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.

Morning all.

Ihate - I'm sorry you're ill again. Sounds as if you haven't had time to get over the bug first time round. You need to rest, if possible. Also, I'm on your behalf at the man who didn't believe you knew what was wrong with your car. Bet he would have believed your DH! Grr. I hope both you and your car get better soon.

DH has decided to take DS2 out for the morning before collecting MIL to bring her back for lunch, so I should be able to crisis clean the house. Must also print off my holiday packing list. At the moment, though, I am enjoying toast and tea in bed as it's my lie in .

Good morning everyone

A big welcome to SFYS - just take the babysteps one at a time and dont get bogged down with everything else.

Nettie - I am glad you are positive about MIL. So much can be done now.

MAkingChanges - Hope you soon feel better and good luck with the interview.

Ihate Not poorly again!! Hope its just a little blip and you bounce back soon. We had our first homegrown courgette a few weeks ago - YUM!!

Ellie - sounds like a heavenly Saturday evening for you.

BUT ELlie, Ellie, Ellie what are you thinking???? Do you think I would have needed this thread for 2 years if my house was in any sort of order, other than a mess??? I think Toffee might take one look and then be on the next boat back to civilisation!! I think the inspiration she will be getting is "Dont let mine get as bad as PA's."
I think you will all be suspicious of any new posters on here in August, it might be me in disguise when I need to namechange to keep my anonymity!
After blitzing all the kitchen cupboards on Friday DS said "Mum, why are you doing that today, you have got 4 days to make it a mess again, you should have got up early on Wednesday morning so we didnt have time to mess it!" - he knows me so well!!!

Early start for me today as I have already been into work and done some bits and bobs. I know its Sunday, but DD4s birthday tomorrow and I want to do as little as possible tomorrow, so fitted it in this morning instead.

Plan for today:
Washing x2 (ish)
Put on line
Iron
hoover
sort out last kitchen cupboard
start to pack clothes for all of us
Church
NAG NAG NAG DD4 to get her room sorted.
Watch Tour De France - last day!!!!

That will do for now,

Need to tackle my wet hair before frizz becomes too birdsnesty!!

HAve a good day.

Oh and Toffee - lovely weather here today, dont believe the forecasters we are always different here!

no car for a week, and no cousins (they went to Galway with some other cousins for a week) so we've only just got back to mum's from our holiday cottage today, so that ds2 can watch Formula 1 and we can see cousins again. I've spent all my computer time this morning reading your posts

hectic week, not without tears...I think without a computer, or a landline or a car or local shop, or any help with 3 children (dh still in London) has been slightly exhausting 5 days without coffee was not good... or alcohol...Sons have been horrid to each other too...Ds1 keeps picking on ds2, and then ds2 has tantrum....

However, ds1 and I have done lots of running, and dcs have had various distractions/visiting children to entertain them whilst by the lake. Also we had a stray labrador saga..Actually can't think what I've done, seems a blur... Mum in very good mood due to having had a nice peaceful week without noisy children

Better return to RL now.
Enjoy your trip Feet and Toffee. OFM there is a BIG Road Race here with prizes on 10th August 7 km I think, just google Castlepollard. We will back again that day from London.

MC and Reastie Cobweb and Giving so sorry you are feeling ill.

Welcome home, Swan. Sorry you didn't exactly have a relaxing week away, although it sounds as if your children probably had a great time.

PA - is it true that the IOW has its own microclimate? I'm hoping so. Last night, I was checking out things to do if it rains (dinosaur museum, maybe?). I just hope we get at least one day to visit one of the fabulous beaches.

Oh, and I will not, not, not be judging your house! Like you, I am on this thread for a good reason, so I am in no position to judge. Speaking of which, I had better start doing a crisis clean as MIL is coming to lunch and the house needs sorting. For a start, DS2 has managed to use up the entire sitting-room floor in his Lego game .

Hi all. Got up with the boys this morning so an impressive ta-da list if I do say so myself:
Washing done and on line
Clean stuff put away
Empty dishwasher
Made bread
Dinner in oven to cook on low all day
Clean kitchen
Swept floors
Been to church

Still to do - have lunch, gardening, call mum, finish dinner. At least it's dry today - going stir crazy yesterday.

Hope everyone's having a good Sunday.
Get well soon to poorly people and happy holiday to Pa and Toffee. Waves to all.

Hello all!

Blue Very jealous of your fresh bread!

Toffee Hope you have a lovely holiday snooping relaxing!

All poorly people I really hope you feel better soon. It sucks being ill at the best of times but worse when the kids are off school to and no extra respite.

TA DA list (with a hangover and on 4 hours sleep!)

3 loads of washing
Blitzed our room
Hoover and dusted upstairs
Tidied kitchen

TO DO list

2 loads of washing
Bath kids
Hoover stairs
Hoover downstairs
Dinner (fish pie made just needs heating through)
Lay out tomorrows clothes

evening all
swan week sounds hectic! hope next week a bit more peaceful Is Dh joining you soon? Road race sounds good - may be a bit far to travell for a quick run though LOL

toffee enjoy your holiday. I went to IOW as a kid and LOVED it so much...would love to take dc someday

pa enjoy your break too

everyone-else Hi

OK...am SHATTERED today LOL kept waking up all night worried I wouldnt hear my alarm and would oversleep and dd would miss her race (anyone remember the saga of dd3 and me not booking local race she wanted to do in time and her being DEVASTATED,hence me having to find alternative miles away?!?) So...when 6am finally rolled around I was already exhausted! None the less we were on the road by 7.45 am and at race in plenty of time. DD3 and 4 did the 400m kids park run and loved it. DD3 very chuffed with her medal. Then I did the 10K - which I only realised last night when I checked out the route was mostly off-road(think rocky/muddy trail paths) and VERY steep in places with the odd brook to wade though BUT it was actually grerat fun,quite a bit slower than my best 10K time (obviously!!) but a very enjoyable run!
Then home, lunch, laundry etc...
Shopping delivery put away
Have then managed to finish off my power point for presentation tomorrow and emailed to boss....
More washing away
dinner done
etc....

DC still a bit end-of-term-grumpy though
DD1 had her Y6 leavers party last night which went well, but she is feeling sad

have to go to shops tomorrow night after work for last of dd3 bday pressies for Weds
DC at home with dh for next 6 weeks - so will see how that goes LOL (wonder if I can get away with leaving little lists of jobs to be done for him or if that would be a step too far LOL)

right... need to go sort out yet more arguing dc....BBL maybe or tomorrow

Evening all! No flying done whatsoever today but cba .

Am currently in Sheffield ( doesn't one of you live there?). Dh and his bf have come to fulfill a childhood dream to see Iron Maiden in concert. I stupidly volunteered to drive them and his bf's wife has all our dc's at her house. Am having quite a nice time on my lonesome. Have been for a meal and am about to go and watch Harry Potter. The drive home with 2 inebriated men will probably be slightly less palatable . Back later when i have an hour to kill before concert finishes!

Oh hello Ellie I'm almost in Sheff (on the edge between Sheff and Rotherham) MC is here too! You could have come round for a cuppa had I known (glances worryingly round chaos in lounge) although a meal and HP sounds much more fun! Hope drive home goes OK

is it bed time yet LOL

Oh so jealous of your 'me' time ellie and even better, you get to pretend it's all as a favour to DH- he owes you one!

Lots of flying done today. Children have just all gone up to bed and now just need to load the DW and out it on, quick flit about tidying and quick hoover downstairs and fold some towels when they come out of the TD. Max 15 mins and then I'm sitting down! DH working until 10pm so i get to choose what i watch too!

Hope everyone has had a fab weekend and sick people have been looked after.

OM Do you mind me asking how old your children are? i had a dream last night that my three were all twins (so 6 children aged 7,5 and 1). I had a breakdown and was so relieved when i woke up and found it not to be true!
As good as they are i don't think i could do 6! I'm a CM and regularly look after that and more but at least they all go home.

Am feeling organised - something is bound to go wrong . Adapted my France holiday list and have been packing and ticking things off all afternoon. Have lots to do tomorrow - visit MIL, last-minute shopping, yet another crisis clean in the house - so wanted to get a headstart. The main thing is that I have packed the ferry tickets. Have I forgotten anything?

nicknacks dc are 13,11,9,7(on weds), 5 and 3. Nearly drives me to breakdown at times too LOL

toffee of course I am only 30 (+ the small matter of 9 yrs LOL)

right...have made up for being viteous and running by eating loads of junk back to diet plan tomorrow.
now off to bed with my book...

BBtomorrow

I certify you mad OM and very organised! You must be.

Evening all,

Well, I feel as though I have been tidying the whole time I've been in the house this weekend to no avail, the clutter just keeps coming back. Never mind. Will try and catch up a bit tomorrow while DCs are at school. At least all their activities have finished now.

Took them to a farm with a maze, bouncy castle, trampolines etc today and they had a great time, 3 hours just flew by.

Toffee I have seen PA's house, and it was just like mine except a lot bigger! We had a lovely time on the IOW last year, I really liked Osborne House, Blackgang Chine was good, I've been told Robin Hill counry park is better though, so we're going to try that one when we come back. There was a lot we didn't do and want to do this time, like the Needles and Alum Bay.

Cobwebs hope you feel better soon

OFM well done on thr running, and general organisation skills!

Swan good to hear from you, well done on the running to you too.

Nicknacks well done on all your Flying.

Waves to everyone else, night all.

Oh yes, Toffee / WhoKnows - we loved Robin Hill - the only place we got to see red squirrels.

Morning all,

Didn't manage to get on over the weekend as we spent Saturday at my ILs and it was DS's birthday yesterday. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great and it looked like we'd have to spend the entire three hours cooped up indoors with 13 children until DH came up with the idea of taking them all on the hop-on hop-off train that goes round town. It was great: the children loved it, it killed well over an hour and for some reason the train driver decided not to charge for the children and to charge DH and me children's prices (so we paid ?6 instead of ?45!).

My weekend was dramatically improved by DH's discovery of two 400g bars of Fruit & Nut in the cupboard! They should just about keep me going until August. I've never seen Hobbits here before Blue, although I have noticed something similar by Milka (I tried them once and they were a poor imitation!). I'm sure I would have noticed them because of the name; poor DH has to put up with a lot of complaining from me about English brand names and slogans that just don't sound quite right. They seem to be particularly keen on anything that includes lucky, funny or happy and Austrian Airlines likes to tell us that "we fly for your smile".

Nettie Sorry to hear about your MIL, but glad that the outlook sounds so positive.

Waves to everyone else - must get on with a few things while the DC are still asleep. DH left about half an hour ago so I'm enjoying the peace and quiet at the moment, but am not sure how much longer it will last!

To do before the DC get up (am still trying to stick to a max. of three items on my current to-do list):

Empty dishwasher
Put washing on
Pay Betriebskosten

Morning all! Well, we made it back from Sheffield without incident although it was fair to say the men were less than sober yet not as bad as i feared. Quick list from me as i have to go to pick dc's up in half an hour and then go to my mum's for the morning. In linzer style am going to just put 3 things on list for now.

Tidy dining room
Tidy living room
Tidy kitchen

I have half an hour to do those things. Better get cracking!

Oh ellie I am in Sheffield. Am of your me time. ofm race sounds great (and hard) i keep saying i'm going to start running again but never get further than thinking about it .

toffee good luck with packing - also on my list this week and whoever was on the train that sounds fab (on phone can't scroll - maybe linzer?)

Had another rubbish day illness wise Saturday but much better yesterday. Went to find out how to get to school for interview (not til sept but like to be prepared) , went to locate where training and interview is for Wednesday and went put for lunch with dd and dh so nice. Also managed two loads of washing, toy cull, hoover lounge and tidy pc area.

Today dd has made a list of what she wants to do - mine is slightly different

• check freezer for something for tea
• tidy dd room
• post office (another book sold)
• make handbags from craft set bought on sat
• shop for bread etc
• book cheap cinema tickets for me and dd tomorrow - gnomeo and juliet for £1.25 she has seen already but wants to go again.
• tidy up shoe pile at bottom of stairs that i gathered from all over house yesterday.
• sort put childcare for swimming lesson and gym session this week
• washing x 3 minimum

Unfortunately not allowed to do any jobs until watched kung fu panda with dd so off for some quality snuggles

Bbl

Good morning

Linzer, your birthday treat for DS sounds brill. Its DD4s birthday today. Her sleepover on Friday night was awful. Why are some teenagers so miserable? I am just not used to it. ALl my other 4 DC have had lovely friends who I relate to, we all have fun together and I have always loved having them in the house. DD4s are a female version of "Kevin". I dont think they cracked a smile once and painful conversations at the dinner table, ask a question, get a grunt answer accompanied by a look as if we are the weirdos who are daring to invade their space!!!

So I have given DD4 the option of what she wants us all to do today, awaiting my instructions for this afternoon. Could be a beach day as looking good out!!

If we are only doing a list of 3 things for today, then mine would have to be:

A list of 3 things to do after I have returned from work this afternoon and after we have done what DD4 wants for her birthday:

1. Clean & hoover the whole house.
2. washing & ironing x a million!!
3. Pack absolutely everything as I still have not started!

Off to work now, so be back later.

Oh dear PA, I'm glad you didn't take me up on my offer of swapping the teenagers for 10 preschoolers! Your guests sound rather like DH's niece, who wasn't there when we went to visit my ILs on Saturday so is insisting that her GPs bring her to visit us in August instead. I am insisting that they come at the weekend when DH is around so that I don't have to bear the brunt on my own!

MC Good to hear you're feeling better; enjoy your snuggles.

ellie Glad you survived the journey back without incident!

I managed to get my three items done just before the DC got up, but seem to have ground to a halt since. Must make another list to get done before I allow myself my morning coffee:

Ironing
5 minute RR in living room
Take paper down to recycling bin

PA - sorry to hear about the female 'Kevins' who stayed over for the sleepover. A beach day sounds a much cheerier prospect.

Making - glad you're feeling better. Quality snuggles sound lovely! My DS2 is watching 'Bolt' and playing with Lego whilst I type. As a result, I have been able to get things done.

Ellie - you are a true Flylady if you can sort those three rooms in half an hour (room rescues?)

Linzer - what a brilliant birthday party! I bet the children loved it.

WhoKnows/BlueEyes - Robin Hill is now on my IOW list!

I have been reading the Flylady book and I must say it does help to have it all there in black and white in front of me and read up on the reasons why she suggests certain things (like the shoes issue). There are things there that I've never noticed on the website - such as her ideas for managing laundry. She suggests that you get hangers ready by the tumbledrier, then hang the washing up as soon as it's dry. Simple, I know, but sometimes my dry washing gets forgotten and then it's all creased. And I hate that feeling of opening the tumbledrier to put a load in, only to discover yesterday's load is still in there, all crumpled.

So, yesterday I got all my hangers ready and hung everything up as soon as it was done. This morning, all I had to do was whisk everything up to the right wardrobes - and no ironing required. Somehow, it didn't seem as much of a palaver as it usually does.

This morning, I was going to come down in my dressing gown and get breakfast - but then I remembered the 'getting dressed first' bit, so I decided to get myself back into school-day mode and get ready. That really did seem to galvanise me.

Ta da list

Swish and swipe bathroom
Make beds
Reload dishwasher
Load washing machine (sheets)
Put yesterday's dry washing away
Pop to corner shop for bread
Breakfast
Check emails and MN

To do

Room rescues
Tackle DS2's bedroom (black bin bag required)
Tumbledrier
Washing - 2nd load
DS1's tutor here - midday
(Take DS2 to playground)
Lunch
Visit MIL
Library
Shopping
Home
Packing
Dinner
Bed

However, I do take issue with Flylady's claim that she can do the 'home blessing' in one hour. Her sums don't add up. And many of the things that she says take a few minutes take me a lot longer - like swishing and swiping the bathroom (if I include counters, as she says we should do).

Anyway, this has turned into a bit of a mammoth post, so I think I'll stop there.

Have a good day, everyone.

Toffee Yes, I find it easier to read FlyLady's book than to navigate her website, plus there's information in there that I haven't found on the website (and vice versa, of course).

I've never been able to work out a way of drying the washing completely but without creases, even if I take it out of the dryer straight away. We have three settings on our dryer, which are (roughly translated) "iron dry", "cupboard dry" and "extra dry" but only extra dry gets the washing really dry and I only use it for things like towels, beddings, underwear etc. that don't crease - most other things end up quite creased and I can't get the creases out by ironing because the clothes are already dry. I dry most things on "cupboard dry", which means they're still damp when I take them out of the dryer but I don't need to iron them if I hang them up straight away.

Finally finished my list and so am now having my mid-morning coffee, although it's nearer to lunchtime here. Next three things to get done:

Spend 5 mins on hot spots in living room
Put dry washing away and hang up today's washing
Drink glass of water

Can I feel any more stressed without exploding? Nightmare morning at work.