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!!

Castlelough

Back to your question ...

Did you do the pantry list?
Is the shopping list just the pantry list copied plus the extra toiletries etc added on????

Um, your guess is probably better than mine, but pantry list is step seven here

and master grocery list is step ten here

And so, yes, as you say, they do look remarkably similar.

Terribly sorry not to be of more help. I must confess to not having got quite to grips with this one. Keep my master grocery list on my on-line supermarket shopping site. And keep a pad and pan attached to pantry door for list which I add to when I notice something is missing or we are running out. Do keep meal plans in cj however.

Arf at Foad's chastity belt.

[Inhales choc cake and slurps gin while diving gratefully on to naughty corner cushions]

Rofl. I bloody love you lot. there is always something to make me laugh.

here there are treats for self motivation and compromising in difficult situations (ds doesn't do change). eg extra computer time, Specific one on one activity of choice within reason. This is above the expectations. Eg the day ds came home from school and did his literacy homework straight away, not only did i nearly die from shock and tell his teacher as such, but he also got extra computer time every night when there was time due to other activities. Unfortunately ds works better to the stick then the carrot. DD might work better to the offer of x if homework done to high standard, without fuss and without being asked? It is sooo hard to get the balance right though. I can understand the double response to the extra work. You want them to be kids don't you.

Meeting went much better then expected and I didn't create too many enemies which is an added bonus. And i was over prepare compared to some Did all my list but no exercise today and diet fail.

Btw I must congratulate you SC on correcting the the room for in depth cleaning on tonight's babystep link. I has been amusing me all week that we have been decluttering in the Bedroom and you are telling us to the deep clean the kitchen. sorry I think you are ok though. Don't think the other's noticed else they actually clicked the clink and found it to be deep cleaning instructions for the bedroom but having not clicked the link I wouldn't know this

Tomo is a fairly easy day. Ds has been granted computer time despite not doing his homework simply because of a difficult compromise. I will tackle his homework over the weekend and he knows this.

To do
Ds' lunch
school run
finish making 2 bags in style 1
finish making 1 bag in style 2
parcel up style 2 bag and get posted
deliver style 1 bags
Clean sewing stuff out of lounge for wkend
clear sewing stuff off dinning room table
sort out training kit
Laundry - get washed
put clean clothes away
training

Oh and i found the cause of the migraines which means hopefully will now shift the bastard headache. Although will need a trip to the doc to see if anything other then rest is needed.

Hope you have good days.

Thanks SC for looking up the pantry list/ shopping list thing. Am still muddling through with the CJ. Must do up a master shopping list (sadly no supermarket will deliver out to where we are. At least I don't think they would...)
SC I hope you are feeling a little more cheered up now after naughty corner raid I do think 8 is awfully young for those type of exams. Here they would do a standardised Maths and English assessment, but a big deal isn't made of it. They are simply used to assess and plan for the children's learning needs. Clearly your daughter is bright and very capable or she wouldn't have gotten those A grades. That is probably why the school is so concerned about the poor exam results. Fingers crossed for a better repeat exam.
And chin up re. body clutter. Baby steps - Make one change at a time, replace x with y or get out for your walk and slowly build your new habits. --now if only I could follow my own advice!!
Am also a Monty Robers fan :-)

What a stupid time to be awake!! I fall asleep almost instantly as soon as I've got DH to bed about 10.30 and then wake up at 2.30 - 3am unable to get back to sleep. Ironing pile reduced to zero as a result, but will pay for it this afternoon. Think power napping will be the answer.

SC Flylady has wise words somewhere about doing schoolwork the same sort of way as flying. Have you tried using a timer for revision? If they are setting work for the holidays get it done early (in 15 min chunks?) in the holidays so it's not hanging over her (and you!) all summer.

Have finally got going with new pedometer - first one didn't work at all. changed it, got to grips with instructions (all I want it to do is counts steps, not have 8 different modes!) and put it on yesterday after first dog walk. 21,600 steps!! Now this was not a normal day since I spent most of it trailing round a motability exhibition with DH, him on his scooter, me trotting behind, but I'm still quite proud. Now to keep to this! And drinking water is definitely reducing the food and wine intake. Latest personal rule - feel hungry? Drink water, wait 20 mins. If still hungry, allow a little snack. Most times the snack doesn't happen, so snacking almost completely cut out.

Glad naughty corner open again. Will try curling up on the cushions there. Waves to all ......

Hi everyone

Had a very strange day yesterday as after work went straight out for drinks and food with Drama dept to say goodbye to a colleague who'e leaving at the end of term next week. Had tapas - how are you supposed to work that out in MFP?! Still, I managed!

Meant that I didn't see DS all day (he was asleep when I left ad in bed when I got back) and since DH is still hobbling round a bit (and probably spent the day on the sofa) the house was in the same state I left it in (which was pretty good!). Does that count as passive Flying?!

sc I totally agree with what soemone else said (can't remember who, sorry) about failure teaching success, and that your dd will learn from not doing well. Though I can remember all of my big exam grades (GCSEs and A-levels) I can't remember any other grades except the first proper essay I wrote in English in year 9 that I got a D for (I wrote the whole thing in bullet points, not understanding what an essay was!).

I certainly never made the same mistake again and when I start essay writing with my own students I always tell them that story as an example of what NOT to do (and they quite like the idea that I am a human being who makes mistakes )

Feeling exhausted today so am officially having a CBA day. On my busy agenda.....
skype mum
watch the last episode of Revenge
food shopping
go for a little walk

DH has been told they have a meeting at 12 today with his whole department and the Director. He's worried that there are redundancies on the horizon

Morning all

Oh God, have I been doing it all week Bitchy (the deep cleaning mix up)?. Noticed last night- thought I'd just bogged up twice, or is it thrice. Oh well. Cutting and pasting too fast as usual.

Apologies if it's caused any confusion to anyone, partic newcomers!

Like to keep you on your toes and check that you doing your zone cleaning properly I always bog something up per thread. It's tradition!!

Great you have sourced cause of migraines Bitchy and glad meeting went well.

Yes most of the parenting books I am reading atm advocate similar strategies for encouraging intrinsic motivation. Monty Roberts uses two-blackboard system with negative and positive consequences which are agreed upon in advance, the primary objective of which is to bypass the parent as the administrator of the discipline because child can easily predict consequences of their behaviour and in a sense, monitor their own progress (with parental guidance of course). Hence, no need for parent to continually remind or nag. That's the theory anyway!

Castlelough thank you for encouraging words - yes I agree it is awfully young for them to be pressured in this way by exams. Dh definitely not of the same opinion though because he went through it himself. To be fair, the school carry out their main assessment of a child based on course work (hence report coming before exam results) thankfully. But, but, they can refuse (and quite often do) to put a child forward in to the next year if they don't think they are ready academically. This is the case across Belgium, not just in dd's school. It's a bit better now, but in recent years past apparently it was common to see one or two much older children in a much younger class .

Anyway, dd has gone off to do her poetry/elocution exams today. And I know she knows those poems backwards! WERO resit today too (world orientation - history/geog) Fingers crossed.

And thanks for encouragement about Body Clutter too. It is just like Fly System really. It took a couple of years for me to put on this weight and it's not going to disappear overnight.

Thank you also Honu Will have a look at Flylady on hwk techniques (hadn't spotted it). Crikey! 21, 600 steps!! That's really good going! Def going to follow your example (and that of Swan and others) and drink more water. So far have got up to 4 glasses a day (in addition to tea) and have reduced to one cup of coffee but room for improvement.

And how frustrating about waking up in the early hours. Is that a regular thing? Hope you can catch up this afternoon.

x post Engelsmeijse thank you. That is also really encouraging. Sorry to harp on about Monty but one of the sub-titles to the chapter 'good parent' is "let the child succeed, let the child fail" and I'm hopeful dd will learn from all of this.

Really great to have the advice of all you experienced teachers/parents out there!! Thank you!!

Oh no Engelsmejse hope your dh doesn't receive bad news today - worrying times indeed.

Try and enjoy your 'recuperation' day.

To do:
morning routine, inc wm, dw, s&s, hotspots done
general tidy up
clean out rabbits
quick supermarket shop
start teacher present shopping
finish deliveries
rabbit supplies
walk
blue wash
white wash x 2
prep supper (fish of some sort)
BOUDOIR
evening routine

Meant to say, have a good day everyone!!

SC I really feel for you about the exams. Personally, I think that at 8/9/10, children are far too young to be going through that kind of stress - but they're under an incredible amount of pressure here almost from the outset. DD1 is virtually incapable of revising by herself but even with hours of input from DH and maths and dyslexia tutors, her grades are sometimes still poor. Will watch your strategies with interest and have also been reading others' advice with interest.

I should probably stay off Facebook at this time of year too. Someone I know has posted the certificate of their DC's acceptance into grammar school along with a comment along the lines of "I must be doing something right". It's not the first time I've seen that kind of comment and it just makes me so annoyed; obviously those of us with children struggling at school who don't get all top grades are doing something wrong.

Blue No, I haven't joined the e-group but must get round to doing so.

Apologies for lack of personals (again), but I need to make sure that at least the living room is presentable before I teach the penultimate English lesson of the school year. Ever since we swapped the bedrooms around, it's been chaos everywhere - even in the living room.

Bit of trouble here. Ds2 refusing to go to school in the belief that if he stays at home he will be able to watch some special sporting fixture. Deadlock.

I am not going to have shouting match with him. Atm he is in ds1's room sulking/skulking. Previously he was under his bed. I have given him 20 minutes to make a decision about whether he wants to stay in bed all day with no electrics or go to school. I hope he makes right decision [oh dear]

Suddenly I have the desire to eat a very large cream cake
so far for breakfast I have had, black coffee and mackerel, and slice of rye bread - but it doesn't quite hit the spot when you are feeling stressed does it?

SC - sympathies re DD, I think it's too much at that age too. I know exactly how you feel about the offer of extra work, poor DS seems to have to work twice as hard to achieve the same as his peers because of his various difficulties but I don't want to pressure him too much.

Linzer - yes, I dread looking at FB the day after the school reports come out, certain people always do a lot of proud boasting about their DCs achievements that leave me wanting to cry.

Engels - fingers crossed the news from DH's work isn't bad.

Honu well done on the walking. I had a pedometer once but I kept knocking the buttons by mistake and re-setting it.

OK, some unexpected free time, friend who I was meeting for coffee has cancelled. I have invited another friend over after school with her DD so I need to get tidying. Back later.

Frantic morning, no time to stop

Flying is done, work is done, I'm knackered.

Argh, bloody messy DHs!!
He has just spend over an hour tearing the house apart looking for his railcard so he can go into London for work. I have been trailing in his wake going through things in a more calm and ordered manner and tidying/sorting as I go. Surprise, surprise I found the card ON THE MANTELPIECE under something he had dumped there at some point. He claims to have looked there of course!
However the result is that various things/areas have been sorted and tidied and I have made him promise to help me sort out the cluttered mess that our house is at the moment. He was so relieved not to have to buy a new card that he agreed :o
I will be reinforcing the mantra 'a place for everything and everything in its place' as much as I can this w/e to get my point across.

All good but I am now physically and emotionally drained!
Need a list to get the most out of the day:

• Finish tidying/sorting in various rooms
• Washing up
• Washing hung up
• Cat litter
• Kitchen floor
• Shopping
• Visit to School Assoc treasurer to sort out stuff
• Make cake for friend for cat sitting
• DD to dancing

SC - much sympathy re DD and exams so young. No idea how we would cope here and my DD isn't much older than yours. I do agree that she should learn a lot more from the experience than if she had just coasted through though. Hope the resits go OK

Well done to all the Body Clutter people. Not sure if I'm doing very well at all, still snacking but maybe less so though scales not registering any change yet. I have resisted the urge to sign up to MFP so far as spent ages a few years ago on Food Focus but have since forgotten my log-in. I may need the motivation though. How easy/time-consuming is it when you cook most things from scratch?

Will wash up whilst Pop Master is on then straighten wild mop and go shopping.

Finally, have got ds2 to school, phew.
Was determined not to take him shouting and screaming, threatening etc.

Did manage to get him to school very calmly and straightforwardly in the end, and he admitted he was embarassed that he was late and so feeble an excuse as to want to watch F1 practice, so I just wrote on the late note, A was upset this morning, but he is now ready for school.
Was absorbed with walking dd (she had to bring a craft project) this morning, and I think it affected his routine, so he saw a loophole to be exploited.

Onwards and upwards, but I feel a bit all the place now. 2 glasses of water drunk!

Feet DH does that,and blames me for the fact he can't find something. I always say, if you want me to find it, just ask me where it is, politely, and I will do my best. Also don't go round muttering Where Is It Where Is It? if you don't tell me what the thing you are looking for is, I cannot help! aargh! I do know where most things are (like the sugar for example) but he would prefer to get into a complete strop about there being NO sugar, than ask me where it might be There are packets and packets of sugar in this house, all untouched atm white brown, demerara, lumps, treacle. But for some reason Dh has this obsession that there is none! That's because it is kept in the baking cupboard. Where's the baking cupboard?

today's list
ironing
put away stuff in kitchen
litter tray
hoover bedrooms
book second tranche of Irish tickets
stock up fridge for weekend
go to Kew and buy new violin book?
followed by swimming lesson dd
tennis court book for ds2/ds1
Germany football match
what's for dinner? Will eat at swimming place

It's a bit of a faff when cooking from scratch Feet - you can either just guess, or use something similar someone else has logged, or log the ingredients separately, or you can enter the entire recipe and the number of portions and it works it out. I do a mixture. Once you've logged a recipe it's always there though.

Morning. Today is not going to plan. couldn't get to sleep last night, plus the late night prep-ing the night before have taken their toll. Combined with the fact the headache hasn't completely shifted I have decided to cut my losses and sleep. Especially as the visitor who is due to come now isn't so tidy doesn't matter. thank fuck

New plan for day:
sleep til school run
pick ds up
Put ingrediants into bread machine and press go
make pizza for tea
make up two bags
make sure kit is washed and ready to go (expect on load of laundry will be needed)
training

sleep before 2am. Which seems late but not when you don't get home before 12:30am

hopefully this is achievable. night.

Hi all I haven't caught up with the thread but will be back later to catch up properly! Had a bit of bad news in the family so my afternoon plans have changed from housework to relative visiting so it's a shorter list:

To do:
Playgroup done
Walk dog
Shred
Wash kitchen floor
Wash bathmat and towels
Put away DD laundry
Put new vinyl sticker on wall
Clean out bag
Pick up elastic bands from mums and bundle vouchers into 100 voucher piles
Sleep off the headache!

BBL

Not been so good the last few days, maybe I am a fair weather duck and can only fly when it's sunny!
Ta da
Returned library books-escaped fine!
Took dd into work and finished off things I should have done yesterday
Rang my mum
Wrote wedding card
Clutching at straws

To do
Make tea
Dust lounge
Clean shower screen
Finish putting laundry away
Jump dh-TTC no 2

laurenamium hugs - hope all is going to be OK
Linzer Isn't that what the block function is for on facebook? Or else make up fictitious certificate for your DC showing their Distinction in a masters degree in Brain Surgery and put that on . I hate the same thing on round robin Christmas letters too.
Honu I am in awe.

Ta da
Got 4 birthday presents/cards for 3 partys
Walk
Weekly shop
School Fair shop
Spend far too long on computer...

To do
Wrap presents
Take DS to party, DD2 to violin and back, pick up DS, DD1 to party and back
Fit in supper (sausage casserole)
MFP
Find pedometer
Hoover sitting room
Clear a hotspot
make bread

And the days Fat Fairy task of course

Kiwi - don't beat yourself up. We all have off days/weeks. Just curl up in the naughty corner and make the most of the bar and snacks

Kiwi some of us are regular occupants of the naughty corner.

I am struggling through piles of unsorted paperwork - have created enormous bin bag full of unwanted stuff - negative thoughts though about my filing system which is rubbish...need to work out a way to sort school stuff into useful categories, "active" school letters, done stuff, and for each child
and there's memorabilia, tax, bank, car, utilities...

Currently just using a 2012 concertina file in attempt to keep a lid on stuff, but because I'm behind, that is less useful than I thought.

Anyway, at least it is in files now..only 20 mins to go to clear backlog and clear floor.