June know it's the fledgling flyers?

[Stillchuckingit]

A warm welcome to the June Fledgling Flyers' thread.

If the state of your house is getting you down, this is the thread where we follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style ) with lots of chat and support along the way and where lace-up shoes are definitely optional.

A huge thank you to Linzer for keeping us all on track so splendidly during May and thank you to DroitwichMummy for the thread title.

As usual, we will be following the Flylady three-pronged approach:

1. Baby-steps (a daily step to establish routines)
2. Then baby-steps + 15 mins daily decluttering
3. (And once decluttered) babysteps + daily missions

If you are feeling overwhelmed by clutter and mess, you can make a difference, one step at a time.

For more information, have a look here. You don't need to sign up to Flylady e-mails (we advise you not to do so in fact - you will be overwhelmed - all the information you need can be gleaned from this thread).

All long-standing members, intermittent returnees, lurkers and newcomers welcome!!

Linzer - 9 weeks . Ours are only off for 5.5 weeks this year, and still another 6 weeks to go, I expect the summer weather will have all vanished by the time term actually ends as usual!

DWM - sorry to hear about all your aches and pains

Shanara - welcome, have you been on the thread before? I lose track sometimes. I still need to start my control journal, been here 18 months .

Swan - hope the book is helping, I would be interested to know which one you have got as I think I need a book about Aspergers for DS (he has some of the traits but not all) but when I have looked on Amazon there are so many of them.

Toffee - might pop into the local salon and enquire about the lash tinting tomorrow, I am being very lazy about make-up at the moment, I go in phases of wearing lots or non, am only bothering with eyebrow pencil and lipstick at the mo. I have always loved eye make-up but the skin has gone all crepey and everything looks crap now .

NickNacks glad to hear you sounding more positive, sounds like you have a good plan there, getting rid of all the big stuff to the tip sounds like an excellent idea.

Blue - hope things pick up, don't be hard on yourself, it is much harder to keep up when the DCs are unexpectedly present I find.

Lady - we've got Mufti tomorrow too, the DCs sorted out their outfits several days ago, much excitement!

Well, I have done a big pile of filing tonight but not much else. Watched the documentary about Prince Phillip, I have a soft spot for him! DS had a school trip to a nature study centre today and had a brilliant time, both DCs played tennis after school, DS was a bit hyper still but never mind, and a photographer came to take a picture of them playing for the local paper so that was exciting too. I have taken the plunge and joined the tennis club myself too, so planning to try and play at least once a week from now on.

Night all

[Looks around vaguely for CHB]

Blither! I've done it again. Managed to stay on my feet until dh came home and then went to bed. Just woken up. Apologies to those of you who like your baby-steps a day in advance.

Whoknows you have done a brilliant job of rounding-up tonight, thank you

Tomorrow's step, no.10 for Friday 10th June, is here. It's a good one - all about Fat Fairy's 15-min philosophy.

Friday is the last day in Zone 2 (the kitchen)

Your mission for tomorrow (now today!) is here and involves mopping your kitchen floor imperfectly.

Friday is a day allocated for paperwork and other miscellaneous activities and Friday night is date night in FF land.

See you in the morning!

Lays out "power breakfast" for CHB and Blue who will need some extra energy by the looks of it

Nicknacks your plan is terrific!! Good on you and good luck with it!

Linzer and Whoknows eight weeks summer holiday here ... here's hoping the blood pressure goes down before then!!

LadyinP similar relief here! DD in mufti for school trip tomorrow thank heavens as virtually no laundry has been done this week.

Yes, Linzer Eperonniers not far from Grand Place. Hope you make it over one of these days! (As long as you sign a contract not to publish the true state of ChateauStillChuckingit!!)

CHB sorry you've come home to a tip - that's a bit depressing - but arf at your parents "trashing the place"

Waves to anyone I've missed. Shuffling back to bed now.

Evening SC I was trying to be good honest. only sat down to catch up on fb for 5mins. all i can say is: Fucking hell. I like having an RL but seriously tonight has been one big melodrama.

AS for catching up on the thread i am afraid it shall have to wait as must sleep. And i know for a fact that tomo is going to be a long day. Back to late training.

Whoknows do you live down in the South? DD school had a nature trip yesterday too for the yr3's or is it just a coincidence?

Bit overcast today so may not risk the washing out.

To do:
Go to the Bank
Clean loo's
Clean downstairs bathroom
Prepare for tomorrows Rainbow funday
Phone a friend (keep meaning to but keep forgetting)
Hoover upstairs
Wash bathroom floor
Clean the office - yuk, so dusty

One thing i have been meaning to do for a while now is clean out my kitchen cupboards. Had a new kitchen put in nearly 2 yrs ago now and i have meant to keep it gorgeous...........

BBL

Am feeling stressed. DH has gone off to work with the credit cards, even though I asked him to leave one for me, which means I have no money here to do all the last-minute stuff I'm supposed to be doing this afternoon - pre-holiday shopping and, more importantly, my spray tan! I know it isn't essential, but I was looking forward to it and it's too late to cancel. And I was only having it to cover up the unsightly bruises on my leg from bursting a blood vessel on my knee a few weeks ago. Also, DH now can't buy any diesel for the car on the way home because I was going to put money into our current account for him so he could pay. And he has left his mobile at home and refuses to have a phone on his desk at work (incase people ring him ), so I can only email him and wait for him to reply.

Also, couldn't see anyone at school about DS1's taster day at secondary and am feeling very wobbly about that. Will have to email the head and hope she'll arrange something.

The pre-holiday preparations have stopped being exciting now.

Will go and tackle my list for today and hope I can sort something out for this afternoon moneywise.

Sorry for the rant.

I have a lot of grovelling to do to DH. Turns out the credit card was in my dressing-gown pocket.

I have absolutely no memory of him giving it to me.

I'll get my coat.

Glad you got found the credit card in the end, Toffee - that must have been a huge relief. I've written down the number of DH's credit card as we only have one between us and I had to remember to borrow it from him in the evening if I wanted to buy anything online (we have to pay an annual fee for credit cards here and it seems a bit pointless to have my own when I only need it to buy things on the Internet).

My entire morning seemed to be taken up by food shopping, the hairdresser's and coffee. We need to leave for DD1's dyslexia lesson in about 10 minutes and then it's back to the orthodontist's to have the wire put back in her brace.

I would like to think I'll manage to get back on FLYing track next week, but it's a bank holiday on Monday and then school is closed on Tuesday (schools have an annoying habit of staying closed the day after bank holidays, despite everyone else having to go to work as normal). As there's a bank holiday the following week, this is the last full week of school (the last Friday just involves the children going into school to pick up their end-of-year certificates). I think I might as well give up until September.

Heavens Linzer I thought it was bad for holidays over here but you certainly do have a lot to contend with.

On the positive side here, because dc don't go to school on Wednesday afternoons and sport/art aren't included in the main curriculum in many schools, and because of the long holidays, there are hundreds and hundreds of little companies and associations running parascolaire activities at the w/es and holidays - so there is a plethora of choice of things for dc to do when school is out: art, singing, circus skills, all sports major and minor (from swimming to fencing) discovering nature, language practice, climbing, gym, theatre workshops, anything you can think of really. DD is already signed up to a dance 'stage' and a pony 'stage' so that's two weeks of the holiday taken care of. So that plus two and a bit weeks travelling is half the summer vac planned ... just have to plan the other 4 wks now!! I think it's good for dc to be able to completely 'flop' to the point of boredom (stimulates creativity imo!) but dd is far too much of a whirlwind to want to "flop" for long ...plus there is the only child issue ...

Glad you found it Toffee I am always doing things like that. Sorry your last minute preparations are proving so stressful - you will look absolutely gorgeous though!!

LadyinPink [SC keeps very quiet on subject of cleaning out kitchen cupboards.]

Hope tonight's training goes well CHB

Mum has just arrived. She set off this morning, then had to turn around and go back home because she had forgotten her passport . We have decided neither of us is as organised as we'd like to think we are - but don't tell anyone.

The lovely school receptionist rang me to say that the headmistress will look into support for Toby at his taster day and will let me know what they've decided when I get back from holiday. Am feeling a bit more hopeful about that now.

Just off to do the shopping and have the spray tan. Will report back!

posting and running

back from babysitting/walking (baby enjoys rain!)

Done
ds1 off this morning to his PGL raft buildingzipwirehiking weekend
(most of yesterday was spent assembling his "kit")
bought two ipod shuffles yesterday (Ipod novice here) for twins as reward for doing ballet They are cheap (there's me thinking ipods were a luxury item costing £100plus) aren't they? No idea how to make them work, will probably spend most of afternoon sorting that out, and trying to do itunes for very first time. Although I can see where they fleece you! £1 a tune Will try to transfer stuff from existing CDs...

I did post this morning about Asp stuff, but connection went down,
WhoKnows Susan Ashley and Tony Attwood. Dh and I found them a bit alarming and upsetting to read. Essentially - your child is developmentally behind - he will function like a younger child in lots of situations, though his intellectual understanding is normal. Stress is caused by lots of things which a "normal" child might find easy to cope with. Although you can obviously reduce some stresses (noise, unpredictability,large groups of people) you can't protect them from everything - and that's where the hard work comes in. Book gives suggestions.

Toffee good news, so glad you are going on holiday with that info!

DS2 is asleep. DS1 is watching CBeebies. It's quiet and I've managed a bit of work. :) Also got 2 charity bags out for the RNLI this morning, including some of DH's stuff (Yes!) and have (very) imperfectly mopped my floor, so feeling a bit better. Thanks for the power breakfast SC it must have helped. Off out to a friend's when DS2 wakes up, which DS1 is v excited about.

Waves and runs as he's now wingeing.

sneaks back in

very quietly

sits in peace in the naughty corner

Was just zipping my boots up and putting house alarm on and just shutting the door when i hear my mobile ringing inside the house - it's DH and he has offered to pick DD up so saves me the walk and means i can now have a coffee hoover upstairs.

Hi Cinders, how is your mum?

Managed most of my list except the office dusting and bathroom floor washing - tomorrow is another day

Thanks Swan - that describes DS pretty well, it has been evident since he was about 3 that he is academically able but emotionally and socially he is more like a child a year younger. However he does not have the rigid need for routines that many AS children have, loves going new places on holiday, happy in busy things like Beavers, no problem with short notice changes of plan etc. His problems are with his non-verbal communication and understanding how others feel, he doesn't realise by someone's expression for example that they are getting annoyed with him. I will have a look at that book.

Lady - We're in Hampshire, but DS is Yr 2 not Yr 3, that would be weird if it turned out to be the same class!

Back later.

Waaaah. I can't understand Ipods.
Have downloaded itunes. In two versions. Have plugged in Ipod. Have plugged in CD to make things even easier. Watched numerous tutorials.
But, nothing is happening, except that the screen has told me I have an Ipod. [baffled]
So what am I meant to do now?

Whoknows we're in Hampshire too and my DD is in year 2 - small world although not same school obv.

Just off to drop DD at her Rainbow group so see you all later

Swan - on the LHS, under devices, your Ipod should be showing, click on that. Then, go to the grey bar near the top which says something like Summary Info Apps Music, click on music, under Select Music check the box for entire music library, go back to the Ipod button on the LHS, right click and Sync.

Oh and before you unplug the Ipod, tight click on it's icon again and click eject, it can get corrupted apparently if you don't.

Whoknows, I am ashamed to say I can't even find "devices". What are they? I think I am in such a dark place technically I have removed myself to Geeky stuff for guidance. TWO hours I have been sitting here trying to work this out [sobs] Children are crying and so am I.
DH is not going to help as he can't understand computers either.
Ah well, back to the ghettoblaster.

Hi all. Have quickly skimmed the thread.

toffee LOL at the credit card in dressing gown pocket! Glad you have some support for DS.
shanna hi I remember you from old flylady threads. Glad you've got some help.
swan it took me 3 days to understand my ipod .

Have just got back from Lidl, I'm sure food prices have gone up again I can't believe how much it costs to feed this family! And don't get me started on petrol .

Done:
laundry
lidl

Are you in Itunes? Unplug your Ipod and plug it back in again and watch the left hand side

Don't worry Swan, i always get my DS to sort out my technical issues!

Well.... not a good 24 hours all in all!! Yesterday I finalised some work, on my day off and wanted to deliver it, went to the car..... battery dead!! My fault - I had not shut the door properly the night before, so the internal night had been on all night. To cap it all, I missed getting the work where it needed to get to before the roads around the town were all closed off and diverted due to the mass music festival here this weekend. SO i had to persuade DD2 that she really wanted to take me for a drive to deliver the work. It took us nearly 1 and a half hours to do a journey that would normally take less than 10 minutes!
Then at 1am I was woken up by DD2 crying and sobbing in my bedroom. It turns out she was absolutely drunk as a skunk!! She reached the age of 18 years and 7 months before getting into this state and has vowed never to touch alcohol ever again. It took me nearly an hour to get her into bed and clean up a delightful mess she had made. All she kept saying was "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, don't tell me off in the morning!" I think the hangover was enough punishment today!
To top that all off DS got an elbow in the nose today at school and has a lovely black glow around eyes and his perfect face now has a slightly right tuning nose!

Festival weekend here, excitement is mounting!! Fridge is well stocked, cupboards are bulging, not expecting too much sleep until Monday.

Will pop in when I can over the weekend, but massive waves, in case I dont quite make it until next week.

LadyinPink
Im from Hampshire too
well I grew up there

sits in naughty corner sipping fizzy wine

peers at cobwebs heads off..

and ps
why did I think it was a good idea to go on holiday to the isle of wight with ds

why
sips more fizzy wine..

Cinders When are you coming to the IOW? Why isnt it a good idea? Are you here for the festival? Sorr, I am sure you have explained it all "up thread", but I am struggling to keep up with it all.