Fledglings Fly into July!

[BlueEyeshadow]

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

A huge "thank you" to SanguineChompa for leading us throughout June!!

If your 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 wine 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.

All welcome!!

Apologies for starting the thread so late - it took SC lobbing the duster at me to make me remember it's July tomorrow (and I've blatantly cut and pasted her OP too)!

The first baby step is to shine your sink! See here for the Fat Fairy's tutorial...

No mission because it's Sunday. But here's the flight plan for established flyers

morning all
quick fly past!

swan yes, ridiculously we got a second dog in March!He is about 1, a rescue dog and a little white terrier cross with floppy brown ears. Very cute, BUT TOTALLY bonkers He's called Teddy ,we are working hard with him LOL

right, well BOTH sports days (DS2 am , dd4 pm) have been UN-cancelled so my supposed day of catching up has gone to pot!
House a total tip, but trying not to focus on that !
Have been and helped at ds2 sports morning - went well, ds enjoyed but seems to be in especially naughty/mischivious/down right naughty mood now
Only have a couple of hours, then back to school for dd4 sports afternoon at 1....

will maybe try to do a bit of room rescuing at some point, but DS2 now demanding attention , so off to play rescue heroes!

BBL

Bonjour! Dag! Neeiiiiggghhhhhhh!! [SC canters in stage left, swishes tail, paws ground with hoof ...]

Busy day yesterday, play-date(s) done, ironing lady been and gone, friends for supper, rabbit-sitter briefed, cases packed. DD and I are off on a short trip for a few days (eventually hooking up with dh) so I won't be on here for a whole and phew can duck out of Sunday weigh in Am hoping rabbit-sitter won't look in still chaotic boudoir.

Hope all of you who are poorly (or whose dc are ill) are well on the way to recovery and that the rest of you survive the end of term madness

Elliepac thinking of you

PA enjoy your last few days in Blighty for a while!!

Blue thanks for links

Toffee well done on definitive deregistering decision!! [Always dinner time in this house too [sigh])

Swan am probably misinterpreting Briffa as haven't read it, but not sure I go along with arguments for raw food ...tomatoes have an anti-oxidant compound in them called lypocene that has good statin anti-cholesterol effect that is only brought out by heat, and good compounds in carrots are more 'bio-available' when cooked apparently (the heat softens the cell walls allowing vits and some'at called falcarinol to leach out which is good apparently) but I'm a fine one to be talking about diets- as have seemingly eaten nothing but spag bol and pizza and drunk copious amounts of red wine for the last week. Ooohhh you are having kittens!!! Lovely!!!!! I remember you were v. encouraging when I decided to get rabbits when everyone else around me was saying it was the wrong thing/impractical to do!! And am so pleased I went ahead against!! Sometimes you just have to go with what will please your heart rather than your head!!

Maggie never mind mirrors and costumed - am v. v. impressed that you can keep dancing for the length of a lesson and teach techniques/encourage others etc!! That's all brilliant stuff!! Also, as OFM was saying, I think a lot of this is in our heads. If you were to look back at a picture of yourself taken today in your dance costume in a decade or so you would probably say "gosh, I didn't look half bad then" ...whereas we all give ourselves a hard time in the present!! Good luck to your dh and his new course.

Lauren hope you get your much-needed "me" time and hope puppy settling in OK

OFM everyone deserves/needs a "curl up" on sofa day occasionally

Whoknows glad you all survived sports day without drowning!

Lettherebecupcakes hope crisis clean/mil prep going OK!

Hope you are finally on the mend Carpe

Bitchy hope your ds's night training progresses well and not too many trips to washing machine involved!!

Waves to Feetheart Angelico Honu Kiwi Nicknacks MC Linzer Engelsmeijse Castlelough Scruffy thistime and mahoosive waves to eveyrone else I've missed. Back middle of next week some time!

tail again and canters off stage right

Au revoir! Tot straks!

won't be on here for a whole?

I meant for a while!!

oh dear, rushing, pls forgive numerous other errors, including final link balls-up!!

Must flllyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!

Hope you have a lovely break, SC.

Swan - yes, I prefer the theory to the practice too. I have so many books on parenting issues that I have piled up beside my bed. I'm sure if I had been able to put everything into practice, my life would be sorted by now . There's an awful lot of rivalry between my boys at the moment. Maybe now's the time to read that book.

lauren - enjoy your puppy time.

bitchy - hope you get another dry night tonight

It wasn't a dry night but trying to function without the med caffine cycle controlling me and sleep wasn't found. Giving up and going back on the meds and heading for a coffee. Spent the day asleep and still totally exhausted. Then on to sorting out a mountain of wet bedding. thank god for tumble dryers. otherwise would never get duvet dry.

all curled contentedly here on this rainy afternoon, I see the trick is to take the twins on various errands after school and thus we can justify switching telly on when we return

Defused screaming fit from ds1 (tired, poor lamb delinquent teenager)

dd off to Guides shortly
eye tests x 2 done
party food bought for school parties

had a busy/emotional day went to pysch done not that satisfactory as I was late and he was very sotto - I wasn't quite sure what he wanted me to do or say...seems a very expensive way of referring me to CBT which he still won't organise until after another appt Tried to explain about the dog/kittens etc, and I think he thought I was bonkers!!!

then I met Dh for lunch at 12, unexpected pleasure, DH in very good mood I think because work is more fun than homelife!!!!

off to Guides now

Huh. that last post of mine makes no sense to me reading it back.

1. Ds wasn't dry last night - bedding to wash
2. Med/caffine fucked up sleep cycle trying to break. Failed and just not slept. giving up trying to break for now and hitting the meds again.

Right ta da:
sorting out clutter from car.
wash ds' bedding
wash last sofa throw
wash ds' duvet
play on wii with ds
sleep
feel like rubbish - sleep hayfever nonsense. Not enjoying the heat either.

need bed, need sleep, need cooler weather.

evening folks....
bitchy lack of sleep is grim. hope you do better tonight.
swan appointment sounds bit stressful. Hope you get your CBT soon
toffee doggy emergency sounds quite fun if a bit stressful!

well....looong day here.
DS so hyped up from sports day...then had try to persuade him to stay still through dd4 sports day....
not much flying done, but did do a bit of laundry and some quick room rescues...will catch up tomorrow.
Just back from late evening dog walk/playground trip in desperate attempt to tire ds2 out in vague hope he may sleep eventually....DH is now putting him to bed so fingers crossed!

now to lol on sofa till bedtime !
BBtomorrow

have a good trip SC
Bitchy are you getting that zonked feeling when you wake that only coffee can remedy? I can completely sympathise. I think lack of caffeine towards end of day really helps stop the sleeplessness that requires meds, and then coffee next morning.
Good luck with dry nights, we certainly haven't got rid of our rubber sheets yet, but I think no drynites is the way to learn, if he isn't wetting bed every night. Sorry too many double negatives in that paragraph, I need to sleep too!

Such a rainy elegiac evening.

Toffee I think end of term itis is definitely playing a part in everyone bickering. Ds1 has lost his voice from screaming and he has to sing a solo tomorrow

OFM Hope ds2 conked out, peacefully!

Evening all. I have spent ages reading up on sports days escapades, doggy adventures and illness but I can't remember who did what so I'll wave and say I hope everyone's days ended well.

I have been off school today ill. I thought it was a bug but now I think it was a migraine. I slept from 9am until 3pm and woke up feeling like my head was in a vice.

Have just done a quick kitchen and lounge tidy and sorted out recycling for bin men tomorrow. Now off to bed to see if I can get myself sorted for a day at school tomorrow.

Evening all.

Sports day was chaos, but mostly fun. They cancelled the afternoon session because of forecast heavy rain, so of course then there wasn't a drop! DS1 won his race and did quite well at throwing beanbags and high jump so he was very pleased. DS2 found it all v boring and kept wandering off and nearly getting squished by year 6s thundering round the track, but survived!

Links:
babystep 13 is to do a mission

and tomorrow's mission is to clean the top of the fridge

*

Wishing a better night to all in need of sleep and relief from endoftermitis to all afflicted by it!
Hope you have a good trip SC
Waves to all, especially people I haven't "seen" for a while.

I feel defeated by the house and a fluey sort of feeling this morning...so boo to that and I will
tackle
ironing in front room
hideous mess in master bedroom/hoovering 4 weeks overdue!!!!
general scuzziness of kitchen

done
3 kids to school with assorted sweets/costumes/lunchbox
cleaned out ds2's knapsack which needs a whole r rescue of its own
found lost school library book

tonight ds1 has his performance - I am not looking foward to it, as he is really nervous, and so am I as a result! Blasted sore throat!!!! Will have to ply him with nurofen and honey before we go in this evening. Luckily there are 98 other people in the performance

Dd also has swimming this evening so it is all going to be hectic.

MC hope migraine goes away.

Poor Swan, sorry you feel rubbish. I hope your son's performance tonight goes well, in spite of the sore throat (poor boy ).

I was determined that DS2 would go to school today and I was really looking forward to it, as he gets picked up by his childminder on Fridays and spends two hours with her, which gives me a nice, long day. As DS1 is on holiday now, I was planning to get loads done whilst he kept himself busy. Unfortunately, DS2 woke up with stomach pains again and spent ages sitting on the loo, then DS1 emerged from his room complaining that he wasn't well, so I've had to cancel everything and face up to another day at home with both boys. Just to make it worse, I have caught the same bug and am feeling poorly myself. But DS1 has sweetly offered to look after DS2 whilst I go back to bed and I am sorely tempted, as DS2 is perfectly happy watching telly at the moment.

Major decluttering alert!

DH is borrowing the work van so that we can have a major decluttering session tomorrow and drive loads of junk to the dump .

.

Sorry, still too busy to have read the thread much this week, not sure why I feel so busy, mainly it's because of having to take a day off for Sports Day and now catch up on work today plus wanting to submit my OU assignment next week, plus the house just seems to be a tip. Again.

I did quite a bit of decluttering yesterday though in desperation

Has anyone else here got a Year 1 child? DD failed her phonics screening quite badly, the existing threads about it haven't reassured me much, but I have had a chat with the SENCO at school this morning so we can put some help together for her. I also wanted to chat with her about DS going into Yr 4, as we have got the teacher we haven't heard good things about. I am trying to keep an open mind though. SENCO reassures me that the teacher is fine (her child will be in the same class).

Toffee how frustrating...life seems to be that way here too, just when you have made a plan, something throws it out out of kilter again.
Decluttering van sounds a dream come true. I long for the day that dh has a work van (unfortunately he can't drive - but maybe I will have one

battery runnign out, that i smy cue to do some housework

Thanks, WhoKnows. My DS2 is coming to the end of his Year 1. I didn't know they did a phonics screening . However, I remember DS1's struggle with learning to read. The school gave him extra phonics lessons in a small group and he learnt to read in Year 2, but he needed to have the phonics 'code' explained to him step by step until he got it. He's well above average in his reading ability now, so, if it's any comfort to you, getting off to a slow start is not an indication of reading ability later (and certainly has nothing to do with intelligence, as some people suggested to me at the time ).

swan - yes, it is so frustrating. I was really looking forward to a long, small-child-free day and getting loads done. The annoying thing is that DS2 is full of energy now and asking for food, but it would be unfair to take him to school or the childminders because he's probably infectious.

Right, I'm going to take up DS1's kind offer and tiptoe back to bed. Hopefully, DS2 won't notice for a while and DS1 will be a good big brother and look after him if he needs it. At times like this, I'm very relieved I don't have a baby/toddler anymore (no chance of a break then).

Thanks Toffee - couldn't remember whether DS2 was Yr 1 or 2. Hope you feel better soon.

Having scrolled up a little bit further, also hope Swan and MC are feeling better soon too.

Morning all! Friday is here

DD isn't well today, coldy symptoms and generally looking pale and super cuddly, so I have a long to do but it might not happen!

Yesterday's ta da:
Pulled out sofas and Hoovered underneath
Picked up dog poo
Dusted
Living room hotspot
Finished paperwork and filed it all away
Cleaned kitchen countertops
Washed up and shined sink
Changed and washed bedding
Dusted DD room
Walked dog
Had constant visitors coming to see puppy
Cleaned bath
Washed and dried bathmat after puppy incident
Swept kitchen floor

To do today:
Walk dog
Wash kitchen floor
Tackle my bedroom hotspot
Laundry and put away when dry
Clean out my handbag
Car to garage for new tyres
Cut grass

BBL to catch up with everyone!

whoknows I have a completely kneejerk reaction to phonics. Which is that once you get beyond cat mat and rat jam ham and am fish dish and wish (that I get), it is incomprehensible mumbo jumbo, and that I paid no attention to those lists and my children still learnt to read. Dd in particular really did not understand what they were asking her, but suddenly aged 7 it clicked, and she now reads avidly. Ds1 was very quick to decode, but doesn't really understand what he reads. Most of phonics just seems to be exceptions to rules or thousands of variants actually sounding the same, like bore, thaw and door...quite frankly I have no idea how children do learn to read..
I am really glad they didn't do phonics screening when my children were in Yr 1, I think I would have started ranting.

Sorry I am in a ranty mood, probably talking rubbish. Yes I suppose I do understand phonics, just that they seem to make it SOOO complicated. You learn it by doing it and by rhyming and reading, not by learning lists of sounds like scientific formulae. That's my opinion.

Really feel bleugh this morning, sore throat. Have staggered through
done
wiped table
cleared worktops
swept floor
cleared bedroom floor
laundry downstairs
made ds1 bed
made ds2 bed
made ds3 bed (in progress)

bedrooms remaining tidy, that is a plus

oh dear Toffee I have just contradicted everything you said, my apologies, as you have obviously seen it from a different angle, and phonics did help. Admittedly dd's spelling is still awful so perhaps I should have tried harder to establish patterns with her. I suppose the screening is designed to give special support like you have described.
Sometimes I just think they want to crack the code too early and make an issue before the children are ready. My Dh only learnt to read when he was 8, I learnt when I was 3 (my mum claims) but we both read to the same level by the time we were 11.

Whoknows - my DS is Yr1 and I read with Yr1 children twice a week. DS was fine with the phonics test but I think the ones I read with would have struggled.
From what I understand it highlights areas that children struggle with and staff can then use it to support them more effectively. Also, as Toffee said, different children 'click' with reading at different times - I have read with the same 6-7 children since Christmas and in that time it has 'clicked' with 3 of them, the others are getting there.
Not sure if that helps you! I suppose at least you now have the information to put things in place for your DD.

Toffee - schools apparently have to tell you the results of the phonics screening. Ours came with DS's report but was worded so weirdly it was difficult to decipher!

Seem to be struggling with everything at the moment - Flying, Bodyclutter, school assoc. stuff, work, etc. Really CBA but need to do loads and feeling rubbish because I'm not getting it done - bit of a vicious circle. Need kick up the rear and some oomph I think!
List for today will be short:

• Finish sorting out school disco which is tonight - cash for DJ, float for stalls, sign-in sheets copied and hall set-up
• Check with school that Assoc newsletter has been Ok'd and is going out today
• Make sure I take DS's disco stuff and DD's dancing stuff to school plus packed tea for them both (and something for me!)
• Contact car boot people to tell them it is canceled again - grrrrrr to rubbish weather
• Survive discos x 2

afternoon all
whoknows toffee swan others! I HATE phonics. well actually not phonics itself but the current situation where schools see it as the be all and end all of learning to read.
DS1(now 14) and DD1 (now 12) did VERY little phonics when they were reception/Y1 and learning to read because it wasn't "the done thing" at that time. As a result they used various strategies when learning to read (eg sight words, SOME phonics, using pictures etc) and they are BOTH EXCELLENT readers. (DS1 is currently predicted a* at gcse for english)
Then dd2 was taught to read mostly at home, when we were home ed'ing using various techniques and is a confident reader.
THEN DD3 started in reception and it was ALL phonics. This was especially BAD news for dd3 as due to her Aspergers the whole approach does not work at all for her (she has some auditory processing issues, cant link what she learns in phonics to reading etc) the schools answer to her struggles with literacy was endless "Booster phonics groups" for her....to the point that she was coming home and having conversations with me about what a "split digraph" was , very eloquently(as she actually has a very high IQ!), but was still unable to read a sentence constructed of basic reception level words.She has just finished Y3 and has now been referred to a specialist unit 3 sessions a week to help her properly learn to read as she has been failed so badly by the school
I would say don't worry too much over it. Phonics is just ONE strategy used in reading - and it is true that the whole "reading" thing clicks at different times for different children.DD2 took a while for everything to fall into place, but is now a very confident reader.

right....sorry, off my "phonics is evil" soapbox now!

so.....
day started well
Managed my 9.5 mile run whoohoo! (panicking a bit about my lack of long runs so far given that the Warrior Run is looming ever closer!)
Had big plans for blitzing house...BUT DD2 has been sent home ill from school, having finally given in to the virus of the week in the overflowing household!
So...she is now snuggled on sofa, I have put away big food shop...but seem totally devoid of energy now, so am obliged to sit on sofa with dd and drink tea!
May be hit by wave of inspiration later...here's hoping...

Off to try and catch up with rest of thread now...

feet your list may be short but it is the sort of list that fills me with horror! all those annoying little jobs that seem to take ages....then loads of after school stuff...poor you! Hope you have a nice glass of waiting for you at the end of it all.

ooooh...my Paul McKenna "I can make you thin" book has just arrived LOL
so far have read; "The diet trap", "Normal eating for normal weight", "potatoes not prozac", "the anatomy of food addiction" and "beyond chocolate".
hmmmm maybe a bit excessive LOL Then again at least READING about how to loose weight distracts me from eating LOL
Continue the battle against body clutter!