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!!

To think that we were complaining about drought a week or so back!!! Stillchuckingitdown here Actually put the central heating on today for first time in ages...envy you your sunshine Blue!

Yay! That's fabulous news Toffee - that you've finally found someone who "get's" your ds - that's so important and must be a great relief after trekking back and forth to different specialists which can be so demoralising. Great news about secondary school too! I know it's rather early but here's a to celebrate!!

Good luck with the amazing cake Pink

Hope your dh recovers soon Swan (Ahhh, I'd love to go for a walk with a baby again - sniff)

How's the list going Linzer?

Whoknows your multiple-volunteering puts me to shame!

Bartlett I now have a timer in virtually every room ... I know it's old-tech but seems to work - when I CBA anyway ...

Good luck getting it all dry CHB. Could you blot-dry toys in clean towels then hang up above radiator or in warm/airy place? Not very inspiring advice I'm afraid.

I have absolutely nowt to report because I have done absolutely nowt (except watch Raffi Nadal win his first Wimbledon match). I don't like doing nowt.

Waves to everyone else!

Thanks for the , SC. Am going to have a real one in a minute!

Toffee, I think your attitude of "If DS had diabetes or epilepsy, I wouldn't hesitate to give him the medicine he needs for that. So why do I worry about giving him something for his mental health? Anyway, I was reassured when the psychiatrist said it had one of the safest safety records for any drug." is great and will support your DS. Obviously any medicine has side effects, but it is a matter of balancing the bad that a medicine can do with the good that a medicine can do.

Anyway, better go and put the baby in the bath. I know Flylady says we are never behind, but I have quite a bit to catch up on this evening!

Bartlet Well, I'm certainly behind this evening - it's gone 7 pm here, which means the DC should ideally be in bed but we've only just got back from the playground so they're still having their tea.
I also use a timer and would be lost without it; in fact, I've mislaid it so often that I've bought myself a spare. Inevitably, I haven't mislaid it now that I have a spare timer.

Toffee That's fantastic news; you must be so relieved at how everything seems to be falling into place for your DS at last. You (and of course he) have been through so much - you definitely deserve that this evening.

Blue Am still searching for my motivation, but am hoping some might miraculously appear tomorrow. (Btw I've bought Trados and am in the process of aligning all my old translations, which is extremely time-consuming but strangely addictive.)

Have just remembered I still haven't remade the DDs' beds so had better go and do it now. DD2 and DS are starting to argue so it's definitely bedtime.

It's the monsoon season here again
Dh strangely impressed by the amount of ferrying I have done this afternoon [Yay!)
Friend for quick look at her chickens
Singing
Ballet
Tesco in between for some odds and sods
Football
and it is Scouts, but someone else is dropping him so I just have to pick him up at 9.30

And Dh has done dd's spelling with her

Toffee nothing is a magic bullet, but sometimes it takes a combination of things to make a difference. You've given yourself heart and soul to try and help ds, I think it is agony worrying about your child, it is not surprising that despite being a relief it is a shock to be told x y z needs to happen. No-one has failed, sometimes just circumstances fail us. There was so much depression in our family, and extended family, and I just weep to think of the lack of intervention, and family members suggesting cereal, or get out more as a solution.

oh, I have to go and pick up the footballers [dons wet suit]

Sorry quick post!

Tomorrows list

menu plan for rest of week
sort mine and dc's wedding outfits
15 min declutter upstairs
sort playroom
meet friend for coffee
write invoices
email photo

And thats it! I have a habit of setting myself lists which are too long and then i don't get any of it done- is this common?

Shit- just noticed it's raining and dry washing on the line is now wet and also left the sand table open so now all the sand is saturated.

ARGH!!

Bartlett - the good thing about drs is that they are very logical about balancing risks. The psychiatrist pointed out that extended periods of anxiety in children of DS's age often lead to depression in adolescence, which is actually more dangerous than him taking Prozac for six months now. What she said made sense. As you say, it is all a matter of balancing the risks.

Hope that you get a chance for some relaxation tonight after catching up.

Linzer - yes, I am relieved that we are getting somewhere at last. Thanks for the !

Swan - "No one has failed, sometimes just circumstances fail us". That's a lovely thing to say. Having agonised for some years over DS, I really do feel there is nothing I could have done to change his predisposition. It's just the way he is and our job is to help him as much as possible.

That is so sad about your family. But it made me laugh (in a black humoured sort of way) that people suggested cereal or 'getting out more' as solutions. Honestly, some people have no idea at all.

Nicknacks - I have learnt to do short lists now, as it gives me a sense of achievement. Otherwise, I just feel I'm failing all the time. Sorry about your wet washing and saturated sad!

DS2 (5) is looking for a game he remembers on the internet. He can't remember the name of it and keeps saying, "Just let me look through the internet until I find it!" He can't understand why we are all weeping with laughter.

Saturated sand, I mean! Freudian slip.

tentatively pokes head round corner and waves sheepishly<
hello all! sorry to have been absent for so long ....real life sort of took over LOL Things have been chaos here as always, but I am making an attempt to regain control of my life and am hoping to rejoin you all for inspiration and motivation if you'll have me! will try and do a bit of reading and catching up...hope you're all doing OK....

Good news Toffee. I hope things move in the right direction for DS now.

I see some "old" names re-appearing here.

Well, today at work was a very productive day. My thrice yearly big job is going well so far, so all good.

DD2's exam today went fairly well. I suspect she was burning the midnight oil to revise through the night as she fell asleep as soon as she got home, but is now nearl bouncing off the walls and driving me crazy!! She cant settle to revise for tomorrow's exam and is doing lots of madcap things to keep her away from her books!

Fed up of the rain now. I want drought!!!! Ozone depleted heat and long hot summer!!!!

Off for the night now. Be back tomorrow

OverflowingMum! Welcome back! I guessed RL might have become a bit busy since you went back to work. In fact, I thought of you today - I wondered if the psychiatrist I met today was actually you. Great to have you back. Promise I haven't been going on about DS all this time - have just had an appointment today which gave me some hope, that's all.

PA - thank you. Glad to hear you've had a productive day and that your DD's exam went well. It must be so stressful for you too. Hope she calms down soon!

Just attempting to get DS1 to bed. I haven't been able to tell him what is happening at school tomorrow because he won't talk about it. Think I'll have to tell him on the way to school in the morning. I feel like I'm going to school too. We have to be out of the house by 8am to get there by 8.45. .

Going to bed early myself. Night all.

Sorry! Feel a bit rough tonight. Just posting tomorrow's step and catching up with thread tomorrow. Hope no-one minds ...

Good to see you back OverflowingMum btw!

Tomorrow's step, no.21, for Tuesday 21st June is here another indoctrination/info one - feel free to ignore

Tomorrow we will be in Zone 4, the master bedroom here

And the mission for tomorrow will appear here once the Flylady site updates itself. Nicknacks be proud! You have already done this!!

For a sneak peak at the week?s missions, look here Again, this may need to update itself.

Tuesday is a free day in Flylady land so just steps, usual routines, hotspots and 15 mins in current zone.

See you in the morning

Feeling v good at the moment because we've finally got a few things put away in the overflowing office/spare room. DH has also finally tackled the pile lurking under his chair and his mouldy football boots have gone in the bin. Have got a bag of rags under the pushchair to drop off tomorrow too. We have also agreed that a tip run needs to be built into the Saturday morning routine for the foreseeable. And the bike shed has arrived and friends have been drafted in to help put it together at the weekend.

Tomorrow is toddlers and work. Need to put some washing on in a bit so it can be hung up/in the drier first thing. Suspect I may be spending some of tomorrow on the phone to repair men though, judging by the puddle this morning. :(

Glad things are looking up Toffee and hope tomorrow goes well.

Nicknacks - I read on another forum about writing "ta da!" lists instead of "to do" ones - writing down the things you've actually achieved. :) This thread is pretty good for that I think.

Hope your DD has calmed down now PA.

Will PM you about trados etc Linzer.

Yawns. Night all.

Second batch of training done, just doing heat treatment and then bed. I want to be alseep before midnight. which will be a start. So i am not going to do personals i am going to turn off the computer.

Blue / NickNacks - that's what I do, ta-da lists, I am always popping on here and doing that instead of writing a list in the first place, I do have spells of having to do lists, but they are very sporadic and I tend to rely on memory and calendar.

OFM - welcome back! Always good to have Flyers return to the thread, the huge numbers at the start of the year have definitely gone down a bit .

Hope all goes well tomorrow Toffee

PA - hello, fingers crossed for DD2 and her exams

SC - you take it easy

CHB - wags finger, not enough sleep I think!

Swan - well done for impressing DH. Mine has suddenly started pulling his weight a bit more around the house, which has really cheered me up

Bartlet - hope you had good weather at the seaside

Linzer - hope your motivation is coming back, I'm sure it will, mine is definitely periodic in nature.

Lady - cake sounds great

Blue - good progress! A regular tip run is a very good idea I think.

Just made a second batch of strawberry jam, we went picking yesterday and came back with masses of them so lots of jam being made and put away for presents. My biggest pan will only let me do 1kg of fruit at a time so I have had to do it twice. DD was very good yesterday hulling strawberries for me, she has very domestic tendencies, I just wish DS would show a bit more interest.

Survived Beavers, although I had a bit of a headache by the end of it, it was raining so we were confined indoors which always adds to the frenzy. Our Scout hut is fortunate enough to have a big enough garden to play football in and it's own woodland area for camp fires etc, so they do get outside as much as poss but not in this weather!

Anyway, I am not doing very well with bed at 10.30 babystep, so I'd better go. Night all

x-posted with you CHB!

Blue sorry I confused you with Pink
OFM hi, I was thinking about you today and wondering how you were, actually thinking on subject of dogs ...(been pondering dogs recently and dog owning capacities)

sink done
washing done
children nicely in bed
long chat with ds1 after Scouts

both dss not behaving well at football and Dh in v grumpy mood at supper due to feeling ill, but clean house has helped harmonious bedtime.

PA sending mysterious enchantments to bind dd back to her books. Maybe she knows it all already and is regenerating

Toffee best wishes for tomorrow, you are both being very brave.

Whoknows so of your Scout Hut! No wonder no-one volunteers for ours as it is small, and has no outside green space at all. The Scouts made a chocolate campfire two weeks ago to teach them how to lay wood (start with Matchstick chocs, move up to Twixes and Mars Bars)

Toffee - hope everything goes well for you and DS today. You both have an army of Flyers behind you willing you on :)

Might sneak back with a 'ta-da' list later, do like that idea but will do short to do one first:

• All up and out (DH already gone)
• WORK - statements and catching up, it might take most of the day
• Morning routine
• Print off DD's photos for homework if I can find way into DH's new camera to get SD card!
• 15mins in master bedroom
• Ironing whilst watching Wimbledon :)
• De-nit the whole family :(

The joys of parenthood

Swan ? You are being waaaaayyyy too positive about DD2 even for me!! I think your campfire sounds brilliant. Who needs to light a fire when you have a chocolate mountain?

Who knows ? hello back! You are very brave to do Beavers. I am of the Strawberry jam. I keep buying strawberries thinking I will make some, but end up eating them instead!

Toffee hope all goes well today.

SC I hope you are soon feeling better. ((hugs)) to you!!

I like the Ta Da list. But will start with "fingers crossed, head down and hope for the best" list:

Work - 1st day back at job no 1 after my attempted few days off.
Bank
Post office
Shopping
Catch up with emails
ironing - I have empty washbins now, thanks to my huge washing machine I can do it all in half the time, I just need to iron quicker.
hoover
cook tea - hmmmmmmm not sure what yet.
trustee meeting
swimming

Sooooooo not a lot of flying going to be done today. Only the blue arsed fly sort of flying that is my normal state of life.

Have a good day everyone. Waves to everyone i have not mentioned

To do list:
Pick up trail of destruction from ds' meltdown this morning
laundry
Anything else that grabs my attention as i walk around house in vague attempt to get some progress.
Ds out of the house for training
Early night!
Do not murder ds, try not to shout at him. it is a thank fuck for school day, but god help his poor teacher. Hopefully he will settle down. Bloody schools and their need for special events. :(

Morning. How are you all doing? [Shakes out umbrella, hangs up everyones sou'westers and rain capes on hooks in naughty corner and arranges Wellington boots in a row, constructs fire made of chocolate]

*

First though, I've just checked my last post and baby-step link doesn't work, so here it is again. Sorry!

Baby-step for Tues 21st is here

Not that it really matters as it is a completely ignorable (askFlylady) one.

*

Feeling much brighter after a really good sleep. Been busy this morning telephoning gp, cardiologist and gynaecologist. Good medical care here but the liaison between the different specialists is a bit tricky. Most of them work out of "cabinets" in their own homes and don't have secretaries, so you feel like you are always disturbing them in the middle of something important (which you usually are!).

Well, we have certainly been dodging the puddles over the last 24 hrs or so:

Yes Linzer I'm afraid your dh will definitely need his umbrella during this visit! [In the meantime, hands over a large packet of motivation, wrapped up in brown paper and string]

Toffee what you say makes complete sense to me. No-one likes the thought of giving dc drugs, but the cause of his anxiety could (either partly or wholly) be chemical (I'm no expert but can't you have too much cortisol in your system that makes you anxious etc etc ??) so why not treat it chemically? As long as he is getting psychological back up as well it sounds like an eminently balanced approach. And I think the point Swanmade about woeful lack of intervention in the past is an important one. Thanks heavens for modern medicine! Good luck to your ds1 today at ss. Sorry your ma is leaving - hope she has a good journey.

Bartlett your w/e by the sea sounds terrific

Swan Crikey - all that ferrying - you'll meet yourself coming back one of these days - no wonder your dh was impressed!!

Nicknacks yes, very common. I know Fat Fairy often talks a lot of bunkum but what she says about perfectionism and small steps makes sense. It can be quite soul destroying to write huge long lists and never complete them as one always then (in one's own mind) feels a failure. Far better to concentrate on short, sharp, realistic, focused bursts of activity at regular intervals!!

Overflowingmum [hands over welcoming ] of course you are always welcome!

[ponders interesting scenario of seeing someone in professional context with whom you also anonymously discuss housekeeping scenarios on an on-line forum!!]

Toffee (again) perhaps you should try and slip a few key fly references such as "lace up shoes" in during next consultation ...!!

Hi PA glad your dd2's exam went well. My nephew is doing O-levels (or whatever they are called nowadays!!) atm and although they've generally gone well, they've taken place over such an extended period of time that he is definitely feeling frazzled now. My sister also reports periods of lassitude and periods of bouncing off walls!! Only one more week to go!! Like the idea of "fingers crossed and hope for the best" list!!

Blue brilliant that you are making such progress - good for you! Good idea about building in tip run to Saturday morning too - definitely going to adopt that one!

Whoknows well done on the jam-making front! I'm desperate to get to my fruit before it withers on the branch! [Have delicious blackcurrants waiting which I love because you can't buy them over here. They only sell something called "myrtilles" which aren't as strong and I don't like the flavour half as much.

Feetheart I'll be ironing and watching Wimbledon with you

Hands over triple espresso to CHB sounds like you need it!!

Humungous waves to anyone I have left out ....!!

Well, DS1 couldn't make it to the 'taster day', but never mind, eh, as my lovely grandfather used to say. We were probably expecting too much of him. I did try to persuade him simply to attend the welcome assembly with me, but he was convinced that he would be tricked into staying. After I'd coaxed him out of the cupboard he'd hidden himself in (amazing how he gets into such small spaces - he should be a contortionist when he grows up), I assured him that it really didn't matter this time. I didn't feel like shouting and I certainly couldn't drag him all the way there, so I didn't have any other option.

Thank you all for your good wishes for today. I like the image of an 'army of Flyers' behind me, Feet .

CHB - so sorry your DS had a meltdown this morning. It's exhausting, isn't it, even when you are used to it? Cross fingers for your early night tonight.

Still - glad you are feeling better today, but I'm sorry you are having this issue with your health to sort out. It sounds like an organisational project in itself. Thanks for your encouraging words about DS. Actually, I have always thought he has too-high levels of cortisol and, as you say, that is a chemical imbalance and needs treating chemically. Yes, yes, yes to modern medicine! I like the idea of dropping Flylady hints into my conversation with psychiatrist, although she might end up thinking I need medication too!

OFM - are you my son's psychiatrist?

PA - hope your job and DD's exams go well today. Looks like a very busy day for you. Definitely no time for Flying.

Swan - I love the chocolate campfire idea . Even DS might be willing to go to a Scout troop that did things like that.

I now have a whole day to get on with stuff at home. Mum has gone home . DH is back at work. DS2 is at school. DS1 is busy on his computer (supposedly doing MathsWhizz) and I'm not going to disturb him at the moment. DS2 is going back to a friend's house after school, which means I don't have to collect him till 6. That means today should be a housework day.

First of all, I have sprayed kitchen and dining room with fly spray to get rid of the dozens of fruit flies which are taking over indoors at the moment. I think it was the bags of rubbish outside that brought them in, but they have been collected now.

Am not going to make a list as it all feels a bit too much. Think I'll come back with a ta-da list later, as someone (who?) suggested.

Sorry to hear that today didn't quite work out as you'd hoped, Toffee. However, so much positive progress has been made over the last few days that the odd setback is probably only to be expected; it may take a while for everything to fall into place, but it sounds like you're well on the way. You're doing everything you can to help your DS and to ensure that he gets the help he needs, but some things are just out of your control. I'm sure that, with all the support you're giving him (and the Prozac is likely to make a big difference too), he'll continue to make progress and we are certainly all behind you.

SC Thanks for the motivation; I just need to unpack it. Glad to hear you're feeling better today; dealing with the Belgian medical system sounds rather exhausting! I won't complain again about Austrian doctors only working limited hours (e.g. four mornings a week and one afternoon if they're "full time", which a lot of mine aren't - I can only see the dermatologist on Thursday afternoons, for example), as they do at least have receptionists.

feetheart Very of you being able to watch Wimbledon. I always feel slightly guilty when I watch it (not that I can here), as if I should be revising for exams - shows how long ago it was that I used to watch!

No to-do or ta-da lists here; the morning was almost entirely taken up with tomorrow's English lesson and work-related stuff. I thought I was going to have a day off washing today, but no such luck - DS got up and announced he was wet (thankfully only his duvet cover was affected, so at least I only had one load to do). Talking of which, must check on the dryer.

It is toffee. knocks all motivation out of you. Been over compensating with extra training to keep me mentally sane but that has backfired and suffering phyiscal burn out instead of emotional burn out. At least the physical burn out is easy to fix.

Sorry to here Ds1 didnt make his taster day. Its a shame. Does he get another chance? Or do you think it is not worth it? How are you doing?