October's Fledgling Fliers: Seasons of Mists and Mellow Flyfulness

[elliepac]

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.

car safely home, but battery flashing, cannot face calling AA till ds1 is better and at school...revert to walking mode

done
food shopping
lunch
long discussion with (old friend) builder about overhanging trees,fencing, small landscaping jobs etc etc - hopefully he will sort some of these long term problems next week, he seemed v keen and had some space next week
washing

hoping a cup of tea will revive me, I feel incredibly incredibly tired and sore throat brewing.. Could I just curl up with ds1 and watch a film...I think if he was off tomorrow as well I could justify it.

Apropos PowerPoints it seems they do know how to do them! Although the ICT club is only for favoured few, it appears that everyone was taught PP. I had never thought to ask...Dd just put together a little mini one for me in the 15 mins before school! Wow I didn't know the computer did these things...They even do project covers automatically...Ds1 has just done one called "Harry Snotter" with sound!

I just put the climbing frame on Freecycle. Except I'm not sure how to find how where exactly the messages are, offering things which I thought I might browse...Completely stuck on that. So perhaps I just need to wait for an e-mail in my Email inbox?
Any Freecycle groupies?

no, I don't understand. [bafflement]
to the dump it goes....Yahoo has just returned my freecycle message.

There's a button called Post near the top LHS of my Freecycle screen?

DS1 packed off to school again. I wish I knew how ill he really is. I think a lot of it is tiredness, like Swan said - he is having disturbed nights with coughing as well as tiredness from school. Trouble is, at home he wouldn't stop and rest either and would just pick fights with DS2 all day, generally driving me nuts!!

Have been to toddlers and DS2 now asleep. Phew.

swan - freecycle needs you to use the same email address that you sign up with. I get things returned if I forget to use DH's address. Can't help with the messages though as we only have the daily digest. Even that's turned off though, and I can't remember the password!

Toffee at being a famous artist.

Hello, I'm struggling to keep up with posting on the thread, but the housework is still getting done. Greatly helped by the fact my parents came up on Sunday to keep me company when DH went out for an early birthday celebration.
DH calls my Mum a Whirling Dervish, she was here 8 hours and COMPLETELY blitzed the house in that time, so there's not much for me to do now except keep on top of it. :o I wish I had my Mum's energy, or enthusiasm for cleaning... or that she lived closer, she regularly says she'd come over to clean every few days if she could.... and she does for my DB & SIL.

So far today:
1 load of washing done.
Dishwasher done
5 minutes straightening upstairs
DH did downstairs this morning
Fish tank cleaned (finally!)

To do:
Put washing in to dry
Put washing away
Go to see midwife... bugger! She's just called and asked if I'd go in at 2:30 instead of 4. I've said yes, then when I hung up remembered how excited DD was last night when I said we were going to listen to the heartbeat again. Oh well only a couple of weeks in theory till we meet it.

Swanriver Is it Freecycle or Freegle in your area? I run a Freegle group, we were Freecycle, but Freecycle is run by evil americans so we moved, (very complicated story) as did over half of the UK groups. There are still Freecycle groups, but they're run by people in america now, mostly unmoderated and full of Wanted messages.

The link to the list of Freegle groups is here. But a lot of Freegle groups are on Facebook now, and you can post messages through Facebook. If you're still struggling send me a PM with where you are roughly and I'll try to help you.

Hope all the poorly people are getting better and wishing for a few extra hours in everyone's day so people can get housework done, have family time, and relax too.

Hi all,

Biblio what a fantastic Mum. Send her round to mine when she's finished! You must be busy moderating Freegle, it seems insanely busy on my local thread.

So getting somewhere a bit, but have to get back to the babysteps
Plant heather done
5 mins kitchen rescue ? skirting, fridge door, skirtings, light switch, door DONE
Phone woman about fencing DONE
Take invitations round to school taking now done
Pay for fencing taking letter round now done
Set up synchronisation between phone and laptop GETTING THERE
Vacuum done
Water indoor plants
Dinner ? meatballs and spaghetti
Make parcel and card to send to K DONE LETTER
Post letter done
Hotspot I'm using it for my laptop so will do later
Declutter bedroom chest
put away clothes
Make an Ebay list
Get a couple of slots on Ebay
do a babystep
read some fly lady emails for a bit of inspiration (which I am finding lacking today)

Fly lady question - I am finding the daily stuff ok for listing, but I have a nagging feeling about longer term, project-type stuff. Do you guys put that in your control journal with the daily stuff or have a separate section?

Bilblio - we're still Freecycle here and run by local people (in fact a 16 year old runs ours, does a very good job too). The group I used to belong to (further away and before my currrent one was set up) has changed to Freegle, I still get admin emails from it. Must admit I don't even read the daily digests very often now, I use a separate email address for it but they both appear on my computer and phone. I have got rid of TONS of stuff over the years on it, but have had a few people mess me about too.

Rowing - I don't really write down longer term stuff unless it has a specific deadline in which case it goes on the calendar. My control journal has an outline plan for each day of the week, plus morning, afternoon and evening routines, then a separate section for each zone. I sit down with it on a Sunday evening and use the journal to formulate a 5 to do lists in another notebook for the following Mon to Fri. I don't write in the detailed daily routine stuff as I know it by heart now. Each night (in theory) I review that days list and carry forward anything I didn't do. I also check the previous weeks lists over when I make my Sunday evening plan. Saturday I just wing it. It's not a perfect system yet, but it works pretty well for me now.

Thankyou for your kind words welcoming me back. Another day not idle...

Freezer defrosted
Fridge cleaned out
Food shop done
More cupboards cleaned out (that's all the bottom ones done now - phew)
Plants planted in garden (reduced from supermarket)
DD rainbow outfit sold from Gumtree so guy came and collected that today - not heard of Freegle before btw
Homework with DD done

Just reading book to do and photograph items so i can ebay more stuff.

Having a day off with DH tomorrow so no FLying for me. Going to the cinema (Orange Wed deal) and lunch

Hope you and your DD get better soon MC

Ending your birthday eating chocolate is always good Linzer

at your mum cleaning your whole house [bilblio]

i have been flying, honest guv.

i decluttered and deep cleaned my living room and dining room, and have sorted another 5 boxes of unwanted claggage from the garage. (hence shredding years and years worth of bank statements, pay statements, working tax credit forms blah blah blah)

i've also moved the dining table round 90 degrees, which completely randomly has made enough room for a desk so now i don't have to knock any walls down to put one in the hall cupboard, or under the stairs! . we haven't got a desk that fits, but that's my next task. i am overjoyed at the prospect of the computer and filing having a home!

i also spent about £2500 on ikea wardrobes on friday. i'm going to put a big bank of them through the middle of the downstairs bedroom and split it into two smaller rooms for the girls. much cheaper than moving house to get an extra bedroom! and one bank of the wardrobes will split off the utility area so that it isn't part of the girl's bedroom and will give me a lot more storage space for all the boxes of assorted craft stuff/ spare bedding etc.

we've also had thanksgiving long weekend, so i'm topped up with turkey and candied yams and was thankful to see the back of the children to school today but the fall colours are beautiful!

ah well, back to work - got to keep getting sorted before the ikea delivery! it isn't until a week tomorrow, so i've got to keep going so that everything is ready downstairs.

and i need to vaccuum up the little bits of paper that are swishing around my ankles!

wm
dw
bank
ironing
vaccuum

and i've lost track of the last four day's fly routines, so need to backtrack and catch up.

Hi all!

Sorry missed your birthday Linzer - hope you had a lovely day!

Lady Have a lovely day with your DH tomorrow.

Todays list

Tuesdays wash done
Empty DW done
call doctors done
declutter for 15 mins done x2
make cottage pie for dinner done
mission done

Am I the only one who has hardly anything in their kitchen? Todays mission made me realise this! I have a toaster, kettle and 3 glass jars (spag, pasta and rice) on the counter and thats it! Feel like a real pauper!

Tomorrows list.

Empty DW
Wednesdays wash
Declutter under sink (pots/pans and tupperware cupboard)
Bath DD
Hosp appt with DD
Drop box of toys at charity shop
Return library books
Bins out
Mission
Write list for Ikea
Dinner- Chicken, spicy wedges
Wipe out fridge

That's all folks!

Have a good evening everyone- see you tomorrow!

Aw thanks NickNacks

Madwoman candied yams sound yum. How do you make them? Sounds like a lovely day.

Who know, thank you for your input. I am thinking I will add a projects part to the control journal then break it down into daily tasks. Hopefully get some of them off the ground.[hopeful face]

Pink amazing that you have defrosting freezer as just one thing on a list! That is a day long marathon for me, nothing else gets done, the family starves! Very impressive!

I gave ds's teacher at school the invitations to give out to his classmates. His last teacher put them in the school bags, discreetly. His current teacher handed out the invitations in class! How lovely for the children not invited! I'm so mortified.

My list
Plant heather done
5 mins kitchen rescue ? skirting, fridge door, skirtings, light switch, door DONE
Phone woman about fencing DONE
Take invitations round to school taking now done
Pay for fencing taking letter round now done
Set up synchronisation between phone and laptop Still working on this, but making headway
Vacuum done
Water indoor plants done
Dinner ? meatballs and spaghetti done
Make parcel and card to send to K DONE LETTER
Post letter done
Hotspot I'm using it for my laptop so will do later
Declutter bedroom chest
put away clothes
Make an Ebay list done
Get a couple of slots on Ebay done
do a babystep - did babystep 9 and 10. Declutter for 5 minutes and Do anything for 15 minutes - not sure I understand that second one, but hey!

read some fly lady emails for a bit of inspiration (which I am finding lacking today) - read about control journal. Better get ready for that hurricane/flood when it hits!

rowing - silly teacher! You would hope that someone in that position would have a bit more empathy, wouldn't you?

Nicknacks - it's good to have hardly anything in your kitchen. Means you don't have to declutter. I spent a large part of today trying to clear my kitchen surfaces of surplus stuff.

Madwoman - I'm very impressed by you moving furniture to create more space. We have tiny rooms in this house and I don't think there's anything we could do to create more space. We did install built-in wardrobes in our bedroom a few years ago, though, and it is great to shove everything in and then shut the door!

Lady - hope you have a lovely 'date' with your DH tomorrow. Am hoping I will be able to pack DC off to school and spend time with DH tomorrow, although our 'date' will involve work, rather than play. At least it won't involve children, though .

bilblio - your mum sounds fab, but remember that she can afford to be a 'whirling dervish' because she is not pregnant and looking after a small child. You might need to point that out to your DH too . Re: the scan - can't you take your DD out of school early that day? I'm sure the school would give her time off for that and it's important that she's part of the whole process. My oldest son loved coming to the scans and seeing his brother for the first time.

BlueEyes - I feel your pain re the "is he sick or not?" dilemma with DC. Having had both DC at home and neither being particularly ill today after all, I am determined to send them both to school tomorrow and have made it perfectly plain to them tonight, so they are prepared.

WhoKnows - am very impressed by your control-journal system!

Swan - hope your car is working again soon.

DC are in bed, at last. Today was hard work. I am so looking forward to getting them both out of the house at last. I managed to track DS1 down to a local cafe, where he was trying to pluck up courage to go to school in spite of having a stomach ache. The good thing about the small town where we live is that we know so many people that I had a text from a friend telling me she had spotted him and saying where he was. She said he was very, very careful crossing the road . I rang him (I love the fact that I can contact him on his mobile now) and he came back after half an hour being AWOL and spent the day reading and resting.

Ta da list:

Morning routine - will DH remember to swish and swipe today? Nope - I did it
Laundry DH and me - joint effort
Kitchen hotspot done (me)
What's for dinner? (freezer food again, I suspect) - no, DH cooked a fab Moroccan dish
Plan menu for the week with DH he's cooking all week
Online grocery order DH went shopping
Room rescues done

Off to bed for an early night now. Night all.

Pink - agree with rowing re defrosting the freezer. It's a major undertaking in this house (a day-long marathon).

I now seem to have ds1's illness which is makng me more sympathetic by the moment to him being at home..
Tiring day Managed to keep the kids away from telly though, sort of...Packet cake mixes are keeping dd occupied.
Tackled RE with Ds1 together...Pillars of Salt, and Hagar in the Wilderness
Think tomorrow's off too!

Builder here all day, I think that's what was tiring...

Toffee glad dh is makign such a good team. I'm finding it difficult to deal firmly with ds1 too, it requires almost superhuman focus to be authoritive rather than just "reacting".

Rowing invites are so tricky, often find myself handing invite to parent standing next to another parent whose child isn't getting one Sometimes it helps to hand them out over several days just to confuse people!

Evening all! Finally, DS1 seems a little better - didn't have a tiredy meltdown until nearly bedtime and he hasn't woken up (yet)

Hi, Lady - that's an impressive list! Hope you enjoy your day off tomorrow.

Waves to Madwoman too - I love it when moving furniture suddenly frees up a ton of space. I had candied yams once. Still at the sweetness, and I've got a sweet tooth...

NickNacks - I'm trying to resist stuff on the counters. We used to have tons that wouldn't fit anywhere else, but now we have cupboards...

Rowing - at teacher!

Anyway, better make a list for tomorrow:
Strip beds
Wash sheets
Remake beds
Tidy bedroom
Filing
Dusting
Go to buy tiles
Hotspots x lots
Reply to weird email
Attempt not to get distracted by MN/Twitter...

On which note, I shall step away from the computer. Waves to all, good night!

Morning all,

Was going to go out for a run this morning, but it's too cold and windy (excuses, excuses) and I need to get the house in order before our fortnightly cleaner comes tomorrow. Really must tackle the decluttering properly; it's the only solution to this constant tidying, I think.

SC I thought this month's thread title was your own invention until I heard it on the Archers yesterday (with fruitfulness rather than flyfulness, obviously ). (I would have done Keats at A level if our English teacher hadn't run out of time...)

Morning all! Is it ever going to stop raining, it is like we are being punished for all that nice weather!

The babystep for today is deleting e-mails. Seeing as most of us don't get them anymore, should be a nice easy one!

The mission for today is here.

Sorry for the lack of round-up over the last few days but afterhaving been in ridiculous pain with abscess, I have been ridiculously busy catching up with work.

I am a crap leader .

Ellie you are not a crap leader, very kind of you to lead at all!

Linzer O what can ail you Knight at Arms?
Alone and palely loitering
The sedge is withered from the lake
And no birds sing....

That's all I remember..

And on that note, I had put out the recycling
still feel cr888p and ds1 is still here.

Good morning! Well, it is for another 2 minutes by my watch...

Ellie and swan - hope you're feeling better now. Have a ...

[Brew] for Linzer too, and anyone else who's around.

Not much ta da! yet here:
Strip beds
Wash sheets
Remake beds
Tidy bedroom
Filing
Dusting
Go to buy tiles
Hotspots x lots
Reply to weird email hmm
Attempt not to get distracted by MN/Twitter...

The tile-hunting has taken up most of the morning - they didn't have all the colours of the ones we liked so got loads of samples and got to go back again tomorrow. Groan.

Well, I'm joining you with an anguish moist and fever dew brow, er, well I have a bit of a cold ...

Do love it when the threat goes all poetical

Ellie you are not a crap leader! How's the cheek?

Sorry to hear you are ailing Swan. Hope whatever it is passes soon.

MC hope you are recovering soon

Well done on the shredding front Madwoman

Good to see you back Pink

*Bilblio at your whirling dervish ma

Linzer what I find funny about the Archers is that I only listen to one episode in five but usually can still guess the story line without any problem!!

Toffee Hope you and your dh finally get a child-free day today

Nicknacks of your clear kitchen surfaces

Nettie like the sound of your big impossible heels

Rowingboat good luck with party prep

Waves to Blue Whoknows Feetheart and everyone else I've missed

Well the baby-stuff has gone to a very good organisation for those less fortunate. It was almost half a van full: cot, play pen, jiggly chair thing, various potties, baby-bath, nappy wrapper machines, listening device, steriliser, push chair and cover, three bags lovely toys, bike seat etc etc etc Now must turn my attention to decluttering elsewhere in the house. Home office is increasingly putrid.

Got to go - no school Wed afternoons so baby-sitter on her way and I must do some work. So I'm going with "burning forehead, and a parching tongue" [spot it???] off to the office!

Hi all,
just popping in to say hi.

SC I googled it! 'Ode on a Grecian Urn!' You have just made me hyperventilate at the memory of iambic pentameter and trochees!! [takes a big deep breath]

Swan [snort] at the handing invitations to the wrong people. What a hoot! I can imagine how much fun it is to prise their little fingers off the envelope - actually just let them have it!

I now have a bit of a tricky invite - I am friends with one woman whose son has known ds for years. We were invited to his birthday, but he is very, very prone to hitting and being very physical with the other children. DS has told me not to invite him, but I feel very mean. I am thinking of checking with my friend to find out if she can stay with her son, during the party, as I am sure he would have fun and he is a great character, just has to be supervised.

I'm going a bit crazy at being stuck in with the flylady routines, and need to add a routine for the sitting room. I'm not sure if it should be the 5 minute room rescue or the, what are the other ones? Is that it? My head hurts!
I'll have to check back at everyone's morning routines to see how they work.

List today
morning routine - all of it, in its boring entirety. Now must work on doing it faster, with banging music.
wash kitchen and bathroom floor done
vits and lunch done
check out party room done
research vile party food by walking around Lidl and freezer centre done
write note to teacher about ds done
hand in note
meet friend for cuppa and chat
do something with the wet washing!! What though?
new load in
buy a loaf
go to work - make snack and get changed before
home dins and x-factor catch-up

I can remember my A level teacher saying that K]eats was obviously getting a bit carried away at that point in the poem .

I've got various things done this morning despite feeling cr88p, but have a feeling my head is going to explode worrying about various details to do with ds, house, christmas, half term halloween, conservatory, school helping, piano. All not too bad in themselves, just cumulative effect is to want to hide. Ds is lolloping around, and is still requiring major attention to GET HIM TO DO HIS HOMEWORK. Whenever I mention it, he looks droopy and says he is terribly tired and needs to go back to bed