Fledglings Fly in Flaming June; C.H.A.O.S. will be banished soon!

[sanguinechompa]

Welcome to the June 2012 Fledgling Flyers thread. Park your mops, buckets and microfibre cloths here!!

A huge "thank you" to Toffee for leading us throughout May!! Hope you have a fabulous holiday in Spain!!

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, support and 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:

• 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, here and here

All welcome!!

Did you get stipey soft ice cream/mr whippy? whoknows when we are down your way, i am taking ds to get some no matter what the weather. You have some lovely beaches down there. I miss them. Looking forward to the end of the month though. Will be nice to be back for a visit.

Toffee wow wrt to ds. That is amazing. Lets hope it gives him more confidence in general life too.

Ds is back I have missed him. He has disappeared off downstairs as today has been earmarked a pj day mostly as he has been very busy when he was away and tbh looked and sounded shattered yesterday afternoon.

Plan today is to make sure everything is ready for school and training tomo. Some laundry and then perhaps we might do something. Not sure what but something.

Welcome back Toffee and I am so pleased that DS1 had a positive experience and feels good about it all still.

Whoknows for as long as I am on this thread, you will not be the only one not running! How long is the waiting list for surgery? Take it easy and relax a bit!

SC Hope you find a nice dress soon and feel confident wearing it. I often "hide" behind my well dressed beautiful DDs!!

Thanks for all the lovely comments about my cake. You lovely lot!

I felt like a total zombie yesterday and struggled to get anything done. Already feeling a bit more alive today, but not hopeful for getting masses done! These 18th birthdays are exhausting for an oldie

All this talk about your bunnies SC is making me . We have found a loving home for ours to go to and we will have to have a "goodbye" within the next few weeks. DH is even soppier than me and is often to be found talking to them telling them that we love them and we dont want to say goodbye!! What the neighbours must think, I don't know!

Oh flip, just noticed the time. Bird nest taming urgently needed before church, so must dash.

PA - the doc was a bit vague about the wait, he said the guidance time was 18 weeks from referral, we are 6 weeks in now, so that would be by about the end of August. We have two holidays booked in Jul and Aug, so I'd be fairly happy to wait TBH, would be a shame to have to cancel either of them. Glad to have you as my non-running buddy!

Bitchy - We went to Lee-on-the-Solent, I'm very fond of that little old fashioned seaside town. It's the traffic down to all the beachy bits that's the problem, at least yesterdays weather meant no problems on that front.

Well, nothing not a lot done yesterday, we are in West Wales so weather has been horrific and yesterday our village was an island! DS2 and I stayed in PJ's all day and watched films, played DS/Wii and read books - really nice not to feel guilty about it and lots of fun too!

So, todays list is a lot like yesterday's...

Must catch up with;
Washing
Cleaning
Hoovering

To do's...
Make fairy cakes not 'cupcakes' with DS2
Online banking
Take advantage of DS1's absence to go through toy cupboard and sort out old/broken/babyish toys - any attempt to do this when he's around is met with cries of 'Nooooo! You can't get rid of that (broken plastic tat from Mcdonalds that hasn't seen the light of day for yonks) it's my FAVOURITE...'

SC also sympathise re the dresses/swimming cossie - I have been doing 'My Fitness Pal' for 2 weeks following the discovery that I had put on 3 stone
I'm actually heavier than i've ever been (even when pregnant!!!!) Have lost 7lbs in 2 weeks though!

Right, off to crack on, Mum's cooking lunch today so no excuses - 2 hrs of hard graft!!

And you didnt have their stripey soft ice cream :( shame. Was the best bit about lunch breaks down there. From the little counter across from the arcade.

Makes firm note on the to do list. I think we will spend the sunday that way and the sat morning in the forest btw. I have a few things I want to show ds in the Lee area. An old haunting ground so to speak. If you think your two would enjoy said haunting ground perhaps we could coordinate?

Morning all.

Up and done my ironing and put my washing all away, except DS's clobber which is still drying in the airing cupboard and I refuse to iron unless for a special event

Still not dressed though

And I've ordered food shopping to be delivered on Tuesday - spending much less doing it this way - even with a delivery charge; I just dont wander round going "Oooh, I could get..." so it's a bit easier.

Glad those of you with holidays had fun!

Carpe - I have paid a small fee to have free deliveries from Ocado on Tues, Wed and Thurs. It's really been worth it.

Thanks for the update, SC . I didn't know there were so many runners on this thread. I may be asking for advice shortly. Sorry you can't join in, WhoKnows, but you will be a new woman after your surgery!

Thanks for the welcome backs from everyone. It was great to get away, but I am glad to be home again.

Off to a Dogs Trust Open Day this morning, as our next challenge is to choose a dog....

Hope you all have a great Sunday.

Welcome back Toffee; glad you enjoyed your holiday and well done on the running (didn't you have problems with your knee before that prevented you from running?).

Maggie Hope you haven't been too badly affected by the flooding. My parents live in west Wales and we were watching the pictures on the news yesterday; I couldn't believe the amount of water pouring out of some of the houses.

PA Was very impressed by your cake (which reminds me, I need to get baking as DS needs a cake to celebrate his birthday in kindergarten - his birthday isn't until July, but we break up at the end of June).

SC Sympathies on the dresses. If it makes you feel any better, DD2 asked me a few days ago, "Mummy, are you getting another baby? Because it looks like you are."

WhoKnows Hope you get an appointment before too long (that doesn't clash with your holiday) and can join us on the C25k thread again soon (not that I've been posting much myself recently).

We're in the middle of moving our bedroom up to the top floor; DD2 will have our old room, so the DC will each have a room of their own. We went to Ikea on Friday to buy some new furniture and gritted our teeth and paid ??? to have it delivered, as I could barely help DH lift it onto the trolley; there's no way we could have carried it up to our house (we're about 30 m from the road) and then up two flights of stairs. DH has just finished putting the two wardrobes and bedside table (only room for one) together, so just the bed to go now.

I'm making the most of all the changes to do a spot of decluttering, so we took a car load of stuff into Vienna on Friday. I wish we had a charity shop slightly nearer to home; it would make it so much easier to declutter as, at the moment, we often have bags of stuff hanging round for months.

Just back from a very doggy afternoon. DS1 seemed happy and confident and even asked advice from one of the staff about getting a puppy . Going to Spain seems to have boosted his confidence.

Now have to tackle the kitchen, which seems to have deteriorated this morning. I think a crisis clean might be in order . Also have to get school stuff ready for tomorrow.

Linzer - lovely to see you on the thread. I hope you enjoy your new bedroom. You are right about my knee. Weirdly, swimming is dreadful for it, but running doesn't seem to do it any harm at all. Now I need to find a running programme. My friend recommended Runners' World, but I might have a look at the C25K thread for advice too. I need to start slowly, that's for sure.

Off to tackle the mess now.

Ta da
Several loads of washing
Ds' reading homework
Ds' spelling homework x1 still 2 back owed
set up new game on wii for ds
ironing
folding
ds' lunch for tomo
clean car windows and check oil and fluids
make sure kit is clean for training tomo.

Also ta da but i hit post too early

Meal planning for next two weeks
paperwork for ds' membership renewal
make up swimming kit
make up pe kit

I need a nap.

Can I start my list for tomorrow? My brain is heading about like a PacMan

~ WAH job
~ trip to tip
~ trip to post office to send off driving licence
~ put bins out
~ strip and wash our bed
~ strip and wash towels

That's better - now I can't forget (and you guys can nag me!)

Ta-da!

Wrap present and take DD to a party
Take DS to softplay and lunch
Pick up DD again.
Suffer meltdown from DS when he realised the Grand Prix didn't start till 7pm
Strike deal with DS that he can watch it if he does a lengthy list of tasks willingly first
Sit back and watch in amazement as DS piles through all the tasks without any help or encouragement whatsoever (keyboard practice, spellings, clean clothes away, speech and occupational therapy, uniform out for tomorrow, polish shoes)
Clear out, clean and hoover my car, which was a pit
Sort out bookbags, PE kits etc
Sewing
Crochet
Lots of time on MN

Toffee so glad that ds had a good time, and I agree that it takes a while to recover from holidays. I think it is just travelling that does the damage, rather than the holiday itself!

done
went swimming with dd first thing
then Going Forth Mass helping, serving tea and coffee
chasing my two kids who disppeared without a key
chat with neighbour who rescued locked out kids (they were eating pizza in her house when I located them [grrr] but happy ending WE NEED MOBILES for dcs!
Then I took three dcs back to swimming/tennis place

and now everyone is watching football again.

pasta with lentil sauce for supper - tasty

there is no food in house to speak of, a pile of unironed clothes, grumpy dh (hates "churchy" days) and sadly half term is OVER.

sigh I suppose I better supervise some preps for tomorrow and school.

Well, at least did at least 10 lengths of swimming today and boys took some exercise.

Whoknows wow about ds

WhoKnows - at your DS! Could this be a regular deal?

Swan - yes, travelling doesn't help. If only one could be teleported home, without all the angst. Am very impressed by your 10 lengths of swimming today.

Carpe - good idea to start tomorrow's list now. Mine is:

PUT THE RUBBISH OUT!

Please don't let me forget. Please.

Bitchy - two-weeks' meal planning? I can only just manage one. Hope you got your nap and that it didn't last as long as my 15-minute nap yesterday afternoon (three hours - told you I was tired).

Managed my crisis clean in about 5 minutes when DS's friend's mum rang me to say she'd pop round for tea. Argh! Have never tidied up newspapers, wrappers and washing so fast.

Right, have started on the and am running the bath. Back to the old routine again. Might even tackle hairwashing with DS2 tonight, if I'm brave .

Oh.... fuck dear.

DBIL has split from his wife - "mutual" decision but probably her instigation. They'd been arguing for months, and despite living 3 streets away from PIL, wife hadn't seen them since pre-Christmas.

Still, despite the sneaking suspicions beforehand, it's still a, not shock, but unwelcome surprise. DH is a bit down about it - he's bought cheesecake every cloud!.

Very glad I've already done an online shop, my head is pure mince now!

Sorry to hear that, Carpe. Always a shock and rocks the family equilibrium.

Good about the cheesecake though .

Oh dear Carpe thoughts to you and the family.

Toffee good to hear that doggy hunting went well. Did you choose one?

Hating this November weather here!! But one success today... Da Daaa ........ I feel I have now mastered the art of eating with chopsticks without getting frustrated or giving up. I am not going to starve after all. (there never was a chance that I would) Now I have mastered this art I will have to concentrate on language study. - certainly no acclimatizing studying going on!!
Only 3 more weeks at work. This is an odd week. I am day 1 of training for successor of job 2 tomorrow, penultimate day of job 3 on Tuesday, interviewing for successor for job 1 on Tuesday and Wednesday (not going to be easy as a friend has applied, but I don't think she is up to the mark for the job ) All a bit weird all this handing over of my life.

Absolutely no flying going on here. Tomorrow is another day and all that......

Did you manage the hairwashing Toffee? We had to do both boys at the end of the holiday - week's worth of sand and salt! - and anyone would have thought they were being murdered!!

Sorry to hear that too, Carpe

I'll join PA and WhoKnows in the non-runners club - even before my foot, my knees wouldn't take it. Being unable to Zumba for a while I'm considering joining Slimming World and trying to exercise on the Wii instead... We'll see!

Waves to Linzer - nice to "see" you again. (BTW, I've now taken the ITI exam, but the results won't be known for weeks if not months...)

Ta da!
3 loads of washing done and dried
Hacked back the overgrown jungle wildlife area at the bottom of the garden
Kitchen finally cleaned
Sink finally shiny again
Made holiday photo book before voucher expired and in time for FIL's birthday
More work-related research and emails
Schooliform located

To do...
Sort and put laundry away
Find book bag
Sort out playgroup bag

Evening all

Good to see lots of nattering sober talk about housekeeping going on among all the usual culprits

And happy to see that everyone has survived UK half term!

I don't know why I am so tired again tonight. Must be old age ...

Moderate "ta da" list but nothing spectacular:

Packed dh and colleague off to conference in Barcelona
Fruitless search for pedometer battery in local shops; bought English Sunday papers instead
Cheered radical, feminist American nun on Radio 4 (who has been summoned to Vatican for what, in their eyes, is bad behaviour)
Church (no radical feminist nuns present sadly)
Some online shopping
Washing x 2
School uniform, washed, dried, ironed and hung up for tomorrow
Tidied kitchen
Dw x 2 and on again now (well, dd emptied it once to be strictly accurate)
Moved rabbits in and out of garden according to weather, fed, played with, brushed, disinfected raw end of ear etc
Played 3 games of marbles
Played 1 maths timestable game involving cards, dice etc
Made apple compote
Made bolognese sauce
Homework supervision - French poetry and grammar
Changed dd's bed
Chased up and down 5 flights of stairs, cornered dd with large net, subjected her to bath, hair wash, manicure and pedicure (she's just about forgiven me)
Afternoon/evening routine inc reading of pony stories
Tried to eat as little and healthily as poss and partially succeeded but succumbed to one glass of this evening

[Pours more for everyone]

Carpe so sorry to hear about your bil. Always a difficult situation.

Toffee oh a resounding "yes" to a teleporter! Wouldn't that be fabulous!!! Travel is intrinsically tiring and stressful (especially air travel!)

Swan congratulations on your 10 lengths!! That's v. good going!

Whoknows Well done to your ds (esp shoe polishing)!! I have my suspicions that dh has (unbeknown to me) promised dd a "reward" or some such for good behaviour in his absence because today she tidied and dusted her bedroom totally unprompted by me and without any help - and she did it beautifully. She also emptied the dishwasher without being asked too Seems a bit too good to be true!! Hope your ds enjoyed his F1 "reward"! Good to hear you are finally on waiting list for op btw.

Carpe you sound very organised, esp with regards to advanced planning, as do you Bitchy Top marks both!

(How did the hair turn out btw Bitchy?)

Toffee did you see any likely canine candidates today?

Linzer hope you and your dh survived a weekend of flat-pack assembly!!! And well done for the decluttering. I know from bitter experience that it is fatal to have bags full of decluttered stuff lying around for too long - especially toys - too much temptation for little hands!!

MaggieMcVitie oh dear - hope the water levels haven't risen any higher down your way - and that you are safe. Heard about it on the radio today and someone said it was the worst flooding they had seen in over 20 years.
Hope the decluttering went well and well done with your weight loss!! (Need to follow your good example!)

Not surprised you were feeling tired PA but glad it all went well.
Oh, [sniff] [sniff] about your rabbits. You do become attached don't you? We've only had ours for approx 3 wks now and they are already part of the family. I didn't realise they will do anything for a food reward are so intelligent! It must be a comfort that you have found good homes for yours though.

Likelucklove hope you and your dh had a good night out last night that didn't break the budget

Castlelough Sorry to disappoint but laundry paniers are only, normal, plastic laundry baskets - sorry - v. unromantic! Have been living here so long I sometimes use French terminology by mistake. And our house is big but not in a "good way". We only live in part of it, and in the other part - um, frankly, bits are dropping off. Hope you had a blast at the hen party and that you haven't returned with pink hair or similar!!

Humungous waves to Blue Brices Ellie Feetheart Honu Engelsmeijse Scruffy lauren alloutofnaiceham Nicknacks Alibalibees¨Nettie
Droitwich Pushme (if you are lurking) Curly Morecats Foad Princewilliam and I'm sure many others I have missed

sc that dress is fab! You need it in your life, I order you! I feel the same, all my weight seems to have piled on post-pregnancy even with not eating much! I keep saying tomorrow but it never happens perhaps we could combine this thread with weight loss if you would like? Would give me a kick up the arse

toffee welcome back! Your holiday sounds lovely, so happy for you that you and DS can do it! Well done on the running too, you'll start to feel re-energised after a week of it! Enjoy your soon to be new addition also.

maggie I think I saw the town your in on the news. Talybont (about 30 mins from me) has had horrendous floods :( Unfortunately, it's like this most of the time in Wales! But have a good holiday, Tenby is lovely and the ice-cream parlour is amazing!

swanthing well done on the exercise.

carpe sorry to hear about that :( hope it works out for your DBIL, sending you all strength.

positive I'm very of you mastering chopsticks! One task at a time

Mostly visiting day here today, but I am struggling to declutter! After going from a house in which we just had a room to put all our crap in, then a one bedroom maisonette to a house means we don't have a lot! --But that might just be me trying to make myself believe that

To Do

M Routine
Baby step 9 - 27 fling boogie
Baby step 10 - throw out rubbish from hurricane of boogie
Go to DUncles for dinner
Go to DFIL so he can see DD
Try and go to DAuntIL to give card for DC
Renew spirit - do nails/eyebrows (look v unkempt!)
BB routine

Hope you all had a lovely day and have a good week!

x posts

PA good going on the chop-stick front!! And good luck with the challenging week ahead - everything must be feeling a bit surreal for you right now ...

Blue good going with the photos!! (I wish I could be that organised!) And I'll join your non-runners club please. Am not cut (or built) for running but trying to walk fast regularly instead!

Forgot to wave to Choccochip too!

xpost

I'm game if you Likelucklove and no one else on here minds ... we have made a few forays in to Body Clutter territory before .... and maybe the risk of embarrassing myself on here will do the trick!! Glad you like the dress - not sure it will suit my porky frame but have taken the plunge! It's not particularly "wedding-y" but don't want to buy anything I can't use again. Well done with the fully crossed out list.

Hi all, I have read the thread but too tired to post. Will catch up properly with everyone tomorrow evening! No flying here really, basic routines are done and I've hoovered ready for work tomorrow. I'm hungover and feel like death off to sleep... Be back in the morning with a list!

Also I would LOVE to combine the thread with weightloss! (but don't mind if no one else wants to) dieting is my whole focus at the minute- I've lost 20 pounds since end of feb, another 3 stone to go!