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!!

SC have you checked with dr about your shakiness?

Hope you're feeling better now, SC. If it's not just a one-off, would agree with swan about checking with doctor.

Aargh, I am fed up with receiving letters demanding money. I now have to pay a fine of ?30 as someone has anonymously reported me for stopping - stopping, not parking! - outside the school. Grr. Tis my own fault, but still... have had enough of busybodies this week (the schoolchildren all cross at a zebra crossing further down so it doesn't put them at any danger, I hasten to add). I wouldn't have stopped for more than about a minute to let the DDs out, but it obviously gave someone long enough to write down my numberplate.

What an awful thing for someone to do, Linzer. That just seems mean.

SC - hope you're feeling better. I second the others about visiting the doc if the shakiness doesn't go away.

JWIM - it was lucky that you found the leak so soon.

Swan - at stew for breakfast. So, are you having a party for DS2?

Honu - good idea to dust and hoover your house on Fridays, so you can enjoy two days' of a dust-free house.

JustGettingOnWithIt - that's awful that you have had such short notice about the building works. I hope you find time to get everything packed away.

Another busy day.

Ta da list:

Breakfasts
Swish and swipe
School run
To doctors with urine sample from DS1 (turns out he has an irritable bladder, probably caused by stress)
Home just in time to meet a friend here for tea and buns
Lunch
Home ed with DS1 - Maths (he was not the world's most willing pupil, to say the least )
Check emails and MN

To do:

Tackle kitchen
To local shops for tonight's food
Snacks for DS1 and his friend, who's coming round for the evening
Online shop
Collect DS2 from CM
Dinner
Bath and bedtime routine
To pub for with friends

I did it!! Study completely bottomed out. All filing from Jan 2011 - DONE.
Everything prior to that, archived in a big box file for each year - figure we'll only need it if we get a tax investigation so I'll worry about that if it happens.
Big bag of donations, 3 bags recycling, 1 black bin bag. One box of 'stuff' that doesn't belong in study and needs rehoming in different places round the house.

And my tickler file works! Just idly checked todays folder, feeling sure I was up to scratch, and there was the reminder to ring the bank re a credit card fraud claim, complete with phone number and claim number. TA-bloody-DA God bless David Allen and his book.

Wanted to do it all this week as DH has been away, and DD, and they will both be when they come home tonight.

Right, off to the carwash now!

Feel a large bottle of something coming on for tonight - to celebrate new gorgeous study and steady my nerves over ongoing saga of school waiting lists which are clearly instruments of the devil.

Have a good Friday night all

Well done, cq!

Well done cq

longs of stuff on this thread that make me want to go Offs.

unproductive day here.
Already in pjs and curled up.
Early night and nothingness planned today.

Sat:
shop run
White wash through laundry
bleach towel through washer
Maintenance wash

Tis about all for tomo i think

might be back later depends on my mood as am ready for sleep already.

*loads of stuff.

done
SIL and baby niece round after long gap
worktops
washing
dressing up box
dog walk
dog and I watched Jane Eyre second half
several phone calls
cleaned bathroom

otherwise...not much, but glad I had energy to invite round my SIL who was KNACKERED from early rising baby. Unfortunately I didn't have energy to suggest looking after her baby next week, but at least we re-made our acquaintance and hopefully baby toddler feels a bit more at home here now..

Mum seems okay, but completely bored and restless, but enjoying my brother 's company(not the SIL one a different one)

Ds1 seems to have got a detention for Sat but he's not sure
and the good news is that Ds2 has made a playdate for tomorrow! Hallelujah, as he doesn't often have friends round atm.

cq well done. I have bought a new filing cabinet and that's about it. Don't even know what headings to use Need to look on one of the old paperwork threads here.

Evening All

Reasonable day here but no shopping so big shop tomorrow. Plumber sorted bathroom leak so tomorrow (again) will reinstate culled bottles etc to newly refitted cover to hidden cistern.

Best wishes to all for a happy, restful, fun filled, and well weekend.

Hello. Very quiet on here today - must be the sunshine luring everyone away from their screens!

Quiet day for the whole country here too (official day of mourning) and 2 minute silence at 11 am

Thanks everyone re: shakiness! Haven't felt particularly energetic today but it hasn't returned and dh and I both have sore throats/headaches etc- so think we may have a bug. Thankfully, nothing too onerous planned for weekend. Promise will check out it out with doc if it returns though honest!

Hope everyone who was ailing themselves or whose family members were ailing - are feeling a bit better today. Hopefully spring is on its way and with it, the decline of tummy bugs and flu viruses etc.

cq whey hey!!!! Well done on your filing!! Think the golden duster award goes to you and your tickler file today!! (Tickler file sounds very Ken Dodd!! !)

swan Oh for a dog that likes to watch Jane Eyre!! [Could it be that Mr Rochester's deer hounds are the main attraction??] Arf at mislaid stew and trousers and glad your ma is on the mend (feeling bored is probably a good sign!)

[Swan diversion alert! Re: Jane Eyre - I'm a great fan of Donna Leon Venetian crime novels in which detective (Brunetti) is married to professor of literature. Just re-reading one of them and came across a passage where said professor remarks that the first time one reads Jane Eyre, you are impressed by her morality; subsequently you come to realise that she is a "cunning self-righteous little bitch." I was Completely turned my view of the novel on its head. Donna Leon is former professor of literature herself btw. Um, just thought I'd drop that in to conversation ...digression over )

JWIM glad nice plumber got everything sorted ...enjoy your w/e

Linzer how mean-spirited of them! Just what you don't need on top of unexpected medical insurance bill ....you really are having a run of bad luck atm ....it can only get better from now on in!!!

Toffee well done re: your list and enjoy your well deserved tonight!

Sleep well Bitchy [hands over extra plump pillow]

Think I'm going to follow Bitchy's example and head off for an early night....

Enjoy your weekends everyone ....

SC - re: Jane Eyre - is she?

Still getting DS2 to bed (am waiting for him to finish on the loo ), then am off out to pub. DS1's best friend is staying overnight, so he's happy. DH is looking much better. I did point out that he would probably not have recovered so quickly if it was really pneumonia (which he and his devoted mum thought he had ).

Hope everyone has a good weekend and a very happy Mother's Day on Sunday.

Baby-step number seventeen for tomorrow, Sat 17th is:

[[http://www.flylady.com/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-17/
Bitchy's favourite!]] Set yourself a bed time and stick to it!

No zones or missions tomorrow because it is the weekend.

(but just for the sake of info: next week we will be in Zone 4: the master bedroom)

Saturday focus is family fun day here

Have a good weekend (hopefully in the sunshine) everyone!

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and one one day i will succeed at this Only just got ds into bed.

don't worry Bitchy - only got dd to bed 30 mins ago if it's any consolation

Glad your dh feeling better Toffee enjoy your night out

Except he is not fucking in bed and doing a good example of elastic child.

Re Jane Ayre - actually i can see that. She is definitely not as fragile as she is made out to be in a lot of portarals of the book.

[Pours Bitchy several virtual glasses of ]

Have spent the evening packing up a box of stuff for tomorrow's NCT sale... It's only shifting the clutter out of the loft, so invisible, but still counts, right?!

Waves to all. Good night!

sc - Ken Dodd!! Is he still even alive? Or is he still inside for tax evasion?

I may have to rename my tickler file now, too many mental pictures of feather dusters and bad teeth.

And as for Jane Eyre - repressed strumpet, I think. Slightest glance in her direction from Mr Rochester and she's a quivering wreck. Poor girl just didn't get out enough.

Which leads us nicely on to the subject of next week and the master bedroom! Slightly relishing tackling the pile of crap unread and interesting literature on my bedside table.

Does anyone else have a very boring dh who won't tolerate any remotely pretty bedlinen? We alternate from a week of plain dark blue to a week of - oooh - plain white. It's really hard to find any pattern that he considers remotely acceptable to sleep under. Stripes in manly colours are just about acceptable.

Morning all,

Just when I thought that nothing else could go wrong car-wise (being shouted at for speeding and the parking fine were enough for one week), I managed to reverse the car into a wall yesterday afternoon. Despite the fact that we have parking sensors. (I was too fast for them. )

My plan was to ply DH with alcohol at the neighbours' barbecue yesterday evening before telling him, but I somehow managed to ply myself with more instead. It reminded me that I really can't speak German after more than about a glass of wine. And also that I shouldn't attempt to walk back to our house across a fairly steep slope.

Anyway, I worked up the courage to tell DH, who wasn't impressed but took it OK - ish. He thinks it would cost about ?1000 to repair. But we won't bother, as it's only cosmetic damage. I still haven't told him about the parking fine, but am hoping that will seem like a mere trifle in comparison.

went to bed early yesterday,
still totally whacked this morning

loud noisy rude sons are demanding things

at least another 20 mins before I can have my coffee (not allowed to mix with medication)

SC I had the other impression, first time I read I thought she was mad to run off,the second time I was deeply impressed by her self-respect/conscience etc. Now that I have "difficult" children myself I see the whole schoo/aunt bit slightly differently too, how adults find children immensely difficult to understand and dress up cruelty as discipline.

Morning all -

Linzer - oh no, poor you, not been a good week for you and cars this week. DH had similar last year when he managed t prang both ours in the space of a week. At least you have the choice not to repair and you aren't off the road, that's the main thing but it must have been a shock. DD was involved in a very minor crash a couple of weeks ago, in a friend's mother's car, she was very excited, I felt very sorry for the other mother, she was obviously shocked.

cq - I don't think DH and I have ever discussed bedlinen, I buy it he sleeps in it. Both our current sets are a plain colour with a few flowers embroidered on and are pretty but subtle. TBH I leave the bed turned back all day so never really see the flowers anyway .

Blue - good luck with the NCT Sale, I used to help and sell regularly at ours, it was great fun, but a bit of a chore labelling and sorting all the stuff beforehand.

SC - no sunshine here yesterday or forecast for the weekend, it's raining steadily at the moment so I can't use that as my excuse for absence, just another busy day. Hope you and DH are feeling better this morning. I've still got a streaming cold, but don't actually feel ill.

Need to get going, ballet and swimming lessons for the DCs this morning, then DS has a party this afternoon (den building in a woods, think he's going to get wet!). See you later

Morning all

Sorry you are feeling tired Swan [hands over virtual until you can drink rl one]

Swan yes, before Donna Leon "interpretation" (which I almost feel is bordering on sacrilegous!!) I was at the "deeply impressed by morality" stage. Now I am reading it in a different light entirely ...

cq can go with your "repressed strumpet" but at least she had the wherewithal to resist the sanctimonious St John Rivers (thankfully).

And agree Bitchy JE has a rod of iron for a backbone ...

All very "fire and ice" for a Saturday morning innit??

Anyway, er, back to Flying ...

cq sorry about tickler file I'm afraid my dh wouldn't register the colour/design of bedlinen, even if he'd sewn it himself ...I once made the mistake of sending him off to Ikea to buy bed-linen for imminent guests and he came back with what are now known as "the corn plaster sheets" owing to their hideous pink/tan/ochre colour. (Now reserved for visiting vomiting children ....)

Linzer [hands over black coffee] I shouldn't laugh but arf at you, the and the slope!! (I think there may be something wrong with me but I think I actually speak French better after a drink or too - can certainly understand more!! But probably self-deluding!! ...)

NOT laughing at yet more car expenses for you though - that's awful - it's so easy to be distracted with dc in the car though. Talk about it never rains but it pours and at Euros 10000 for cosmetic damage - ouch - but glad your dh took it relatively well!! Things can only get better from here on in (although I think I said that yesterday so don't want to jinx you!!)

Blue attic clearance definitely counts!! Well done!!

Finished my list today but there is more of the same to do ... everything still a lot bit messy. Still have a motherload of laundry. Dh and I have some sort of throat infection (he snored loudly all night!) but on positive side tis a sunny day and corpulent red squirrels are scrapping gambolling on the lawn ...

Have a good one everybody!

x post

[Proffers umbrella + honey and lemon drink to Whoknows in return] Hope your cold dries up soon!

Den building - what a fab idea for a party!! Hope your ds has a brilliant time!

Morning. The new fri night routine is not so much to my liking. Bored of it already. but have had a long night's sleep. Need to move but lacking the good mood that normally faces me on a sat morning. Perhaps a coffee will help?