Fledglings flying though July into the summer.

[ColdHeartedBitch]

Roll up, roll up. tis the month of school fetes, sports days and annual reports. In all this flurry of extra activities and with the summer holidays hurtling towards us at rapid speed, now is the time to tame the chaos before our very special chaos creators are able to help us. Fully intending to beat the Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome so that my personal chaos creator can be occupied by others this holiday. Good luck to all to are also striving to achieve this.

Starting from the 1st of the month we shall be fluttering our way to tamed houses. If you are new to the system it is recommend that you focus on making the babysteps your main focus. The babysteps will build up to form routines to help you to stay on top of the house once you have discovered it. First step is to shine your sink. But not just half heartidly, deep clean til it shines Instructions here

For the more established flyer we then progress onto decluttering. 15mins each day in alloted zone of the week. New zones each week. and current zones and decluttering instructions can be found here Zones will automatically update for July.

As for the advanced flyer, there are missions to do each day in the current zone

We have one rule we are NOT perfectionists anything is better then nothing, real life gets in the way and we have to do other stuff other then cleaning (put it on your list, tick it off and :) ), besides the fat fairy's moto is "You are never behind"

As such take the vomit inducing cuteness of the website with a pinch of salt, and join us for wish lists formally to do lists , ta da lists and home bleurghs.

See you bright and early tomo although hopefully not too bright and early.

BTW OM think sight of sausage casserole at 7am would finish me off. You are true heroine!

Waves to Reastie and Mc and everyone else!

OFM - share a -my DH has just made a day that started off badly, got worse as it went on and DH has just topped it all by being an argumentative so-and-so!

Thats me for tonight. Had enough of today!!!!

Maybe have a trip to the mainland tomorrow for some clothes shopping for the holiday, which might help me smile again!!!

OFM ds2 is a bit like that, I've learnt to expect no organisaton from him at all; and gets very worked up about [odd] things he needs to take to school like magic wands, sadly not clean uniform. Bless her at least she wants to be smart. Tonight he got ready for bed (he is 9!) and put on a pair of sailing trousers.
Blue you made me think of the AA Milne poem Happiness "John has big red waterproof boots on, John has a big red waterproof hat etc (okay I know they were shoes not boots...but still) glad you had a nice day despite the rain
Tulip is still very industriously hoovering and organising after baby's bedtime, rather than pegging out on the sofa like the rest of us She has scrubbed, polished, vacuumed and decluttered all day, and dealt with various bureaucratic matters very successfully, including naptime Even the curtains have been hoovered!
MC has been running with a friend, and made money successfully decluttering old uni books and mobiles

There has been talk of hash keys, powers of attorney, and tracking systems that suggest to us our next purchase (I personally would find that a bit so what if I bought pickled walnuts last week, I don't necessarily want them again for a long time...might depress me to see all my extravagances flashing before my eyes)

There has been yearning for electrical circuitry Reastie OFM and Who and Tulip, and triumph over unnamed CDs which have been restored to their rightful thrones, and even categorized SC.

SC has successfully employed dd as CD sorter, has cast aspersions on 80's music how could she? - and cleaned her oven. I quite like pulling everything out to sort out at once, it's odd, I find it a tonic, as long as there is enough time to tackle it... and no badtempered kids around. I know it is not very flylady. Lovely dd to rise to challenge.

Feet is thinking ahead, and getting tips on online supermarkets. I recommend veg box delivery as one thing less to lug home, and loads less packaging. Also thrice weekly milkman is good. We have no milkman in Ireland, and I notice how I spend all my time lugging milk home from supermarket, compared to London.

Cobweb tried a new patchwork course

more when I've scrolled!

Toffee was very helpful to MIL, and ds2 is getting lots of quality time
[I hasten to add ALL FLYLADIES give their children quality time, this is a generally acknowledged truth - even when setting them to work ]
CHB on an explosive mixture of hair bobbles, jelly beans and internet deprivation, dealt with lots of difficult matters, found ds's shoes (always a problemin our house - most of my ranting consists of SHOES! IN HALL BASKET NOW!) and is preparign for visitors who should have arrived, and I hope are giving her a hand

oh dear, getting very late now, my eyes are actually smarting
Leaver's Mass lovely, a few tantrums from various family members before we got reached that serene stage in teh evening. DD and Ds1 had timeout in garden. I think I need to be v.firm in solo hols - as everyone is over-indulging their temper tantrums at moment...tiredness no doubt, but boundaries nec.

and now it's the morning after the night before
cat was hiding under our bed overnight, and ended up licking DH's toes at 3.00am
ds2 woke us up from 7am onwards with regular bulletins/demands, but we were both too exhausted to get up till 7.45

lovely sunny morning, everyone wandering in and out of garden
done
supervised 3 dcs writing thank you cards to teachers and TAs
found wine and chocs for teachers, and in ds2's case he insisted on giving his teacher one of our newly cleaned ornaments a glass bird (dh let him
found glue, scissors, sellotape, cards, bags
children to school with waterbottles

todo
clear breakfst table
clear baking dish which ws not washed up
hang out damp washign on bannisters (dd brought it in, but not quite dry)
photocopy holiday address details to give to friends who might visit
book taxi to pick us up from airport in Ireland
sort out recycling and neaten Steptoe's Yard for child visitors today
book table at Nando's for ds and friends this afternoon
buy some more chocs for school

And CAMHS appt for ds2 (second referral) has come through for August 3rd, when we are back from Ireland, so excellent timing. Want something sorted before next school year begins as he was first flagged up in Year 3, and this is now nearly Year 5!!!!!! OFM school and now CAMHs think ds has mild Asperger's; school in particular have said they can only access help if he has dx, and the help is not even dependent on statementing (they have only just told me this) I have now come round to school's way of thinking that it is better for him to have label. I'm realising my own dislike of labelling is coming into it. Dr said Ds2's violent outbursts would be classified as Autistic rather than Asperger's, and I kept saying no, no, he is definitely not Autistic,so it just shows how quickly one puts up barriers...after all they are just words..

PA hope your dh got a kiss this morning (my dh is always arguing at bedtime - he claims I am the one starting the arguments of course
enjoy clothes shopping - I love shopping for clothes to wear in really HOT countries, all those crisp new cottons, imagining what they will look like with tan etc etc, espadrilles.. (not that I have been to HOT country for a long while)

Thanks for round-ups swan!

Today started far too early as DH forgot to change his alarm clock from yesterday. Had big row with DS1 who refused to even look at the clock, let alone admit that 5.45 was too early to get up.

So, have decided to do a star chart for going back to bed nicely when told! Any suggestions for an appropriate reward at the end of it?!

Ta-da:
DS1 to nursery in one piece
washing in machine
hoovered upstairs
cleaned bathroom
collected scattered ricecake crumbs and calpol spoons from around the house
made bed

To do:
Hang out washing
Hoover downstairs
mop hard floors
many hotspots to put out
DH to mend loo roll holder
sort laundry
create DS1's star chart
Paid work to catch up on last 2 days

MC - at making money from old uni books - nobody wants mine.

CHB - oh yes, with you on the shoes. And socks. They're usually under the dining table in this house, obviously.

Hope everyone's feeling better today.

Morning ladies Awesome round up last night!

As I sit here there are baby handprints on my black glossy wallfire, handprints on the tv stand, doggy nose/paw prints on my back door and washing up in the sink.

I got up earlyish at 7am to give myself lots of time to play domestic goddess get dd and ds1's packed lunch ready and generally dust/potter round. Even managed to put a load of washing in (that I only had because of our spectacular can't-hold-it-anymore- pooing dog. Two nights in a row now, one more and we're buying her a kennel!)

S'pose I'd better go do something, coffee has gone cold anyway and ds2 is asleep on the boob so look like being an early nap today.

Quickly tho...

Ta-Da:

• s&s'd bathroom
• hosed down dogs bedding to get the worse off
• carefully placed it in washer ad promptly put on a nice long wash
• wiped kitchen sides down
• made packed lunches
• wiped sides down again
• made breakfasts (chopped strawberries and grapes today nom nom)
• wiped sides down yet again (becoming a habit you see )
• washed up
• did dd and ds1's reading books/spellings/word boxes and wrote in their school journal
• enveloped up ds1's trip money and wrote a consent note for his teacher (as ds2 tried to munch the original letter)
• lost track of time and was 10mins late for school bus, they had to ring me to tell me

To Do: (today or over weekend)

• finish online shop
• vacuum all rooms
• vacuum under furniture/appliances
• sweep bathroom (dh put the shelving unit up last night so I no longer have stacks if towels on the floor like I've had for the 3 years )
• declutter master bedroom (it's at the point of urgency now!)
• freecycle more of my junk (it's addictive)
• wash dc's bedroom curtains
• ?? Feel like I've forgotten something...

Much love xx

Looks like naptimes off the cards

Blue Mine are teaching books from my PGCE course. I'm thinking that new PGCEers will have just got their reading lists so using Amazon as that is where they look first. Having said that, some are getting dusty.
Swan good news about Appointment
PA hope you get some nice shopping done.
Hello to everyone else.

So far this morning have been and done the weekend shop - I spent more time stood in the queue than doing the shopping which was irritating.

I have beeninstructed by DD that I need to do some washing today as her washing basket is oveflowing!! I'm not sure about cleaning emands being given by a 5 year old.

To Do

• Un pack shopping
• See if I can fit in two loads of washing before lunchtime
• Pack myself a picnic and go to DDs school for family fun afternoon and picnic
• Find a stamp (I buy these in bulk, why can I never find them when I need them)
• Find my receipe for my chinese duck for tea
• Make quorn chilli today for tea tomorrow (My attempt to avoid weekend eating out)
• Tidy out fridge
• Attempt understairs tidying

That will do for now - Back later. Have a good day everyone

MC I persuaded dd to put her washing in laundry basket in her room. This routine was going smoothly all week...
Eventually dd asked me quite politely if the contents of her laundry basket was ever going to be put in washing machine I had forgotten it, things look so neat when in laundry baskets....so that's where all the white socks were..oh dear

Swan - great round up!

Tulip - naptime should be at the top of your list!

MC - shopping done by 10am? Very impressive.

BlueEyes - sympathies re your DS's early awakenings. I have the opposite problem in that DS2 won't wake up in the morning - but I would so much rather it were that way round. I remember the early mornings (5am - argh!) and they were hell. A friend of mine is getting her four-year old to wake her 15 minutes later each morning and rewarding him (with a Mr Man book) when he completes a certain number of days. He is up to 6.15am now (he looks at his digital clock).

Am feeling very, very tired and sluggish after my weird sleep last night. Fell asleep with DS2, then was wide awake till 2am, then woken in the night by DS2, then could barely crawl out of bed this morning. Luckily, it is my DS2's afternoon with his CM today, so I have a bit longer at home and can, hopefully, fit in a nap (ssh - don't tell DH).

Today's list:

S&S
Put recycling boxes out for collection today
Washing up
Unload d/w
Put washing on
Put dry washing away from yesterday
Sort pile of laundry in our bedroom and put away stuff (least favourite job, but always feel better afterwards)
Ironing
Read 'Harry Potter' with DS1
Room rescues
Lunch
Nap
Reading/emails/notes re DS1
Collect DS2
Pay CM
Dinner
Washing up
Ring MIL (or DH do it)
Bedtimes
Before-bed routine
Watch DVD with DH? (didn't manage it last night)
Bed at decent hour

morning all

swan I know what you mean about labels.... but sometimes they are helpful I think...

mc LOL at your dd, bless her!

tulip hope you do get some nap time....fingers crossed

pa hope your feeling better this morning and are enjoying clothes shopping.

stillchuckingit well done on cd organisation!

Ok...well need to be VVV productive today I have decided! have been hard at it all morning and am now having a planned break!

rather oddly too someone appears to have stolen DS1 in the night and replaced him with an identical looking, yet perfectly behaved model he is on holiday from today, so I left him in bed when I went to take dds to school, expected him to still be in bed when I got back....but....arrived home to find he had got up, had a shower (miraculous in itself!) and had voluntarily taken the dog for a walk, remembering to lock the front door behind him (demonstrating he hasnt lost his house key again yet!) and leaving me a note to say where he was
THEN when he got in he went upstairs and started tidying his room - without being asked
All very strange...not sure what is going on!

anyway....some quick lists then must get back to it...

Ta da:
5 dc up , dressed breakfasted, (ds1 lying in!)
wm on and run
washing hung out
wm reloaded and run
breakfast things cleared
thorough clean upstairs bathroom including washing tiles and woodwork and washing floor
tidied littlies room superficially
school run
home
washing hung out
wm re-loaded and on
tidied lounge
dusted lounge,including skirting boards
hoovered lounge - including behind sofas
cleaned lounge windows
cleaned kitchen windows
wiped down kitchen surfaces
washed down ds2 who had covered himself in blue felt tip pen while my back was turned

To do list:
sort kitchen cupboards and fridge and freezer before shopping delivery
Shopping delivery away
ring nursery to arrange settling in visits for ds2
sort paperwork pile on top of microwave
tackle top of piano and dining room shelves
dust dining room
good tidy littlies room
dust bedroom
reboot laundry
Tackle our room which is currently a tip!

right....best get on then BBL

OFM - [hgrin] at your doppelganger son. (ref: Invasion of the Body Snatchers).

arf at OM'q "doppelganger" ds! Long may it continue!

DD and I back to work this morning (I'll be sending her up the chimneys next Swan ) It's DVDs and two sections of books today. Fortunately a much smaller collection of DVDs than CDs and fortunately dd still of an age where she finds matching them up and sorting them out quite fun.

We have also rediscovered many lost favourite tunes which we have been playing while we work. The man who came to fix our exterior blinds found us "on our chargers" at either end of sofa, "swords" wooden spoons in hand, going in to battle to the sound of the Karelia Suite at full volume this morning - just at the crucial moment where I'd be wounded in battle and dd was attempting to effect a rescue on her superior steed. Think he is about to call the little men in white coats ....

Blue not sure if age appropriate but dd always appreciates going to toyshop and being allowed to choose one of those smallest size boxes of Playmobil as a reward for something (they are about Euros 5 here)

Brilliant round-up as ever Swan Arf at your cat and Steptoe's yard!! Good luck with your appt. today.

Happy shopping PA!

Hope your dog recovers soon Tulipsia and offering to you and Toffee - sounds like you both need caffeine shot ...

MC wish my dd even noticed clothes needed washing!!

DD out with friend for a couple of hours over lunch-time. Must go and profit from the time and get some washing prepped and on. Annoyed with myself because it is unexpectedly sunny today and instead of drying on the line, our dirty clothes (needed for travels this w/e) are on the laundry floor.

Thereafter = pantry sorting. Defrosting and cleaning fridges and freezer.

Then= room my sister will be sleeping in when we rtn.

Must crack on with it. Huge waves to everyone ....

Oooh, cleaning things in Aldi on Sunday... (how sad is that?!)

Today i am opening the naughty corner bar early. School report day Ds was lovely and organised with plenty of time this morning, despite it being gone 10:30pm before he went to bed last night. He'll be tired today.

It was late last night when i went to bed and tbh I have been back to bed today. Was that shattered slept til about half hour ago. About to grab shower and get up for the evening. Going to be busy here. Will post linkies later (probably post midnight you have been warned)

Progress report:

S&S done
Put recycling boxes out for collection today done
Washing up done
Unload d/w done
Put washing on done
Put dry washing away from yesterday
Sort pile of laundry in our bedroom and put away stuff (least favourite job, but always feel better afterwards)
Ironing
Read 'Harry Potter' with DS1 he didn't want me to read to him
Room rescues
Lunch done
Nap
Reading/emails/notes re DS1
Collect DS2
Pay CM
Dinner
Washing up
Ring MIL (or DH do it) done - she is going out to see a film tonight!
Bedtimes
Before-bed routine
Watch DVD with DH? (didn't manage it last night)
Bed at decent hour

Also had to dash round to a friend's house to help her out with babysitting as she had to pick up her sick four-year old from nursery. DS1 and I spent half an hour singing and attempting to distract the distraught, weeping baby with toys. DS even played to him on the piano. Everything worked for about 2 minutes, then we'd have to find another distraction. The baby didn't cheer up until his mum reappeared, at which point he beamed happily.

DS's home ed today has looked like this: Maths Whizz; lunch; child-care studies; media studies (watching telly); IT (computer time later).

Right, back to work.

Hi all, thought I better join this thread as I am really getting dragged down by all the mess in my house and seriously need to do something about it (yet actually just doing it turns out to be really hard ). Hopefully I can get into a good routine that will stop me stressing out and getting depressed every single time I have a day off - it's like I have to do everything right away but can't, and knowing I can't get depressed and find it hard to do anything at all, hence getting more stressed and depressed. Phew. [sending a wave to all on the thread]

A warm welcome to DizzyKipper!

Know exactly the feeling you describe - as do lots of us on here. My house was an utter pit when we started this thread two years ago.

The flylady system is good for stopping that pressured "rabbit in headlights" feeling. It starts off by telling you what to do when (and no more) and because you know that the baby-steps will come around every month as will the missions, you know everything will be covered eventually and so you start panickign less and as a result, being more productive.

Have you flown before? Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.

Well done on your mercy mission Toffee!

To me it sounds rather exciting and progressive Blue (all supermarkets closed here on Sundays!)

Waves to CHB and leaves out fortifying for day/night ahead

Running out of steam here. Can't wait for dh to be back from his travels. Absolutely LOVE the holidays but it's seemed like a long week with just being one-on-one with dd.

HOW MUCH DO 9 TEENAGE BOYS EAT???????? Just cooked 10 full sized pizzas thinking there would be plenty for them, some for DD4 and yummy cold pizza for lunch tomorrow. DD4 is looking like the female version of Oliver, pizza all gone, she has had none . 4 huge bags of doritos - all gone!! 3 pots of salsa dip - All gone!!

I have just had a lovely day on the mainland shopping with DD1 for lots of holiday clothes and bits. Came back with bags of clothes for the family, which included one pair of £1.50 flip flops for the beach for me!! Bank balance has certainly taken a battering, though.

Not a lot of housework done today, although I was up at 5.30 to put the washing on the line and sort out the back lounge for the pizza party tonight. (hoovering at 6.30am is a great way to end up with grumpy teenagers for breakfast! )
I then spent about a hour filling in more of this mega application form on the computer, only for my computer to not save what I had done. GGgggrrrrrrrrr!!!
Will have another go this evening!

Welcome DK and waves to everyone, sorry for lack of messages, feeling more than a little dazed and weary!

well, after a promising start to the day it has ended in total disaster
Shower in ensuite appears to have died and taken to mad dripping where it fits to the wall...which then ran down behind the tiles on the wall, and through the ceiling and into the hall....
and as if that wasnt bad enough on the way home from school pick up the car TOTALLY died. just totally cut out as I was entering a (thankfully V quiet) roundabout I had to drift it into the sider as best I could, then abandoned it and walked down road to morrisons cafe as all dc in car , very hot, fed up and on not happy! rang dh who had to come and rescue us and has now gone back out to meet recovery folks. However it doesnt look good. We have had SO much trouble with this car, have spent thousands on it, and it is still a pile of crap.Trouble is we have NO spare money at all just now so cant even afford to get it fixed....which leaves us truly buggered as it is virtually impossible to get dh to work, kids to school and me to work without the big car (too many dc to fit into dh car on school run,rubbish buses about once a week to where we live!)) so God knows what we'll do. May have to just abandon last week of school. Thanks heavens there's only 4 days to go!
However has meant I am now totally peed off. had made good progress on list, and was hoping to carry on after school run but feeling too grumpy now....too bad we finished off the bottle of wine last night....sigh....
aaaaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhh!

OFM - (I'm sorry it's only the virtual stuff)

What a rotten day you've had. I'm so sorry about the shower and, even more, the car. Cars just eat money, don't they? I hope you manage to get it all sorted out. Maybe things will look better after a good night's sleep.

PA - I have been warned about the amount teenage boys eat: fridge loads of food, apparently . Glad you had a good shopping trip, although you clearly didn't spend enough on yourself .

Still - when is DH back? It will be a relief for you. Hope he lets you have a lie in one morning.

Dizzy - welcome to the thread. As Still said, we all know the feeling you describe. It's true that the Flylady routines help to get rid of that panicky feeling. I now focus only on my daily/weekly routines, rather than panicking and getting depressed by the overall chaos. And my house is looking a lot better than it used to.

Managed some ironing this afternoon, but then CM had to bring DS home unexpectedly because he was complaining that his willy hurt and he wanted to be with his mum! He cried when he tried to wee, poor boy, so I rang the dr and got an emergency appointment this evening. He has 'balsinitis' or something - a skin infection, basically - and we have cream for it. Hopefully, DS will be right as rain in a couple of days. He refused to do a wee before bedtime, so I'm expecting a wet bed tonight.

After our visit to the doctor, we spent an hour in a local park with some friends. It was the perfect before-bed routine. DS2 was exhausted by the time he got home and fell asleep easily for once.

No chance of tackling the rest of my list now. Maybe tomorrow...

Evening everyone

Hooray for roundups, I must admit I am really struggling to keep up with the thread (and the housework!) at the moment. Although I am still officially on maternity leave I am effectively working full time at the moment. Fecking useless economy!

Moreorless keeping on top of the washing and the dishwasher, which is about as good as it gets here.

Any in the naughty corner?

Hi Dizzy! Fly lady's 15 min slots definitely help to deal with that panicky feeling for me.

PA - 9 teenage boys - not looking forward to that phase! Glad the shopping was fun though.

Toffee - your poor DS! Hope he feels better soon. DS1 was complaining of a sore willy a few weeks back but he seemed to recover pretty quickly.

OFM - Sorry you've had such a bad day - here's hoping something can be done about the car.

SC - I meant my excitement about cheapo microfibre cloths and suchlike was sad, rather than their availability!

Hope you're feeling better now CHB.

Got most of the list done except the hotspots which will have to wait till tomorrow (again!). Tomorrow's list is mainly gardening and shopping - so crowd control with boys while DH does gardening! Have made DS1 a clock sticker chart and may well go with the Mr Men books as a prize as he loves them and we already have a stash that he doesn't know about! (Thanks for the idea Toffee)

Must go. Eyes glazing over! Waves to everyone I've missed.