September Flegdgling Fliers - Part 2!

[elliepac]

Here is the second part of the thread ladies which is much needed because we chat fly so much

This is where from the 1st of the month, we attempt to declutter and follow the 30-step wisdom of Flylady (minus cutesy language and a surfeit of e-mails) with lots of chat and support and mutual motivation along the way. (More info available here )

Humungous thanks to our previous thread leader Blue for navigating us all through the August school holidays...and for doing it so consistently and well!!

As usual we will be following a three-pronged approach - and don't worry - we are all at different stages. Some of us (SC stares at feet) -are even embarrassingly stuck at decluttering stage after two years

• repeat or start baby steps (again!)
  

• repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone
  

or

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.
  

All newcomers welcome!

[substantiallycompromised]

New thread here!

[substantiallycompromised]

erratum - oops an extra Swan mention in round-up that wasn't cut and pasted properly!

Knew I'd forgotten loads of people:

More waves to CheerfulYank Messy Oops AlicevanW Ihate Hattie Dizzy Haunted and I'm sorry if there's anyone else I've missed!

See you for the Oktoberfest [SC dons leiderhosen and swigs from large flagon of beer]

[substantiallycompromised]

Fish pie (tasteless - what do you do with yours Swan?) morphed in to Masterchef which morphed in to Strictly.

Thank you for new thread Ellie (hands over gold plated feather duster) and several

So what have you all been up to today (sniff at last round-up of the month)?

Ellie survived a tricky lesson, pondered new thread titles and had a starlit barbie
CNettle indulged in some cuisine minceur, wrote thank you cards, Flew, phoned a plumber (and a friend) and did some Flying
(October frock fundraising idea = fabulous!)
Nicknacks wrestled with rl issues (hope they resolve themselves soon and here's to a positive October)
Whoknows did an abbreviated shred (which sounds complicated but there again, I'm not entirely sure what a complete one is) decorated her slide with duvets, indulged in a bit of retail therapy and extolled the virtues of regular Flying (something we all need to be reminded of from time to time!) and is possibly (as I type) Ferris-Flying
Ouch melted in the heat
Swan wore a green dress, struggled with extension plans, drove a knapsack to school, and ate stuffed vine leaves
Rowingboat unlocked her Blackberry and picknicked in the park
Blue made footwear forays and avoided her kitchen again. (Hope you and your dh have a lovely evening out tonight - you deserve it after builder stress)
Toffee Flew solo for the last time today (we hope!) (Wishing you and your dh every success with your new venture - vvv. exciting!!!) (And great your ds has a go-to wobble lady)
Swan tackled the laundry pile, ate stuffed vine leaves and
MC had a sociable start to the day, worked through a serious list and went to an interview (let us know how it went!)

And last-of-the-month huge waves to PA Fuzzled Linzer Droitwich Pushme MissJ Brokenwingedflier Feetheart and everyone I've forgotten ...

[elliepac]

Evening all!

Quite frankly I am pooped. I have had an absolutely lovely evening which consisted of an impromptu starlit (by the time we got it going) BBQ with Dsis, BIL and DN. They have just left and I am settling down to watch Strictly. Today was a nightmare day at work with lots of hot and bothered children and teacher does not a compatible mix make.

The new thread is here. Despite sc's protestations, I liked her thread title .

I am now going to collapse in a heap. I am with ouch, this heat is just a little wierd.

Have a lovely evening and see you in October .

[coostoonettle]

oops posted too soon

rowing enjoy your blackberry, im an iphone girl all the way so have no help to offer
swan i love planning extentions and stuff as long as i get what i want
ouch i was a praying kinda girl id wish for some snow upon your domain, and a bit of a chill in mine. hope you are ok.
whoknows must look at this shred yourself and linzer talk about, is it productive? Love the story room on a broom one of the best.
sc ouch and double grrr shaking in fear at wasps nest. Just found a bees nest, in the ground in our garden under the huge pile of now burnt cutting. (which reminds me must bring in my grapes and pick minimarmites brain for a recipe. Does she come on here anymore? Ill tweet her if not.
nicknacks hope real life calms down soon.

Been fab catching up preperly for once, dont feel like ive missed anyone but huge apologies and waves if i have.

Must go and find some toast to soak up the
note to self must meal plan for only me eating days more effectively in future. one glass of wine left and no food since toast and peanut butter this morning. Bit brassic this month.

Have lovely evening

[coostoonettle]

Good evening all.

CBA here but did have a little flurry of activity as was very annoyed with dh. Need to be annoyed more often to update productivity

my list

Get up/dressed/breakfasted-done
Dc up and dispatched to nursery and school. Dh and I to work.-done
Move washing on-done
Put ironed clothes away-done
Declutter in lounge-nope
Take photos of unwanted ebayable items ready for eBay session Saturday.-nope
Find frock for Saturday. I am wearing a frock each day of October to raise money for cancer research. It's Definately a challenge- any old frock will do, think will hide away at home tomorrow.

also done rest of thank you cards for ds presents
attended a school parent meeting
dealt with and silently swore about a plumber at work got moaned at by dh for not leaving a message on answerphone re problem.

Ive been on my phone for the last hour chatting to my friend which was lovely.

mc hope interview went well. thanks for good luck, lovely to have nice weather for frock challenge but was hoping for cold as have horrendous rash from anti bio taking earlier on this month and scabby knees and legs does not a good sight make.
sc good luck with cleaner
whoknows so glad you flying has been productive. well done you, especially with all that has been going on.
swan oh yes i have that not done enough washing for ironing scenario with cleaner. Always mad frantic washing pile rescue the day before. You green dress sound lovely, especially today. I put on my jeans first thing this morning and thought OMG what have i done. I dont doo dresses. Ah well its for a good cause and even if all i make for cancer research is £5.00 its better than nothing.
ellie i have nothing on thread title as i am all surrounded by my Frocktober challenge. "My frocks are frightening so lend me a hand, decluttering is needed so lets make a stand" I do like witchy flyladies though. "October is nigh, fly on by and bring your rubba sweepa?"
toffee ooo how exciting and worrying all the at the same time. Hope the new business setting up goes well. I remember it well, dh went from relaxed to stresshead overnight and my worry guts had to take a back seart. Hope ds is ok. he is doing so brill.
blue my dc have same thing with eating in after a few mad moments of eating out for a while. Hope they adjust well

[NickNacks]

Much apologies for my absence. RL has thrown some crap at me this week. House is a sty and i'm shattered.

Hope to be better tomorrow when i pray the new month will give me a kick up the rear end!

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Just done a quick search, last year we had

October is here, leaves are swirly, Fly with the Fledglings if your sink is surly.

Which I particularly liked. Maybe because I was thread leader that month (don't think I coined it though).

[substantiallycompromised]

Arf at bat

[substantiallycompromised]

Evening all. New cleaner did well. But I am cream-crackered and have a headache! Woken at 6am by marauding wasps. We have discovered a nest on our roof - which is slightly worrying as I am massively allergic.

Leaving tomorrow's links for Ellie and if no-one minds, I am going to round-up early tonight, eat fish pie and go to bed. (Sorry Ellie I am totally stumped on new thread title - can only think of seasons of mists and mellow Flyfulness which is crap)

Ta da:
up at 6am being attacked by wasp
morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s and boudoir swipe done
write leaving card for someone in office and attach to present done
bit of v. early hwk screaming supervision done
grey load out and hung up done
cool white wash in done
cooked mushrooms to add to fish pie tonight done
tidy playroom - left to cleaner
one hour decluttering in home office did 15 mins
sort out ironing piles done
iron four items of clothing done
packed up 3 parcels done
lunch with dh done
3 hrs 'work' work done
school run done
assembled fish pie done
afternoon/evening routine half done

Back in a bit ...

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Well, have done everything on the list except funfair and takeaway, both still to come. Also managed 90 mins of shopping in the nearest big town which was nice and washed and dried everyones bedding, including airing the DCs duvets and pillows in the garden (it looked very strange seeing duvets draped all over the swing and slide). However I did a very abbreviated Shred as I was out of time before going to my friend's house.

I like the second of Swan's titles, Room on the Broom.

That's good about the phone Rowing. I know nothing about Blackberrys but have an old Orange locked handset which I want to give my mum who is on Vodafone but haven't been able to unlock (Orange would charge about £20!).

Ouch - heat not my thing either, today hasn't been as bad as yesterday here, a bit breezier but I worked up a fair old sweat doing the vacuuming this morning, yuck

[OuchPassVodka]

Chaos and mess making you twitchy, Fledglings are beating them whilst being witchy?

Witchy Fledlings stopping the chaos driving us batty?

//Hmm thread titles are never my area of skill.

Flying fail day. I hate this heat. Makes me feel soo ill.

[swanriver]

Toffee yay for shared plans!
my ds1 is much the same, gobbles up strange mixtures and then wonders why he feels sick. Or drinks no water all day and wonders why he feels overheated..Or goes to bed late and wonders why he feels soooo tired.
How great to have a special person who is there for him too at school.

still struggling with plans for extension [boring]

Ellie Jumping Beans, and Sparkling Jelly, Fledgling Flyers declutter instead of watching the Telly

Make Some Room on Your Broom for the October Fledgling Fliers - They are Ready To Zoom!

[rowingboat]

Hi all,

Whoknows that is great news about sticking to the control journal etc... It is always good to hear how other people have got on with Flying.
I did babysteps a couple years ago, then gradually did less and less flying until I lived in an absolute tip. My morning routine is really quite solid now again.
One of my to do's was getting my, inherited, Blackberry on Orange unlocked. DP's brother gave me the phone because he hated it.
I just wanted to carry on with my Vodafone sim which is Pay and Go. After feeling very confused about what to do I found a website called free my blackberry and they sent me a free code (it's not my contract so I wasn't entitled to request it from Orange). I can't believe it was so simple to unlock, so now I have my old number and I'm thrilled. Don't really know how to work the phone yet, but.... I think I need to get out more!
Does anyone else have a Blackberry? I'm wondering about the calendar and organising bits of it, whether they are any good?

To Do List
Morning routine
washing out
new load in
picnic for DS at park - boiling!
Sort out phone - unlocked!!
Make snack for work
go to work
Get shopping later
phone school about Halloween
have a powernap - not getting to bed very early at the moment.

[Toffeefudgecake]

Ellie - you hadn't posted when I did my post - sorry to miss you out. Thanks for leading next month. Maybe a Hallowe'en theme for next month's thread? (fearsome Flyladies, batty flyladies, witchy flyladies).

Blue - enjoy your night out with DH.

[BlueEyeshadow]

So far this morning after dropping DS1 at school, DS2 and I have played games, put the washing out, been to get new canvas shoes for playgroup (reducing the trauma by getting the same design as the old ones), returned DH's cycling shoes which fell apart the first time he put them on, and had lunch out again.

The boys aren't going to know what to do with themselves when this week's over and we have to go back to eating at home all the time...!

The fitter reckoned we'd have a functional but unfinished kitchen by the end of today, although that was before he discovered a whole load of new problems in the utility room...

Still, DH and I are going out this evening!! It will be a relief to get away from it all.

Hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine. :) Good luck for the interview MC.
Ellie - sorry, no inspiration. Something about blazing into Oct maybe?

[Toffeefudgecake]

DH's last day in paid employment today - and, therefore, my last chance to spend hours browse MN for a few minutes in between all the other very important jobs I have to do . As I am meant to be helping him set up his new business, we have decided to share the housework out and DH said he wanted to take over the laundry! I did point out that this meant two loads a day, hanging the stuff out on the line and actually remembering to put it all away, but he said that was fine. Oh, the innocence! He's also going to be doing half the cooking.

And he has accepted that the Flylady routines work, so we'll be sticking to them. Only now my Monday morning 'home blessing' will be done in half the time because DH is going to do the floors.

At least, this is the plan...

DS1 had a bit of a wobble yesterday. I had a call from him at 11am. He was hiding in the loo at school. He said he felt ill and begged me to come and get him, but not to tell them he'd phoned. (Not sure how he thought I would explain the fact that I'd turned up).

Anyway, I did go to get him (receiving increasingly frantic texts from him every few minutes) and we had a chat with the woman who he's meant to go to if he has one of these 'wobbles' and agreed that, next time, he would go to her rather than phoning home. Once home, DS let slip that he had eaten a whole bar of 'Toxic Sludge' (an awful sugary, chemical, manufactured sweet) for a dare, then had a jam doughnut and a baguette - and then, surprise surprise!, had felt sick! He blamed it on the baguette, but I did point out that if he ate loads of junk his body might suffer. Hopefully, he's learned his lesson and will be more careful from now on. At least he's eating though - he wouldn't eat at all when he started at school.

WhoKnows - I'm glad to hear Flying is working for you. Hope things are going OK for you with DS. Ahh, lovely.

Swan - what a nice mum you are! I do feel sorry for my DS when I see all that he has to carry to school, although he doesn't seem to mind it himself. What's this about a cleaning lady?

MC - sounds like a great start to the day.

SC - thanks for your leadership this month. Good luck with the decluttering. That is definitely the secret of keeping the house nice. I can tidy up downstairs so much faster when there is less stuff around.

Coos - good luck with the superproductivity!

Cheerful - I like your plan to end the day with popcorn and watching a DVD with your DH. Might do the same myself (er, with my own DH, obviously.

My ta da list so far today:

Woken up by DS1 at 7.20 (maybe going out to the pub on a Thursday night is not such a good idea) done
Breakfasts done
Lunches made done
School run done
Yesterday's washing up done
Shined sink done
Unloaded d/w done
Wiped kitchen counters done
Swept and mopped floors done
Put washing on done
Tackled hotspot in kitchen done
Emptied kitchen bin done
Put recycling out done

Having had my MN break, I'm now off to hang the washing out and start on some ironing.

[elliepac]

Where's nettie when you need her? .

[elliepac]

Good afternoon all on this beautiful day . Am sat here at my desk recovering from a slightly tricky class and trying to think of a new thread title for next month. Am failing miserably. All ideas gratefully accepted.

Back later on!

[swanriver]

I mean I have two licences, the old one which I've lost the id of, and the new one which I've lost the paper bit of..

[swanriver]

coffee went well, and I'm sorry to moan about the cleanign lady because she has done a wonderful job of restoring me to comparative sanity this morning.

done
food shopping
dealt with ds2 (not in a good mood)

MC I've lost that bit too! Well I think I have the paper part of the lost licence. It's probably with my passport, somewhere safe
Glad your coffee went well too, this is the day for coffee and frocks isn't it...possibly fading to G & T's in the afternoon...

I'm having stuffed vine leaves out of tin for lunch. And will tackle washing pile now that I've bought some washing powder.

[Makingchanges]

Morning all

Swan I love that DS jumped on the bus and you took his heavy things to school - you made me smile.
Nettie good luck with the frock month. Nice especially when the weather is nice like this. I should where dresses and skirts more I think, although I don't feel I have the shape, legs or tum for them
Whoknows lovely post. Don't worry that you aren't around as much as usual you are still very much an important part of this thread.

Well I dropped DD off at school and staryed for the MacMillan coffee morning that they had organised and chatted with one of the other mums. A lovely start and something that previously I would have avoided.

I've spent the rest of the morning looking for the paper part of my driving licence which I have just found. (After staying up till late looking for it)

To do

• Tidy lounge. 15 minutes pick up and put away
  
• Tidy kitchen - 15 minutes clearing off and putting away things on side
  
• Grab a quick light lunch
  
• Interview (Check I've got all forms and paperwork before I go - and map)
  
• Pick DD up from GPs who are collecting from school
  
• Watch Dora's ballet adventure - DD has been pestering about this since it was advertised about three weeks ago and I have had to promise to tape it and watch it when we get home.
  
• 2 x washing loads
  
• More paperwork filing
  
• Clear top of fish tank in lounge
  
• Help dd finish tidying her bedroom that she started on her own on Tuesday.
  
• Spend some time with DH who was away again last night
  

OK best get some clearing done as got to be gone in a couple of hours. Have a good day everyone

[swanriver]

Nettie now that's a wonderful idea - the frocks.
I am wearing one today, by chance, as it's so hot. In green.
Problem with frocks is the washing.

Beautiful day.
House/garden tip.
Dh has insisted ds2 stay at home today [grr]
Off to coffee with him at friend's, pre-arranged.
Cleaner coming, and I wish she wouldn't, as I haven't washed enough ironing (so to speak) and like you SC can't bear the thought of having to explaining how to deal with clutter to her/hide particularily revolting things.

done
dropped ds1 at school with violin, PE kit and knapsack. Unbelievably heavy. Half way through journey he insisted on jumping out and getting on the bus with his "friends" (although he said they were all mean to him on the bus , so I met him outside school (incognito - opened car door and handed him his heavy stuff as he went past...) Nice to get out first thing!

[substantiallycompromised]

What a lovely post Whoknows!! It's really good to hear how the Fat Fairy system is making such a positive difference to you and your home.
Hope your ds is thriving and that you are getting all the support you need.
Thanks for volunteering to lead thread at a later date too - that would be great!

I am going to take inspiration from you and follow your example next month and try and do the baby-steps and decluttering properly!! I know I sound like a broken record but I've come through a bad bit and, like you, I'm ready to revamp my routines and start again. Planning to spend less time in the house but be more focused when I'm here.

One hour update ...

Ta da:
morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s and boudoir swipe done
write leaving card for someone in office and attach to present done
bit of v. early hwk screaming supervision done
grey load out and hung up done
cool white wash in
cooked mushrooms to add to fish pie tonight done
tidy playroom
one hour decluttering in home office
sort out ironing piles
iron four items of clothing

Better get on ...

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

In case I don't get on again later, I would like to say sorry for not being around as much as usual this month, thank you to SC and Ellie for leading the thread and agreeing to take it into next month. I'm quite happy to do another month again soon. Also thank you to everyone who has spoken kindly to me about DS and his Aspergers and thank you all for being so inspiring! Have some for your table as Flylady suggests.

This has been my first whole month of proper Flying. I finally (18 months in, actually nearer 2 years now) wrote my control journal routines out at the end of August and have by and large stuck to them, particularly the new improved morning routine and home blessing. My sink has been shined every day this month (I hadn't done it for months really before that), my bathroom has been properly swished and swiped (had only been doing the toilet) and it has really made a difference. Still very cluttered in places though.

Todays list:

Morning routine - done
School run
Shred and shower
Tip run
Coffee with friend
Errands in town
Lunch
Detailed hoover of lounge
Hear reading at school for an hour
Do some gardening at school
School run
Take DCs to dentist
Tea
Take DCs to funfair which is opposite the the house
Takeaway
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