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!!

Aw, thanks sc and ellie. Feel a bit more enthused to jump back in tomorrow! You're so right about that feeling of being overwhelmed leading to total apathy

Evening. i think i might have achieved everything except one thing from my list today.

Not got great hopes for tomo. Hope you all have lovely saturdays.

Morning
Ta Da:
1 load of washing

To do:
Body Pump
2nd birthday present buying
2nd birthday party
Ironing

Have a great day

Morning All
Dinner for 9 girls over and all cleared up. 6 slept over and so waffles for breakfast and all now returned to their parents. DW loaded and running.
Today - ironing, decluttering, paperwork for volunteer role I have and general time with my family.

Hope the sun is peeking out where you are.

Morning all. Lovely sunny spring day here somewhat marred by the fact that there is much exam revision related shouting going on chez chompa atm. DD has 21 exams back-to-back next week - ridiculous imo for an 8 yr old - but it is the system here and everyone has to go through it without exception. Put simply, she refuses to do any work unless she is made to sit at the table and 'told' to get on with it quite firmly (by me). Dh is so laid-back about hwk he is almost horizontal, so my default position becomes wicked witch of the north which I am beginning to resent rather a lot. Yaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!

The only good point about all of this is that if the exams reveal any problems, then there is time for the school to work flat out on them until summer holidays - which they do - and are happy to give individual attention etc.

Thankfully, it's time for a ballet break (dh has volunteered thank heavens) and a cup of coffee ...

Ellie glad to hear you had the opportunity for some well deserved r & r last night despite sleepover.

laundry triage = 1. descend to laundry of doom 2. open door very cautiously 3.take long-handled broom in one hand; metal grabbing stick in the other and cooerce laundry pile back in to furthest corner of room 4. separate out items of clothing being careful to avoid being bitten on ankles 5. chivvy those items that actually howl (eg dh's socks) in to machine first. 6. slam machine door shut 7. add detergent 8. run

So glad your critical visitor experience is done and dusted Toffee and that all went well. Lovely to have shiny house for w/e. Well done!!!

Linzer sorry to hear about work but hope you could forget about it for a bit at coiffure's this morning

Huge waves to Bitchy Neenook MummyN and everyone else

Must go and start doing all the things I didn't get done on Thurs & Fri. Have more energy today so hoping to tick off list.

Have lovely Saturdays everyone!

x post

Forgot to ask whether you had survived or not JWIM Hope you managed to get some sleep. Glad it went well!! Hats off to you!!

sanguinechompa thank you for your posts, for someone who is fighting lethargy and feeling a bit sorry for myself, they are picking me up and making me feel positive about making an effort.

Taking it fairly easy over the weekend, Monday had better watch out though, I am going to kick the arse out of it. :o

Ta Da:
Dishes from breakfast
Hoovering
Made beds
Sorted out the shoe cupboard
Sorted out DD's wardrobe

To Do:
Sort the washing
Put the washing away
Go to the shops - cake supplies and packed lunches/fruit
Bake a cake for a paying customer, whoot!

Thanks GrownupNinja (and Neenook too) - I'm afraid I can't pretend to be leading by example - if you saw the state of my house atm you would be horrified but I do know how living in a cluttered/mess/dusty home can get you down!! Glad the thread is proving useful. Everyone drinks loads of alcohol is incredibly friendly on here too which always helps!

I like it! I'll have to drink just "internet" alcohol though, I can't have the real stuff as it sets my kidney off cramping.

My house is still a mess, but I focus at the moment on keeping one room sorted and clean. If I end the day like that, it means it's easier to start the next day and do it to another room. Then if I am ill, it's just maintenance to do.

My kitchen is lovely if anyone came to visit. You may not be allowed in any other room with your eyes open, so if you need to pee, you'll have to navigate yourself upstairs with your peepers shut. LOL

SC you just made me proper rofl with your description of laundry triage!

GrownUp I too only partake in online due to the meds i am on.

I had two things i had to do today. i really can't be arsed moving so at most will only acieve one of them. Meh. i think a coffee and getting up has to be the first thing to do.

Hi all.

No flying yesterday as work + babysitting for friend (inducing house envy/ lifestyle envy and baby envy ).

I need to get back into a routine of at least keeping up with laundry on my work days as DS had no school trousers yest (had to wear black jeans). I need to find a way of stopping him putting all his clothes in the laundry basket (dirty or not) every night .

Today:
DD swimming
bought present for dd friend

To do
dd ballet/tap
reply party invite
banking
laundry x2
ironing

Also I have a stinking cold .

whoknows I also think its a shame that sport gets serious so young. Ds (also 8) plays football badly but is still blissfully unaware, he goes to Sat morn coaching and loves it but I don't know how much longer .

So much for catching up on Saturday, apart from on here. Woke up in a very poor state and am flat on back again, so having to adjust things accordingly.
So today is:
Lesson planning
Garden planning
Book repair
Filing
Ironing
Sorting stuff that can be brought to me
Food prep
Look at March list again and look at ways I can keep moving forward on days I can?t move!

Swan my friend has Hashimoto's and I didn?t know her before diagnosis and treatment but she say?s she?s a changed woman since, so fingers very crossed for you.

JWIM congratulations on teenager handling.

Toffee enjoy your sorted weekend :)

Bitchy well done on list esp in circumstances.

MummyNic Although I thought it was food poisoning I was 4 days pregnant when morning sickness started with last one.

Jax and Honu well done coping with builders/decorating

Sanguine Where are you that makes 8yr olds do 21 exams? We?re stressed out over A levels here. One of the less happy joys of home ed is there is little escape from exam stress, the positive side is both learning and revision can take place anywhere, so it?s quite often outdoors and interrupted by passing wildlife.

?reserved for sewing and art;? can I be nosey please? (have dreams)

Neenook Am with you on ?lower expectations? :o

Grownup You can only do what you can do.

Scatty I have one similar, either everything, or nothing, goes in laundry bag regardless of need.

Waves to Ellie, Linzer, Whoknows, Droitwich, and anyone else if I?ve missed you.

Posted this on organising thread as well but if anyone's interested in a good Christmas organiser: (easy enough to make, but have never got round to it, and am determined to never have to buy another tree stand/bulb tester etc)
'Dodo Book of Christmas' with pockets and lists etc in Lakeland now reduced to £2.50 (was £6.99 if that matters to anyone)
PS. the Dodo bit is about ?saving the spirit of Christmas from extinction? as a result of disorganised chaos.

Evening! It's been family fraught day here today. Lots of nerves fraying, temper tantrums and shouting all round. Also managed to get in DH's way as he took a huge swing for Wii bowling and got his elbow rather hard on my eye/temple.

We've also been to the hairdresser. It took 3 of us to hold DS2 down for his cut... Fortunately there weren't many other customers in at the time. bribery didn't even work. DS1 was fine though, and DH took them home again so I could have a nice relaxing time. :)

SC - at laundry triage and at exams!

Joins Bitchy and Grownup in a glass of virtual and waves to all.

Evening,

Ouch Blue that must have hurt. We've had a few fraught moments today too, DS was being really bratty while we were waiting outside DD's ballet lesson and i had to have very stern words. He has also had verbal diarrhoea most of the day, drive me nuts. He used to be a nightmare for hair cuts until we found one of those children's salons where they can watch DVDs, it's not cheap but it is such a relief.

Evening everyone.

Have been MIA recently, flying just high enough to keep the house almost clean and almost tidy. We have been in and out of the hospital for DD and my elderly relative between emergency admissions and appointments I think we have clocked up seven visits in a fortnight.

Anyhow. Today I finally got to go into the city on my own to buy DD some new clothes, I realised about a month ago that her leggings and tops were at least an inch to short, her pj bottoms look like shorts etc, clearly a bean pole in the making. I also got some decent drawing pens and some vacuum bags as well as running a variety of errands, it was meant ti be a relaxing trip but I was shattered!

I was home by 11 and therefore managed;
Two loads of washing
Weeks food shop in two shops
Baked a cake
Baked a highly experimental honey and blueberry oat flapjack type thing can you tell I made it up as I went along?
Played with DD outside

Major mission achieved;
But I finally cleared out DD's wardrobe and all her old clothes. Happy sigh.

Now I have an inordinate amount of emailing and paperwork to deal with this evening. With

As usual, eventful day on here [various flyladies whizzing past on virtual knee scooters]

and I have done ZILCH. Okay, I put a new duvet cover on my bed, and washed the pile of laundry in our room. I suppose one of the advantages of no utility room SC is that the washing is um..all over the house and can only be tackled in stages anyway...also CANNOT BE AVOIDED!

Today we had a relaxed morning which quickly descended into a infuriating windup tantrum from dd, who refused to get dressed for violin, saying she had no clothes/was tired (it was 11.30am!) couldn't do up her shoelaces..Tears from all parties. Violin teacher is absolutely lovely and puts absolutely no pressure on her so I can only blame dd's homelife unfortunately Or maybe she was missing Ds1? Ho hum...Tried to threaten cancellation of dreaded sleepover but that only made things worse. I think my low mood and general disorganisation is affecting her badly. Hope things improve over next few weeks.

Followed by Reconciliation Service for First HC, where I ran away from my family/ sat in the front row with 10 eight year olds who all behaved beautifully (unlike the rest of the kids there - our group was the best behaved as my fellow catechist pointed out) So God was definitely trying to cheer me up . Went home again, and promptly had a row with DH . Oh dear...

He is now rather pointedly playing Monopoly with smiling dcs.

Toffee well done, and enjoy your weekend.
SC good luck with the exams. I remember taking loads of exams at school when little and not being phased by them, it was just routine. I suppose she can only take her cue from you as to how important they are, I don't think any 8 year old would WANT to revise, so you are doing the right thing. Just had a good point that sometimes tests can be done whilst in middle of another activity (walking, driving) rather than just at a table. I think some children just are resistant to sitting still for long.

Scatty hope new working days are alright.

Blue ds2 used to cry his eyes out at hairdressers but now loves it. The hairdresser keeps lollipops in a big jar Dh now does quite a lot of quick trimming to keep the visits down as well... Also never underestimate the vanity factor, ds2 loved being told how handsome he looked with his new hair cut.

Just you sound v positive and very good at planning! Hope back improves.

DH's birthday today, so we were treated to lunch out whilst his mum looked after the DC . I am still enjoying the tidy house and trying to keep it that way. Discovered a load of wet washing in the tumbledrier from yesterday . Also, I keep admiring our newly tidied garden.

Had great fun with my new labelmaker today. So far, I have been round the house labelling all the plugs and remote controls, as well as various folders. Then I spent an hour with DS2 this afternoon labelling his toy storage. He thought it was the best thing ever and absolutely loved putting all his toys away in the correctly labelled boxes! Result!

DS2 also decided to label his left and right hands so that he could tell which was which and has gone to sleep with the labels still on him .

Neenook - sorry you are feeling discouraged. I think the Flylady routines are good for helping you to focus on details, rather than panicking about everything that needs doing and getting that 'rabbit in the headlights' feeling. It's babysteps, remember.

Bitchy - did you achieve your two things today? That book I'm reading says that if you have two 'frogs to eat' you must choose the ugliest frog first (and if any of you missed my explanation and wonder what on earth I'm talking about, I'm referring to this - the 'frog' being anything you really don't want to do.

SC - 21 exams???? And we think SATS is bad...

JWIM - hats off to you for surviving dinner for 9 and a sleepover with 6!

GrownUp - you have come to the right place if you want to sort your house out. I have been on the thread for a year and a half and my house is much improved, though I still keep our bedroom door firmly shut as that is where all the clutter ends up . However, decluttering and routines mean that the main rooms are fairly passable these days and I am well out of the CHAOS. You will get there!

Scatty - sorry you have a stinking cold . Hope you can get some rest tomorrow (or is that a vain hope?).

JustGetting - so sorry you are on your back again. I hope it passes quickly. Thanks for the recommendation for the Dodo Christmas organiser - I'll be off to check it out in a minute.

Blue - that sounds like a very stressful day. Sympathies re the hairdresser. DS1 is currently sporting a very odd hairstyle as he absolutely refuses to go at the moment, so I have had to cut it myself. He has always hated the hairdresser and still does, aged 12. The only time he cared was when he was trying to look 'cool' for school.

WhoKnows - I have never seen hairdressers with DVDs for children to watch - what a brilliant idea!

slowburner - so sorry you have had such a difficult time recently . Looks like you have had an extremely productive and busy day - you deserved that !

Swan - congratulations on your well-behaved group!

swan - yes, he loves seeing himself in the mirror afterwards... DS1 took a while to get used to having his hair cut but he's fine about it now, so hoping it'll come with time.

Evening all. Hope you have enjoyed your Saturdays.

Grownup agree that keeping one room in order is v. good for morale. (One clean room leading to another and all that.) My kitchen and bathroom are usually in a fairly good state - although kitchen too cluttered - the rest of the house is not visitor-viewable atm!!

Take care of yourself Bitchy (doesn't feel right calling you Bitchy btw, when you are now Bitchynomore!!)

Scatty I'm with you on the laundry!! Sorry to hear you are under the weather [Hands over large whisky, honey and lemon drink, fluffy pillows, and a stack of not-too-demanding paperbacks]

Sorry you are suffering too Justgettingonwithit Hope you are feeling stronger tomorrow. We are in Bxls Belgium - education based on v. formal/traditional French curriculum & methods - curly looped cursive writing - lots of learning by rote - and death by worksheet. Added complication is that dd is being taught in Fr & Flemish (ie some subjects taught in one lang, other subjects in the other) resulting in more language exams than would be usual. All hugely stressful but am reassured by Swan's comment about exams becoming routine.

Hat's off to you re: home ed. I really admire parents who make that commitment and how wonderful to be interrupted by passing wildlife!!

Thanks also to Swan and your good self re: tip about learning in places other than dining room table!! Sounds ridiculous but I never thought of that!!
Perfect for dd as she is a ball of energy who finds it hard to sit still for long. Will implement tomorrow!!

Finally, you asked about 'sewing & art' - am trying to dedicate 6 hrs during term time every Tuesday to work on various projects. (I realise I am v. v. lucky to have the time to do this.) Have to be ruthless and plan for it though (ie book appts on other days, tell people you are busy). Tbh I currently only manage about one Tues in three atm due to my lack of organisation but better than nowt and hoping to improve. (Would be easier if I could finish decluttering dedicated room for it - better than it was - but not quite there.) Am currently making dd a formal Victorian rag-doll (with 3 sets of clothes) for her birthday in the summer, a tiered cotton summer skirt for dd, plus two pairs of pyjama bottoms/lounging trews for myself, plus two laundry bags for friends. Have loads of unfinished projects on the go + attendant clutter so have banned myself from buying any more materials until complete!! Be warned, it's addictive.

Finally, finally, my old boss used to swear by his Dodo!!

Blue sorry - I shouldn't laugh but - "It took 3 of us to hold DS2 down for his cut" is Ouch at Wii injury [hands over large juicy steak to place on eye]

Sympathies to you Swanand Whoknows re: fraught family moments - I think it has reached that point of the year when dc could all benefit from a bit more fresh air and freedom. Roll on spring!

Toffee forgot to mention - thanks for yr kind words earlier. Feel a bit better today thankfully but will keep eye on cough esp as two people in our office have succumbed to pneumonia this year.

Here's for anyone who has managed to plough through the above!!

Back in a mo with links!

x posts Toffee (sorry - I am so slow - I have duplicated your lovely round-up by mistake!! ) Brilliant to hear that you had some rare child-free time with your dh today. Many happy returns to him!!

(PS Don't tell anyone but I also have an ongoing love affair with my Brother P-touch )

Tomorrow's baby-step (no. 4) for Saturday March 4th March is here but imho is one that can be ignored (sticky notes)

No missions or zones because it is the weekend

Sunday is "renew your spirit" day or in my case catch up with everything you didn't do last week day More details here

Have a relaxing day everyone!

Oh yes .. .for those of you who like to get ahead ...next week's zone/missions will focus on the kitchen here

**

Good evening. yes I know another late one. Shhhhhhhh.

Toffee - as ds' labelled hands. I got one of the two things done. The other one was to go into town for some shopping and has been posponed to not a saturday. (probably monday) when it is less busy.

Blue - ds hates having his hair cut but we have found a barbar that he likes and is brilliant with him. Although getting him there is the problem. We had the either you hair gets washed twice a week and nit combed once a week or you get it cut short again convo again this week.

Plan for sunday:
Lie in
laundry
ironing
paperwork
Make plan for the week.
Potatoe gratan type thingy for tea.