Anybody interested in joining me for a flylady thread, starting with the babysteps?

[Carrotsandcelery]

I joined a thread which started in January and it made an enormous difference to the condition and calm of the household.

I have lapsed and thought I would go back to basics and start again.

Anyone want to join me?

My dcs go back to school on Tuesday so I thought I would start on Tuesday morning.

angel/cani DD2 was up 3 times last night! Was it a full moon?!

carrots we've been using Ecover for years with no complaints (Landry liquid/conditioner, wash up liquid, dishwasher tabs, rinse aid, descaler, kitchen/bathroom/window/toilet cleaner) It's website says it's NOT tested on animals

Poor mini-miss hope she gets better soon, it's so sad when they are all poorly & clingy... and then 5 mins later they are bouncing all over the house like nothing happened!

So far I have

• put kids clothes in tumble dryer.
• plugged new laptop in & kicked off the setup process.
• been to baby yoga with DD2
• started meal planner anyone got any good veggie meals that the whole family can have? I'm getting into a bit of a rut...

Still to do;

• dry & PUT AWAY kids clothes
• shine sink
• 2 min hotspot
• another 2 min hotspot
• pay for kids activities next term
• change & wash kids bedsheets
• tidy bedroom some more
• finish meal planner & shopping list
• eat chocolate
• pack DD1s bags for nursery

HERE'S A GOOD REASON FOR GETTING DRESSED BEFORE 10.00am.
I had just dragged myself upstairs to get dressed, Half way through getting dressed we had a knock at front door. DS went and talked through letter box to man while I tried to hurry up and get myself respectable. when I eventually got to front door it was our plumber(lives near mum so we know him personally.)It was quite unexpected as he came about a week ago and hadn't returned, so I had given up hope of him returning. Anyway it turns out that our shower problem we have been having is down to the water supply pipe so he told us to phone our water company. they should be coming tomorrow.
I haven't managed much today. put it down to lack of sleep(or Laziness).
But have sorted a small amount of paperwork. will try and do some more after my

WARNING: too much decluttering enthusiasm can be dangerous.

I have charity shopped a bag of clothes which were actually put aside to give back to my sister in law.

I've been doing the rounds of the charity shops to see if I can retrieve it, and I have an early-morning appointment tomorrow with the man who empties the Oxfam clothing bank to see if I threw it in there.

On the issue of Ecover liquid, washing powders are generally better than liquids - they don't gunk up your machine apparently. We used to use Ecover powder, which seemed to be fine.

Cheap, sounds like you've had a really good morning.

DH has just reminded me that I've got lots of reading to do for a course I'm on the week after next. So I think I'll try only to do housework when DS is around, and concentrate on doing some reading when he's asleep.

missmakes, hope your DD is better soon.

Done so far:
Froze chicken stock
Went out to town

Revised to do:

• make squash & quinoa cakes
• visit another charity shop

Oh *AngelDog I hope you manage to get the clothes back.

I have done the absolute minimum today as I feel bleurgh . I think I may have man flu

I have stopped for another. have done some more paperwork decluttering. I think it will take me quite a few attempts at it before it all gets more organised. I'm fairly sure I had undiagnosed pnd after each of my dc as I have let things in the house get so bad (paperwork and washing). I am just starting to see light at the end of the tunnel now and I'm sure this FlyLady thread is helping me. Thanks carrots for starting this thread. I just have to find the motivation to keep going.

angel hope you get the clothes back!

This afternoon isn't going as planned... I've just spent the last hour trying to get DD2 to nap, she's just (I think) nodded off (on me), 10mins before her sister is supposed to be back from GPs

bessie My dd 2yrs 9months has given up daytime naps (unless she is very tired). and she tends to go to sleep around 7.30pm. Is it your 2 yr old you are having nap problems with?
I must go and do some washing up if the water still works!

Everyone is doing brilliantly.

I have succeeded in making the kitchen table a mess again as I have a pile of cd boxes and dvd boxes with no disks in them and no idea where the disks might be.

What do I do now? Do I put them away in a separate section of their storage until we find the disks? How annoying.

On the plus side, while decluttering the side board I found a t shirt transfer I had completely forgotten we even had so ds is very excited about finding a t shirt to transfer it onto now.

I also had a magic coffee/lunch with my friend, did a lot more washing and made tea.

I am just off to take dd to one of her activities and then I will get going on the dishes.

Cani are you feeling any better?
missmakes how is mini makes doing? Has she perked up yet?
Angel good luck with the clothes mission. My daunt did that with a bag of Christmas gifts once - beware the pile of black bin liners.
Carrie I hope you feel better soon.
bessie thanks for the tip about Ecover. I think I looked at the packaging and couldn't find the symbol but I will definitely use it if it is cruelty free.

Evening all!
Just checking in before checking out to concentrate on DD until bedtime. Then have a huge list (spent 5 mins at work this afternoon writing a list of 20 things to start off with) and hope to do at least a few things:
Hang washing that's been sitting since yesterday.
Wash dishes that are filling the sink and worktop.
Hot spot clearing for 15 mins - living room table which is a pile of school papers and loads of other stuff. It's where we eat and where DD does homework as well so think it will be much better for concentrating (and eating ) if I can get it clear.
Put away dry clothes which are sitting in the hall.
30 mins paperwork sorting out - have one of those huge rhino tubs full of stuff to sort out for shredding, filing and chucking.
Get clothes and schoolbag ready for tomorrow.
I think all this will take me 2 hours - if I start around 8 I can get settled with MN, and Family Guy by the back of 10

Hi all, thanks for the best wishes for DD - she is currently climbing into her toybox after being asleep on and off all day, has had a bit to eat, so think she is feeling better now! I have managed to get a fair bit done, but have a mammoth list for tomorrow before we go camping with my parents on Thursday.

Tonight:
poke DH until he finally helps me get the tent and other gear out of the loft
school work
washing up and shine sink
oven cleaned

Tomorrow
beer and wine food shopping and recycling
pack clothes for me and DD
get all camping gear sorted and into car
walk with friend and coffee at park
hoover
cat litter
more school work

Getting a bit panicky about going back to work now, which is always how I get, have only two days after camping to sort all the gear out and get all my school stuff ready before going back - just have to keep remembering to do a little everyday, I don't have to have the whole house sorted by then.

What do you all think I should do about babysteps till Monday evening? I mean, the house should be looking after itself really! Suppose I just have to pick up where I left off? Theres no sink to shine while in a bell tent, my mum and dad have a camper but I am so not shining their sink!

Good luck everyone, hope you are all relaxing after a busy day!
Angel - hope you get the clothes back, I had to wait for the postman last week after I posted a card with no stamp on it..

Hi all, Not too bad here although it's been slow progress today. DH helped get loads of washing up done today so I just have a small amount to do and it will be up to date. just as well cause if they need to fix the water supply pipe I recon we could be without water for a little while. I can't wait till it's done cause then I can have a decent shower without it going cold halfway through.
Also might need to make doctors appointment later this week as I still have a blocked ear. DD is now asleep(hope she sleeps all night) so I just have to get ds ready for bed. Then some me time.

Evening everyone.

missmakes what do you teach? I used to be a secondary teacher and always got more and more wound up about what I needed to do as the holidays progressed. It was always fine once I got there though.

The house should look after itself while you are away and you can pick up where you left off when you get back.

I hope you have a fab time.

I have given up for the night - tomorrow is another day!

cani DD1 is 2.10 & still loves her afternoon nap! (lazy like her mummy! )
it's DD2 (4 months) I'm having problems with. She hardly ever naps for more than 45mins & so by late afternoon is knackered & too tired to sleep IYKWIM. baby yoga this morning didn't help as that disrupted things even more. And now (last night & tonight) she's started waking more in the night. I keep feeding her incase it's a growth spurt, but she's a bit sicky, so if I feed her too much she wakes herself up by bringing her feed up! (more laundry - arrgh!)

Oh dear, it must be hard for you to get any sleep.

Ah, bessie, you'll probably be suffering from the 4 month sleep regression (loads of info here, here, here and here if you're interested). It does pass eventually but it's pretty hideous while it's going on.

No joy yet from the charity shops so we'll see what the Oxfam bank holds tomorrow.

Done
Went to charity shop
Made butternut squash & quinoa cakes ( bessie, they're veggie & yum - we had them with potato wedges and veg). DS enjoyed helping.
Went to the new leisure centre to see diggers & tractors at work
Did some washing & hung it up
Cleaned kitchen surfaces (DH washed up)
Tidied away toys
Cleaned a bit of the kitchen floor
E-mailed friend

The house is actually reasonably tidy for once.

Off to bed early again

Tomorrow:

• tidy away lego
• tidy fleece pants / nappy stuff in DS's room

And:

• mend DS's broken books x3

cani I just find it very frustrating as I've got so much housey stuff I want/need to be getting on with. Fly lady really helped me get the house sorted before DD2 arrived, but 4 months of neglect are starting to show, I have piles of stuff everywhere!

angel yes, I guess it must be the 4 month growth spurt, but I thought we'd had it a couple of weeks ago! Thanks for the links, I'll have a look next time I'm up with her!!

I'm not even going to look at my list as all I've done this evening is have a bath & faffed about with DD2. She's fed now, so I'm going to stop winging straight to bed. I've given DH orders (via txt) that he is to fill in some of the gaps on the meal planner, so no doubt next week we'll mainly be eating pizza & sausages

Carrots I teach Art, boys grammar - it's great and I love it but I only work 4 days as HOD, so I whilst having the day off is lovely, I have to cram all the work in on the other days and weekends etc. I'm very luck as not too much written work to mark, but it's so practical and full on organising lessons and planning. Boys are great to teach, but oh my god are they lazy! I feel like mum to an extra 30 kids an hour sometimes, nagging and cajoling them into getting on with stuff! I should be good at it by now...I do always get the anxiety, it'll be gone by next week, after several sleepless nights.

I have had a productive evening, some mind-numbingly boring ordering done, sink shined, oven pride stuff on (however, its dripped onto the drawer under the oven and stripped the paint - this is an angry at rubbish oven pride face -> so am going to have to buy another bloody drawer front from Ikea at some point now.

Just having glass of wine and Chilling before bed, hoping DD is going to sleep all night, but we have not been lucky recently, it's been a bad few months, one thing after another, so I can totally sympathise Bessie, I thought DD would never sleep through, she didn't (and only slept 20 mins at a time during the day) until 10 months. What worked for us (but not until then, I truly think that until then there are too many things that can make them wake up) was this website - www.babysleepanswers.com. I found them great at giving very direct one to one advice, it helped us to have some kind of system to work with - saying that, we have had 4/5 months of 11 hrs sleep a night and now back to not knowing if she will be awake all night or not - you do what you can to survive! I know its a cliche, but they are little so short a time, you will have forgotten about this in a few months.

Right, sorry, this has become a bit of an essay! Going to get my clothes out before bed, up early to do shopping (plenty of beer to keep DH happy for a weekend with my parents) and try to get all our camping gear sorted.

Good luck everyone for another productive day.

Is it cheating to take the pots out of the sink then shine it? I'm on day two and have had lipgloss and mascara on, and fully clothed too :) I had a shiny sink when I woke up as well (I like having a shiny sink).

Ooooh I also sorted out my boys toy cupboard and all their toys and re-organised them, and I gave myself a 15 minute break after every 45 minutes. It did take me all day though. And I also managed to do a 15 minute burst in the lounge and hall, which is now still tidy !!!

Today's list:

• drink tea
• eat chocolate
• try to get DD2 & I to nap in separate beds
• ignore laundry that needs to be put away
• stop being grumpy
• remember to pick DD1 up from nursery

angel & miss thanks for those links, it's good to know there's a reason for the sudden change in her sleep!

gossip oh yes, you just need to have a shiney sink, it doesn't matter how big the pile of dirty dishes next to it is!

Morning all

Today:

• finish coffee
• get dressed
• get son dressed
• put washing in and put on line
• go to midwife appointment
• wash some pots
• shine sink
• 2 min hotspot in bedroom
• put clothes out for the morning

Gossipwitch I sometimes shine my bathroom sink rather than my kitchen sink just because it's easier and it looks so nice all shiny and clean. (Usually have too much washing up to get near kitchen sink)
Have done:
Shine bathroom sink
Got up and dressed
Got a file for control journal
TO DO:
Breakfast for everyone
Wash up/dry up
Get dc dressed
do some more decluttering
Check FlyLady website
That's it for now