fledglings falling out of the nest thread

[IceColdBitchy]

Ok So a new year a new thread.
You know the ropes flying the fledgling way.
Decluttering 15mins at a time in each zone.
Babysteps and missions.

Sunday is renew your spirit day and seeing as today is new years days I hope there aren't too many evil hangovers in existance.

Babystep 1: shine you shine. yes we know this one but do you shine it the fat fairy way? cant remember? check here

And for a treat as it is sunday no mission.

Oh and can i just may 2012 bring you productive decluttering and flying so your houses step closer to those of your dreams and house work no longer be that evil monster that dominates.

hi, not long before dh extracts me from the computer

Done
70 per cent of decs away
xmas cards away/sorted/filed/binned
lentil souup for supper
Anglosaxons
ds1 school bag, uniform ironed (don't usually iron it but just this once
dd friend over , art, glue
mud hoovered up
loads of rubbish recycling out

and the Xmas tree is still in the playroom with Lights, I shall miss you little tree [sob] looks so pathetic with just the fairy lights
MOT booked for Thurs
no more vouchers so will have to hide car somewhere till I get council permit (Morrisons?)

table wiped
dw on AGAIN

off to bed now

ta ra! NO SMOKING, gold coins in a pot for every day you don't

oh yes and Ds1 is a very emotional mood before school starts...It is not plain sailing at all, hope once he's there all will slot into place again, but for now he's a bit all over the place, shouty etc

Suspect toe-windup will continue tomorrow with dd too, but hopefully today was so boring she will want to go back to school and see her friends.

Loft hasn't happened. Tomorrow's list consists of:
crisis-clean house.

We'll see...

Quick update, um, we've been away over Christmas and New Year, DS1 has had chicken pox and we're waiting for DS2 to come out in spots...

I'll gladly have a DWM !

Bloody hell, it's 10pm and this is the first time I've made it on to MNet today

Work was sheer hell, although I did get a lot done, but it was a 9 hour slog. Then home, quick play with DS while trying to sort out the mess that he and DH created during the day, then bath/bed routine.
Collapse? Not a chance, an hour phone call with my godparents (again a hard slog - lovely people, but my brain was just too dead!), then another hour long call to my DF who has changed countries since we last spoke, then a catch up with DH, and now I'm up with DS who is twitchy

So I'm writing off the rest of the night and crashing. Still haven't got my Sink Reflections book - not impressed as was planning that as my bedtime read.

Ah well, MNet instead...

Evening all,

Busy day here today, back to school and work for us all. Not helped by the foul weather, I walked the DCs to school as usual, then home again (only 5 mins), then back again 15 mins later with the car to take DS to the Dr (one of his toes is red and inflamed), get his prescription,drive back to school, fill in forms to allows ABs to be givenat school, then drive to work for about 10.30, got soaked about 5 times in the process.

Other than that, posted thank you letters, took down all decorations and boxed up, bought some new files and tubs for filing and decluttering.

Swan - I'm sitting next to a bare Christmas tree too
OutofBody - welcome back
Bitchy - guilty as charged on the late nights, I tried to go to bed early last night but was still wide awake at 2am.
Ellie - good luck with giving up the smoking, you too PMPY.

Oh yes, i found the origin of the Ta-da phrase today, it is from the Flylady book,it is in her bedtime routine, finish all your jobs and say Ta-da!

I am going to re-read the book again I think, need to re-motivate myself.

hooray for non-stinky airing places and de-christmasing, and boo to the pox (and vomit, on a personal note).

ours don't go back to school until next monday... ds1 forlornly noted that he is always sick during holidays or weekends. and it was his birthday yesterday as well. poor wee chap.

on a more positive note, the dd's have been spirited away by mil and fil for the afternoon (patchwork and rug making, apparently) so i'd better on with erasing the festivities.

(small lol at tomorrow's list, blue. mine will be the same, i fear, as well as two job applications )

Finally made it :)
Happy New Year everyone.

All back to normal tomorrow so have sleeping, clean children, uniforms out, schoolbags out, PE tops hastily washed , letter/cheque for school dinners nearly done. Just need to put my own clothes out and get to bed by 10.30pm.

Have caught up with this thread though not sure if I can remember much now!

Toffee - :o at antics

DWM - what are you going to be doing at the Paralympics or is it a secret? We have tickets for both Olympics and Paralympics and the countdown has begun here - pretty sure I am even more excited than the DC :o

Whoknows - have you got running plans this year? I did two lovely country/loughside runs at my parents over Christmas but its back to less scenic routes now, well it will be when I get out tomorrow!

OFM - may need to tap you for half marathon lowdown

Haven't had time to venture any further afield though may don hard hat and have a look tomorrow.

Won't make 10.30pm but not far off.
Night night

You all snuck on whilst I was composing my post.

Glad to see you madwoman outofbody - any more wildlife encounters recently?

Really need to go to bed NOW...................

No time to catch up. First day at new job, i'm abit and didn't sleep a wink last night as sooo nervous. Off to bed now but i'm hoping to catch up tomorrow.

Waves to everyone.

Hi I'm new. Don't know how I got here, don't know where I should be so you'll have to excuse me while I feel my way but hello to everyone

Feet - I have just started getting back up to speed with my running after a bad patch in Nov/Dec due to Christmas preparations and then two bad colds one after the other. I have been out 3 times in the last 5 days and am improving again but not back to PB yet by any means. My next target is getting 5km in under 30 mins. Your Christmas runs sound as though they were nice!

Guilty! But will hopefully be in bed shortly after 11 pm so MUCH better than my 1.30 am bedtimes!!!

DH was home and pinched my laptop this morning so I couldn't do any of my planning or control journal as it's all on here. Had a lovely afternoon out as a family though.

Will hopefully be able to get some routines going again tomorrow as DH is back at work and DS1 is back at school.

Ta da:

• Family breakfast done
• Sort DS1?s school uniform for the week done
• Pack PE bag done
• Start building control journal
• Clear out decorating items from spare room
• Clean down kitchen counters done
• Sweep and mop kitchen floor done
• Tomorrow?s mission ? well the window part (walls not painted yet!!!)
• Buy new calendar and fill in for planning day
• Lunch and dinner done

Also:

• declutter shelving unit in understair area 1/2 hour done

Have any of you read "More Hours in My Day" by Emilie Barnes? Way to intense in many ways compared to Flying (If you do mopping on a Tuesday and you don't get a chance to then you are not to mop on Wednesday but are supposed to wait until next Tuesday - supposed to teach you to NOT put off the mopping, etc!) but I do love her idea of storage boxes with cards. You get proper storage boxes, number them and use filing cards to record what you have put in them. Anyway, one of my problems decluttering is my inability to get rid of things, and this method appeals to me as I don't feel forced to, so I have spent part of today putting some boxes together. Not a REAL declutter as per Flylady's way, but the mess is getting sorted, and things are easy to find if you fill the cards in properly.

While we are decorating it's also useful for me as I'm partially living out of boxes and I make a huge mess trying to find things in the boxes. Hopefully when the decorating and furnishing is finished I can better decide what to keep and what to get rid of.

Hi IloveJelly Ive only joined this thread last night so also new here.

Whats the bed time supposed to be then? I never go before half 10, most nights its between 11 and half past. Do I need to go earlier? does it matter too much if Ive not done anything since getting DS and DD1 at half 7 so still relaxing.

Anyway off to bed now.

Just popping in for a quick MN fix before bed. Still inspired by my shiny sink, so I have done it again tonight and tidied up the kitchen. I even did a quick once over on the floor with a Flash wipe. And did a quick room rescue in the sitting room. Flylady really has taught me not to be a perfectionist about housework anymore and accept that things are 'good enough'.

DS1 is properly ill, so no school for him today and probably not for several days. He has the bug DH had over Christmas, which ended up with DH on antibiotics. I feel absurdly guilty that he's missing more school, but there's really nothing I can do about it. He can't even speak, poor lamb, just croaks.

Outofbody/Madwoman - lovely to see you back with us again! I hope your son's diagnosis leads to more help for him and you, as it did for us. My son is still doing well on fluoxetine for his anxiety and is having CBT.

Welcome to Ilovejelly and notveryinventive.

Thanks for the round up, Bitchy.

Sorry, no more personals: DS wants company. He slept till midday today, so now he's not tired, just ill and feeling lonely in his room. I think I'll be playing musical beds again tonight.

Ooh, Chitchat, I'm intrigued by the idea of listing all my clutter! I'm not sure Flylady would approve though.

I've decided to put off my "relaxing time" til later in the evening. I usually hang out and do things on the computer, etc, when I get done with work (a little after noon) and then it's hard to get going again, so by the time I do I'm doing things into the late evening and night.

So I think I will try to get as much done as possible during the day and then when DH brings DS up to bed, I'm done and officially off duty for the evening.

Sigh...I started to clear out my window seat today. I found tons of CDs and video tapes and magazines, so I am sorting through those. I don't even know where one recycles things like that? I guess I'll have to find out; I'm certainly not keeping them thought the temptation to just shove them back in the window seat and forget about them is huge. I sort of hit a wall today, just felt like there is too much stuff and I will never see the end of it.

I just need to keep reminding myself to just go room by room and action by action.

Morning all.

Flying past on my phone, and so shattered I haven't got a list ready for today... DS had a bad night, I had bad night and DH had a bad night. See a pattern?!

Today is going to be a "sort out the mess from DH yesterday day". So not impressed by the kitchen - living room is okay, but he has no concept of tidying as you go - I came home to find DS's breakfast bowl still on the table along with his lunch and dinner bowls!

Anyway, off the shower and find "old" clothes for this morning so I can get stuck in. Will be back with todo/tada list later when I've worked out what it is!

Morning.

Completely failed on the bed before 10.30/11pm last night as got sucked into MN - bad start to this shiny new year!
I have to be better at this though as I need to have a decent amount of sleep if I am to achieve my first NY resolution - I am signed up to run a half marathon in March (eek!) and can't do the training if I am ill due to self-inflicted exhaustion
notveryinventive - Flylady says 10.30pm I think but anything that counts as 'sensible' for you would work. I am usually an earlybird inspite of late nights so really should try and be sensible!

Today we are back to normal - DH has already gone (the joys of breakfast networking meetings ), DC are back at school and I aim to do a bit of everything:

• All up and out with relevant bags, kit, bits of paper, etc
• Morning routine re-established
• WORK - contract invoices
• De-Christmas everything apart from tree
• Ironing away
• Missions
• 15mins declutter - dining room craft/stuff cupboard would be good idea
• Pizza dough for DC dinner
• Many phone calls re work/home
• Sign up to Virgin Giving
• Update freezer list
• Menu-plan/food order

That's plenty to keep me going.
Bath now then onwards..............................

Have a good day everyone :)

Boiler man came yesterday - it wasn't the pump as I thought (this is why I'm not a boiler repair person!) but a transformer that had blown both itself and a fuse. No suitable transformer on his van so another cold night (bedsocks are the answer) and hopefully a warm house later today.

I am coming down on Flylady's side re clutter - after far too many years of stashing stuff away I can't tidy any more as there isn't anywhere to put it. This house is plenty big enough for the people living in it, but not for the Stuff. So my new year's resolution of 10 mins decluttering per day has a strict qualification I didn't initially declare - it's not decluttered until it has left the house. In a charity box in the car counts, box indoors doesn't. Still finding this really hard to do.

Bad start to the morning here. Heating is kaput and dh's van wouldn't start on his first morning back at work.. He got a lift and I've gor British Gas Homecare thank god. I am going to diagnose honu style and say i think it is the control panel as it just won't turn on and would seem to haveno power to it. We shall see.

Havea better day than me everyone.

Up and dressed (to slippers) and having a shit day so far. I know DS is still little and learning, but by god is he driving me insane. We've had climbing on tables, pulling at the tv and emptying the recycling and just generally winding me up.

Doesn't help that the house is a tip thanks to DH - just walked into the dining room (door was shut last night which should have been a tip) and it's also a mess. Admittedly some of it's mine in terms of washing, but I'm just so disheartened as everytime I leave a room DS does something dangerous/wrong so I have to watch him all the time.

So today, I'd just like to say

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH

Oh, that's better. Back tonight with updates/personals unless I've been buried under a sea of crap and have no way of getting out

Honu and Ellie - it's so dreadfully cold and windy at the moment, how awful not to have the boiler going.

Well, to be fair, Emilie Barnes doesn't actually encourage hoarding things, she also goes on about decluttering. But she doesn't go as far as Flylady in saying 'If you have one, you don't need the 2nd one' (paraphrasing obviously, but Flylady does go on about it a fair bit!!). What she points out is that items are only useful if you can actually FIND them when you need them. If you can't find them and have to go out and buy another one, then it's not useful. Hence the proper storage. So a broken item, still needs to be ditched. But a 2nd iron, for example, can be stored away and pulled out in an emergency. Or upgraded items, you can pack the older version away - she wrote about supplying her college student DC with toasters, kettles etc which were still functional and saved loads of money (for both her and for her DC) when they moved away.

For example, I have loads of scarves and shawls, I certainly don't wear all of them in any given year, but occasionally I think 'Ooh, the scarf would be perfect today' even though I haven't worn it for 2 years. (In fact BECAUSE I haven't worn it for 2 years it feels new in a way!!) So I find it really difficult to get rid of clothing/accessories just based on the premise that I haven't worn it for a year.

I do, however, love the idea of getting rid of things that I'm keeping out of guilt, and not because I love it/want it. We had too many ex-pat friends who went back home and dumped their 'good quality' items on us because they were too good to throw out. Some were useful (the 2nd iron when ours shorted!!!) but others, not so (Japanese style vases anyone????). So I'm really trying to be ruthless with that.

Anyway... before I run out of time.

Today's To Do list
DS1 to school
Drycleaning drop off
Buy calender
Clear out decorating items from spare room
Today's mission (whatever that is, have to look it up!!)
2 x loads of washing
Buy fire guard

Having our chimney swept today, have a fire grate, just need the fire guard and we can light our very first fire in our house!!! Soooo looking forward to it.

today i am tackling the dangerous bombsite that is my bedroom. If i don't reappear send a search party

Hiya all
Also dressed to socks here!

Sorry I never got back last night! I went back to the gym last night! First time since i found out I was pregnant (DD is 1 ) and I loved it, so back tonight for Zumba too

Today's list:
Playgroup this morning
Clean bathroom
Today's mission
Walk dog and post letters
Shine sink
Hoover (after tea- I do this every day)
Zumba later

I probably won't be back later for personals but my get back to read everyone's posts off phone during nap time!

It's gone 10 am and I'm still in my PJs (I had a lie-in until 9 am). Even worse, the postman just came to the door and asked me to take in two big Amazon parcels for our neighbour. I shoved DS (the only one of us who's dressed) in front of me before opening the door and luckily one of the parcels was huge, so I was able to hide behind that as well. DH has been up and dressed for hours, but is inconsiderately out having coffee with an ex-colleague.

Bitchy Yes, my phone did arrive eventually (but only after they claimed they'd tried but failed to deliver it and DH phoned them up) and I spent a long time playing with it and taking photos on it yesterday evening. I was particularly impressed with the way that you can turn the camera round to take a photo of yourself.

nettle Thanks for your DS's card, which arrived just before we left for the UK.

ChitChat The book sounds interesting; I'm a sucker for books on decluttering and sorting out your life.

MC Hope the new job is going well.

WhoKnows You're doing better at the running than I am. My plans for going out today have been foiled yet again by DH going out and it's DD1's birthday party this afternoon, so I won't be able to go until tomorrow at the earliest.

Waves to everyone else - must go and get dressed before the neighbour calls to pick up his parcel!