I made some playdough, which did not work, but I'd forgotten the joy of squashing it! Anyway I threw it away almost immediately - must get back to breadmakign some time - do love that squishy feeling...

nexttask
hoover my bedroom
put away architect stuff
sweep front path
plant up last of the lobelia, as bought some more compost finally yest!

Have had a lovely day today, albeit with a slightly stressful start ? DH took his car into the garage and I was supposed to pick him up, but ended up going to the wrong garage, making us half an hour late. (I would probably also have caught for speeding if the driver two cars in front of me hadn?t been going too fast as well, which thankfully distracted the policeman with his speed camera.)

Luckily a was waiting for me at fellow fledgling?s, which calmed me down. Any rumours that we locked ourselves away in the kitchen with a carafe of red wine, leaving the men to deal with the BBQ and children, are greatly exaggerated.

Lady The Lush party sounds fab. A friend of mine won a Lush competition and was invited down to Poole to see how the products were made; I was very . I haven?t had playdough in the house for years as I can?t stand the stuff (I didn?t realise you can still get plasticine) and DS can play with it at kindergarten anyway.

swan Glad to hear you?re feeling better today. I have to get DH to take the DC out of the house if I want to get anything done at the weekend; he can never see that there?s any tidying to be done either (or if he does, believes that five minutes? tidying, i.e. piling things onto shelves, will deal with it).

Toffee Sorry your DS isn?t well and that it scuppered your plans for the afternoon, but well done on conquering the ironing monster.

Quick message for Toffee - I use copper tape as I am inundatd with slugs and it does seem to help. I repotted first as some of the little b*gers live underground so they would be stuck inside the tape not out IYSWIM!

Day to myself tomorrow - DS with GPs and DH at work till early afternoon - fab

See you tomorrow!

Have been up late, trying to calm a fretful DS2. He is complaining of an itchy bottom again - uh oh. Then he suddenly sat up, wide awake, and said we must go on a slug hunt RIGHT NOW! When I said no, it was bedtime for us all, he wailed so loudly I thought he would wake everyone up.

Thanks for the advice on copper tape, Droit. I didn't repot, so I may have trapped half a dozen slugs and snails in the pots - I didn't know they could hide underground. We have greenfly on our plants too, which I'm spraying with washing-up liquid. Hope that's right - it's what my grandmother used to do and I used to help her. This gardening business is a constant battle, isn't it?

Linzer - glad you had a pleasant RL meet-up with a fellow fledgling.

Swan - that is a very impressive list! And you made playdough as well!

All is quiet at last, so I think I might be able to get to bed at last.

Morning everyone,

The penultimate babystep is to check your calendar for next month.

I'll be back with the missions after the school run, when hopefully the website will have been updated!

Back with the missions! We're in the living room for the last two days of this month and our mission for today is to spend 15 minutes dealing with the hot spots in the living room.

The sneak peak of what's coming up this week is here.

Morning all

Just popping in to let you know that I will be back later to start new June thread so everyone can reserve their spots for Wednesday. Quite sorry to see May go - it's my favourite month of the year.

Feeling a bit cream crackered after w/e. Two school fetes in two days (although we were only visitors to visitors not participants thankfully).

Linzer - you have done sterling work this month with running the thread

Swan sorry to hear you are not feeling well - wishing you a speedy recovery

Toffee and Mummy I am also battling with slugs. Have created a miniature dry stone wall of spikey gravel around my young courgettes and pumpkins and seems to have worked so far. Am interested in the use of copper though.

Toffee hope your ds1 is ok

Hello to Ellie and everyone else I've missed!!!

Just got to do some mad rushing around - back late

er, visitors to visitors

that should have read ... participants!

Oh lordy (too many distractions!!) and not drinking caffeine ... I'm losing my marbles

no, that shouldn't have read participants

that should have read bystanders

it wasn't even that interesting in the first place

You have me thoroughly now SC - although a lack of sleep and lack of caffeine (is it too early for coffee?) are probably to blame more than anything ? I hadn't noticed anything wrong with your first sentence.

Thanks for offering to lead next month's thread; I've really enjoyed doing this month's, although still haven't mastered the art of the concise and witty round-up.

allwithslugs I use slug pellets, round the precious plants whilst they are still small - after years of battling I've given up more humane methods. The numerous neighbourhood cats scare away the birds so the balance is upset, I think that's why I have so many slugs and snails. But the birds eat the greenfly that's something!

done
yesterday I tried a second onslaught on the bedroom,
hoovered everywhere, including behind the bed,
decluttered a big bag of rubbish again,
moved all the lego (Waah! why is there a lego city in my bedroom) well not away but into a village rather than a sprawling connurbation,
sorted out clothes in cupboard and tried to put matching separates together

Not sure what we are doing today, but I've already made a few halfterm arrangements with friends, for when DH is back at work.
Wetland Centre on Wednesday
Friends for drink on Thursday
Friends for cup of Tea on Tuesday

SC thank you for your efforts, and Linzer you were very helpful to post all those links and roundups. I think I'm finally getting to the zone stage (I keep saying that will it happen this month???)

Linzer precise and witty not exactly my strong point!! You have done brilliantly this month!!

Swan Prior to guinea pigs, I found slug pellets very effective too. Didn't like using them but nothing else worked. Now I have to confine my veg growing to container pots on terrace and a few gravelled areas in borders.

I too am desperate to reach the zone stage!! Keep saying I will ... but I don't.

Plan for the next fortnight is to sort out home office. Basement also desperately needs attention.

**

New thread for next month HERE!!

**

Oooh yes i have been out to replenish the slug pellets around my beans and sunflowers as the rain brings them out in their droves. Beans don't seem to be growing but the sunflowers are double the size now than when i planted them.

Have done a humungous pile of ironing and it is now all finished (until tomorrow) Going to make a chilli con carne tonight for dinner so will beat a hasty retreat to the kitchen now.

[whistles and rings large school bell]

back over here everyone!!

I don't think it's working, SC.

Back again! W/e was good but unpacking/decluttering strikes again...

Always happens this end of the month - they bunk off to play on the new thread before they've worn the old one out

DWM Can't say I blame them ? I always tend to give up towards the end of the month (but have lots of good intentions for the new month).

Welcome back, Blue!

Lady Well done on the ironing. I love having sunflowers in the garden ? must get DH to plant some (as the garden is his domain).

SC I have all but given up on our basement; it seems to have turned into one giant hotspot. I would like to organise my home office, however, as I can focus so much better on the rare occasions that it's clutter-free.

swan Half-term arrangements are always good. In fact, half-term would be good full stop ? the DC are definitely waning, but we don't get a break between Easter and the summer holidays.

DD1 said her test was difficult and that she hadn't revised everything she needed to know. Upon further questioning, it seems she just didn't realise that she did actually know the answers to the questions but just thought she didn't. DH spent hours and hours revising with her; I think he'll be more despondent than she will be if she gets a bad mark.

Had a busy afternoon ? DDs to piano lesson, bought a present for DD2's friend, DD1 to orthodontist and picked up DS from birthday party. It turns out that DD1 doesn't need a brace (or at least not yet) for her twisted tooth, but the orthodontist has put a little plastic thing (to give it its technical name) on top of the tooth below it, so it now looks she has one tooth that has grown twice as high as the others. The orthodontist told us it's important for DD1 to eat normally before we go back for her check-up tomorrow, but she claims it's too uncomfortable and so just had two ice creams, a yogurt and some raspberries for tea.

I really should have been working this evening, but instead have spent an inordinate amount of time deciding what to do for DD2's English lesson on Wednesday. It seems to have taken me several hours to decide on farm animals and find enough pictures to make into flashcards. Am utterly exhausted now but don't feel like I've achieved very much.

The last babystep is to keep FLYing - you can be proud of yourself for having got this far.

Today's mission is to wipe fingerprints and smudges off the walls and windows in the living room.