Flinging our way through the chaos: February’s Fledgling Flyers

[LinzerTorte]

Welcome to the February edition of the Fledgling Flyers' thread.

If you're living in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome), this is the thread for you! We follow the tips on the FlyLady website in an attempt to restore order to our homes, but advise against signing up for the e-mails; all the information you need is on this thread.

Each day, I'll be posting the links that will enable you to do any of the following:

• start or repeat babysteps

• repeat babysteps and do 15 minutes a day decluttering in the current zone

or

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.

More information about the babysteps is here.

So please join us - there's always plenty of chat, , cake, encouragement and the occasional to help us on our way!

Limescale - the swishing and swiping doesn't tackle it and its getting worse. I live in a very hard water area I am going to have to start using viakal a couple of times of week I think.

I hate Monday home blessing - laughable to dust 15 rooms in 10minutes and hoover them in another 10.

My upstairs part of the house is clean, sparkly and tidy - everything is in its place and looks lovely. The Dining Room table is dumping area for everyones 'stuff' so that is getting done later.

Kitchen although DW been on and emptied and restacked - looks a bit untidy. Having DH working at home today and tomorrow isnt helpful!

Off to get DD from school, - kitchen and DR table when back.

Swan - I have pm'd you, but forgot and put your old nickname, let me know if it doesn't get through. I think I am going to have a fight on my hands as DS is one of those children that 9 out of 10 people would not even suspect had an ASD, but as long as I feel I have done everything in my power I suppose. Everything you learn along the way helps I think.

Toffee- I agree that your DS1 sounds as though he is definitely a more serious case and should be taken seriously by the powers that be

Linzer - arf at your BK experience, I am very partial to a spicy beanburger myself, but don't indulge myself very often (no branches out here in the sticks).

Right, need to get changed and head off to school. I optimistically put on my running gear this morning, but as all the pavements are half covered in ice/slush I gave up on that idea.

I have done quite a lot of my list though and got through a pile of paperwork. Back later

Swan I also do not feel particularly comfortable having a cleaner, although our current one is so lovely and agreeable that I am now much happier than a couple of years ago. But what I did at the beginning was to have a written list of basic stuff that I wanted her to do every week (ie. the home bleugh). Then each week I tell her which rooms not to do (for example, guest bathroom and bedroom when not been used/too messy), and write a note saying which extra tasks I'd like (taken from the detailed cleaning lists for the zones). Mostly I write it down and go out, but even when I'm in I write it down, so I don't run the risk of forgetting what I want, and she can double-check if she forgets without disturbing me (whilst I'm hiding in another room). If you do this, you'll just need to do room rescues in the essential rooms the night/morning before. I also told her which order to do the rooms (she always starts in the kitchen) so that if I'm really desperate, I can tidy one room ahead of her. I used to get really stressed before she came, but now I've got this system in place I very rarely panic before her arrival.

Whoknows - mn designed the system to go to any username you have so swan should get it.

Ds has no pain. He isn't having pain killers expect for sleep and is driving me mad using his arm. he has been holed up in bed with a new dvd that i took him out to buy earlier in an attempt to get him to discover still. i fear that i shall be taking him back to a&e because the cast seems to be almost falling off as the swelling has reduced so much.

Ta da:
early training
speak to school about ds going in/work to come home
speak to nhs direct about cast issue they were momentally crap and i might have got a little bit shouty
take ds out to pick up a new dvd for a treat.
feed ds lunch
say bye bye to ex
deal with barage of emails/fb/mn stuff that has been neglected over the last few days
drink coffee
Alter a t-shirt so ds can were a top properly. (he thought it was funny that I cut it down the bad side and then used stick tape to seal the edge around him)

To do:
laundry
important phone call
take form to doctors
try not to eat own body weight in chocolate or kill ds.

Must make a move and sort out ds who is fractious and really could do with being in school Will be back later.

bitchy best to check, ds1's cast on the(unpinned) wrist fracture was too loose and it led to problems later. Lack of pain is a blessing at any rate! Although possibly it makes them too lively... A & E presumably will refer him up to the fracture clinic straightaway if he is in the system, so you shouldn't have to wait forever. [defines waiting in hospital speak

whoknows I have pmed you. Just looked and I'm getting that sinking feeling about workshops Will think.

Just popping in to say hi and will attempt to catch up this evening. I currently have 4 children wrecking my sitting room and I am trying to hide from them.

oh god are you saying a&e? can i not get away with ringing the fracture department first thing?

dizzy Even so, I am impressed! I've made the odd item of clothing in my time, but nothing that I'd want to wear to my own wedding.

ChitChat It's an Austrian thing! Having said that, providing workmen with a hot lunch is more common in the area of Austria where DH is from (MIL cooks big meals for any workmen they have in) than it is here. I checked with a friend earlier and she said that she would cook lunch for workmen too, so I feel I got off lightly with a trip to Burger King! (The DC were all out and I just had sandwiches myself.) Having said that, I'm not planning to drive there every day... although it would be a trip out for the DC.

swan There's a very nice branch of Starbucks in Vienna, although it seems like heresy to go there when there are so many traditional and atmospheric coffee houses to choose from.

WhoKnows They did have quite an appetising sounding veggie burger at BK, so perhaps I shall return. (Must point out that I do frequent McDonalds so the fast food culture hasn't completely passed me by; I just don't cope well in new and unfamiliar places!)

Lifebegins I'm not particularly comfortable about having a cleaner either and do find it fairly stressful getting the house into a cleanable state the night before. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that our cleaner speaks very little German or English so communication can be difficult at times.

Bitchy Hope the cast is OK and you can avoid an A&E trip.

Dedalus Sympathies - my house has been wrecked by seven children this afternoon, particularly by the four boys. I'm ignoring the mess atm by hiding on the computer, but must really get the DC to tidy it up rather than doing it myself because it's quicker, no matter how desperate I am to get them to bed.

Blimey, can't keep up with all the posts do a general wave to everyone
I worked like a bitch trooper today. My DM had DS for almost 4 hours and I sweated my butt off for at least 3 of them (paused for lunch and to watch Madonna's performance at the super bowl).
Done:
2 loads of washing
Clean sheets folded & put away
Last nights ironing put away
Cleaned bathroom - all of it, including door handles & skirting
3 loads of washing up (where does it come from?!!)
And then....
Sorted all the toys (including food in toy kitchen) in the lounge
Threw a tonne of rubbish out
Lifted toy boxes out the way
Vacuumed all through
Wet mopped the lounge / diner, bathroom and conservatory!!!
Replaced toy boxes

Chuffed to bits with myself

And then DS came home and it looks like I've been sat on my fat one all day

Lol

I was all set to come back and do personals to make up for my massive x-post this morning, but there's been so much chat since then, I got lost!

Flying-wise, I've mainly been mopping up puddles of slush, but have also managed to get most of the clean laundry put away.
What I'm still baffled by, though, is where is the safe place I put DS2's next pair of canvas shoes for playgroup...

Waves to all. anyone? Or as it's definitely evening now?!

Made it home! Thanks for your good wishes. Teenage subcontractors had made it so I could get DH indoors and park car but no more, so spent over an hour shovelling snow so I could get the car onto the drive.

Girl cat has just walked across keyboard and all text is now enormous and doesn't fit on the screen. Wish I knew what she's done. Both cats delighted we are back.

Very glad I will not have to feed builders lunch when they finally get going. Cups of tea / coffee is my limit - and no biscuits as the only way I can not nibble at biscuits is not to have them in the house.

Bitchy not today, don't worry, tomorrow would be fine. Just don't leave it for six weeks like we did! And don't let him get any water in it, as it slips off even easier

well, I've given up, my children have had Tesco sandwiches for supper (dd's post ballet routine is a Tesco BLT) Ds1 has run away when I mentioned transform faults [geography] ds2 has run away when I mentioned chatting, and dd has stopped howling, and is just cuddling up on the sofa watching Telly.

done
dw
washing out
washing in

waiting for Dh to come home!

I mean, ring the fracture clinic tomorrow. No need for A & E unless they say so.

Chestnut I think the swish and swipe is meant to keep the bathroom clean-looking and respectable enough for visitors. But you are also supposed to a deep clean on a regular basis, unfortunately for you probably weekly in hard water areas. Personally I use a tablet in the cistern which is supposed to deal with limescale as you flush. I would rather not use such chemicals but needs must. As for the home blessing, I'm not sure Flylady really expects to do 15 rooms each week. Do you really use so many all the time? Could you not narrow it down to family bedrooms, kitchen, used bathrooms and lounge? The rest could be done on a rotation over the month?

Hello all! Any other first timers on day 6 / hotspots? Any old-timers have hotspot advice?

It's 11.30am here and I'm on my 3rd cup of tea, suffering with a cold but so far keeping on top of 3 kids' mess etc. my lo (16 weeks) is a pretty bad refluxer and was screaming most of yesterday poor love. On the practical side this means a laundry mountain. He's in cloth nappies too so a crazy amount of washing to be done.

Have only managed cleaning out my kitchen bin today

Been a bit busy with work and also did a longer workout at the gym which meant that I was behind timewise.

Took DD to drama only to discover that it apparently isn't on today - grrr. That really annoyed us both as playdates are a rarity so it would have been a lovely oportunity for her to have a friend over.

Hope you are all okay

Jnice, I am. I really like the idea of 'hotspots' but haven't actually got round to doing any of them yet :o

Got a horrible sinusy headache this evening. Have done all the necessary jobs, but not doing any more. Might have some raspberry vodka...

Ok

Morning routine- done
Mission - done
Hotspots- not so much
Evening routine- just about to do

Exhaustion from minding 6 month old, 17 month old, 35 month old plus 4, 5, 5, 8 and 9 yr old after school- done!

Off to bath and bed!!

Fabulously productive day here today,
Hoover whole house
Dust entire house
Detail clean, hall, stairs, landing, utility
Quick good clean of bathroom
Dw
Wm x2

No hotspots they were all dealt with last night.

Not a lot left in the zone now, but the last bits the bloody cloakroom and its ghastly :-)

Wow nicknacks you are a modern Mary poppins .

Sorry have been AWOL. Mother came to stay and has kept me busy. Am not working tomorrow or Wed so will catch up then. I need to rework my routines to fit around new work schedule .

Linzer my cleaner only really speaks Polish, which I don't. This is another reason for writing down instructions as apparently she understands them much better that way (I often wonder if she texts her grown up son for a translation). But mainly it's because I find it less embarrassing giving instructions that way, and I don't feel the need to try and give reasons for things.

Nicknacks I don't know how you do it. I struggle to keep up with my own DC (16 mths and 3). [full of admiration emoticom]

I feel as if I've been busy all day but not done that much. Here's the list

Ta da

Empty dw done
Clean kitchen surfaces done
Hoover done
Change beds done plus all washed and put away/ready to iron
Sort out kids snow gear done
Washing done and put away
Make dinner -which was rather time consuming today done
Sort out the recycling done
Packed lunches for tomorrow done (thanks for suggestions, have done soup and sandwiches)
Clothes out for tomorrow done
Swish and swipe done

Must dust but it's definitely not my strong point unless you can see a layer of it.
Must get into the hotspot thing but is tuff there never seems to have a home
Didn't need to do kitchen bin as we bought a new one last week
I must get back into decluttering too....

I probably won't get much flying done tomorrow but will 'see' you back here on Wednesday.

Lifebegins I was initially quite sceptical about employing someone who I wouldn't be able to speak to (she's the girlfriend of my old cleaner's son, who told me that she couldn't speak any German at all), but we managed with very basic English to start with and her German is definitely improving now - she's only been in Austria a few months and is going to classes. There are sometimes things I wish I could tell her, however, but I feel it's just not worth it!

Nick I'm not surprised you're exhausted. I've found that once they get to school age, it's much easier (admittedly, school age is 6 here) but I find it quite exhausting when DS's best friend and his little sisters come to play as I then have four under 6s.

Jnice My advice would be to just pick a hotspot, set a timer for a couple of minutes and get stuck in! I've managed to clear a very intimidating amount of paperwork just by working on that particular hotspot for 15 minutes at a time.

Chestnut I find that the dusting part of the home blessing is one of the few parts that I can actually do in 10 minutes - we only have 10 small rooms, however. I spend three minutes per floor, which actually seems quite a long time if you're just whizzing round very quickly with a duster and remember it's not detailed cleaning.
Hoovering OTOH is a completely different matter; it used to take me almost 10 minutes just to lug the hoover up and down the stairs. I've given up on that part of the home blessing now as the house gets vacuumed thoroughly once a fortnight by our cleaner, and I've noticed that it's only really downstairs that needs vacuuming more often. If I included hoovering in my home blessing now, I would probably just concentrate on either the second or top floor, alternating them every fortnight - downstairs gets hoovered several times a week anyway, usually just before we have visitors.

Our plans for the rest of the week - i.e. DS's best friend and little sisters over here tomorrow, and then all three of mine over at their house on Thursday afternoon - have been cancelled as his friend has chickenpox. We've all had it, but after googling I decided I didn't particularly want to run the small risk of the DC catching it a second time (particularly unlikely in DD1's case I think, as despite having been vaccinated she still managed to catch it when the other two had it). I'm actually quite glad we don't have to go anywhere as we've had quite a bit of snow today. Have just had a text from DH to say he's arrived in the north of Sweden, which is in the depths of winter. Rather him than me; -10° and a few centimetres of snow is more than enough for me.