It's August - can the Fledglings keep FLYing with children underfoot?!

[BlueEyeshadow]

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome to August's edition of the Fledgling Flyers,
Meine Damen, Mesdames, Ladies! (although any Herren, Messieurs and Gentlemen would be very welcome too, I'm sure, and apologies for the show tunes now lodged in everyone's heads ...)

If you're trying to keep out of CHAOS over the summer holidays, with the dear children creating havoc all around, then pull up a chair, roll up your sleeves and join in the fun.

Fly Lady's website is here, but we don't recommend signing up for the emails unless you want an ironically cluttered inbox. I'll post the links to the information for every day this month and try to keep up with all the chat.

There are babysteps to get you started on forming a routine, and missions to do once each room is decluttered and, as the Fat Fairy says, it's amazing what you can do in fifteen minutes. We'll be starting August in the entrance, front porch and dining room, and sifting the sense from the cutesy language. :)

I notice from the archive that it's the thread's second birthday so I'm sure there'll be cake as well as plenty of , and - virtual, so no calories - along the way. Finally, a big thank you to CHB and Swan for leading us heroically through a hectic July!

And welcome to silverymoon .

Morning all.

Thanks for the elliepac just the thing! My DH has also gone back to work this morning (with a wobbly lip at leaving DS!) so I have peace to FLY; but I'm also back to work too, so that should be interesting!

I also am going to have to ponder my list for the day. The basic morning stuff is done (dress, shower, breakfast), so once DS finishes watching his programme on the tv (Show Me, Show Me taped so I can eat my breakfast ) I think we'll be heading out for a walk - or a push in his case!

Will be back to post once he's napping and I'm working!

Toffee tried gargling with salt water?

Hi guys, good morning :)
Am much improved from yesterday, but regret doing so little, now I've loads to do!

Ok to do list:
wash and dress
swish and swipe
empty dishwasher
put on wash (x3?)
empty wash (es)
get dd1 back from my mum's- she stayed there last night
try and do a bin myself,dp only took one with him on the way out to work :(
general tidy up of sitting room
see is I can do a clear out of the far side of the kitchen table

toffee, do you think there is sany chance of mumps? When I had it, it was sore for around a week before the monsterous swelling started. It is excruciating :(

Please forgive me if i bore you to tears today . Am going to post what i have done every couple of hours in the vain hope it will motivate me .

Ta da list :-
Dc's breakfast
Tidied/vacuumed/ polished living room and dining room
Cleared worksurfaces in kitchen ready to clean in there
Washing on line
Washing on
Got dressed

Next 2 hours to do :-

clean kitchen
Washing on line
Mop hallway
Ironing
Clothes away

Ds is on the wii, dd is watching diego but the theory is that we get out for a bit this afternoon to make up for screen time this morning.

Good morning everyone.

Quick post before I take DD2 to work.

Helllllooooooooo Silvery

Hope you feel better soon Toffee and DS.

Back from a weekend away. Why, oh why, oh why?????????
Apparently when DD1 crawled in got home after a night out on Sunday morning at 4am she and her friend decided they were hungry!! They woke DH up when they had cooked chips, sausages, bacon, beans, and had eaten ice-cream.
I swear the family invited a swarm of locusts into the house in my absence. No way could they have eaten the entire contents of the fridge and freezer and started on the food cupboard. I was only gone for 3 days!!!!

So the main job for today is to restock my cupboards and fridge and freezer yet again!!!
Filter for hoover has arrived, so finally I can hoover throughout again
Clean windows downstairs
Ironing
Sort out a spreadsheet for monthly outgoings (Never done this before, but now needs to be a bit planned)

Right, that will do for now. Day off today, and I plan to go out with DCs this afternoon and make the most of it. Beach or forest? Mmmm!!

Off for a quick read through and I will be back later.
Have a good day everyone.

mc another grr on your behalf! I would be fuming too. Rant away!!
toffee what a fab friend indeed. Hope ds is better still this morning
whoknows thanks for the link. I will Definately have a look. Sounds like a lovely day and I take heart at your ds being well behaved in a restaurant! Dc are awful at mo and we we regularly choose places where we can sit outside so as not to be embarrassed
swan brill list, although I did think it a bit drastic to cut your own hair to force you to make a hair appointment
cobwebs hope things settle down soon. It is difficult. You will do brill once you get into a routine.
sm welcome good list
Huge waves to everyone I've missed.

Fat fairy is reading my mind! Love bedmaking step it's the one thing I've been consistant at in my however many years of flying. And home office is my huge hotspot I'm trying not to tackle, especially as cat keeps peeing on carpet!!

But beside that my plans
Make picnic for zoo- done
Get washed- done
Move washing on two days in machine stuck on uneven load=putrid stinky washing
S/s
Bedmaking
Washing swimming stuff
Reply to friend whose dad hopefully with be out if hosp following treatment for lung cancer. Poor sod but doing much better
research birthday presents for 5 year old son who wants everything but nothing if you know what I mean.
Look at whoknows website for lovely plant
Gym- first time in ages!!!
Think that'll do for now, off to get dressed

Yawn at ellieS list

Have great day everyone

wii = hand eye coordination work
diago = language skills

its all good ellie

right still feel like death but nothing a couple of cups of coffee won't fix.

Done
up
empty car
take to garage for mot and service (fingers crossed it passes first time and there isnt anything major to repair)
shopping

Currently have a break for breakfast before i finish emptying ds' room for decorating and decide if the ankle is up to me doing any decorating today or if it will have to wait until tomo. going to be a long busy week.

x-posted pa hello, at all fridge freezer contents gone! Hope you have a lovely day/forest or beach

waves to chb

Morning all

At home today, so hope to get some stuff done. DH has gone to work (was at home all last week - signed off ill, then working from home - I think that was causing most of my frustration - that a job I'd asked to be done while I was at work, eg put washing on line, wouldn't happen (not once in the week!, and I was coming home to a house in a mess, breakfast and lunch stuff still out etc etc). I'm planning to go uniform shopping with DS this afternoon, open wallet and wince.

Done
Morning routine
DH out of house
Washing on line
RR living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom (prep for WHBH)
Make beds
Food bin, recycling bins, green bin in
Encourage DS to get dressed on his own
Write/draw DS's list of jobs for this morning

To Do
Washing up
WHBH
S/s
Modify zone cleaning list as I don't have as much time anymore
Zone cleaning
Zone mission
Hotspot
Paper file item
Garden
Pay bills
Lunch
Uniform shopping
Walk/playground - whatever we fancy
Make tea
Pack bag for DS - going to DM's Tuesday and Wednesday
Tea
Evening routine
Watering
Washing on airer
Washing in machine
Exercise
WI paperwork
Work bag and food for tomorrow

Thanks for your support - part of me knows I will get into a system, the rest of me wants it to happen NOW, as getting a backlog of stuff can increase my anxiety, stop me sleeping, and generally screw me up

Hi again ladies,

Well, so far today seems to be going well

My ta-da list looks like this so far:
Up - done (I take my victories where I can!)
Shower & Dress - done
Breakfast - done
Get DS up, dressed and breakfasted - done
Get DH up, dressed and out the door - done
Take DS for a nice walk - done
Get DS down for a nice nap - done
Washing - done 2 loads (and hung out! I love sunny days!)
Work - done (yay - first day "back" is over!)
Coffee break & MNet - in progress

Still to do
1 load of washing - DH decied to empty his chair into the washing bucket after I'd sorted washing out yesterday
Clean up kitchen - hubby cooked last night and I was soooo full, I CBA
Lay away yesterdays' washing - wasn't quite dry enough last night, so hanging in dining room
Take DS for another walk - think we'll take the car to the beach and he can roll about there.
Tidy up dining room
Think about reordering kitchen cabinets & drawers - DS can now get in them and it's a bit at some of the contents. May have to think about it more before doing it as it'd be nice not to have to keep doing it!

Think that should do me for today!

CHB - hope the is going down nicely. I can't function properly without a good cuppa!

Ihatecobwebs - loving the name, and feeling your pain about wanting things to happen now. I'm very impatient too - but as the FatFairy says, the house didn't get in its current state overnight! Good luck on the uniform shopping!

SilveryMoon - welcome! Hope it all goes well for you - if not, then you can always hang out with me in the naughty bar!

Blue - thanks as always for the synopsiseseseseses (anyone know if there is a plural of synopsis?!), and hope the shopping goes well.

Have a good day ladies! (and gents if any of you have sneaked on!).

So much for homeblessing in advance, today I feel completely unmotivated and can't be bothered to finish it.

Done
ds2 to Drama with packed lunch - it did not bode well, he walked into room and gave a Shakespearean address to the tutor and 3 very startled little girls who were waiting - dd left saying "I am soo glad I'm not doing drama with ds2...he is soo embarassing"

It is the most beautiful day, I think I had better abandon the house and take the two other children out and take advantage whilst I can of non-quarrelling siblings.

purple gravel aka "plum coloured slate" from Homebase

CHB decorating sounds good! Nice to get a run at something without interruptions and errant fingers in the paintpots

Toffee I know quite a few children who have had mumps despite the MMR, sometimes booster doesn't take.

Morning all! (Afternoon here actually!)

Sorry to have been absent again - haven't caught up with thread yet - but just logging on to decompress for 5 mins

Am feeling v. grrrrrrrrrrr/despondent

DD is driving me insane this morning and we have just had a really AWFUL, undignified shouting match that I am sure all the immediate and not-so-immediate neighbours heard. (I'm certain they are going to call the social services ) DD has very powerful lungs!!!

We had a lovely weekend with our visitors and dd's first sleepover went really well (her best friend is a delight to have over) but aftermath of all the fun and games is that dd is NOT on good form today - she's overtired from having had far too many late nights, too many treats and is somehow expecting more and more etc.

I had explained to her that today was a day for buckling down to housework and getting organised and doing all the stuff we need to do before going away.

She started arguing when I asked her to get washed and dressed and brush her teeth, argued again when I asked her to tidy her room, argued again when I asked her to help hang out the washing, argued again when I asked her to sign a birthday card for someone, argued again when she needed to find her shoes, argued again when I told her she couldn't take her ds with us when we were about to go out and that's when I finally lost it and sent her to her room. [sigh] Why is it so hard to get her to do the simplest of tasks?? She's 8 fhs, not 3!!!!

[Failure as a mother emoticon]

On a positive note I have managed to do a home bleurggh, harvest some runner beans, change all the beds, clean out the gps and I'm on my 3rd load of washing.

Lovely to see Ellie Nettie and Ihatecobwebs back

A warm welcome to Silvery

Right, I had better go upstairs and rescue dd from time out ... time for calm words methinks

Will be back to catch up with eveyrone later but huge waves in the meantime and sorry for rant

Done
-Shower and dress
-swish and swipe bathroom
-make sure boys get dressed
-wash up from last night
-ironing
-hospital appointment
-tesco
-games with boys

Today's To Do List
-tidy away/everything where it belongs
-hoover
-clean fan in bathroom
-15mins detailed clean in boys bedroom
-park
-cook dinner
-tidy kitchen
-lay out tomorrows clothes

I don't have a home office and I'm not at work until september, so as always, I do the ds's bedroom as my extra room for zone 3.
I think I need to start by hoovering under the bunk-bed and take it from there.
When IO can't do the mission, I do detailed cleaning.
I split the home blessing over saturday and sunday or it'd never get done.

Thanks for the welcome.

Update time with before I get back into it

Done
Morning routine
DH out of house
Washing on line
RR living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom (prep for WHBH), DS room
Make beds
Food bin, recycling bins, green bin in
Encourage DS to get dressed on his own
Write/draw DS's list of jobs for this morning
Washing up
WHBH
S/s
Zone cleaning
Zone mission
Hotspot - decided all the switchplates in house could do with some TLC
Clean kitchen bin
Clean kitchen food bin
Wash duster

To Do
Make jelly with DS
Modify zone cleaning list as I don't have as much time anymore
Paper file item
Garden
Pay bills
Lunch
Uniform shopping
Walk/playground - whatever we fancy plus play "shops"
Make tea
Pack bag for DS - going to DM's Tuesday and Wednesday
Tea
Evening routine
Watering
Washing on airer
Exercise
WI paperwork
Work bag and food for tomorrow

Wow Ihatecobwebs Look at you! That is one hell of a list! Well done

HI!!
just flying by with a tada list :o
washed and dressed
breakfast for myself and dd2 and dp
washes x2
dw
bathroom, swish and swipe and mop floors
beds made
washed walls around light switches

still to do
get dd1 back from my mum's- she stayed there last night
try and do a bin myself,dp only took one with him on the way out to work
general tidy up of sitting room
see if I can do a clear out of the far side of the kitchen table

Boring update number 2 ( sorry nettie ).

Ta da list number 2:-

More washing on line/in
Dc's clothes ironed and put away
Kitchen cleaned
Dd's room tidied
Bathroom s/s
Booked bouncy castle for ds party next monday
Stripped our bed

To do list for this aft:-
Mine and dh's clothes away
More washing
15 min bursts in ds room
Bath
Remake our bed

In an unprecedented swing, dc's have actually been playing together happily for about 2 hours. They have trashed the front room building a den in the process mind .

sc i think there is something about 7/8 yr olds. Ds turns 8 next week and at times i feel he is acting more like a teenager not my lovely mild mannered boy.

fuzzled synopses is the word you are looking for .

chb i like your thinking, i clearly am mother of the year .

ihate go girl, back on form and feeling positive i hope.

Better go and get lunch and try and rescue the living room.

Hi Silvery - welcome to the thread. Sounds like you're a pro FLYing-wise .

Well, so far I've managed:
Washing done and on line
Called DS1's friend's mum - first available date to come over was in Sept!
Been to the park
Bought eggs
Another undignified shouting match with DS1 over the necessity of waiting 5 mins for lunch and not needing a biscuit to keep him going
Lunch

Boys are now watching Baby Jake with big grins across their faces. Need to get DS2 down for a nap and then face Sainsbo's after that. Should be trying to do the office mission really - Fat Fairy is reading my mind too Nettie as I was planning to do more decluttering in here this week...

Decorating fail. Ankel too sore.
Doing some decluttering of half finished projects. Going to end up with about 10miles of binding to handstitch later. Calls for a good film or something me thinks but a good ankle resting activity.

Done
-Shower and dress
-swish and swipe bathroom
-make sure boys get dressed
-wash up from last night
-ironing
-hospital appointment
-tesco
-games with boys
-tidy away/everything where it belongs
-hoover
-park

Today's To Do List
-clean fan in bathroom
-15mins detailed clean in boys bedroom
-cook dinner
-tidy kitchen
-lay out tomorrows clothes

Dinner's on now, so just need to put cbeebies on and hope the whingeing stops!
Do you guys room rescue all rooms every day? I never really grasped if it was all rooms, or 1 room a day............
I'm trying to experiment with routines etc for when I start work in September.

My ds's had a friend over this afternoon, so although I've done a fair bit from my list, the place is trashed!!!
BBL

Wow, it's been busy on here today!

Welcome, SilveryMoon .

Thanks for everyone's advice about DS's sore throat (this thread is useful for so much more than just housework). I took him to the docs this morning and he has tonsillitis. The poor boy was so weak he had to sit down on the pavement whilst we were waiting for the taxi home, then went straight to bed and slept for hours to recover from the exertion. However, he has now started on penicillin and the dr said it should kick in after a couple of days. Also, I gave him some ice cubes to suck when he woke up (remember that trick from my glandular-fever experience) and that really cheered him up, as he hasn't been able to swallow, let alone drink anything.

I have spent most of the day running from one child to the other. DS2, in contrast with his brother, is full of energy, but unable to run around because we have had to stay in to look after his brother. I set up a playhouse for him in our tiny garden (with visions of him quietly playing tea parties with his teddies), but he wanted to play burglars and then have a karate fight with me .

Luckily, this afternoon the DVD of 'Toy Story 2' that I'd ordered for DS2 arrived, so now he is sitting watching it (shrieks of laughter), whilst I get a few moments to myself. I guarantee DH will walk in now and think I've been sitting here on MN all day (yep, here he is...).

Still to do:

Finish hoovering downstairs
Finish putting washing away
Put fresh sheets on DS1's bed again
Kitchen hotspot
Dinner (defrosted spag bol from freezer to heat up)
Usual evening routine

Bed at decent hour, hopefully

Ellie and Fuzzled - enjoy your DH-free house. It's so much easier to get things done without other people in the way (provided you don't turn on the computer ). Ellie - glad your two DC gave you some time to get stuff done, even if they did create more work for you in the process.

Fuzzled - we tried the salt water. Didn't work . To be honest, I don't think anything works with a throat as sore as this. Even the anaesthetic spray prescribed by the dr hasn't helped. I like your list - must try adding 'get up' to make myself feel better too .

Messymam - not mumps, thankfully. Hope you get through your busy day today.

PA - at your ravenous teenagers! I'm so used to my fussy two with tiny appetites - it will be a bit of a shock if they turn into ravenous teens one day. Hope you enjoyed your afternoon at the beach or forest. By the way, DS2 was watching 'Newsround' on CBBC the other day and he came running in to tell us all, very seriously, that the French were at war with the Isle of Wight. Thought you ought to know!

Nettie - hope you got the stinky washing sorted and managed to de-stress at the gym.

Ihate - grr at your DH letting you come home to a messy house. Is he just too used to you doing it all, maybe? I agree with you about uniform shopping. It's shockingly expensive when it's all added up (have just received a big bag of uniform for DS1's new school so the prices are fresh in my mind). And then they need shoes too....

Swan - Flylady would probably say you lost your impetus today because you didnt take heed and renew your spirit yesterday. Tsk tsk. Never mind, you're never behind with Flylady .

Still - I'm glad the sleepover and your weekend with visitors went so well. Sorry you had to deal with an argumentative daughter, though - she definitely sounds like an overtired girl to me. Early night - for her sake and yours!

Blue - DS2 can't ever wait for a meal either - he wants everything now. I have started to say 'yes, ok' and then just carry on cooking, without giving him a snack. This means I don't have to listen to him having a mini tantrum or whining and by the time he's realised he hasn't had anything- it's dinnertime.

Oh, looks like rain outside, so had better go and rescue the washing.....

Silvery - I certainly don't room rescue every day. I just do them when I think they need doing, but that may not be Flylady policy.

Does anyone understand what we are meant to be aiming for once we've decluttered? I'm dipping into Flylady's book at the moment and I think we are meant to do a one-hour 'home blessing' every Monday and then do our zone cleaning on Days 1 and 2 as well (once we have decluttered the zone, that is). And the daily missions. I think the zone cleaning is only meant to take 15 mins a day thanks to the place being decluttered - at least that's the theory. However, it still seems like an awful lot to do. Has anyone on this thread ever got this far?

My mum was telling her neighbour about Flylady last week (I may have converted her) and her neighbour said, "Well, it just sounds like commonsense to me!"

Well, maybe it is - for the lucky few (not me) .

Update before I start the evening shift

Done
Morning routine
DH out of house
Washing on line
RR living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom (prep for WHBH), DS room
Make beds
Food bin, recycling bins, green bin in
Encourage DS to get dressed on his own
Write/draw DS's list of jobs for this morning
Washing up
WHBH
S/s
Zone cleaning
Zone mission
Hotspot - decided all the switchplates in house could do with some TLC
Clean kitchen bin
Clean kitchen food bin
Wash duster
Make jelly with DS
Modify zone cleaning list
Lunch
Uniform shopping
Playground
Make tea
DS to pack his toys for staying over with DM
Washing on airer
Watering
Pay bills
Tea

To Do
Paper file item
Garden
Pack bag for DS - going to DM's Tuesday and Wednesday
Evening routine
Exercise
WI paperwork
Work bag and food for tomorrow