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!!

Why do I have the urge to order tattoos for school disco at 4.30am?

Thanks Linzer. Brain-dead here! Toffee, I have PMd you.

Oh honestly despite my best attempts I cannot keep up with this thread! I should never have dropped off in the first place, there's too much going on all the time!

And on top of that babysteps for getting AHEAD???!!! AAARRGH!
Clearly your sorting the wheat from the chaff with that!

However I feel fully entitled to be here as my flat is actually looking pretty good, and smelling all fresh on account of a week of deep cleaning.

We all had stomach bugs last week (me included) so I just couldn't live in here until every single corner was bleached

Right, now I'm going to catch up with your news.

Morning all

Ooh, thanks SC - just what I needed

Feeling exhausted. Poor DS1, it's his 5th birthday and I'm going to be shattered for it. Didn't get to bed until 2 am, then my bloomin body clock and stressy brain woke me a 5.30 even though I had set my alarm for 7.30.

Sooooo... this morning I wrapped part of DS1's present, he will choose his other one (2 wheels scooter) so he can pick the colour. Made a batch of blue play dough (other person who was meant to be doing blue only did 1 tub, and .... well....I just couldn't have 1 little tub of blue play dough at the stall sitting next to the copious amounts of other colours that I had made....).

Checked the supplies for the stall - realised last night that I had forgotten about the labels for the play dough tubs so will dash out this morning to buy some. Need to ice the carrot cake I made last night for the fete, pumpkin scones are just in their tub so they're ok.

Sigh... right, on with the day.

BBL!!!!

I'll have a tea with you ChitChat - hope the fete goes well and DS1 has a lovely birthday

thanks SC

Justone - well done on the flat, sorry you were all ill.

Linzer - I still feel guilty if I MN at work, even though no one there would give a monkey's so long as I get my work done, just means I end up staying later, paranoia goes back to my previous job where internet usage was monitored, my horrible boss would take note if she found you using it and then hold it against you at appraisal time and you jumped out of your skin every time someone entered the office in case they caught you , shock horror, checking the weather forecast or something. MN was probably firewalled TBH I wasn't on here then, but FB, Ebay all sorts of things were firewalled.

Feet - why did you have the urge to order tattoos at 4.30am?

Right, I need to get going. Slept with henna on my head, need to go and spend half an hour getting it all out and performing the subsequent necessary deep clean of the bathroom. It is worth it, honest.

ChitChat - you are superwoman! The school are lucky to have you. I hope the cakes and playdough sell well. Enjoy DS's birthday!

JustOneMore - sorry you've all been ill

WhoKnows - how awful to have worked in a place that had so little trust for its employees. DH had a similar experience when he worked for a bookshop chain that wouldn't allow its staff to use the internet at all. That was really helpful when trying to look up information on books for the customers .

SC - thanks for yesterday's link to the flat-stomach diet. I am tempted to try it...

Honu - I have pm'd you back! Thank you.

We all slept in this morning and have awoken to a beautiful, sunny, Spring day. There is even a blue tit hovering outside my window. DH and I are hoping to get both sons out for a trip - maybe to a farm to feed the lambs - but may have our work cut out with DS1. Can't bear to stay in on such a lovely day though.

Hope you are all enjoying sunshine too.

PS: Linzer - glad to see you finished your first batch of work. I hope you can keep the numbers of children down in your house today .

PS2: Feet - I hope you got back to sleep all right. Those night-time sojourns on the computer can lead to all kinds of crazy purchases.

Morning everyone! Shouldn't have left dh and dd to their own devices at breakfast this morning. The kitchen, which was immmaculate last night, is now a disaster. Sitting room heading that way ...

Wonderfully sunny weather here but I am totally unprepared - can't fit in to any of my summer clothes - skin horribly pale - so I'm sporting the Pillsbury Dough Boy look ...!!

Sorry - was coming on here to do personals - but I have a million errands to run and before I go out I had better go and attend to the rest of the house before it disintegrates completely ...

Back later and enjoy the sunshine everyone!

Ohhh... forgot to say ...

Chitchat a happy birthday to your ds1!! I hope he has a lovely day and it's not too exhausting for you ...hope it all goes well re: the stall

Thanks for OOpsie roll explanation Jax - they sound deliciious

Justonemore great to "see" you and glad you are all recovered. Top marks for the deep cleaning too. Don't be intimidated about "getting ahead" baby-steps ... some people on here - mainly those who work f/t- like to do their home blessing and/or missions for the week at the weekend, hence the sneak peak in to the future!! Just adapt it all to suit yourself !!

Have a lovely family fun day Toffee!!

whoknows sympathies over bathroom cleaning - my hair colour comes out of a pkt too - and I dread doing it. Don't know why because it's not that much of a faddle really ... it's just having to keep up with it I spose, once one has started ...sympathies over Easter plans too - dh and I been bickering discussing this this morning

Linzer well done on polishing off the work and the mega-play-date!!

Honu it was really only the Sassy water recipe I was linking ... can't honestly say I have tried the rest But the water is really good - esp in this weather

PA arf at your dd's drip-feed confessional!! I will definitely be using that technique!!!

Swan sympathies over violin practice. We were asking dd what she wanted to do for the second week of Easter hols this morning. Riding was rejected, as was tennis, as was theatre workshop ... If we don't arrange anything I know she'll be dripping around the house complaining about being bored ...sigh... I too am dreading the teenage years Well done re: your v. productive day yesterday!

Arf at tattoos Feetheart!!

Huge waves to Blue and Scatty and everyone else ...

Ohhh... I seem to have done personals without realising it

Have a great weekend eveyrone. Reject Flying for the sunshine today (and that's an order from your thread leader!!)

[goes and looks for Bitchy in DroitwichMummy's recently refurbished sun room ...]

morning, off to see Hunger Games with DS in a while. DD is having daddy time, lord knows what they will be doing... hopefully the gardening while DS and I are out!

Thank god there is no zone 99 - this week we are in the garden!

House is tidy, kitchen is clean, usual bits n bobs done this morning,just about to throw myself in the shower and get going. Little bit of food shopping for potential first BBQ of the year tomorrow.

[doesn't find Bitchy but what is Uncle Nesbit doing in there??? [schock!!]

.. waiting for PA no doubt ...

Jax dh has already mentioned the "b" word three time today [barbecue]

I am trying to distract him away from the idea because ours is (a) broken (b) old (c) rusting (d) produces enough smoke to send up signals to Mars ....

arf at the thought of zone 99 !!

Afternoon all! Well, pardon the French, fuck me I have actually done some flying. I actually have a fecking list!

Ta da:-
Cleaned kitchen
Washed pot mountain
Reduced laundry mountain
Tidied livingroom/dining room and given them quick clean
Cleaned bathroom
Quick tidy in both dc's room

Essentially, i have made the whole house more or less presentable barring our room which is a shit tip but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Currently sat outside with coffee in the garden. Dinner is cooking, dc's watching Monsters Inc.

toffee am posting on phone at the moment but will pm you later re thoughts on Home Ed rather than type an essay here.

Better go and finish dinner off. Back later.

jax i can smell bbq's round here. I just love spring.

Just popping in to say hi, and update.
(Please excuse the self-indulgent wallowing; I know there?s so many bigger things out there)
We eventually managed to pile everything we own, including half the garden, as best as could be done into two rooms mainly higgledy piggledy,with just under 15 mins to go, and it?s a total disaster. I knew we were bad on clutter but didn?t realise just how much or how well packed and hidden it was! (it isn't any more!)

Currently no idea how we?ll regain a useable home and just praying they don?t demand access to these rooms.
(Sadly it may not be ?ours? much longer anyway, as it turns out the sudden works are to make it look much better than it is, in order to be valued by auctioneers. :( )

Flat on my back again as a result of the OTT effort and son?s not really coping with sudden changes and turmoil, but things won?t wait at this stage so we're muddling through.
Not sure where we go from here but thought I?d update and hope it?s ok for me to still hang out here as I try and work out the logistics of having a home back to fly in. (any lists could be rather strange) Don't suppose the fat lady has a page covering this sort of scenario?
My sink's shiny though, a homage to good housekeeping hope?

evening all. my tada list is a strange one today...

after showering/dressing and usual blurgh stuff we went to cinema, saw hunger games, did some BBQ shopping, came home DS made dinner, popped in to see a friend, came back, hoovered the grass (I know its mowing, but we call it hoovering here) put laundry in tumbly - because it was too late to hang out and I want another load on this evening.

just I scrolled up thread to try to see why you are having housey problems, but couldnt see anything. Is everything ok?

Keep posting on here, we can always hand hold or help de clutter?

JustGettingOnWithIt - I'm sorry. That sounds awful . Although it does remind me of a programme I used to watch about people clearing out their clutter; they always had to pile up all their clutter in one space so they could go through it and start chucking stuff out. So at least you have done that bit right!

Sorry to hear that you are also on your back again (hardly surprising after all that lifting) and that your son is finding it stressful. It sounds like a very difficult time. You must come here for support as much as you like, even if you can't follow the Flylady routine. I'm looking forward to your strange lists (maybe you can outdo Bitchy's lists in terms of strangeness ).

Ellie - sounds like a very productive day. I love Monsters Inc - I had to watch it over and over again when DS1 was ill with chickenhpox and I don't think I ever grew bored of it . The music always makes me smile. Thanks for promising to pm me. I feel as if I need as wide a range of opinions as possible before making the leap into de-registering.

SC - sympathies over the summer clothes issues. It was so warm this morning, I was going to wear a summer skirt - then I noticed my unshaved, pasty white legs and thought better of it.

Jax - hope you enjoyed 'Hunger Games'. Will you give us a review, please?

Well, the Family Fun Day in the Toffee household didn't quite go to plan, but we seem to have had a nice day anyway. DH took DS2 out for a walk in the country and to go pond dipping (they found four frogs, much to DS's excitement); DS1 refused pointblank to come out to a farm with us this afternoon, so I took him out for a walk instead (think I frightened him into it by ranting about how he was going to run out of Vitamin D if he never went out). Then I went out for a walk into town myself and had a blissful time buying stationary .

DS1 was meant to be going for a sleepover at his friend's tonight, but he's not well so we've had to cancel. He's furious with me, but I really couldn't send a sick child away overnight - we would only have had to go and pick him up again later. So no night off for DH and I either.

Have just had the decorator popping round to discuss starting work on redecorating our sitting room. He can do it earlier than planned, which means it will all be done before my mum comes to visit over Easter. Am so pleased. And - bonus! - he can mend our broken laminated kitchen flooring too .

Must go and run the bath for DS2. Hope you all have a nice evening.

Glad everyone's been enjoying the sunshine.
justgettingon sympathy from me. Do you know how long it will take?
toffee good news about the decorators.

Had a childswap today (I took DS to football/swimming instead of dh). Took DS to choose a birthday present for him to give to dd. V funny watching him inspect all the girly stuff (he clearly didn't get the point of most of it) .

Done:
laundry x2
DDs present
choc bunnies for Rainbows (last week this week)
ds maths
dd thank you cards
card for friends twins
buy food
return brownies top (too big).

Jax I?m in H/A housing and our flat got unexpectedly covered in scaffolding which turned out to be a 1st warning that I had days to clear an overcrowded property so that ?works? could take place.
The buildings are in very poor repair but worth a fortune redeveloped. Now turns out it?s a patch up pretty up so that an auction company can value it and it looks like we?re to be sold into private ownership, which means we?ll get priced out of the homes so they can be redeveloped. There?s a long miserable story behind why we?re here, so I?m finding the sudden insecurity all a bit hard, so hand holding very welcomed, thanks. :)

Toffee you may have something there. Sorry poor ds missed out on the sleepover.

Scatty don?t really know what?s going to happen. Your poor ds as well! :o

Hi everyone

A bit of a hot and bothered day here - involving rather deep and meaningful discussion with dh about future possible renovation plans prompted by very odd/musty smell emanating from our cellars - am zonked now

Justgettingonwithit You are always welcome to vent on here!! So sorry you are going through all that stress though ...the uncertainty of it all must be very hard to take xxxx

Jax at hoovering the grass!!

chitchat hope your ds had a lovely day!

Ellie well done re: your fecking comprehensive list!

toffee you are so good at doing personals - you are putting me to shame atm (will remember the Vitamin D line for the future!! )

Huge waves to Scatty (sounds as if you had a v. productive day) and everyone else!!

REMEMBER EVERYONE CLOCKS GO FORWARD TONIGHT - IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD ANYWAY!!!

Today's baby-step (no. 25) for Sunday March 25th is

reading testimonial about developing routines

No missions or zones because it is the weekend

(But for those who wish to get ahead - next week we will be in Zone 5 (the sitting room) and Zone 1 (entrance hall))

Have a peaceful Sunday everybody!!

***

Hi everyone
justgettingon sorry to hear your news, these things can be so stressull, and also very stressful when you get all the clutter out and pile it up, it can be sould destroying (I've been there after moving house many times).
I'd say that looking at it is worse than attacking it with determination and ruthlessness. Once you start it's not so bad.

(Well, then you get to that bit where you've almost done it all but not quite and you feel like you've lost the will to live decently. But somehow you find a way to carry on.)

As regards to your other situation, surely you have more rights than that? Do you part-own or rent?
Don't know much about it, but maybe if you get some independent advice?

As far as flying here... Well the results of my big spring clean have already worn off.
Laundry is what always gets me, I hate putting it away. So will have to do that today as mum is coming to visit.

Last time she had a 'private' chat with my dh saying maybe I was depressed and that's why I couldn't keep on top of the housework.
Obviously for her unless your house looks like a show-home it's not good enough!

Morning all!

Well the fog has lifted and it is a beautiful morning here! Not a lot going on here today. I am going to mainly potter this morning, what gets done, gets done, what doesn't, doesn't .

Having said that, we are at mum's for tea so I want to be all ready for Monday morning before we go. Washing is also a priority so am going to get cracking with that in a moment.

justgetting feel free to vent as much as you like.

justonemore my mum always gives the impression she is scared to sit down in my house. I now just ignore her. . I feel your pain.

toffee have pm'ed you.

Better get cracking on the washing.

Good morning everyone!!

Justonemore I'd hate to think what everyone would deduce about my mental state if they took my house to be the main indicator!! Sympathies with the laundry ... I've been behind with it since I came back from UK and it does impact on everything else. Even more muddle now I've had to do a quick change around from winter to summer clothes!!! Good luck with putting it all away today. Just do 15 minutes worth to start and see where it gets you!

Justgettingonwithit I second Justonemore's suggestion about getting outside advice. Sorry, I was v. tired when I was posting last night, but now I've read more about the way you are being treated, it surely is bordering on illegal (if not literally illegal) is it not?. Can Shelter or CAB help?

Don't try and tackle the clutter mountains all at once. Try Flylady 15 mins technique. Use the garden on a sunny day to sort it out - but only a bit at a time. Sorry you are going through this. It must be really awful. Thinking of you and sending positive thoughts and prayers. Only sorry I can't do anything more practical to help out x

Huge wing flaps to everyone else on this lovely sunny morning!!

For once I have woken up full of energy, determined to actually make a few positive changes. DD and I have had a fruit face platter for breakfast while dh snored dozed. We've also done half her French poetry hwk and played a game of snakes and ladders. DD and dh are going out to play mini golf later ...

As I spent most of yesterday out, I think I need to focus on the house today.

To do:
Delegate kitchen putting-to-rights to dh now he's woken up It's not that bad, just a few breakfast things ...
Persuade dd to do the rest of her homework this morning
Tidy main boudoir (huge job)
Dust and hoover main boudoir
Sort more laundry (quite a big job)
Do more laundry, including uniform which I neglected to do on Fri and Sat
Ask dh to do a bit of superficial tidying up in home office so window cleaner can actually reach window tomorrow
Persuade dh and dd to clear hallway (which is cluttered again) and go up and down three flights of stairs multiple times putting away riding kit, roller skating kit, ballet kit, winter coats etc etc
Get dd to try on all summer clothes and shoes from last year to see what fits and what doesn't
Lamb and ratatouille for Sunday lunch
church
Relax this evening - bath/pedicure/manicure/bit of pampering - early bed

That's the plan anyway ...better get on with it... have lovely sunny Sundays everyone!!!