Pointy sticks at the ready... and a few choc biscuits and brews too.

[carrotsandcelery]

Great news that miniCarrots had such a good time tonight! and hurrah for ToddlerScout tidying up!

DD1(3.3) ran into the house tonight when DH brought her home from pre-school to very excitedly tell me that she had kept her pants dry aaaaalllllll daaaaay! (the last few weeks she's been so engrossed in what she's doing at pre-school she CBA forgets to go in time) - I know she only did it because she knew she'd get a little present (some cheapy braclets from the supermarket), but it was still very cute!

DH is out tonight so I have been busy again. I decluttered the kitchen worktops a couple of weeks ago & am determined to keep them that way, so spent some time in there, along with washing/drying up & then shining the sink. One of my thursday jobs is to get all the rubbish/recycling into the wheelie bins, so I've done that a day early to give me more time tomorrow. I wiped the floor while my bath was running, had a nice soak & then used my magic eraser to get rid of all the plastic toy marks off the bath. Now in bed with the laptop

I keep meaning to ask what you guys do with your photos of your DC? I copy ours off the cameras/phones (at least) every month onto the PC & they then get backed up (using Picasa) to some google storage I bought. I pick out a few nice ones every month & put them into another album which I then share with the family.

oh dear, DD2(9m) has just woken - it surely must be teeth? she has to get some soon?!!

Good morning, all.

Waves pointy stick in carrots direction -- are you cracking on this morning?

bessie I hope you managed to get some sleep last night. Teething's rotten. TS is trying to bring through his molars -- he's not grissley in the night with them but he's drooling again (which he hasn't done in ages), chews on drink tops (sport cap bottle tops, etc) and his entire hand. Poor kid.

Please can I join in ?
I have seriously lacked motivation this month . My lack of dusting is shocking .

What is this "dusting" thing you speak of?

Morning all, I am having my usual Coffee to wake myself up.

The Flyers thread is very busy --a bit scary-- so I think I will only pop in there once or twice a day. It is probably a good thing we all didn't join them.

NannyPlum Don't know if you know but we are doing the FlyLady babysteps Hopefully someone will post the proper link to the babysteps, today we are on number 2.

Please ignore the last link it went wrong

Try this FlyLady babysteps

Hopefully that one worked a bit better

Morning Black and bessie.

So far today:
I'm dressed to slippers (TS is still in his 'jamas)
TS breakfasted
last night's frying pan scrubbed (I couldn't face it last night )
stove 3/4 of the way scrubbed (banged my elbow and gave up until later)
slow cooker dinner on
unused binders have found a home in the cleared out shelf in the desk
Brio is being played with and track laid out

TS's nose is running thick and green (blurgh!) so not sure how much out we'll do today. He seems perky enough but if we're out I can't keep up with the nose wiping. He also seems incredible drooly today.

So far today I have done:

breakfast
get dressed
made beds
get everything ready for school/nursery run
done school/nursery run

To do:
Wash up (and shine sink)
cat litter tray
Kitchen stock take
"What's for dinner?"
meal plan (I only do a few days at a time)
shopping list (for main weekly shop tomorrow)

I think that will be enough to start with.

Poor toddler Scout It's horrible when they have colds. Mine went through it all last week.

Mmmmm Scout that looks lovely. Let us know how it turns out.

Hi Plum - brilliant name! Welcome to the thread. You've jumped in at a good point as we are just on babystep 2. Our babystep is the date in the month which helps us keep track.

bessie well done to minibess on the dry pants. They do get a great sense of achievement when they get it right (and you get a smaller washing basket). Win, win all round.

My ta das:
washed and dressed to shoes
lunches and snacks made
dcs breakfasted and to school
ebay parcel posted
vestibule decluttered and hoovered (was sorely needing done)
hallway hoovered
kitchen half rescued - needs another 5 mins and a hoover/sweep

The specific babystep 2 is here and today's mission is here for those who are ready for them

I am on the hunt for ds's swimming goggles. They are prescription so cost £30 and he seems to have lost them at the pool on Tuesday. I have phoned the pool and they can't find them (although they were lovely and hugely sympathetic) so I am going to hunt through the car incase they fell out in it.

I might just clean the car while I am at it but it is -3.5 just now so I am not promising that one.

I agree with BlackCat colds are horrible for children. Poor wee TS. I hope he fights if off fast.

Following Scout's good example I have tonight's tea in the slow cooker. We are having a variation on Sausage and lentil stew I have added a can of green lentils instead of puy lentils and a can of cannellini beans too as well as some cumin and chilli powder to give it a gentle warmth. Fx it will taste nice.

I really should unload and reload the dw before I head to the stables. This might be the last time at the stables as the budget is struggling to cope with the cost. I am not sure I will be able to bring myself to say so at the stables though. I am tempted to put my head in the sand.

it was -2 down here in sunny east anglia when I took DD1 to pre-school this morning

I need to go wake DD2 up from her nap (I hate to do it, but am hoping a shorter morning one, means a nice long afternoon one!) & go return some clothes to Next. Hopefully it will stay sunny & we can pop out for a walk after lunch to post a birthday card & buy a new baby card for a friend - need to get everything done ON TIME today as DD2 & I need to have an early tea so we can pick DD1 up from pre-school at 5pm

I have found some plastic boxes I think I can empty, which I can then use to help tackle the toy mountain - do you think I should try doing that with DD1 (3.3) tomorrow, or should I do it secretly when she's not looking?

Bessie My DS gets very attached to things and won't let me give anything away So If you are thinking of giving away any toys to charity etc I would do it when she is not there.

I've left TS in his 'jamas and he's gone down for a nap. He sort of picked at breakfast so thought best to wait until after nap to attempt lunch. I did give him a biscuit and some juice while we had a cuddle and a couple of episodes of Peppa.

Dinner is smelling really good. In a few minutes I'm going to finish cleaning the stovetop then prep all of the veggies for dinner. Since turning two TS has gone funny about food. I know it's a phase and all of that. I've found a lot of my slow cooker dinners I can put over pasta twirls -- he loves pasta twirls and "sauce" so I just put a few pasta twirls on the plate then put the main dinner on top and he seems to eat it. Sneaky Mommy . I'm going to try it with this, too. And MrScout may not find wraps filling enough so I might make him some chinese noodles to put the "sauce" on.

Can I join the afternoon cleaning club?

Yes Scout The more the merrier! .

I must go now "see" you later.

DD2 should go for her nap about 130. While she sleeps I will:

• finish clearing up from lunch
• mop kitchen floor
• give upstairs & downstairs loos/potties/trainer seats a good clean
• empty plastic boxes ready for toys

black I'm not going to be giving any toys away, I just want to move some out of the living room into the dumping dining room to make a bit more space. She has so many in there, it's difficult to get to the ones at the back! I think I might have a quick look through them today & then see how it goes with her tomorrow. If she doesn't want to help, I'll just do it myself another day!

So far since my last check in I have:
put the brio and megablocks into some of the new plastic boxes
finished the stovetop (it still needs some TLC but it's SOOOO much better)
washed up breakfast dishes
cut up the veggies for tonight's wraps
made my lunch

Now I'm watching Nanny 911 and having my wrap & salad.

Hello, I Think my cold "virus" is still lurking as I feel really tired. I am not going to push myself into doing too much but will try and do a small amount between 1.00 and 2.00ish if anyone is around for the cleaning club.
---> Pointy sticks ready if required!

Everyone has made good progress today. I need to get moving.

I had a lovely riding lesson. The school was frozen so we went through the woods. It was beautiful with the sun on the frost. I am going to have to ebay everything we own as I can't give this up. It keeps me sane. I will try to cover it from ebay sales and family members who ask what I would like for my birthday. If that doesn't do it I will have to bite the bullet and get myself a job I haven't worked since ds was born. It has been a while now. Yikes!

Anyway, lunch is leftover lasagne and is delicious. Then I will:
do the dishes
rescue the kitchen table
have a look at the mess upstairs - and hopefully manage to tackle some of it.

bessie it is worth trying to get dd1 involved in rearranging things. It could take way longer and be a bit painful but if she is involved she might be more interested in keeping it organised (we can always hope!) I know mine are older but they are getting better and better since I started flying. They are both quite good at letting go of stuff too now. Dd likes to sell things and Ds gets a kick out of giving them to younger friends.

cracks whip in blackcats lurking

will be back 2.15 to report!

I am letting the side down today. I either have a very bad case of CBA-itis or I am not well.
I just feel like I want to curl up under a blanket and hibernate.
Have done bugger all for the last half hour apart from eat and drink.
I'm sure in my former life I was a hedgehog!

TS is awake so flying is stopping for now.

Ta Das (since last check in):
cleared out two big grey bins of toys/crafts (they were each only partially full and now they're empty!
sorted through a box top of papers and had a major fling
started going through a cardboard box (it looks like stuff MrScout tried to "rescue" a few months ago after I had put stuff in a pile to sort through)

Need to make a decision about the duplo. The actual duplo box holds all of the bricks BUT TS also has some duplo trucks/buses/planes (those ones that already together but they're big) and a whole load of duplo track (to go with his train). Do I just put ALL of the duplo into one of the boot boxes and use the duplo box for something else or do I just use a smaller box for the trucks/buses/tracks and keep the bricks in the existing duplo box. ARGH -- organizational decisions!

Also, I have loads, and I do mean LOADS of shredding to do. But TS hates Hates HATES the sound of the shredder. Do I just do it and deal with the crying? Do I see if my friend will take him for an hour and shred then? Do I take the shredder and bag to the inlaws next time we go and do it there (where the house is four times the size AND there will be other people to comfort/distract him)? I've tried to do it when he's napping but it wakes him up and he wakes up screaming/crying so I don't want to do that to him. Thoughts?