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!!

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I'll meet you in the laundry of doom Ellie where I've secreted alcohol for later

morning all, beautiful day here, I have a load of laundry ready to go on the line!

going to just do some pottering around the house, doing 'stuff' probably involving laundry.

just if you are in UK then contact shelter and CAB, you definitely have rights and I really feel for you. We used to rent a house and had been in it nearly 7 years, it was beautiful - then LL said it had to be sold. I had just had DD and was absolutely gutted.

But you know, we ended up buying the house we are in now, it was horrid when we moved in, but it is our home now, its taken a while for me to love it and make it 'ours' - so much work externally needed before we could get to the decorating and homely part which made it all harder mentally.

No alcohol in laundry room any more I blame uncle Nesbit

Morning all. Sunny day here too . Dh has gone to work so we all woke up early which gives us an extra hour to play with.

Done:
WM on
DW rebooted
DC fed
DD repeat delouse
DC dressed.

Today:
park with bikes
homework
laundry
ironing
DS practice songs for concert
make shep pie for tea
deliver Avon book
post love film

justonemore at your mum. Mine has special 'scruffy' clothes to wear when she comes to stay with us .

Oh dear, you know Uncle Nesbit + dirty socks + alcohol = lethal combination

Searches for Bitchy under a pile of socks ...

Just back from the garden centre (oh, that sounds so middle aged!) with armfuls of seedlings and potted plants. That means the chicken is late going into the oven and we won't be eating till 2 - except that that means we are really still eating at 1, so that's ok, isn't it? (MIL is coming for lunch and she is very particular about eating lunch at 1pm).

DS1 wouldn't come with us so we left him behind. We are seriously thinking of cancelling our holiday in Spain in June, as we just don't see how we will ever get him there .

DH has told me not to polish the brass door knobs again. He thinks I'm getting a bit obsessive. But, especially when the rest of the house is in a mess (not to mention feeling out of control in other areas of my life ), it helps, somehow.

Quite frankly the weather is so glorious that I have spent all morning playing with dc's garden and the housework can get stuffed. Am ploughing on with the washing though.

toffee i am still waiting for the gardening gene to kick in. I fucking hate gardening (no apologies for swearing). I am hoping that at some point i will wake up and love it because lord knows my garden needs me to. I am 35 in 10 days time, maybe it will hit then.

pass me the drink, I've just put all the laundry away!

Not so shocking with regards to my mum. She suffered with depression and I think she is convinced I am next in line. I'm sure she has an extra packet of citalopram at the ready and is always looking out for 'signs'.

Luckily I really enjoy my life now (ok I was a bit miserable 6 months ago) so can just shrug her off!

Can I suggest we all enjoy the lovely weather today and forget about chores.

I'm sure bad weather is waiting to bite us on the bum so they'll be plenty of rainy days to catch up with the rest.

Well, except if you are lucky enough to have a garden in which to hang washing.

[passes Justonemore a large congratulatory snifter ]

arf at Toffee's knob-polishing obsession!!

Sorry - couldn't resist !!

Jax good to hear the v. positive end to your housing story

Ellie/Justonemore hear, hear to "stuffing the housework" in favour of sunshine frolicks today!

Toffee¨ (Ellie please look away) I have serious garden centre !!! I've been delighted by lots of tulips coming up in pots that I'd forgotten I'd planted last year!!

Ellie I think you have to be at least 40 yrs before the mulching impulse kicks in

at Scatty's mum's special clothes!!

Toffee so sorry to hear about potentially having to cancel your holiday... could you possibly have a plan B ie ds1 staying with relatives in the event he doesn't feeling up to going - or would that be too unbearable for you all? Sorry you are having to go through this anyway x

Well, I've quite surprised myself today. I've suddenly got loads of energy (don't know where from) and got loads done. Have broken back of main boudoir. Am on my 3rd load of washing. And have read all the Sunday papers in the sunshine ...

[Would someone please remove PA from that pile of towels I'm about to wash ...and pour her a cup of strong coffee while you are at it [sigh]]

Knob polishing

I think DH might be mightily pleased if I became obsessed with some knob polishing!!

Thanks for the strong coffee SC, although I am going to need a vat of instead this evening I think. Bloomin' DH!!! We had a lunch at church today, which DH volunteered me to supply dessert for, so I was up early making a very large apple crumble this morning. Then, as we were tidying up after a lovely lunch a friend came up to me and said what a lovely man DH was and thanked me for the invite for a meal tonight. Cue another person saying "Oh, are you going too, that's nice, see you there!" ummmm excuse me!!!! Yes, "lovely" Dh had decided to be lovely and invite people over for a meal. last person to know?????? you've guessed it.......me!!!!! I had been planning a toastie all round for tea, but oh no. Now we are entertaining 6 people for a meal before we then have 20 teenagers here for a youth group social evening, which I have made "nibbles" for!!
Then to cap it all "lovely" DH decided it was a lovely day for a lovely load of bike stroking.......and disappeared for 3 hours. Apparently it was to give me space to prepare for tonight!!

Got to dash, first people have arrived. WIll probably come on for another moan tonight!!!!

Oh heck PA at you dh and sympathy for the mass catering you've got on!

ellie gardening genes skipped a generation here too! Every year we plant more grass seed (the lawn is growing and the borders are shrinking ).

toffee shame about your holiday. What does ds think about it?

Rather adventurous day here. Took kids to park on bikes, bumped into friends . Then ds fell from the top of the climbing frame, narrowly missing landing on friends toddler. He bit his lip and cut a gash in his chin (blood everywhere). He insisted on cycling home , then we spent the afternoon in the walk in centre! Face patched up with steristrips and dressings .

Done
park with bikes
homework
laundry
ironing
DS practice songs for concert
deliver Avon book

Right bath time.

PA - at DH inviting people round then disappearing! Hope you've recovered.

Not sure I can move at the moment after a rather large dinner... Did scrub at a few more marks with the eraser sponges but basically been at church, in the garden or cooking all day.

Hands round the with extra large glass for PA ...

I go away for a few hours and come back to you lot talking dirty! On a Sunday as well!

PA hope this evening goes well.

Justone - I have followed your advice and ignored the chores! Very relaxed day. However I have a mountain of clean laundry from yesterday to put away.

Scatty - poor DS, poor you, that must have been horrible

SC - Ellie - I have to disagree about the gardening, I've been keen on it since I first had my own house in my 20s. Although the school gardening club sometimes tests my patience!

DD had her first ballet exam today which was very exciting. I'm glad it's all over though, she has had to do a lot of extra practice and poor old DS has had to spend an awful lot of extra time hanging out at the dance studio.

We've just had our first barbecue of the year and very nice it was too, lean meat and lots of salads for my low GI endeavours, although we got slightly chilly sitting out and had to rush inside for a nice cuppa as soon as we'd finished eating. I've also been out for my first run in several weeks, so feeling fairly virtuous tonight.

scatty are you looking at my garden.

pa at dh on your behalf. Just proves you actually are wonderwoman though as there is no way i could magic up all that catering in such a short time!

I have had a lovely day today. Back after have done baths etc.

OK, you dirty lot, there's more on the subject of 'knob polishing' -

MIL came for lunch with us today. She's a very proper, elderly lady. Doesn't like the word 'fart', for instance. Never swears. Has led a very sheltered life in many ways. Anyway, she joined a knitting circle when she moved to her sheltered housing block and has been happily knitting blankets for orphans abroad ever since. However, at the last meeting she was informed that they would now be knitting 'willie warmers' for the soldiers in Afghanistan instead! Poor woman. She is in such a state about it. (It took all my self control not to ask her about sizing ).

Lovely to see so many of you have been enjoying the wonderful weather today. Sorry, no time for personals tonight as I have to persuade DS1 and his best friend to go to bed . At least one of them has school tomorrow.

(Except, at PA's 'lovely' DH inviting all those guests without remembering to let her know!).

As far as the holiday goes, I've asked DH not to cancel it. Instead, we will use it as a goal for DS1 to aim towards and it will, hopefully, give us all an incentive to keep getting him out, even if it's only a walk round the block at present .

A question for you all: do your DH's leave things to 'soak' in the sink when they've done the washing up? Had a 'discussion' about this with DH this evening, when I pointed out that he was simply leaving it to me to do his dirty work for him. He was most indignant about this - but it's true that he never comes back to do it and clearly expects muggins here to do it.

Must go and nag those boys into bed now. Hope you are all off to a Flying start tomorrow.

Ah, you see, this is what happens when Uncle Nesbit infilitrates a thread.

First it's knob-polishing, then it's willie warmers and who knows where it will go from there ...

Back in a mo to post links, then will do personals later on but in the meantime just wanted to say to Scatty hope your ds is OK and not feeling too battered and bruised this morning

Again, sorry to be posting steps first thing in the morning instead of the night before, but I keep falling asleep early these days!!

OK, it's the last week of March (that went quickly didn't it).

OK everyone, here we go again ..

Baby step number 26 for today, Monday 26th March is

one to ignore - concerns big tent e-mails So just keep doing what you've already been doing everyone ...

Oh and on same page, Flylady talks about it taking one month to establish a habit. This month's habit is, as you know by now, is getting dressed to shoes scroll down for theory behind this!

Today we are starting in Zone 5 the sitting room We will be there all week. Detailed cleaning list contained in this link too.

More specific info on Zone 5 here

Today's mission is spending 5 mins looking for crud behind the sofa cushions.

As you know, the daily focus for Monday is the home bleuuggghhh!!! here

Today's reminders

Have a productive start to the week everyone!!

*

Morning all,

Thanks for the links, SC.

No time to post yesterday as we had friends over and then I had to work, but at all this talk of knob polishing and willie warmers!

Managed to get everyone up early enough for us to cycle to school (or scoot, in DD1's and DS's cases) for the first time this year, so I'm feeling slightly more awake than I normally would at this time. DD1 scooted off on her own as she refused to come the slightly longer route via kindergarten; I think she was slightly worried that she would arrive late for this morning's test, which was due to start at 8 am. However, the doors were only opening as DD2 and I arrived so she would probably have been hanging around outside for a good 10 minutes beforehand (along with dozens of other children) - it made me think of a thread I was reading earlier this morning about whether someone WBU to drop their child off at school 10 minutes early. And I think that child was in the playground... the children hang around next to the road (on the pavement in front of the school) here.

Anyway, enough procrasinating - must start work. Am hoping to have time for some FLYing later, although at least the house is looking relatively tidy after a mad dash-around before friends' visit yesterday.

Toffee Re your question - we have a dishwasher so the problem doesn't occur, although DH does annoy me sometimes by leaving things next to the dishwasher rather than actually putting them in it. However, he often empties the dishwasher (more often than I do atm) while I'm getting the DC up, so I don't feel I can complain too much.
Sounds like a good idea to use the holiday as a goal for your DS - it would be such a shame if you had to cancel it.

Toffee Even with a DW, we do one sink of handwashing a day still (plastic lunchboxes, cups etc, anything that wouldn't fit in the DW. DH is in charge of putting the DW on and doing this washing up. Invariably he "forgets" several items which randomly scattered around the kitchen (even if they are right next to the sink), forgets to check the other downstairs rooms for random cups and plates etc and he always puts the glass lid down on the hob without wiping the cooker surface.

Right, that's dh and dd out the door, now for a quick catch-up ...

PA's husband has been busy bestowing inappropriate largesse!! (I don't know how you coped with 6 guests having already entertained 20 teenagers . I'd be on my knees!! You deserve a medal, you really do!! My dh is always keen to entertain ... but never considers the holes in our walls or the peeling paint or the time it takes to get the house looking vaguely presentable considering it is a "project" in progress. Drives me insane!!)

Toffee's dh has been flouting baby-step no.1!!

Scatty has had a stressful Sunday in the ER. (Not the way you want to spend a sunny afternoon I'm sure. Hope your ds's "war wounds" are healing well this morning!!)

Blue evidently had a very civilised Sunday indeed ...lovely!

Whoknows enjoyed a bbq following her dd's first ballet exam (aw). (Hope she enjoyed it!)

Ellie had a lovely day in the garden perusing grass seed catalogues

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

Today's to do:
Morning routine inc dw & wm on, s&s done
Hang out first load in sunshine on terrace done¨
Work work
More laundry!!!!
Continue to sort boudoir
Clean boudoir
Home bleurrgh (ground floor anyway)
Quick supermarket shop
Drop off two letters
Find, sign, photocopy dd report
School meeting
Afternoon & evening routine
Sort something for supper (small roast yesterday - no leftovers)
Early bed

Humungous wing flaps to one and all!

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Linzer well done on your early (and healthy) start to the day - it's lovely not to have the hassle of driving sometimes isn't it ...

Linzer/whoknows/Toffee Oh yes, yes, yes!! Even when dh has "cleaned up" the kitchen after a meal, the counter-tops ALWAYS need wiping, there are always one or two things by the sink and/or he has stacked dishes next to empty dishwasher [anger] Why oh why do they do that???? Just as quick to give quick rinse and put them straight in ... argghhh!!! And on the occasions he actually does put the dw on, he 'forgets' to clear the dining room table properly - so half of it is left behind. Drives me bonkers!!! And don't mention the salt, [flung from on high like a "proper" chef don't you know] that covers all work surfaces and stove top .... [wailing and gnashing of teeth]

[Deep breathes, calm... calm...]

As you were everyone

Good morning all, just a quick read and catch up.

Toffee - at willie warmers - isn't that just a 'nice' name for a wank sock???!!!

The fete went well, didn't actually do all that much for the fete as I was looking after the nursery stall. Given my level of involvement with the nursery I've declined to do the same for the school - it would just be too much otherwise (although they're not overly impressed with that decision!). The cakes were to be given out as samples so that people could try some of the recipes from our fundraising recipe book.

DS1 had a lovely birthday - party is actually in 2 weeks time so quite low key for the actual day. Thank you all for the well wishes. We've now been inundated with Star Wars paraphernalia as presents. DS1 has taken a liking to it, even though he's never seen the movie . How does that even happen?!

Wonderful day out yesteday, had lunch at a lovely pub, sat in the garden area and the DSs were able to run around the grass area without disturbing anyone - soooo relaxing.

LOTS to do today, so had better get on with it and come back later with a tada list.