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!!

Here I am sitting at computer and the borrowed dog is washing my floor for me - well at the very least hoovering up all the crumbs.

We have been out in the garden already at 1000 miles a minute and I need to take him for a walk in about half an hour, as the cleaning lady is arriving. I've been given strict instructions by ownersnot to spend all morning playing with him, so I'm going to venture upstairs without him and try putting some laundry away and stripping the beds- oh no he's eaten something which sounds suspiciously like a biro top Now it is a small unripe apple from garden...I think he is wondering if it will bounce.

honu good news that so much has happened to the extension
ellie sending you good vibes for the Roman drains [did they have drains?] seem to remember something about the Cloaca Maxima
very envious of seaside and caravan

todo
what's for dinner - cheesy potatoes
put out veg box
peel potatoes
slice potatoes in magimix
bank- switch over money
printer - try and use without mindfog/nervous breakdown
ballet run
SPELLINGS make them do them straightaway
buy ingredients for exotic dish from Guardian weekend so that I can use up my celeriac which has now been sitting in fridge for 2 weeks covered in mud
round up stray cookbooks and put on new shelf?

hoover bedroom (can't let cleaning lady in there)

homebless? may be too depressing to even attempt - perhaps strip beds
read Tempest - Ds1 says he has English project on "desert Island" for 4 weeks which I now see is "Tempest" project. A play that helped me get an E in at A-level so I probably never read it properly I've just read the Great Gatsby inspired by Mumsnet threads, and I wondering if there is some relationship between T and GG.

Morning all!

Ta da!
School run accomplished on time and without tantrums, despite rain!!
Swept floor
Washing done and in drier
Kitchen mission
Piano hotspot
Straightened rugs
Student loans form
Post office

to do:
Book photo session
Finish sending off for DS1's orang utan...
Finish turning up school trousers
Zumba!

Hi magpie! -
Oh no, get well soon to nicknack's DD.

Off to put the kettle on. anyone?

Would love a taking a gentle start to the day. Normally i have monday's to myself but there is someone else in the house due to work schedule change and i am unnecessaiyl and probably unreasonably very pissed off by it. fuck off and let me have the space to deal with stuff.

Long list of stuff to do today:
ring school
laundry
ironing
sort out ds' room
sort out bathroom
move plants to summer positions
Discover my bedroom
ensure lounge vacated for later
Sort out food for tea.

right now i need to grab shower and get up.

Ellie - hope it goes ok with the dreaded inspector.

Honu - that is very useful and good to know about you teaching a boy like mine. I have been asking the school to sort out tuition for DS, but they are taking their time. They said they'd organise work to be sent through, but nothing's arrived yet. I am supervising DS1 on a Galore Park workbook this morning (there's a lot of protesting going on), but I would be so grateful to have a teacher who actually knew what they were doing!

Swan - good to see your cleaner is coming today. Have you seen the thread in AIBU about having a cleaner? Can't say I feel any pangs about having one myself. Got the number of a good cleaner from a friend today and am going to sort it out ASAP so that I can concentrate on DS1's education instead of mopping floors and hoovering.

JWIM - that looks like a good start to your day!

Blue - yes, please to the .

Bitchy - hope you get your space back.

Ta da:

School run (using a reward chart to get both DC up and ready on time)
W/M on
Breakfast
D/W unloaded and reloaded
Phone calls
Decorator here to give quote for sitting room
English lesson with DS1 (taking turns reading 'Holes', which we are both loving. Thanks to whoever (JustGettingIt, I think) recommended a link for teaching ideas for the book)
Maths lesson (started well, but DS1 has now stormed off to his room . I can see this is not going to be easy.)

Various 'frogs' to deal with today. And a Science lesson to teach (the solar system) when DS1 has recovered from the shock of his Maths lesson .

NickNacks - sorry to hear about your DD's ear . That sounds very painful. I hope it gets better soon.

Did you know that you can represent the solar system in terms of fruit and veg. can't remember how exactly i have blcoked that information out. But i remember it involving peas and grapes oranges etc.
There are loads of mnemonics (sp) for remembering the order of the solar system too. Plus you have to do the jaffa cake full moon, half moon, new moon thing shows age

Yeah i know i am procrastinating. Mind splat.

Ooo, big fans of Jaffa cakes here! What a good idea! And it will put much-needed weight on DS too - an added bonus .

I like the fruit and veg idea too. I'll google it.

Have managed a quick trip into town to run some errands. Having lunch now. Home ed has finished for the day. School rang to say there is a large package of work waiting to be collected at reception .

Various 'frogs' waiting to be eaten .

And here it is!

I think the version i came across was on the tes teaching resources stuff. But that definetly works. I have just agreed to Homeschool ds in science extra to normal school. he is not enjoying science at school anyway because he isn't being challenged. I am going to try to get him asking different questions to try to make him think the project to a wider scope and be more interesting. I might just speak to his teacher about it but we will see. Having looked at the level he is supposed to be working at i am not surprised he is bored. bless the geek child.

list update:
ring school
laundry about to put 3rd load on
ironing
sort out ds' room
sort out bathroom 15mins done
Sort out the landing 15mins done
Sort out the study/dumping ground 15mins done
move plants to summer positions
Discover my bedroom
ensure lounge vacated for later
Sort out food for tea.

Weather is lovely, have the windows open airing through at the moment. So nice to be able to do this. Have to go get some mushrooms for tea though.

ring school
laundry about to put 4th load on
ironing
sort out ds' room
sort out bathroom 30mins done
Sort out the landing 15mins done
Sort out the study/dumping ground which the exception of the desk
move plants to summer positions
Discover my bedroom 15mins done
ensure lounge vacated for later the lounge will be mine all mine
Sort out food for tea. homemade pizza

Evening all. Hope you have all had a good start to the week!

Apologies. First chance I have had to get on here today. One member of staff and cleaner absent from office today so I had to wear both hats. Back in a mo once I've read everyone's posts.

Fuck it. they can keep the lounge. i am done for the day.

Ok - so today...in addition to lots of 'frog management'

Bitchy has been Flying high!! Top marks!! (Couldn't agree more with you about unwanted presences in house btw. I need total solitude to get on with stuff properly!! Tis a curse really)

Toffee has been running errands, home edding, contemplating jaffa cakes and building the solar system out of peas, oranges, tangerines and walnuts.

Blue experienced a tantrum-free school run (yay!) and ordered an orang-utan... as you do ....

Swan worked through a long list, became increasingly attached to her borrowed dog (not least for its hoovering potential) and pondered links between The Tempest and the Great Gatsby (lots of shared weather motifs??? Possibly???) Can't prentend to know much about GG because I've tried to read it four times and completed it but having brushed up on Tempest notes (ie surfed!!) ...

Motifs = masters & servants, water & drowning, mysterious noises
Symbols = the storm, the game of chess, Prosperos bks
Themes = illusion of justice, difficulty of distinguishing men from monsters, the allure of ruling a colony

Ooh I do love a bit of literary analysis of an evening ...

JWIM did laundry, worked on her quick get-a-way skills while her dd earned top marks by decluttering her room resulting in a big donation to the charity shop!

Elliepac enjoyed a blustery weekend at the seaside, celebrated her dn's b'day, and endured a knee-shaking lesson inspection (hope it went well Ellie - bet you killed 'em!!)

Honu experienced kitchen confusion and dug up daffodils

Magpie2 and Dizzyday re-joined the thread - yay! - and both valiantly survived visitors!

Jax has been Flying high and getting back on track

Neenook has been banishing all guilty thoughts (yay!) and tackling the ironing!

SC has been cleaning the office but not her house and contemplating snowflakes ...

BBL

Swan oops - that should have read "never completed it" ie the GG

Pours more for Bitchy

Thanks sc join me for an online one?

Am just about upright this evening, and in leu of flying, offer things learned this weekend:
The new tv programme with exercises for dyspraxic kids should not be undertaken by six and a half foot teens! He knelt down, attempted to wave arms as per instructions and pitched forward smashing chin badly. Looks like he?s been slugged in the jaw both sides.

If your huge offspring bruises you, as well as self, in the process of falling, no one will believe you haven?t been beating each other.

My left hand is too weak to hold coffee in, attempting to do so results in burns to places no woman should burn!

You can pour coffee all over a duvet, soak affected end it in a bucket, squeeze out and iron it dry enough to live with, all from semi prone position, if you are desperate/determined enough!

Coleslaw, tartare sauce, and a few capers, heated together go surprisingly well as an emergency sauce for Quorn fishcakes.

You can explain and identify Marxist literary theory, using Hogwarts.

Sanguine thank you for explaining art/sewing, am determined to plan a life that includes time for creativity again. :-)

Woohoo!!! For about 5 minutes I saw the bottom of the ironing basket

Then remebered there was a load languishing in the dryer

Evening
Been very busy today:

I cleaned my oven! First time since owning it but that's only 2 years

3 loads of washing
Cleaned microwave

Doesn't sound much but it was lengthy and bloody hard work

Changed DS's sheets.

Evening routine done

Sorry for that lack of conversation, too busy to read

Nighty night x

Ouch Justgettingonwithit see you have had an interesting w/e (to put it mildly!!) Talk about learning the hard way!!! Ouch again!! Hope you and yr ds are OK and you can go from semi-prone to upright and mobile before too much more time passes!!

arf at Hogwarts and Marxist theory!

And good luck with the creative sessions. You have to pencil 'em in though or they get buried under everything else. (Ultimately gives one more energy to tackle everything else though.)

Cheers Bitchy here's to peaceful solitude and more interesting science projects for your ds

x posts

Oh no Neenook so near and yet so far!! Still brilliant achievement though! (I think the last time I saw the bottom of my ironing pile was some time in the Mesozoic period ....)

And golden duster award to MummyNickleby tonight for mega oven cleaning session!

Baby step number six for tomorrow, Tues 6th March is an important one here! Continue to do what we are already doing (minus big tent) and learning about hot spots.

Info on hotspots here

We are still in Zone 2 ie the kitchen. Information on detailed cleaning (if you are at that stage) can be found here

Tuesday's mission is here - 10 mins decluttering tupperware and food storage containers, making sure lids match etc.

The daily focus for Tuesday is planning here and once you've finished that, having fun yourself!

Good luck with it everyone!

sc - DS1 was given one of those "adopt an orang utan" things for Christmas by his godparents. First we had to go online to redeem the voucher, then phone the WWF and now we're waiting for a parcel with a cuddly toy and more forms to fill in...

Haven't done the trousers, but have managed the rest of my list so feeling good. :)

Night all!

fell asleep earlier but the old brain is working a bit too fast atm so need a list:

early training
ironing
washing
finish tackling the bathroom
finish tackling the landing
ds' room (books onto bookshelf/rubbish out/clothes away etc)
My room?
desk in study??
Paperwork (URGENT)
Ring school
make potatoe bakey type thingie for tea
finish putting stuff away that was dumped in lounge whilst sorting study out.

tons more that can be added but lets try to keep this realistic.

Good morning all.

Catch up with you all at a more human time in the morning.