Remember, remember the fledgling Flyers: dusting, and decluttering a lot..

[DarknessSoothes]

Come one come all, fledgling reunite. 1st of the month and we survived the fright. Bonfire month and lets burn though the housework to prepare for the festivities of December.

As from the 1st we will be babystepping, mission and deep cleaning our way out of the C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome).

For newbies and those who need reminding here is the principles behind the babystep system.

The basic is this:

1. Do the babysteps.
2. When you do the babysteps with consistency add in the missions
3. When you are doing the babysteps and missions as a habbit tackle the deep cleaning.

This thread is a mishmash of people at different stages. The lists can look long, but look carefully, some of us are reposting lists and parts of lists from day to day.

Our motto is this: Do not strive to be perfect, Progress is progress and anything is better then nothing and my personal favourite part of the fly lady system is you are never behind, just jump in and start from where you are.

So on that note here we go. With much thanks to Ellie who lead us with amusing roundups last month.

Day 1: Babystep 1 - How to shine your sink

Mission here - this will update overnight ready for the early fledglings

Tuesday's reminders are here: It's planning day

And for those of you who are eagerly awaiting christmas here is the flylady's crusing into christmas page. Personally i did some of this last year and done some this year and it does take a chunk of the stress out of christmas.

Well now that I have suitably scared you, see you all tomo!!

Hi Darkness I'd be happy to do steps/links over weekend. Hope you have a good night out on Sat. Glad to hear you have had an easier time with ds this evening bless him.

Have I mentioned recently that are doing a brilliant job of running this thread btw? (Esp given the volume of chat on here at the moment!)

Hats off to you for skating Linzer! I'm a wimp when it comes to the ice rink!

Rowingboat you lost me at 'wordpress' but hats off to you too for getting to grips with it!! DD has recurring earache - she has it quite badly for 24 hrs and then it disappears - she seems much better today thankfully. Sorry to hear you are still suffering...

Lauren have you tried white vinegar for bathroom cleaning? (Not the posh culinary wine kind - but the distilled colourless stuff - looks like water or vodka and sold in larger bottles) It's terrific for tiles, sinks, shower doors, glass etc etc and very effective at getting rid of limescale.

Madwoman you did well to get everyone to school despite the late start! Hope your day got better!

Going to go and crash in naughty corner now. Very little Flying achieved today or this week come to think of it which I know I am going to regret later. Leaving out lots of for those in need.

Insisted dd did lots of home study today despite her being off school and she wasn't best pleased. We got there (reasonably amicably) in the end but the battle has done me in!

And just as I was putting her to bed, there was a lot of shouting, blue lights and screeching of brakes in the street and we were witness to eight armed policeman pouncing on some chap (in his car) in the street, pulling him out, wrestling him to the ground and amidst much shouting and excitement, trussing him up with handcuffs and affecting an arrest.

Cue dd "He must be a very bad man mummy,"
SC "Possibly darling, come away from the window please"
DD "Do you think he has stolen a diamond?" (she's studying the British crown jewels atm)
SC "I don't know, come away from the window"
DD "Aw, this is better than Animal Rescue 24/7"

Hope you get your early night Linzer

Have a good evening everyone ..

Darkness oops that should have read 'you' are doing a briliant job!! Hope you get a well-deserved unbroken 8 hrs + tonight.

Oh lord should that be "effecting" or "affecting" an arrest? I should know this but my mind has gone blank.

Effecting an arrest, SC; if you were affecting it, you would be influencing it. All sounds rather eventful, anyway - hope things have calmed down now and that your DD got off to sleep OK!

Darkness The skates are actually for me; the DC can go back to their cheap Lidl ones minus the toe pick (thanks for the translation!) after the course is over. What are rec skates btw?

As suspected, I haven't managed my early night but if I go to bed right away, it won't be too late...

Not sure when I last posted, but think I've been AWOL as RL is a bit frantic. DS2's birthday today (6) and both he and DS1 were at home, off sick. DS2 was genuinely poorly with a bad cold, but DS1 walked all the way to school, stood and looked at the building, felt sick and came home again. That's an hour round trip. He seemed fine all day, so I can't help wondering if it was something to do with knowing his brother was at home celebrating his birthday.

Anyway, DS2 is shouting for me and I still have to get DS1 to bed.

apologies for lack of personals

They tend to be cheaper skates which have little support in the ankle. Although I suspect the quality of the skates by you is significantly better then over here. But here they are generally a waste of money as they break much quicker and would need replacing faster then if you had paid a little bit more in the first place. is a more professional boot these are rec skates this would be considered a beginner boot price range difference is huge but then what you would be attempting to do in the boots would be very different. the rec boots would only hold up to going around in a circle and likely to be used occasionally, the beginner boot would allow a very simple waltz type jump possibly up to a loop and toe loop and often the skater would do upto about 3/4hrs a week, whilst the more professional boots are suitable for doing double jumps and would see up to 20hrs a week on the ice. The difference is the support in the ankles so it really is about chosing one to suit the purpose and regularity of use.

oops! Thanks Linzer Oh dear ...

(Digression warning: just to reassure copy-editors/translators/proof readers on this thread - I no longer copy-edit on a regular basis - but when I do, I promise I look this stuff up!

Don't know what has happened to my brain of late. Must be old age/working in a different language - used to be able to retain all the 'rules' in my head - but brain is equivalent of junk yard - full of rusting ligatures, inclusive pronouns, non-defining clauses and dangling participles. They are in there somewhere but you have to step over a load of clutter before you can reach them!!)

Sorry linzer looks like one link but actually 3 in a row.

x posts

Many happy returns to your ds2 Toffee!! Hope your ds1 feels better in himself tomorrow!

Evening all

Please come and join me in the naughty corner, on top of my rubbish week, my car has now broken down (again). I have a bottle of Jack Daniels and I'm willing to share.

Justonemorethread thank for the drunken teacher solidarity last night. Unfortunately I was passedout notaround to see it.

Laurenamium- Yes I'm registered with three different supply agencies. So far I've had 1/2 day of work since September.

My computer doesn't want to scrawl so will be back in a minute when I have sorted it.

I have managed to clean the kitchen and the lounge today and do one load of washing. Not too much but I have hurt my hand and I'm struggling with using it. I banged it and now I think I have bruised it. I think I should go to bed and wake up on Monday.

Right back in a minute. i'm going to stock up the choccies in the naughty corner whilst I'm gone.

Good evening.

I got the ironing in the pile done today and made Christmas pudding so that's my list ticked . There is more washing on the airer which is probably just about dry enough to iron but I'm not doing it tonight. Pud is in the slow cooker to do overnight and DH's sandwiches are made. Just need to make quick trip into the garage to get some bits out of the freezer then to bed.

Have told DS he is well enough to go to school tomorrow so will probably be lurking (not supposed to log on at work)

Happy Birthday littleToffee - only 12 days difference between yours and mine as DS was 6 on the 7th. I like 6 yr old boys :)

Sorry he was poorly on his birthday hope he is better for his party.

Need to get to bed soon though have been filling out 'Ofsted-type' questionnaire for school and my head is whirring. Incredible difference between DD's (2 x A4 typed pages) and DS's (one paragraph) as their experiences of school have been so different so far.

Sorry no personals, I need sleep..............zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Toffee Hope DS had a nice birthday and is feeling better.

Darkness glad you and DS had a good night tonight.

Madwoman hope your day got better

Linzer glad you got time to skate and enjoyed it. I once went skating, this old guy got my hand, took me to the middle of the rink and left me there. I think he was trying to help me. He scared me for life.

Evening all.

Final ta da! list:
Washing in tumble drier
Called council about muppet bin men breaking the food waste bin.
Swept floor
reassemble Dyson and do floors
Tidy desk
mop hard floors
Aldi shop and put away
Start dinner

Didn't do CVs and joining MC in depression at lack of work. Had to talk to CM about going down to one day of childcare at the end of the month if still nothing. :(

Glad you had a good evening Darkness.

Not much flying likely tomorrow as it's "spend time with DS2 day". Should finally get shot of the wretched newsletter though. Yay!

Shame you got scared for life MC. It can be a lot of fun but I have seen a lot of people terribly scared by it.

Dh was disappointed I think as well Darkness as it was one of the things I had suggested when we first stated dating as I had always fancied it and he arranged to make an evening out of it and go to the Dome in Doncaster. We have a good skating rink now in Ice Sheffield but I think i'll leave it for the youngsters. I think the old guy was going for a sink or swim approach. Instead he ended up apologising to me.

Have just remembered I need to find a spotty outfit for DD tomorrow for Children in Need. I was so looking forward to an early night tonight.

ooo, it's been a while since we had a skating thread! darkness, you will love my story today and be very very jealous, but i'm going to share anyway . i only remembered with the skating chat! one of the women i had my meeting with this morning was saying that she had been out on the creek as the ice was now thick enough - and that it was crystal clear and she had been watching the fish dart about underneath the ice, and then - she had seen a BEAVER! under the ice, just going about it's business. she was sooo excited, and has promised to organise a social skating trip to the creek and build a fire and do hot choc and marshmallows etc. How cool is that?!

anyway! i have just been perfecting the art of running around in circles today. i seem to have been leaping from one thing to another and haven't achieved anything. tomorrow is another day. it's supposed to be -20 tomorrow though, so i do need to make sure i've got all the snowpants out and SET MY ALARM....

Sounds fab, madwoman - I used to go skating on the river when I lived in Berlin and it was great fun. There's also a lake near us where people go skating in the winter, although we've only ever been sledging on it.

Thanks for the information about the skates, Darkness. Going by the price, the boots I'm thinking about buying would be rec skates - but it would only be for a couple of hours a week at the very most and definitely no jumps or anything other than skating round in a circle! The skates I bought for the DC from Lidl were only about ?20 and I'm under no illusions about their quality, but they seem fine for the DC's purposes (other than for the course) and are holding up OK so far.

Have already spent far too long on MN, so must start work...

Very very cool mad Sounds like a lot of fun. Although there are areas in the UK where they have pond hockey seasons. Looking forward to it to be honest. Ds would have a blast.

MC The doncaster one problem wasnt the best rink either as I believe it is a two tier rink and that in itself can be very intimidating. I have heard really good things about the quality of the rink but some :( things about the attitude of some who use it.

It's the british at sheffield rink this weekend. Then they have other competitions that are associated with it.

Was up early with good intentions but seem to be no furhter ahead then if i had got up normal time. how does that work?

*probably not problem.

It's going to be one of those days isn't it.

How is it nearly quarter past 8 already? And why after 2 cups of coffee does my brain not work yet?

Another reluctant skater here, I think my long standing back problems can be attributed to the time i was cut up by a small child on the rink and fell badly. I never was very good but know can't rrlax into it at all for fear of falling, can barely let go of the rail. DH and DD love it, DS is the same as me and we are both very happy to sit it out. Reminds me I need to book for Dh and DD to go to the Christmas rink in Winchester.

I love skating but haven't been since before DS1. They had a Christmas rink here for a few years, but just when the boys were getting old enough to consider going, they stopped it. :( We do have a good proper rink but it never occurs to me to go to it!

Darkness - tell me about it - we always seem to be late whatever time I start getting ready. Sigh.

I love[d] skating and used to go to the Queensway rink as a teenager. But somehow this morphed into reading lie-ing cosily in bed reading Noel Streatfield books about ballet dancing and skating rather than actually skating or doing ballet My mum had her own pair of white leather skates, but my feet were always too large for them...
I've never dared skate with the kids. Dd is brilliant, the friend who took her says she is a natural.

More homework hell last night. Ds had to define Civilisation for history. As Dh pointed out he didn't understand the concepts of sophistication, society or culture so it was another struggle to explain it to him, and he was endlessly prevaricating. As a result we are having a telly ban tonight for EVERYONE.

He also gets to miss his Citizenship lessons because he's in the Chamber Choir I liked the way that singing in Chamber choir automatically trains you up in citizenship I approve as singing as a cure for all evils..

SC that must have been quite alarming for dd it's nice to know we are protected, but seeing the force of law take effect is quite a shock sometimes, I am glad she was so sanguine about it.

PA I've been thinking about your dream. I think the strange thing about internet "Friends" is that because they often are faceless we try and puzzle them out in dreams, almost like meeting angels [!) I suspect you were thinking about journeys to strange lands, and the sea is uncertainty, and SC is someone you feel at home and confident about much as much as you feel confident about the future, yet you don't know what the future will hold, thus the image of farm animals (security, pets, family) falling into the sea.

And I've done some cleaning
loos
baths
basins
dw
worktops
sink
rubbish
kids to school with PE kit, etc

DH hs bought a new Kindle and reading 4th part of his bros book, but he said it was seriously bloodthirsty Oh dear, well I can't read it anyway as it's in German.

Thing is these days a lot of permeant rink to toddler sessions with toys are stuff. The kids generally seem to enjoy them.

I suppose I could confess that I rather like skating but that would 1. be rather obvious - especially to the oldies, and 2. be a bit of an understatement