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!

Ta da list doesn't have anything to do with Flylady, Chitchat (at least, I don't think it does), but someone invented it on this thread and we all leapt on it as a great idea .

Donkey - make the most of your new cleavage, I'd say! Or you could wear a pretty, attractive vest underneath, maybe?

Toffee Sorry can't help you ds stopped believing in father christmas at 3. I don't think he actually ever believed properally and he could argue a very convincing case that he could exist. We still do the food for reindeer, stocking etc because it is a fun thing to pretend. Perhaps the fact ds thinks he doesn't exist can be your and his secret and he has to pretend he does because Dh still believes and you wouldn't want him to be disappoint I know i stopped believing early but was made to pretend for my sisters.

Poor ds has been most upset this week because of reverse peer presure. Kids in his class have been told don't believe don't get presents to try to make them believe. They have been actually quite mean to ds because he doesn't believe. Feel sorry for the kid. not only has he missed out on the fun of believing but bullied because his logical reasoning is too fecking good.

linzer Ahhh that will explain a bit. jeg har bokmål lærer. Apparently Nynorsk is closer to the original old norsk and there is a movement to revert to it. Bokmål originated under swedish rule I believe although could be making it up My dictionary is fabulous you look up an english word and give examples of how it can be used in sentances for example under the word "hunch" there is"have a hunch that" is "ha på følelsen at"

Tbh donkey I shouldn't be drinking any caffine and when life runs good i mainly only every drink water and don't want anything else but haven't slept properally in many years and the last 2 have been burning the candle both ends and middle. I want to get back to the point of drinking water again. I feel so much better for it. But then i need to get back to the point where a good night's sleep is more then 6hrs and a bad night's sleep is none at all. I suspect achieving this will be the key to a lot of things.

*argue a convincing case that he couldn't exist

Yes, it is about logic, isn't it, Ouch? DS2 is very logical and I think he's put two and two together. DS1 is very literal and believes what he is told, so I had to tell him the truth in the end. I can't believe there is such a contrast between the two.

Anyway, DS2 is trying to read this and doing a pretty good job, so I'd better go!

toffee - I really like the idea of a ta da list! Makes me feel good when I've accomplished something, and gives me the incentive to get my rear into gear when I haven't !

Ouch - I must say I dream of a good night's sleep. I haven't had many really good nights of sleep since pregnant with DC1. Even though they technically sleep through, DC2 is still too young to pull his duvet up to cover himself, so just lies there crying really loudly until I get up and cover him back up.

Well, what a shit day. I'm in a grump, husband's a twat (no dh tonight), kids are whining spoilt brats who fail to appreciate anything. Did i mention husband's a twat.

I have wine. It can only get better.

Forgot to say congrats to mc, i know how hard you have worked for it .

And i need to think of a festive name.

Tonight i am mainly an arse.

ElliegantChristmasTree?

There are many things I am and elegant is definitely not one of them .

Holliepac?

Good evening everyone!

It?s been a bit of an odd day here, but I?ve made 7 more jars of mincemeat so it?s not all bad? What?s everyone else been up to?

MadWoman was researching Who costumes?

ChitChat had a shiny sink. :) Ta-Da! lists are not compulsory but a lot of us find them motivational.

Lauren was finding RL getting in the way.

Toffee survived the sleepover. Glad you had a nice morning. No advice on Father Christmas I?m afraid. DS1 (nearly 5) said he didn?t believe in him a while back, but he seems to have changed his mind or something at the moment.

Bird was looking for a use for crusts ? savoury bread and butter pudding sounds yum! Will also check out that blog later.

Donkey was having a posh dress dilemma.

Linzer had good motivational tips and was talking Norwegian.

swan enjoyed go-karting but nearly got sucked back in to the Fayre.

SC has been having a stressful time. Glad cake-baking went well.

Deck - very of being able to make clothes! I can embroider but can?t sew a straight hem for the life of me!

Just found us again ? nice to see you!

Ouch continued the Norwegian chat with Linzer ?

StNicks was modelling her Christmas name ? very nice!

OFM was at the prices at the nursery Christmas fair and contemplating running for a Christmas pud.

ellie had a bad day. Have some more !

Waves to WhoKnows , DWM , MC and anyone else I?ve missed!

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Links:

Babystep: starting a control journal with (or without!) post-it notes.

Sunday is Renew Your Spirit Day?

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And I really need to go to bed. Night all. Yawn!

Ha ha, Sunday is 'have 8 people round for lunch' day in our house! Thank you for the round up bird
I did some food prep but failed to plan my UNi work. Ah well. And as you can see, I have also failed to go to bed at a reasonable time. But tomorrow's lunch is all in hand - I will have to tidy up tomorrow morning before church. The washing up is done but my sink is not shiny :(
More flying tomorrow hopefully

I have a new haircut and a new Xmas nickname

I have found out how to go to bed at a decent hour: have a row with DH ( Ellie, mine too ). He's fed up with being unwell and with being with us all the time now that he's working at home . Er, we live here...

Anyway, this morning is meant to be my lie in, but I have had my allotted seven hours and am wide awake. Can't do anything in the kitchen because it'll wake DS2, who sleeps in the room above, so I'll just have to browse MN and do some more Xmas shopping.

Hope you all have a good Sunday.

Hi all

Toffee that is a really good Christmas name, well thought of!
We had a Christmas fair and there was an excellent cheap toy stall, luckily dd1 was really happy with one thing we found and was so delighted she didn't ask for anything else. I always wonder if it's just my dd who sounds so rude with 'pleease' 'but I waant it', I find it mortifying when she acts like that.

Quite intrigued by the control journal, I really need to have things organised in my head and in writing so this may be a very useful baby step for me. Hope it means I can buy some new stationery too!

Sensing a bit of a motivational 'healthy weight' theme between the lines, which is also something I need to start focussing on.

In a previous life, when I had a disposable income (but had to live on some shitty island far far away), I had a personal trainer who told me about the sleep thing so I agree with that theory, deck.

Great excuse anyway *Well, I just can't shift the weight as dd2 keeps me awake so much!!!1'

Great name Toffee !

Not much spirit renewing going on round here at the moment. The boys haven't stopped shouting, screaming, running around and fighting since 6.15. I'm feeling tired, run down and frazzled. DH just cross!

Morning all. Much better here this morning. Fortuately Dh realised he was a twat yesterday and got up with the dc's, tidied up and brought me breakfast in bed half an hour ago.

Don't know what i will get done today. Definites on list are :-

Cook Sunday roast
Washing
Ds homework
Ds to cub carol service
Visit mum

We will see about anything else.

Have a nice day everyone.

Right, just waded through about six pages of posts... Can you lot stop being so efficient?!

So personals first as I've come to the conclusion that I don't get a chance during the week as I'm MNetting while working which doesn't work too well. Laptops and DS don't mix! Therefore, if you will all excuse me, I'll blether on during the week with only random personals and try to catch up at the weekend when DH can field DS away from the keyboard.

elliepac why was your DH a twat? Thought he was the buyer of all things related?
Deck glad to hear you're getting rid of the tooth. I had two of mine out under GA about 6 years ago - it was an absolute doddle and I was back at work the next day - but then off the day after that Still much better than the pain. And it's a great excuse for having tubs of ice-cream in the house!
swan please you enjoyed carting. Ages since I've been - I crashed horribly last time I went!
toffee & StNicks loving the new names
^^ to everyone else!

Today my spirit was slightly renewed as I got up with DS at stupid o'clock, he then cuddled into me and went back to sleep, and I lay awake and pondered upon life, love and... yup, the fact I needed to dust his room DH then fed him breakfast and played with him while I went back to bed for a reading session nap.
DS is now napping and we're watching a taped QI XL and MNetting in my case.

The only plans I have for today (barring the babysteps) is to stick a wash on for DS and put away the stuff I did for him on Friday (wasn't quite dry yesterday). Lovely day, so think we'll head out and visit a garden centre to see if I can come up with a present idea for my DF & DSM.

Hope you're all going well today.

I am off to my favourite place for a bit of spirit renewing and then to collect ds. Not in to do anything. oh well.

Good morning all!

Toffee - nice name!!! A new haircut in time for Christmas, lovely! (Pondering how on earth I might fit one in )

Ellie - that sounds like a nice, well deserved treat.

Fuzzled - a day at the garden centre sounds like a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Just and overflowing - we had our Christmas Fayre a couple of weeks ago - couldn't get out of being there as I was running it!!!! Went well, but I understand the pain of the expensive stalls - we certainly had some, but hard to control when you have outside stall holders. I just let my 2 go crazy on the games we had.

Well I managed to get up and dressed straight away - but that was more to do with the fact that we all slept in a bit and so had to get moving straight away to make the Christingle Service at our church!

So nice to start the morning with a tidier kitchen, but especially a nice clean sink that I could get to!!!!! But because of our tight deadline I didn't manage to get all the breakfast dishes away, so did that as soon as we got back from church, and shined my sink again (trying to make this a habit!!!!).

So a nice bit of spirit renewal this morning - watching all the young children singing a Christingle song in church - quite teary watching DC1!!! Now for a relaxing day - except for the washing (both DC had accidents in bed last night so ALL the bedding needs washing today...... sigh.....).

But DC2 is having a complete whingefest so it's making holding onto this positive mood kinda hard...

Afternoon all,

Sorry to have been AWOL so much lately, just busy really. Decluttering continues, I feel quite on top of it at the moment, it has made a real difference (waves at Feet, hope yours is coming along too). I'm also trying to get as much home blessing as poss done today so I can go out Christmas shopping again tomorrow. Did a big declutter of the garden yesterday, was embarrassed at how many balls, plant pots etc were littering the borders, put away all the small outdoor toys for winter, wrapped the outside tap in bubble wrap, now it really feels like winter.

ChitChat - hello, don't believe we have spoken before. I shine my sink in the morning, fits my routine best that way. We put the DW on in the evening and leave any handwashed stuff on the drainer, then in the morning I put it all away and shine the sink then before it gets piled up with stuff again (I don't follow Flylady fully in sink matters). I'm on our school PTA and help with the CHristmas Fair, we decided a couple of years ago that the outside stalls were taking too much of the money so we limit them to about 3 now and they are not really for the children (Phoenix cards, jewellery etc) so the main spend by the DCs goes to stuff we have organised.

DH is at work today so I'm about to take the DCs swimming, back later.

Ta da:-
Roast beef cooked, eaten and cleared away
Washing for tomorrow done
Ds room good tidy before cleaner gives it deep clean tomorrow

About to head out to drop ds at church parade. Back later

Wow you lot chat!!

Have just been for a dinner with the family for my grans birthday, it was a bit sad really as she has deteriorated to the point that she needs to be reminded regularly that a fork is for eating food "and this is how you hold it" etc etc

So going to cheer myself up this afternoon with Christmas songs and putting the tree up

I love the name toffee!

So today:
Clean kitchen done
Declutter conservatory done
Family dinner out done
Tree up done
Decorate tree
Hoover
Washing/drying DD clothes
An Avon delivery later

DP is working, has been all weekend to catch up on work he missed through the week when looking after his grandad, so I better make sure there's a meal cooking for when he gets in too

will try to BBL

Sorry for distinct lack of personals!!

afternoon all

chitchat christingle service sounds nice
toffee love the new name!Haircut sounds good too
whoknows sounds like decluttering is going well.
holly hope you enjoyed spirit renewing!
fuzzled glad you got back to bed for a bit!
birdinhand hope dinner went OK
elliebreakfast in bed sounds lovely
blue hope things have calmed down a bit there!

well, I got up at silly O'clock this morning, got dressed in running gear and was impressively lined up at the start of the Percy Pud 10K at 9.30am in FREEZING cold sleety rain It then occured to me there were probably easier ways to aquire a Christmas Pudding, but it was too late LOL
So , I had actually quite a good if very wet and cold,10k run finishing in a very muddy field wet through collecting my Christmas pudding LOL Was kind of spririt renewing!

since getting back I have not achieved much....spent aboput 40 mins in the shower trying to defrost! Then actually got round to dyeing my hair(seriously it gets more grey by the day ) the routes were in desperate need of touching up!
Have also managed to put away mountain of clothes in littlies room...

Need to try and get as much done as possible this afternoon as I have a nightmare week next week....Monday night have to juggle school pick up,singing club pick up and scouts. Have concert for dd2 and 3 on Tuesday evening, then am going with my Mum and Dad to watch dd1 in her musical on Weds evening(added onto collecting DC from after school club and taking DD2 to cubs!), DH is going to watch her on Thursday eve, then we are both going with DD2 and 3 and DS1 on Friday night....
In between which I have to fit in all the usual ammounts of cooking, washing school runs, basic fending off household chaos and oh yes...paid work!!

So I MUST have things under control and up to date by end of today....which probably means I should get off the lap top and actually DO something LOL

BBL

oh no forgot festive smilies!!!

Xposts lauren must be hard seeing your gran like that, but nice that you all made the effort for her bday. Hope tree and music cheers you up.

lauren my granny is very ill with dementia too. I find it really hard visiting her with the dss because they don't really understand why she can't talk to them or walk, and why they can't sit on her lap. Glad you could celebrate your gran's birthday, anyhow

Fed 9 adults, 2 children for lunch, so quite a bit of clearing up to do! But dh is washing up now while I chill for a minute. Food was nice, so I'm feeling proud of myself - sometimes my cooking can be a bit dodge.

This evening I'm going to dig out some extra Filofax pages and put a control journal section in there.

Do you guys all try to keep your sinks shiny all the time? What do you do with the extra mug you always find when everything else is dried and put away? Or is that just me...