Fledglings dreaming of a FLY Christmas - December's fledgling flyers thread

[BlueEyeshadow]

Welcome flyers one and all, old and new, to the December thread! As the advent calendars go up, let's beat the CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) and FLY through Christmas into the New Year (or have a go at it, anyway...)!

We take a three-pronged approach (and a large pinch of salt) to the FLYlady system:

-babysteps
-babysteps and 15 mins' decluttering
-babysteps and missions

The website is here: FlyLady - if you haven't had a look at it for a while it's worth a gander as the design and layout have changed for the better recently.

Whatever you do, though, don't sign up for the emails or your inbox will be bursting within seconds. Or so I'm led to believe... I will post the links to the babystep and mission for each day (the first ones to follow this evening) and there'll be plenty of chat, , and along the way.

A big thank you to Darkness for leading us through November with so much fun!

Oh no MC More painful than childbirth I gather ... hope you are OK

hope you are okay MC what a nightmare

OFM I have just been crying with laughter at your bit in the Smug Sunday thread..
well I succumbed to the shop Twitch! Anyway I think you definitely deserved your rest today (if you did rest...I'm not sure whether to believe you)

Ellie DD had this, was an ear infection. Was absolutely fine during day but built up pressure at night. Raised bed head and it cured it.

Can't remember much else but have caught up with you all, except SC that wouldn't feel like Christmas at all.

Best try to get some sleep

morning all
MC gosh - hope you are feeling better today. Poor you.
swan no, it is true - I had a very surreal calm day yesterday LOL was most odd really. I even managed to drag all DC out for frosty walk up to local (gorgeous old)church for Carols by Candlelight yesterday evening, then we all returned for Hot Choc and biscuits before bed.....all strangely lovely and Christmassy and even DC finished the day in relative good humour.....my lack of panic is still concerning me though LOL

right, well quick hello to all....
DH is officially on holiday, but dc still at school, me still at work so usual morning chaos here!
BBL with a list for after work.

You poor thing, MC; I've heard that kidney stones can be agony. Hope you're on the mend soon.

OFM Sounds like a lovely day.

SC Good to see you back!
I also find Christmas here far less stressful in many ways - and less commercialised (although I'm constantly moaning about the shops here, so can't have it both ways!). However, I know that a lot of parents find the afternoon/evening of the 24th very stressful, as the tree has to magically appear, fully decorated and with all the presents underneath it, without the children seeing it until the Christ Child has rung his/her/its bell to let them know that he/she/it has been. Luckily DH agrees with me that it's far nicer and less stressful to put the tree up a few weeks before Christmas, although that means we have quite a few tricky questions to answer from visiting children (one of them apparently told her mother that we'd already celebrated Christmas).

We went to visit our neighbours yesterday and meet their new baby. I was so of the state of their house - so tidy, so little stuff everywhere, so tastefully decorated. It has inspired me to do something about the state of our house - if they can manage to have theirs looking so good despite having a three-week old baby and being ridiculously sleep deprived (the mother told me that all she wanted to do was sleep), then I have no excuses. (Yes, our DC inevitably have lots more stuff than one tiny baby - but, unless I'm working, I have several hours of child-free time every morning to get things under control.) DH said that their house will be the same as ours in a few years, but I'm not convinced; I don't think ours ever looked that good even pre-DC.

Hiya! Just jumping in on my phone so no personals! Apart from get well soon mc!!

Well mams house is cleaner but not how I wanted it to be really but I don't suppose a day and a half when you have a 1 year old and 4 dogs is ever going to be enough to deep clean a huge house!!

Time to get back to my own house!

To do:
Home bleugh
Sweep and mop kitchen floor
Today's mission
Wash doors down
S&s bathroom
Walk dog
Go back to mams to put washing in tumble dryer
DD laundry
Wash up/dry/shine sink
Hoover
When DD is asleep later wrap more presents!

BBL!

Morning all.

Thanks for wishes, I've hardly had any sleep and feel pretty rubbish but well medicated so we will see how we go.

To do today

• drop into volunteer work to sort out crb
• pop to shop for bread
• tidy kitchen as DH hasn't touched it whilst I've been ill.
• another load of washing
• dd to swimming lesson

That will do for now as feeling quite nauseous and can only do little bits of things before I feel I'll again.

Linzer our tree used to magically appear on Xmas eve but that was more because my mum used to want it up for as short a time as possible. Not big on Christmas at my parents house

Brief flypast as I panic tidy and scream!

DS was horrible yesterday and would not get off me at all. He's better today and is napping in his cot just now, but I expect stirring any moment.

So my to-do list is as follows:
Put up Christmas tree
Several loads of washing - in progress
Tidy up dining room from Christmas tree boxes and general crap
Wrap more presents - will probably do tonight when DH can cover DS
Work out shopping lists for Christmas food
WAH job
Hug DS lots - ongoing

Will hopefully catch up on thread later on, but not holding my breath. Did see that MC is not well - so sending and to cheer you up.

Yikes MC ! Thank heavens for medication - don't overdo things!

Have done no flying, yet again, as the boys are ridiculously excited and generally climbing the walls. At one point this morning I feared they wouldn't survive till lunch on the first day of the holidays! Fortunately, DH returned from getting the car sorted (turns out there was a nail in the tyre) so I have been able to do neglected adminly things for work and leave them to him!

Off to get lunch now as DS1 apparently starving. Will try to do at least the mission later.

• help yourselves!

Gosh MC I hope you don't feel too rough over Christmas.

Lauren Well done on your extra Flying at your mum's house. It's a lot to take on at any time, let alone now and with 4 dogs and a toddler- you deserve a medal.

Blue You are not alone with the over excited boys. I'm giving them plenty of chores to wear them out and pass the time. Rewarded with a Christmas DVD each afternoon. Seems to have worked today! I have peace and a napping baby. and don't mind if i do!

Fuzzled Will join you with a poorly baby. She was clining and high temp since Sat night and slept a lot yesterday. Woke up feeling better but it meant she had a terrible night last night with vomitting and I have all her bedding and spares to wash and get dried today.

Instead of individual lists for each day, I have one great master list which must be done by Christmas eve. We have lovely things planned for Christmas eve and so minimal and essential things only that day.

So...

De-cobweb downstairs
De-cobweb upstairs
Put screws back in bath panal
Declutter under kitchen sink
Mop kitchen floor thoroughly
Wipe out fridge
Clean oven (just a wipe out thanks to my professional clean in November)
Deep clean bathroom
Food shop
Fix branches on tree
Fill charity bag
Clean bannister
Lay out xmas day clothes
Clean laundry away
Tidy boys room
Put wreath back up on the door (windy times)
Net lights up
Hoover stairs
Dustbins out
Finish wrapping presents
Check xmas pud fits in slow cooker
Make trifle
Ice the christmas cake
Declutter dining room to make space for bigger table
Get xmas food out of all their hiding places
Prep veg
Clean beds for all

I may add more to it as I think but hopefully it will get smaller...quickly!

Have a great Monday everyone!

Hi all.

Hope you feel better soon, MC.

I know what you mean, Linzer. I've dropped into my neighbour's and it is so lovely and tidy. Ours looks awful, and always has.

That's it for personals, I'm afraid.

Todays list
Big Grocery shop [done]
presents for CM's DC [done]
15 mins in kitchen
15 mins in boys room
15 mins in our bedroom
Make 2 doz mince pies for school tomorrow

That's all I'll be able to do today, I think. All a bit manic here. Full on weekend so feel exhausted.

Party on Friday night was absolutely brilliant though!!!! Except for the glass of drink that was tipped all over my beautiful dress

evening all
have survived busy day at work...followed by last minute trip to shopping centre across road from work to aquire a party dress for dd3 for tomorrow (yes, obviously a stupid plan totally lacking in forward planning and very un FLY like!!)Cue total chaos and slight panic as it seemed the WHOLE shopping centre had NOT ONE dress aged 7 !!!! Last minute dash to Mothercare in retail park opposite saved the day as I got THE LAST dress in the whole shop, which was in fact also half price (hoorah for last minute shopping!)
Did return to an impressively tidy house, and several loads of washing completed by DH
still dealing with over tired grumpy dc...so need to go sort them....BBL after bed time for littlies

Hi all,
Sorry I've been absent for a day or two - manic here in the nest! Builder STILL building, when he feels like turning up
Morning sickness coming and going. Trying to figure out how well afford a car that will fit 3 car seats - with difficulTy being the answer! But have done quite a bit of present baking / buying / wrapping, and cleared up after dinner. Somehow dinner a lot calmer and easier to manage when dh is working late, which is wierd because he does help a lot!
Hav to work tonight and try and make sense of my crazy diary...

Hiya all!

Take it easy mc!

Glad you are getting more done today fuzzled, DD is taking a turn at being clingy today too

at your list stnicknack good luck!!

My list looks like:
Home bleugh
Sweep and mop kitchen floor
Wash doors down
S&s bathroom
Today's mission done
Walk dog done
Go back to mams to put laundry in tumble dryer done
Painting tots done
DD laundry ongoing
Wash up/dry/shine sink done
Hoover done
Wrap presents when DD goes to sleep - still waiting!

BB tomorrow!

Crikey ofm you were brave with shopping centre. I also ended up there but by accident and was going to leave straight away but found a parking space straight away. It's this time of year I'm glad I live across the road and can walk.

Ta da list

• volunteer job visit for crb check
• shop for bread etc
• quick visit to shopping centre (very quick!!)
• an hour sleep - I suspect zonked by meds. DD was a very good girl
• dd to swimming lesson

Same pain that I had on Sat is back with a vengeance but on left hand side. Not sure if that's normal and meds not helping so am going to have a warm bath and see if that will help and if not I guess i may have to go back to docs tomorrow

Hope you all had a good day.

MC hope the bath helps withthe pain and you get a good night's sleep. Poor you.
and yes, the advantage of working where I do is that I can walk over to shopping centre from work and dont have to battle with car park at least LOL

Hope all those with poorly clingy babes are coping that all are better tomorrow....

V tired tonight so heading to bed very early,any time now LOL...
BBtomorrow

Good evening everyone. Have just watched The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff, which was quite fun in a very silly way, and am now feeling moderately Christmassy! How have we all been today?

MC has been doing a surprising amount despite suspected kidney stones! Look after yourself! Hope you get some relief from the pain.

OFM had a lovely evening yesterday and then had to battle for the very last party dress.

Linzer has been spreading consternation among her neighbours by having the tree up in advance and feeling of other people?s houses. The Christ Child/Christmas tree thing does sound very stressful! (BTW, I haven?t got round to sending The Author and I now can?t find them beneath the wrapping paper? )

Lauren is getting back to her own house, having been cleaning her mum?s. You definitely deserve a !

Fuzzled was suffering from a Velcro baby...

StNicks has a huge pre-Christmas list! Get well soon to your DD. (Our DS1 spent DS2?s nap time wearing himself out on the Wii, which seemed to take the edge off things, at least for a while?)

ChitChat was having a manic day and making mince pies.

I didn?t manage the mission but did clear a few hotspots, including surreptitiously recycling a few of DS1?s craft projects? DH has also got the roof box onto the car ready for our Christmas tour of southern England?

I?m also trying to achieve a moderately reasonable bedtime, so here come the links:

Babystep: laundry?
Mission: putting ?stuff? away.
*

Tomorrow there?s Messy Church, which DS1 has been looking forward to for weeks, where we?ll hopefully meet some friends. It?s in town, so need to do a few errands while we?re there and maybe have lunch in a café. Have another friend coming over in the afternoon, so at least we won?t be bored!!

Better be off. Night all.

OFM I had forgotten about "party" party dresses, until I took 9/10 year old dd to a disco last week, in suitably trendy (but essentially casual) wear - to my horror everyone was wearing PROPER satiny, lacy, sequiny, "party" dresses. Did I miss a trick and is grunge so over? Anyway dd looked lovely anyway...she is very stylish always, unlike her poor mama

Ds1 and I have just had a very Christmassy time watching Young James Heriot on the sofa. More presents keep arriving from Amazon, I think the children are getting more and more about Father Christmas and how the presents get here.

done
today we made Candles from a 3 year old candle making kit - they looked like cupcakes because we had no other suitable moulds..
walk
horrid time with Home Hub, though I now seem to be connected to some neighbour's BT Wi- Fi even if my own doesn't work.... Burst into tears to Technical Support although they were very kind, it's not their fault am such a idiot with computers. Anyway it seems to be working now but not from a Home Hub....
kept dcs from screens till afternoon
cooked sweet potato, curry and leek soup - delicious! and other meals...
shopped for more food with kids (quite fun)
sent off three parcels and some letters/cards.
dd has gone on a sleepover, I gave in.

Today has been a bit of a nightmare with ds2 really, which put a blight on things, although he was fine once we went to the Post Office and to Morrisons. Just not good at playing with dd's friends when in tyrannical mood or maybe it's their fault...who knows...

Busy day tomorrow with hospital appt followed by "not quite sure whether anyone will turn up" visit from two of ds1's acquaintances, and dd off to another party quite far away..

I'm on my way to bed, but swan's post made me smile - my mum would have sent me to a party in a proper dress while everyone else was in jeans! Strange to think of it being the other way round...!

Evening! I have suitably non flying crazy day. Had a long road trip today. was brilliant. Ds is one very happy tired bunny He only went to bed about an hour ago although in fairness he fell asleep about midnight in the car didn't look comfortable though and kept rousing
I didn't enough myself quite as much as ds, i think it comes with being a parent though. Having to deal with dc is never completely relaxing as compared to going out without them. Was fun though and completely doable again.

However, in light of having driven best part of 350miles in the round trip tomorrow's list looks like this:
wash kit
wash ds' bedding
make up ds' kit bag
take ds to training
ds showered and bed pre 9pm
Early night.

Anything else will be a bonus.

Wishing you all happy fly days! Hope you feel better soon MC and that velcro children find the wish to spend some time on their own.

Hmm am thinking that i might name change. You'll have to spot me tomo under my new name.

Blimey Ouch - that' a lot of driving. Were you back in my neck of the woods?

Sorry for being AWOL, I've felt rotten for a few days with this cold (much better now), also had guests over the weekend so it has been a bit hectic. Flying took a back seat for a few days, but I got DH (he had a day off work yesterday) to take the DCs swimming yesterday and I spent about 3 hours tidying and doing the home blessing, so I feel more on top now. I have definitely slacked a bit with the daily tidying and detailed cleaning lately, I can feel a New Year's Resolution will be needed.

MC - you take it easy, kidney stones sound very painful.

Back later to catch up properly, but I've got to go to work today, so it will probably be tonight.

Morning all!

Ta da list for yesterday:-
One kitchen ceiling pulled down
Ceiling plasterboarded
Ceiling plastered
Our bedroom tidied cleaned and floor rediscovered
House maintained

Ta da list this morning:-
Beds made
Dc's rooms tidied
Living room tidied
Dc's despatched to cm's

To do list:-
Paint kitchen

Dh has turned into a diy wonderman. I am going to go and help him paint

Have a good day everyone!

Planning an assault on the dining room today. All the Christmas boxes need put away again along with various other bits and bobs.

Not really planning anything else as room will take forever and DS has the docs this afternoon as he has had a wheeze since Saturday so want a chest infection ruled out before Christmas. Maybe a bit of towel washing...

Blue my mum always sent me in the wrong clothes [maudlin , but she didn't believe in jeans! She thought they didn't suit me I have five pairs now! and so does dd . She also didn't believe in mini-skirts for tall women so dd has several mini skirts I remember my worst ever party dress was plum coloured corduroy with a matching waistcoat

Now I have force persuade various slowcoaches to get ready and leave for hospital appt.