Fledglings “March” 31 steps away from CHAOS and mess towards domestic success...

[sanguinechompa]

... well, a shiny sink at least!!

Welcome to the March 2012 Fledgling Flyers thread. Park your mops, buckets and microfibre cloths here!!

A huge "thank you" to Linzer for steering us all through February - not a small achievement Linzer considering your school run/teaching commitments and with your dh travelling so frequently.

If you're house is a mess and you are strugging with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (something that undermines family fun) then this is the thread where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of chat, whinging (in my case anyway ) and support along the way.

We advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be inundated! All the information you need will be linked here on a daily basis.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's tips on restoring order to our homes, and as we are all at different stages we will be using one of the following methods:

Here you can, for one month:

• repeat or start baby steps

• repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

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

More info here and here!

All long-standing members, intermittent returnees, lurkers and newcomers welcome!!

Quick pit-stop before supper. Pathetic to say it with only one child (again!) but dd has been v. hard work today. School drama this morning (allowed her to come home for lunch as special exception) then all well and smiley - then she pulled the same trick for tennis tonight - felt like giving in but I'm so glad we insisted she went as she came back all smiles again. But boy oh boy talk about the ups and downs of an 8 yr old ...it's exhausting!

A warm welcome back to ElphabaisWicked! You are being incredibly hard on yourself considering the hours you are working atm! I wouldn't even be thinking about Flying in those circs so well done! RE: hot spots - I guess the theory is that you tackle them bit by bit - like nibbling away at an elephant. And if repeated regularly - they will be reduced in size to the point where it will only take 2 mins to keep clear. (Never got to that stage myself though admittedly!!)

Bitchy sorry your ma (and your good self) are going through tough times Hope you can catch up on sleep tonight. Had dd at home with me for lunch today so can totally identify with why you are pressed for time. Hope things improve for you.

You too Nicknacks and so great to hear your dd has recovered. They are like chalk and cheese when they are ill aren't they? Great she no longer has that horrible pain to contend with. And pat yourself on the back for keeping up with routines (stuff the decluttering for now!)

Like me Toffee I see you had to apply thumb screw tactics this morning at the dentist - glad the outcome was good - and well done for perservering. It takes it out of you though doesn't it? Re: one hour home blessing - see my post Sun March 4th 20:53:42 'daily focus'. Fat Fairy has finally admitted it may take longer than one hour - guess she has had complaints!

Whoknows I think you are being incredibly patient with the meals. Given that situation I think I would just point everyone to the kitchen and say "make your own"!! How are they with rice and pulses? Perhaps batch cooking and freezing in single portions for your dh. Hugely difficult (and time-consuming) for you though.

MrsUrsa hope everything went well at hospital

Huge wing-flapping waves to Swan and Blue (and Linzer if you are about!)

BBL with steps

Swan - I'm afraid I must take issue with your comment about the Doghouse. THIS thread is the most lovely place in Mumsnet

SC - none of them like pulses but we do have a lot of rice! Glad tennis went OK, ours went really well tonight, having analysed where it all went wrong last week we tweaked the routine to great effect

Hi all, I'm still here and have been lurking, but am struggling to keep up with everyone's posts. I've lost my way with the FLYing a little (am just about managing to keep up with things, but not really sticking to FlyLady's methods) but am hoping that motivation will strike at some point!

All three DC have been off school with a stomach bug on various days over the past week, I've been busy with work and there have been the usual school stresses with DD1. She got her maths test back today and got a 5 (the lowest mark, equivalent to an E), so we've just arranged for her to go to a maths tutor every week (she had a couple of lessons with him before the test, but it obviously wasn't enough) - I'm hoping that will take some of the pressure off DH and stop him and DD1 killing each other!

Must get back to work - am struggling to remember everything that I've read over the past few days, but just wanted to say how sorry I was about your guinea pig SC and that you've been feeling so upset (understandably) about your dog MummyNic; glad the helpline helped.

Hey all.

Took Husband to A&E (Cricket; 3 weeks and the swelling on his thumb still hadn't gone down...turns out he fractured it, but it's mostly healed, back into the fracture clinic tomorrow) and went and ordered curtains while he was in there (multitasking, got to love it).

And I wrote some more, and went to the library and stocked up on books.

AND I booked myself in for a blood test next week (have to get tested for iron levels, as apparently a family member has haemochromatosis).

Er...go me?

Evening all.

MsUrsa arf at multi-tasking!!!! Good luck with blood tests.

Linzer sorry to hear you have been dealing with stomach bugs ('tis the season). Hope everyone feeling better now. Re: tests - if it's any consolation - dd had problems with various aspects of maths this year and because she got special help with it - it is now one of her favourite topics! Hope work eases up for you a bit and you can have a few hrs to yourself.

Whoknows yay at tennis triumph!!

Waves to everyone I've missed

Phew - we've nearly made it through another week - well done everyone!!!

Baby step number nine for tomorrow, Friday 9th March is here - maintaining previous steps plus starting to declutter and adding a 5 min room rescue to your morning routine

More about how to start decluttering here

It's our last day in zone 2 tomorrow (the kitchen). Detailed cleaning list (if that is where you are at) here

Friday's mission is here - wiping down outside of kitchen cabinets.

The daily focus for Friday is here decluttering car and handbag

Roll on the weekend!!!

Is it the weekend yet? I seem to have spent the week at work or in the kitchen cooking. DS has friend coming to play on Saturday afternoon and I have somehow invited my DSis and family to tea that evening so I will dash round on the morning clearing up.
Have made a start on the naughty sunroom. Should be ready for unveiling by Sunday

A naughty sunroom sounds interesting DWMummy.

So i did some of my list - no enough but some. Tomorrow's list is a bit of a logistical nightmare. But i am not going to think about it until tomo. Early night i think and an early start.

Hmm i take it the HQ logo will go back to normal after today? there is probably a thread about this in the big bad mn world but noooot going to risk venturing out

Yes, sounds rather Scandanavian ... I will supply birch twigs...

Well done with your Flying achievements this week Bitchy and Droitwich

Big waves to all

Evening all! Sorry to hear about all the various stresses and illnesses people have been suffering. I've been reading but feeling too tired to post.

We had tea with a friend and her 2 DC which was lovely but noisy and rather exhausting and then I've been out at a thought-provoking, slightly draining church thing. I wanted to catch up with MAsterchef, but DH is watching cycling. Sigh. Maybe if I can get a sensible night's sleep I can regain some impetus tomorrow... Sorry for whinge-fest.

Toffee there is a fabulous film of Holes too.
I need to take my children to the dentist!

SC really I find dd a trial too sometimes. We lurch from one drama to the next. And she does that I'm too tired thing about ex-curricular stuff all the time, then wants to take something new up Today I had to write her homework poem for her after a lot of screeching and screaming and refusing to tell me what the subject was, which I had to deduce by osmosis. About the Selkie woman. Then inspiration seized me and we read the Forsaken Merman which I found so fascinating as a child (do no one ever write the back story of it?) So a good vibe in the end.
Ds1 is completely overtired, and ds2 is being thoroughly ASD this eve, over football match which DH decided they could not watch. But I am very proud of him for standing his ground and in the end they all played a board game with him instead.
Blue I was meant to go to thoughtprovoking but tiring church thing (Thursday nights)this eve but decided to be Martha as opposed to Mary, or I think DH would have divorced me. Kind leader rang up to say they would pray for me, which I thought was rather a cheek [that sounds a bit unchristian of me I suppose we all need every prayer we can get.

So what Have I done?
done
worktops
supper
load of laundry
library work
SENCO meeting
dd homework
turned off telly, and made reluctant children do chores
withstood tantrum storms by my husband's side
dw
talked to neighbour about her son (boarding school if only!)

Nicknacks glad to hear dd is better and a delight!
Nettie you will live to tell the tale, and it is lovely to hear from you. Hope new school going well too.
not much else

Linzer hope dd is alright after that horrible test, and tutor sounds very good idea. SC I like the idea of cooking test! Although I suppose that means scientfitic precision in measuring... Cooking is actually very difficult anyway, I don't know why we don't treat it with more respect in UK curriculum.

sorry that not much else got detached from somewhere else in my post and was in no way meant to denigrate any on here!

anyone on here.

Evening all

Aw it is lovely reading all about you all.

bitchy hope mummy picks up soon and ds is happy to be back at work.
whoknows Definately right this is the loveliest thread on mumsnet.
linzer sent a postcard for ds from Egypt but mil not arrived so I doubt he would have got his either. Hope everyone is on the mend.

In my opinion hotspottibg is impossible in 2 minutes

On phone and want to keep up so not too many personals but huge jumpy up and down waves to you all

Tada list
School/preschool/work done (quite a feat despite next to none sleep) good English
Washing on
Swimming lesson done
Homework done
Gym done
Bath done
Civilised conversation with dh re tiles done

Time for some rubbish tv and hopefully sleep

and [tea] at the bar. Digestives hiding in the drawer. Enjoy

Nite all

The sunroom is an extension to the naughty bar as its getting a bit full in here!

Good thinking

Got home about half an hour ago. Had toast and loaded dishwasher. That's all about I can deal with for tonight. I need my bed. Will start again tomorrow

This is ridiculous! I am totally shattered, been going to bed at midnight with alarm set for 5am for the past few nights, working flat out to clear area for builders - and now it is cleared and I can actually sleep till a sensible time I wake up at 4am! So when I have finished my coffee I shall go and attend to my sadly neglected ironing pile, all ironing kit now relocated to bedroom.

It's amazing how in one day 2 men can transform what was a perfectly good kitchen / utility area / loo into something Homes under the Hammer would shake their heads at. And how, in less than a week, one woman can cover the entire floor area of a house with piles of crates and boxes and Things With No Home with paths through it so narrow that even the dog has difficulty squeezing through. Cats are totally freaked out. Need Feliway.

Only good thing is that I had an observation the same day as Ellie and, compared with the rest of the hassle atm, stress of that was irrelevant. Fortunately we don't have such a defined grading system - well done Ellie for challenging it, but how weak of the observer not to be able to justify his/her grading.

Cooker still in old area with the only electricity supply in the place (moving man coming Tuesday) so cooked last night's supper by torchlight after sweeping path through rubble! Need to find extn lead and rig up lamp.

Hairdresser today. Chill time. Waves to all.

Good morning

Today my list

Get up/dressed
Dw/wm/td
School/preschool/work
Wages day
Credit unpaid invoices
Pick dd up from preschool
Do some present wrapping ready for sending
Prepare posters for pamper night to display tonight at casino night
Check booked in at tomorrow conference
Finish student loan deferment.
Dd bed
Me casino night for fun And fundraising

There not a lot if flying so I'll stick in declutter my car which needs a rubbish bag

Have a great day.

Fuck. It does appear to be morning already.

one.of.those.days.

I'm with you, Bitchy. Urgh. Morning. Right: been to morning work (1.5 hours in the morning, 3.5 in the afternoon/evening), done about a metre of skirting board sanding (little and often, right?) and now procrastinating having a break until it's time to go to the Fracture Clinic with DH.

Linzer regular tutoring sounds like a great idea. We can't work miracles in short amounts of time, but with regular application (and preferably bucketloads of enthusiasm) things get better.

Maths is my favourite subject to teach. It's especially satisfying when you've spent twenty minutes explaining something five different ways and then there's that 'so you mean...' and they've got it.

Blue and swan: church activities are a) not necessarily a marker of your Super-Christianness (I swear) and b) contrary to the opinions of bossy people, not actually compulsory.

You are being a better steward of your time and energy when you say 'no' to things you are too exhausted to do. Sure, you'd get something thought-provoking, but odds are you'd be so exhausted that you'd be miserable, ill and snappish the next day. Given the choice between knowledge or kindness, you're picking the Jesus-approved option.

At least, these are my excuses and I am sticking to them!

Anyway.

To Do:

DH to clinic
Sort costumes for filming tomorrow
Work part deux
More sanding
Video editing
Dishes
Dinner
Clean kitchen
Prep for lessons tomorrow

MsUrsa - I actually really enjoyed the church thing - it's a course I've been wanting to do for ages. Just a lot to think about afterwards.

Honu - sympathy re builders. It will all be worth it in the end!

DWM - the naughty sunroom is luvverly! Thanks :)

Waves to everyone else.

I'm feeling a bit odd this morning because I've woken up with an allergic-type rash, but no idea what it could be a reaction to... Have taken some piriton and will see if it goes away...

Not much flying in the pipeline today, but will try to do the mission and declutter my handbag!

done
last minute shape poem with ds2 (that boy is winging it for sure, he may go far he said to me, the most important thing is to do the easy things first and forget about the difficult ones until the last minute and then they don't seem so bad

Dog is chewing a slipper at my feet, in between chewing a crabapple which he has found in garden. Owner has already taken him for long walk, so he is now meant to be asleep

And I've tripped over my pseudo cheapie M & S Uggs and hurt my knee and hands on way home (without dog) from school run. But had constructive conversation with acquaintance/friend who is both a GP and has a dyspraxic child who said dyspraxia can include social skills problems. (Ds1) Her story of her daughter's problems actually made me think that ds1 has had it easy so far. And the secondary school is organising an Ed Pysch to see him next week which is apparently unheard of at primary level.

Honu I think this is what DH is dreading and that's why he refuses to extend. You are brave, and it will be over SOON.

So, todo
find derelict wheelchair in shed for DMum next week Scatty I wonder if you remember the wheelchair saga the one I wanted to throw out, well at last there is a use for it!
sort out disability living stuff for mum next week, odds and sods from shop near B & Q
plant primroses
tidy my room

transfer money
clean up before blinds person comes
not let dog wind me round its littlest paw and leave him for short periods in kitchen by himself