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.

Hello lovely fledglings ...sorry to see so many of you have been illHands large expresso over to RowingBoat

Good luck to your ds this afternoon Linzer

You can do it MC!!!!

Fuzzled great you are out of hospital and good luck with the diet. Wasn't it Rosemary Conley who started her entire fitness empire as a result of gall-bladder probs and having to follow low-fat diet? She cured herself and became a multi-millionare at the same time, so there is hope for you yet!!! Don't mean to be flippant though - must be tough on you having to change diet all of a sudden - if it's any help, last year I started substituting home made veg soup or salad every day for lunch (just that one meal makes a difference) and we now have two "deliberately" veggie meals per week - thurs nights and sat lunch. If you schedule it in every week, it becomes easier ifyswim. A member of my family had gallbladder probs and they said regular walking made a big difference to them too.

Sorry to have been awol for a day owing to a horrible migraine-like sinus headache which was rather unpleasant. Probably was due to combination of change in weather + gynae faddling with different contraception ... dare I say that I am positively looking forward to menopause ....

("snap" Ouch - was the change in meds prompted by these recent findings by any chance? Rather horrified to discovered that the only thing that works for me is Volateren which is in fact diclofenacum. Doc has contacted me to discuss next wk.)

arf at "anti-procrastination day" revelation!

Hugely better today though - just a bit weak and wobbly - nowt serious (fortunately as dh travelling) and have just done a bit of a mahoosive room rescue downstairs which was still suffering from Nesbit Monday. Got to finish sorting dd's playroom after work as workman coming to sort out window in there tomorrow.

Ellie hope your mum is OK (and your face-ache is better too) Sounds like you could do with some tlc now!

Toffee sorry to hear you have all been suffering - you poor thing - sounds awful!! Hope your dh recovers quickly too so you can get a bit of a rest later today. TAKE IT STEADY! Arf at skirt story - sounds like just the sort of thing I do!

Bilblio I hope you are feeling stronger today too!

Rowingboat sorry but I had to laugh at your peeing on duvet story Just when you had washed them all. Sod's law isn't it ...!

Agree with you about the Fat Fairy system v frittering away time. It's really, really helped me with that too.

Hwk mounting up here too. DD has approx 40 mins per night but probably only 4 nights out of 5 (but she does do a good couple of hours on a Sat) Very conformist approach here too Linzer

Swan glad to hear you and your dh got a bit of child-free time together yesterday and that your neighbour offered an olive branch

Whoknows I watched great British bake off final and thought of Linzer too! Rather pleased that Jo won (not gimlet-eyed Holly) but sorry Janet didn't make it to final (I loved her large portions!!!) Hope you are enjoying a lovely lunch with your friends today!

Arf at Madwoman's appliance -induced ectasy!

Blue at your gas emergency - you'd think they'd give that a priority wouldn't you ... glad it's sorted anyway

PA Hope you are having a MUCH better day than yesterday! (And hope your ma is feeling a bit better too) Pork dish sounds fab btw

Feetheart fantastic result with your Autumn Fayre - especially when you were all battling illness in the house beforehand - bravo!

Ouch/Swan yes - loved magic lantern cartoon!!!! That describes dd's disappointment exactly. Speaking of which, must go and attend and see how she is getting on with her Eyptology and grammar homework ...Wednesday is a 'French' so lots of talk of "Oweerd Cartuuur" and adjectifs qualificatifs ...

I'm sure I've left lots of people out but mahoosive waves to Ihate Droitwich Pushme Dreamteam CheerfulYank and everyone else!!!

arrghh - sorry - typing too fast as usual

should have read Wednesday is a "French" day ...

Ta da:
morning routine inc dw, s&s,

To do:
hwk supervision
more laundry
French study
exercise
finish tidying playroom
start gathering baby equipment together for collection next week
contact 2 friends to arrange get togethers
e-mail another friend re: get together
online food order
chase dd around house with large net and "herd" in to bath
supper = sausages, new pots, fresh corn on cob and whatever other veg is in the fridge
make 2 appts
afternoon/evening routine
EARLY bed

Not seen that SC thankfully am allergic to NSAIDs so it was the 14/16 ish significant migraines last month that has prompted this review.

Quick list update:
Up, ds to school on time nearly
fill in ds' reading record done
Find and email birth certificate image done
Set up and re-install scanner done with lots of swearing, stupid computers.
finish project done
wash project done
wrap and send project
school meeting leaving when done bins and laundry*
sort out ds swimming kit done
ds' swimming lesson
cook tea done
empty car of kit from last night and air.
Laundry about to put on
empty bins just doing

Fresh pot of coffee anyone?

Surprisingly am feeling a bit better now that I have finished the project.

Well, I have scrubbed DS1's bedroom carpet twice with carpet shampoo and also had another go at the mattress. The mattress cover is lovely and fresh-smelling after a wash and an overnight hang on the washing line. I think the room might actually be ready for his birthday sleepover on Friday.

(DS is now peeking over my shoulder, reading this, so I'd better watch what I say)

I have also managed to get a load of washing on and tackle the bathroom (proper once over, including swishing and swiping, bleach down loo and mopping the floor). Am going to hoover downstairs in a minute. If I cba.

Am wearing The Skirt! (Glad to see I'm not the only one who does things like that, Linzer).

School run coming up now...

14/16 in a month Ouch Are they hormonally related by any chance? If so have huge wad of information I can pm you (but mine are strictly speaking sinus headaches not migraines)

Waves to Toffee's ds!

At this point don't know. It is a possibility. They have been getting steadily worse over the last year. But then so has my insomnia and the amount of stress I have been exposed to. Any information you got would be fab as would rather pursue anything other then new meds tbh. I react badly to a lot of stuff and side effects are not my idea of fun.

Right. Done loads more of the list but not going to update right now.

Toffee well done on all that carpet/matress cleaning. Those two are my two most hated jobs tbh.

Was going to update my list before I went out BUT I have done everything on it That has to be a first!

Have lovely evenings. I have too much thinking going on so going to go quieten my brain down in the hope that I sleep well with out the sleeping stuff so I can function tomo.

Evening all

Back from the land of fluey, havent caught up with all of you. Sorry. will try and do tomorrow

Panic has struck, 5001 things to do and lots of procrastination. Not had dinner yet, too busy procrastinating.

Im going to make myself a boring list please ignore as may get quite boring

Mop living room floor
clean couches
test smoke alarms been a while
Put away ironed clothes
Make a start on DS halloween robot outfit. [why oh why emotion] (after years of going as a traffic light, ie an black bag with three different coloured circles stuck on it. I think i am overcompensating ds for my misfortune )
Do ds homework with him
Go to gym, (pt sessions and gym use at all are falling by the wayside )
Get Ds to continue signing thank you letter for presents received for his birthday.
Book in for mumsnet xmas meet up in london
work lots of it, concentrating today was impossible. too much going on at work not all good i'm afraid but just part and parcel of running a small business.

Right i am off to bed. I shall try for productive in the morning. Starting a huge to do list manually as have so much that seems to be getting ignored but needs tackled. Hope to be back soon.

Hope you are all ok.

Evening all

Well, got my to-do list done, so feeling very pleased with myself. Very tired now, but less so than I was yesterday so an improvement

As DH is back at work and DFather leaves tomorrow, I've invited some other mums round on Friday afternoon, and I'm not panicking about it!

Living room is tidy (barring DS's toys - and they will never be tidy! )
Dining room is tidy - okay there will be washing hanging up, surreptitiously behind a casually ajar door, but it's been pouring with rain so tough!
Kitchen is clean and tidy although will need to mop the floor.
Upstairs, I need to tidy up the study as DFather has it as his bedroom just now, and probably hoover and dust DS's room.
The bathroom does need cleaning as does the downstairs loo, but other than that huge list, I'm ready!

Oh, and I need to do a shopping trip tomorrow to do more scanning of nutrional info to find foods that I can eat!

Okay, I've typed it - someone punt me up the bum tomorrow to get it done?!

Good evening!

I managed to do nearly everything on my list today. And stir-fry went down much better with the boys than I feared. DS1 looked suspicious and said "I don't think I like that..." but did agree to try it before deciding - result! And he liked the rice, which is a first.

Anyway, to do tomorrow:
Laundry
Empty hoover and then do hoovering
Filing, having failed to do it today
Tidy desk
Mop floors
Bathroom
More hotspots

Right, falling asleep so better step away from the computer. Waves to all and will catch up tomorrow. Night!

Morning all. I am not stopping but i wanted to ask if some kind person would post the steps for me this morning. I was at work till half 9 last night for open evening and i was going to post steps this morning but left laptop at work and am not going to work as i look like the elephant man. I had a little pain and swelling in my face yesterday and was going to see doctor/ dentist today but i have woken up this morning and the left side of my face is so swollen that my eye is starting to close up. Think i might just got to A and E because i can't get doctor/dentist appointment until tonight.

Sorry to let you down.

Oh dear Ellie. Hope you get it sorted soon.

Here you are:

Thank you pa .

Which language are you interested in learning, PA? I don't have any experience of online language courses, but the BBC's Learn German site looks good, as does their German course. Suddenly realised it's probably not German that you're interested in, though! They also have beginners' courses in French, Spanish and German, and audio and video courses in a few other languages (Greek, Portuguese, Chinese) - more info here.

Hope you're feeling better soon, ellie.

It's supposed to be the last day of summer here today, so I've just been out for a run (beat my personal best ) and am now about to tackle the housework before going into school for the English classes in a couple of hours. So on with my morning routine, then...

Thanks Linzer, it Khmer (Cambodian) that I am needing. Had a look on your link, thanks, but no Khmer! Me and DH were absolutely rubbish at languages at school. I got chucked out of German and failed my French "O-level". This is going to be the hardest bit!! We need to get ourselves studying now so that we can know something. Apparently our first 3 months of working there will be spent on intensive language study, but we want to get ahead of the game because we dont think that 3 months is going to get us anywhere, IYSWIM.

Enjoy the last day of summer

Yes, I did suspect it wasn't going to be one of the more "usual" languages, PA. I did Linguaphone courses years and years ago, when I was still at school (am sure they made a huge difference to my accent). They seemed to have every language under the sun back then (even Welsh ), but I've just checked and they seem to have a much smaller range nowadays - no Khmer, unfortunately. However, I did find this during my search; not sure whether it's any use.

hello, all
Ellie hope you get help
PA I am totally cr**p at languages too. Except Latin
Wasn't there some article about learnign Mandarin Chinese recently in newspaper (Guardian? 4 months ago?)where you don't learn the grammar or any structure, you just stick with phrases to converse with, and then start conversing and the minute you start conversing it all falls into place Totally different way at approaching language skills - I suppose like a child learns a language.

Must go into school now!
Was up at 5am! Why oh why? Supper out last night catching up on secondary school news with old friends from primary circuit. Beavers.
Dh in bad mood again due to crossed wires.

Nettie Plain clothes (lurex) with a circuit board on front and a robot mask?
Ds1 once dressed as the gold droid from Star Wars (sorry don't remember his name) and he ws literally gold cloak and a gold (shop bought)SW mask that's all!

Morning all

It is a horrid day here, cold and heavy rain / hail - In this weather I really want to go back to bed. However I can't so here is my list for today.

• Meeting an new volunteering opportunity to talk about what they do / what I can offer etc
• Mission (for all week except Monday - Have been seriously lacking this month on these)
• 2 x 15 minute sessions in spare room attacking more of laundry pile.
• More toy culling
• Hoover throughout downstairs
• Make homemade yeast free bread in breadmaker - Tried the packet but at £2.50 for a loaf, I'm hoping this would be a more economical solution
• Visit another school with a job vacancy - this one is 10 minutes away, my ideal year group and part time but I'm not sure how long for or how it would fit with being an NQT
• Pick up DD from GPs (complicated school pick up arrangements today) and take to ballet.
• If liked the school, complete application to put in post tomorrow morning
• Early night - Has been past midnight last few nights and I'm exhausted.

Right best get to my meeting, I have to be there in 30 minutes and I'm not 100% sure where I am going

Hope you get your face sorted Ellie

PA Is suspect none of the normal language courses we will have heard off will do Khmer. I've done a google search (I'm sure you have) and haven't heard of any of the ones offering it. Can't anyone from the charity or whereever you are doing the journey though suggest any?

I'm off now

thanks for looking Linzer. I have found an online course from a University of Wisconsin, Centre for South East Asian Studies. Looks quite good, so i will start with that for now. Although already I am on word number 1 - "hello" - there is about 12 different variations depending on who says it first, male/female, then if the person you are saying hello to is older or younger than you, then if you are replying its different whoever you are saying it to - male/female, younger/older and then on top of that there are "levels" of respect. For Goodness sake!!!! I think everyone in the world should speak English. This is going to be sooooooo hard for me!!
Hey ho. Better go and get some things done and do some study later.

Morning all,

PA can't help with the Khmer, but there is a film set in Cambodia called City of Ghosts which might be worth watching, it is on my list of films I'c like to see but never get round to. It's on Amazon but I csn't link as I am on the phone.

I'm at work and bored.......

Afternoon.

Good luck MC

PA you could try contacting the embassy and see if they have anyone they can recommend for doing lessons.

Hope you are feeling better soon Ellie

I have been to the dentist and now have antibiotics. So that probably, with the tiredness, explains why I have been feeling like death.

Today's list is short because really feeling under the weather:

Pick up antibiotics
Make sure ds' kit is washed and ready for later
Pick up ds from school
Ds training
Early night.

Project has been recieved and appreciated so it has made the effort worth while.

In the mean time hope you are all fluttering on. Am going to try to get me a nap before school run this afternoon.

Hi all,

Ellie I hope your face and tooth is all nice and normal-sized soon.

Linzer thank you for that great link to the BBC languages website, I went straight over. I used to speak a bit of Greek and Italian and don't remember a thing because I don't use the languages.

PA I was bored and rubbish at French, but I suspect it was the awful teaching by rote methods employed. When I did an introduction to Italian ages ago, the teacher was very keen on us all chatting together and pretending to be shopkeepers, it was much more fun and confidence inspiring.

OK here's the list

morning routine done
volunteering at school library done
no washing today - last lot is still on line wet, dry, wet, dry....etc...
book DS's party
activate new debit card - cool new HBOS/Lloyds account where you get £5 a month credited to your account, but don't pay any fees. What could possibly go wrong...
Hoover sitting room and hall and bookshelf
Final list of guests for DS's party - later
DS's footie stuff to school
read instructions for Blackberry - completely in dark at the moment
find out why sim has not uploaded 50% of contacts
Joomla tonight hopefully set up by end of evening
check emails
lunch + vits

I typed out a great big long post last night but mumsnet crashed on me. :(

Anyway sorry for my absence this week. My DS1 was involved in a serious incident at school and so my week so far has been consumed by that. House is reasonable but not great. I went out on Tuesday and got drunk with my SIL to drown my sorrows and as a result i had to work yesterday with a hangover.

I'll try to be better, sorry.

Hope ds1 is ok NickNacks.