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!!

There is hope of some work... Everything crossed! Would be a very tight deadline, but interesting and doable...

Fingers crossed for you, Blue - would it be a big project?

lauren What's coralline?

Toffee Glad the talk with the other mum went well. of you having the house to yourself!

Darkness I would have left the calendar blank too - you can always ask your DS if he wants to fill it in himself then, or whether you should do it for him.

Fuzzled How annoying about the security tag. That happened to us once too - there was one left in a pair of tights I'd bought for DD2 and I couldn't face the half hour drive back, so just pulled it out myself in the end (but it left an unsightly hole that I had to sew up).

Back from ice skating. DS's skates are too big so he was having real problems staying up - will have to see whether they can be adjusted, otherwise I'll have to hire some next time, in which case the new ones were a complete waste of money! I was also told off by the grandmother of one of the other children doing the course for only putting thin socks on DS (he also had trousers on plus snow trousers on top, I hasten to add) - boys here seem to be expected to wear tights up to the age of secondary school. Tbh I'm surprised she didn't tell me he was going to catch a cold.

A friend of DD1's phoned up to ask whether she could come skating with us. When I went to pick her up, her mum asked what time we'd be back - I told her sometime after 4.30 pm. She said, "Oh, I won't be here then [she was going to her elder DD's parents' evening], but she can come back with you, can't she?" I said, "Well yes, but DD1 hasn't finished her homework yet..." She was unconcerned as her DD hasn't finished her homework either (but she hasn't brought it with her for them to do together, so I've let DD1 go off and play). Grr - I should really be more assertive, but it's difficult when DD1 hardly ever has friends to play.

At any rate, they're all playing nicely atm and I've just remembered that I still have to prepare tomorrow's English lesson, so had better make the most of the lack of quarrelling and go and do so.

linzer coraline is a kids film (I think Disney?maybe not though) about a person with weird scary eyes, toffeefudge mentioned it

Felt like flying has started to pay off for the first time today when I walked in the house and it was clean and tidy with shiny surfaces

Just paper work and filing to do tonight

evening all....
toffee so gla dtalk with other mum went well
lauren sorry to hear your sad news, hope things go as well as can be.
swan yay for a calm morning

and have lost track already....sorry brain fried! everyone-else Hi

well, rubbish nights sleep last night. Was awake from 3am when loads of worries about stuff at work just flooded my head and wouldnt go away....sigh
As a result was totally shattered and exhausted by the time the alarm went off at 6.00 cue frazzled and grumpy morning with not much achieved before school drop off.....
Usual chaos at work...but at least I was only there till lunch time....then had to collect dd3 from school and take her to appointment with Community paediatrician for assessment as part of statementing wotsit....usual nightmare parking round the hospital, cue parking about a mile away and running up the road to arrive for app 5 mins late and totally flustered

anyway, it did at least mean that DH was home early as he had to collect other dc from school so I have managed to get a bit done so far this evening:
Tidied kitchen
robooted laundry
sorted out fridge and freezer and 2 large food cupboards ready for shopping delivery
made dinner (very uninspired tuna pasta!)
4 mile run
shower
ordered some books from amazon!
ordered ballet stuff for dd4

now need to:
do reading with dd3 and 4
nag remind dd2 AGAIN to do her handwriting book
reboot laundry again
story and bed for ds2
check what uniform is left for which dc for tomorrow (dd3 appears to have lost ANOTHER 2 jumpers this week....sigh)
order a couple more christmas pressies

.....now just need to motivate myself to get up off sofa.....

Thanks everyone for well wishes, DP is at the hospital now so I've got the house tidy and tea on and DD bathed and ready for bed, it's a lot easier without a 6ft mess maker wandering around after me!

Got the errands done, but no flying. Still, Thurs is errands day, isn't it?

Linzer - quite a big project, yes. Now I'm panicking though, that it won't come to anything and that I've been counting chickens!

Swan - yes, building work is all finished. The patio needs sweeping but it's tons better now. I'm still finding everything v frustrating and have always totally run out of energy and patience by teatime! :(

Darkness - hope you continued making progress with the epic list!

Toffee - glad you came up with a plan with the other mum.

Lauren - yay for shiny surfaces.

Waves to all.

oh, toffee, it had better be suitable, as i'm taking all of mine (nearly 12, nearly 10 and 8!!!) it hadn't actually occurred to me it might not be, lol. the only thing i'm slightly worried about is that it will be too loud for dd2 (she has always had a few sensory issues wrt noise and theatres, but has been much better lately so i thought we'd chance it. i will take some ear plugs to deaden the sound a little just in case!!!)

ah, it's that playmobil time of the year, again.

well, today and tomorrow are living room, dining room and kitchen painting days (it's all open really, just a balcony bit in the middle) so i'm banished to the dd's room in the basement. i have spent 3 hours this morning removing every trace of stuff from all the surfaces though, and cleaning up, so plenty of flying in progress. the painters have been having a bit of a mare, as apparently i've chosen the two worst colours in the history of the world for coverage. and the entire house was painted shades of sludge mushroom before, so it's essential that it covers well.

it's actually very motivating, as having to move everything in the house has given me a huge jolt about all the junk laying around that really doesn't need to go back there...

pa, well done on your interviews, that is soooo exciting!!! how many kids are going with you? are they looking forward to it? when do you get your dates?!!!

right, better get on. laundry calls...

oh, and it's take-out pizza for dinner as i don't have a kitchen until tomorrow night. yay!!!!

OMG my oven is amazing! It wa truly, truly awful. Even the bloke winced when he saw it

Thanks Toffee stamps are now bought.

Tonight we have been to watch our local Christmas lights being switched on. It was so lovely! We had a magical moment when we started to come away from the high street and Father Christmas was ahead. DS2 (5) ran up to him and he shook his hand and said Merry Christmas. Then we carried on walking and we all looked back to have one last look at him but he had disappeared! Really really special as the boys couldn't believe he had just gone and there was nowhere he could have moved to so quickly. They just stood there with mouths open

that you all think I'm steaming ahead with the Christmas prep. We love Christmas and this is our 9th yr as a family (and as a couple!) but the first time we are hosting it. So house as well as presents, cards, and cooking need seeing to this year.

I'm very close to your gocarting Swan! Wave when you come!

Whoops forgot to post list.

Up, shower, breakfast, dress everyone
Sitting room hotspot
Mop kitchen floor
Visit friend
Home for lunch and naps
Write invoices
Give out invoices
Beavers run
Put a wash on
S and S
Change DD bedsheets

I'm sure it will be fine, madwoman - I went to see it years ago and don't remember anything being unsuitable for children. Although I was quite tipsy had had a couple of glasses of wine beforehand.

Blue Always good to have something to get your teeth into - a lot of my work is very small jobs - so fingers crossed it does work out. A freelance translator friend of mine posted on FB earlier that it looks like she has half of next year's work in the bag; was very as I don't even have anything lined up for next month let alone next year. The ITI Bulletins are on their way btw.

lauren Sorry, had completely missed swan and Toffee mentioning Coraline - I'd never heard of it before.

I actually came upstairs to print out some handouts for tomorrow, but half an hour later and I'm still on MN - how did that happen? Had better do the handouts now and then go to bed; it's yet another too late a night (for me, at any rate).

Update of list, will be back to read through in a mo. sorry.

List:
Drink lots of cola
collect laundry downstairs
strip beds
dis-infect 4 bins
Tidy ds' room 90% done but need to deep clean floor before can finish off
sort through and cull ds' books
move small coffee table into ds' room ready for him to have his small christmas tree in there.
Duvet on to wash
DW on
fireplace cleaned out and relaid
folding up-to-date for now.
ironing up-to-date for now.
empty hall of furniture and stuff
collect rubbish
retape stick again don't ask.
take stock of christmas presents and wrap up those have.
Empty study
hoover study
move lounge furniture into study
remove random stuff from lounge
tidy bathroom in progress
tidy cloak room
clean cloak room
hoover lounge, hall, stairs and landing, bathroom, ds' room and spare room
bleach bathroom, cloak room and ds' room (thank goodness for laminate/lino flooring)
Remember to eat lunch
move box off landing
pack up ds' training stuff although missing a training top
sort out my training stuff
clear lose junk off landing - bin/recycle or rehome as necessary. in progress
Laundry. 1st load on
Find missing training top
find advent calanders
take ds to training
do my own training
Get ds clean and in bed having been fed again he has only been down about 15mins he will be knackered tomo
Air ds' stinky stinky kit
Put my bedding through wash which i forgot to do earlier bugger means it will be late before i am in bed :(
Put bedding back on bed.

On a plus note today ds has declared me the coolest mum because i am so much fun not sure he felt that way last night when i was grumpy Nice to have a compliment from him instead of insults though. Made my day infact.

Woooah! I can't believe I've only been out of touch for a few days and so much has happened on here! No way can I go through all of that. I've actually being doing quite well with the housework, except for the dreaded laundry.
And don't get me started on the budgeting and planning.... How hard can it be to plan a few days' meals???!!!
The thing is I have terrible grazing/eating habits and really struggle with this 'meal' thing, which obviously is really important. I wish I could just eat crackers, cheese, dips and fruit through the day and not bother with bloody meals.... How many years until good eating habits are established in the children and I can give up on the whole sharade?
I actually just wish these children would stop wanting and needing so much food all the time for goodness sake!
RArarah!
Ah, that feels better now it's off my chest.

Anyway nothing like a visit from someone from overseas to get bum in gear and house cleaned up.

Just looking at your list darkness makes my head swim.

Now have to clear up the huge pile of plates created by entertaining just one guest... why???

linzer postcard did arrive thank you very much. Ds said we should have met you and we could have had a trip on tube together! Maybe next time we are only 1 1.5 hrs away.

Quick update

Up-done
Dw/wm-done
Dressed x 3-done
S/s-nope
Swim stuff-done
Packed lunch x2 I know should have done these last night-done
Nursery drop-done
Work try sort layout issues for this years invoices. Prints fine on one printer but not the other!! -still not fixed
Pick ds up take to swimming-done
Pick dd up on way back-done
Decorate their snug with chrimbo decks-done paperchains made
Do homework-nope
Gym-done
Put away ironed clothes-nope
Time with dh-done

I haven't caught up with the thread but I will in the morning. I promise.

Have good evenings xxx

Nicknacks - of your shiny 'new' oven. And I love the Father Christmas magical moment .

Justonemore - sympathies re never-ending meals. I feel that way too.

Morning all!

Thanks toffeefudge

nicknacks I too loved your Santa moment! I'm taking DD and mindees to see the lights switch on today

darkness your list!!! I could never get that much done in a day!!

DS1 is at home today, thanks to feeling sick again. Then DS2 also decided he felt too ill for school , but he was far too energetic and bouncy to be ill so I took him in anyway.

Today I'm going to tackle a backlog of things that need doing, so I need a list:

Check on DS1
B/fast and
AM routine - D/W, W/M, kitchen, etc
Make beds
Room rescues
Swish and swipe
Laundry and ironing
Bedroom - major room rescue
Library - return DVDs
Ring man about broken oven
Ring plumber about broken tap in bathroom

That'll do for now. If I get all that done, I'll be happy.

Back later to report on how I'm doing.

Feel like death :( but have to get rest of list done, and go up to local major shopping centre and do a drop off for ds' to go to his dad's and i am supposed to be going out tonight. i want my bed :(

Anyhow's List left over from yesterday:
hoover study
move lounge furniture into study
remove random stuff from lounge
tidy bathroom
tidy cloak room
clean cloak room
hoover lounge, hall, stairs and landing, bathroom, ds' room and spare room
bleach bathroom, cloak room and ds' room (thank goodness for laminate/lino flooring)
Remember to eat lunch
clear lose junk off landing - bin/recycle or rehome as necessary. in progress
Laundry. 1st load on
Shopping centre trip
contact meeting drop off
Finish packing ds' stuff that started yesterday.
Finish folding clothes
Finish ironing
Move clothes / put away.

Right need more coffee and to get moving. I really don't want to though. Shame it is not an option.

DH did the school run this morning, so actually have a ta-da list!

Ta da!
Washing done and hanging on line
Hoovered
S&S x 2
Shiny sink and basin in loo
Lots of work-related e-mailing

To do
Loads of garden stuff
Not lose it with the boys :(
Clean laundry away
Declutter bedroom
Defrost fish
Cook fish pie

Waves to all. for darkness and Toffee. Anyone else want one?

Thanks, Blue.

OFM now completely lost my nerve driving to any hosp appts due to parking! Luckily there is a good bus service to our (distant) hosp. At least that is one more step out of the way for dd4.

Toffee concert went v well. DH went instead of me, with enthusiastic dd. Such a late night though for the two children, not home till 10pm! Ds1 really sang well in his solo A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, and he was in two choirs! Not the Xmas concert though, still another Carol Concert to go on 15th. Very grumpy this morning though, and doing the usual teenage thing of pretending to wash and putting his clothes on before you notice he hasn't, cue elaborate suberfuges about wet towels and why his hair is dry...

Had an absolutely fruitless morning trying to decide on presents for the dcs and godchildren on the internet. If I knew they really wanted what they said they want, life would be simpler ifysim, but I suspect half the things they suggest are a whim.

dd wants a footspa a reclining chair and a netbook also a grande mansion with all furniture ad infinitum but would it be better to get something ds2 can play with her like a playmobil spy centre? Or a Sylvanian Barn or Playmobil camper van???Impossible, and it all adds up a bit expensive if you make the wrong choice. Grandma may have to be roped in...grandma is notorious for Not buying anything until the last minute and then gettng a book from Oxfam shop, or alternatively asking us to buy things on her behalf that she in fact never refunds us for like climbing frames... Still, she is otherwise a lovely granny so

Nicknacks yes that must have been a moment to treasure. I finding cold dark evenings afternoons hard to take atm, I need that magical Xmas lights feeling! And your post made me think how we mustn't bicker so much this Xmas. Dh and I always fall out over [social/practical] arrangements, especially as we often seem to host the lunch and the gps are NO PRACTICAL HELP AT ALL, either pre-xmas or afterwards and we get completey bogged down with mess and grumpiness.

Sounds lovely NickNacks - our Christmas light switching on here is, IMO, a bit crap. The festivities (a couple of fairground rides, a hot dog stand and interminable local school choirs) take place in the market square, then they light up the Christmas tree, which is rather pathetically strung with a few ropes of cold white LEDs, the lights in the High Street (which are really nice) go on at the same time but they are out of sight from the square. It's tonight, and DD wants to go with her best friend, we will go for half an hour, but then mean mummy is going to drag them off to the Beavers Carol Concert that they don't really want to go to and leave them there (with DH) so she can go out on the town with her friends!

We do have a Lions Club Father Christmas who goes round the streets on his 4x4 sleigh in the weeks before Christmas which always leaves the children round-eyed in wonderment, ahhhh. We live in the end of a cul-de-sac so he has to turn his sleigh round in front of our house so the DCs get a few extra moments which is nice.

Right, so better get on. Haven't done much housework since Monday because I have been on a mammoth decluttering binge, which also involves rearranging a lot of the toy storage, so the house looks a bit of a tip, however there is quite a bit of empty space in various cupboards and drawers which wasn't there before.

Swan - that sounds like a lovely concert. I love that song: my grandfather used to play it to us at family get-togethers and it always brings back happy memories.

Think I might ask for the Playmobil camper van for myself this Christmas .

GGAAAAH! still not getting anywhere. I may have to actually go to a shop in order to make a decision... now have a splitting headache from computers.