October-fest: a fledgling (at best) might spruce up its nest (then take a rest?).

[strictlycaballine]

Welcome to the October 2012 Fledgling Flyers thread. Park your mops, buckets, microfibre cloths, golden dusters and spiders-web-removing-implements here!

A huge "thank you" to Whoknows and Pushme for leading us throughout September!! (Hope you are recovering well Whoknows - take it steady!)

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 along the way.

This little-and-often system is designed so that you can follow a series of steps and routines each day (which gradually become second nature) in weekly designated zones of the house; defining and minimising housework - which in theory should leave you with more time to do other more interesting things instead! At the same time it is intended to reduce that panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. No problem if you miss a day or two; just jump right back in and it will all come around next month again anyway!

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 steps and routines using a three-pronged approach (dependent on the stage everyone is at):

• start or repeat 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.

[And if you are really enthusiastic and have finished decluttering - you can go on to detailed deep cleaning in each zone.]

More info here on getting started, and the flylady system here and here Don't be put off by the barf-tastic language of the site - the underlying system is sound.

All welcome!!

ellie DS has no toys upstairs other than some soft toys as he's still too young/daft to do stairs on his own. We're making progress but he's still over-enthusiastic about trying to go head first

Anyway, I've been over to Netmums the dark side and sourced a nice carrot cake muffin recipe which DS and I made this afternoon - they're vaaaairy nice I also managed to make a roast chicken dinner with honey tossed root vegetables so DH is now lying on the sofa looking half-asleep and I'm feeling vaguely smug with a glass of and basking in the light of shiny work surfaces and sink!

Living room still looks like Toys 'r' Us after a group of toddlers hyped on fruit shoots have been locked in with no supervision though...

happy birthday Lauren.

sorry missed it on my flybys earlier

Hey all

Well I have been rubbish at keeping up with the thread and only slightly less rubbish at keeping up with the housework!

Wish I was at your house carpe it sounds lovely! Still cleaning up after the builders and have nearly the whole house to decorate. Going for the baby steps approach with that too and have managed to paint half (only) of the new ensuite

Have spent so long doind the online shop that I now have to go to bed! So I hope you'll forgive me iff I just give a quick sleepy wave round the thread and hope for a better day tomorrow!

Night all

Hi, just found this, can I join?

Today I:

Made bed
Bottle/breakfast/dressed me and DS
Washed and de mildewed bedroom windows
Hoovered spare room mattress
Discovered Hoover was all clogged up so spent half an hour pulling and chopping all the matted hair out the bristles :(
*went for a long walk

• Bathed the dog *Hoovered hallway and main bedroom *Made dinner and dessert *Tidied toys away *Hoovered kitchen

I'm not usually so domestic, just had a big splurge to get on top of things! I like to try tidy as I go, unfortunately DP is pretty laid back/messy/lazy

Oh, and I did a wash, hung it on the line, then it started raining so brought it in, hung it on clothes horse, and changed DS cot bedding.

Just popping to wave goodnight!
Just managed school, dinner, visit to dmil, dishes washed, phone calls to dsis and to mammy.
Finishing last glass of in the bottle after the weekend (would be a shame to waste it )
Off to start finish bedtime routine and get to bed early!

PS: sowornout your entire list sounds like 'housework' to me! What else could you call it? Give yourself a pat on the back!
lauren Happy birthday!

welcome scheherezade

just watched a program on the meaning of life and the role that religion plays in it, which meant that me and dp chatted all the way through it about our views through out the entire program... we do this alot but I must admit I do enjoy our little chats, we seem to be on just about the same page on everything though, not sure whether its a bad thing.

Hi Scheherazade!

I accomplished my entire ta-da list! Which was:

1. laundry re-boot (in shiny new washing machine which is beautifully quiet and does not leave clothes dripping wet and still smelly)

2. stay alive and do not kill anyone else

Hooray!

Quiet day here.

• DD taken to school with Polar Bear project - but she's to wait to tomorrow to show the class
• Nipped to shop to get extra ingredients DS needed for tonight's tea
• Doled out cough medicine/throat tablets/aspirin in equal measures to him throughout the day as he's suffering with a cold :(
• D/W on

DS's lasagne was lovely and he's obviously been well trained at work as he washed up afterwards and even had DD wiping down the surfaces!

Carpe - I have a carrot cake muffin recipe too - wonder if it's the same one

Good morning everyone

Today's baby-step no. 16, for Tuesday 16th October is here one to definitely ignore in our opinion - as it involves Flylady e-mails and the Big Tent which is a no-no, as your inbox will be inundated ...

This will be our second day in Zone 3: the bathroom and one other room here

Try and spend 15 mins decluttering in this zone per day.

Once you have decluttered in this zone, you can go on to here

Don't forget your super fling boogie in this zone this week in preparation for the Christmas holidays!

Today's mission is here cleaning out bathroom bin/s and perhaps 27 fling boogie in a child's bedroom

I hope everyone caught up with yesterday's mission as promised btw (I completely forgot to come back and check as promised) it was cleaning back area of lav and chucking rubbish from dc room

The daily focus for Tuesday is : planning activities, wardrobes, medical appointments, trips, present buying, meals etc etc and er, after that we are supposed to do something 'playful' for ourselves apparently!!

The habit for October is: [http://www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/october/ getting rid of paper clutter]] Try and shred/recycle/jettison papers you no longer need, 15 mins per day.

If I've missed anything, have a look at today's flight plan

Have a good day everyone!

**

sorry - will just repeat paper clutter link here

[picks up empties, spent party poppers, discarded cocktail sticks from naughty corner following Lauren's party!)

Greetings lovely fledglings one and all. Sorry I didn't get back on here yesterday. ( Art academy days always rushed.)

Trazzletoes really terrific to see you back on here in 'ordinary' Flying mode although I know your life is anything but ordinary at the moment!! (How you manage any housework in the circs I do not know but hats off to you!) Will check your other thread after posting here but sending lots of love and collective feathered fledgling courage to you, your lovely ds and all the family for the week ahead x

Lauren humungous apologies!! I knew there was something vital I had missed yesterday when I was dashing through!! Many, many belated happy returns - I hope you had a good 'un!!

A very warm welcome to Scheherezade - any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Looks like you made a great start yesterday!

Dizzy how lovely to have a professional chef in the family!! Hope his cold disappears soon.

Carpe very impressed by your domestic goddess-ness (and on a Monday too!) Yr cooking sounds delicious. Hope your ds feeling a bit better now.

Issima you did loads yesterday (esp laundry). I never get that thing about just hoovering up centre of room tbh - makes no sense to me at all frankly. As for shining doors - I do occasionally attempt to clean fingerprints off paint work from time to time ...but many of our doors are painted white. Thanks for kind words re: house - it is lovely and elegant but freezing cold with 1910 lighting and bits keep falling off - shabby without the chic as we like to call it

You sound on top of things Ellie - 10 out of 10 (and a gold star) (or should that be a Moshi Monster sticker nowadays??)

Sowornout that's a huge day you had yesterday and ditto what Castlelough said about that definitely counting as 'Flying'!! V. good of you to find time to help your ex-mil in the middle of all of that too.

Consils I use j-cloths (especially shipped over from UK no less as supply here rather erratic). Don't have steam mop so can't help you there I'm afraid. Ditto about jettisoning magazines. We also get Private Eye but that does go in the recycling on a weekly basis - it's interior design magazines I can't let go of - just in case needed for house renovation that never happens etc etc. Need to cut out articles/pics I like and stick in scrap bks or some'at and pigs might Fly

Wow Bitchy you had a storming Monday!!

Gossip sympathies over lack of clothes - I have wardrobe full of items I can no longer fit in to Am treating myself to shoes atm because I refuse to buy myself "fat" trousers ...which leaves me about two pairs that I can actually wear and those are getting progressively paint spattered Good you have heating at last!!

Toffee good news ds2 ok and about new shiny fridge!

PA Are you ok? Hope you haven't had a relapse ...

Whoknows hope you are still taking it steady (frustrating though it must be) and that mil visit goes OK

Huge wing flaps to Blue Gossip Pushme Whoknows Justgettingonwithit Honu Swan Feetheart Ricecrispy MrsOnatopp Mymums Madwoman Nicknacks Maggie Lplate and anyone I've forgotten!

Morning all!

Thank you for all of the birthday messages I have been well and truly spoilt!

Welcome sherezerde (sp?!)

Posting a list for now and will be back later for a thread catch up

To do:
Put house back to normal after carpets dry
DD laundry away
My laundry dried and away
Home bleugh
Wash inside of windows and all doors
Wash marks off DD wall
Change bedding both beds, wash dry and away
DD to childminders
Horsey afternoon (no riding still unfortunately)
Bank
Routines
Today's mission...see what it is!
hotspots in my room

BBL!

Morning everyone!

Personals first??..
Hmmm treacle sponge pudding AND proper cheddar. I would have been as strong as you sc ! Glad you had a good family day. I once tried to introduce non-traditional Dutch food to a party and DH?s family (who are all monumentally fussy, except MIL who will try anything to be polite) turned their noses up at most things so I ended up scoffing more than my fair share. For traditional Dutch, read boring (but still yummy) and very calorific?chunks of cheese, slices of cucumber and salami, mustard to dip, brie on melba toast, bitteballen (deep fried meat of dubious origin), crisps and borrelnoten (nuts in a crispy coating).

Sorry you?re having such a bad time of it just.

whoknows good to hear that you?ve managed to get up and out, even if it?s only for 5 minutes.

blue I?m so sorry to hear about your friend ? so young. Sometimes life just doesn?t make sense But you?re right, these things have a way of making us grateful for what we have and want to enjoy it while we can.

Congrats auntie swan ! We are avid Merlin watchers as well. Weird watching this one in ?real time? as we downloaded all of the last few series and watched back to back. I?m too impatient to wait for a week (and suspect the BBC are going to move the time around all the time so will have to stay on the ball and make sure we don?t miss it!). I want to see more of Gwen an Arthur together as King and Queen (and more Merlin!). Hope it gets better?

sowornout So sorry to hear about your MIL and FIL.

gossip re: want to do and have to do lists!

Welcome consils . I used to keep mounds of magazines but did a ruthless declutter in the summer. If I?ve already read something I have one last flick through for any recipes/exercise plans or items that I want to keep/refer to again. I have separate sections in my control journal now for the above, which I cull every now and again if I haven?t used them. We have one magazine rack/box that lives under the coffee table. If it gets full, then it?s time to empty out.

Well done on body clutter castle and horse! Thanks for podcast tip?may get me through my home bleurgh.

Carpe as I type, sitting on my arse on the sofa, DS is at nursery ?socializing?. Half term here but I still wanted to send him as a) he loves it and since it was his birthday yesterday he?s ?treating? everyone to some lovely homemade cheese scones and b) it means I can have time to myself to get stuff done.

Hope you had a great birthday yesterday lauren (and what a great day to have a birthday )

Hi scheh - fancy seeing you here!

Sounds like a good Ta da list to me trazzle

Waves to bitchy, toffee, issimma, dizzy, ellie, pmpy, and anyone else I?ve missed.

Okay, so it?s half term here. I have one child-free day to get all my marking and planning done, so that I can go out and enjoy myself tomorrow on my 2nd child free day of the week.

To do
Mark 1st year drama projects and 5th year presentations
Plan lessons for next week
Start reading next 2nd year novel

And if I need some school work distraction?. (which I will)
Washing up
Load of washing
Tidy up from party on Sunday
Home bleurgh
30 mins bookshelf decluttering
Christmas FLYing!

Happy FLYing everyone

Welcome Scheherezade - hope to see you in the naughty corner for soon!

s/c thanks as always for the links
Bitchy as ever at your lists
Toffee new fridges are great aren't they?

Dizzy fancy sending your DS over here to cook for me?
Wing flaps to everyone else, but in a rush to post as have to get in gear today as I've just realised that I need to go into local big town tomorrow, and then have stuff to do tomorrow afternoon, and then have the local toddlers group here on Thursday morning - so need to get out the white gloves for the non-existentmantlepiece

So, really need to

• WAH job (currently doing and waiting for report to generate)
• gut the living room and rationalise the toys,
• wipe down the couches to remove dribbles
• wash cushion covers
• dust and hoover thoroughly
• ditto the dining room
• ditto the kitchen
• ditto the hall

Someone kick my arse? I'm prevaricating on MNet instead of starting to tidy...

[SC flutters back and cracks whip ...looks sternly at Carpe and Bitchy]

lauren you are very chirpy and organised for one who has been out celebrating! [impressed at self-discipline emoticon] Enjoy your clean carpets and horsey afternoon!

Good luck with your list today Carpe [SC locks chocolate in naughty corner bar drawer for added motivation... resists nibbling a corner]

Dag Engels! Dh loves the cheese dipped in celery salt and mustard tradition and I must admit to developing a taste for it myself, especially with a blonde beer! Sounds like you had a very good party! Hope you enjoy your child-free days (well, once the admin is out of the way!) I am making stoemp to go with sausages tonight (ik vind het tof) but not sure if that is solely Flemish dish rather than traditionally Dutch?? ... Good luck with the marking!

Today:
morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s, rabbits done
last minute ironing done
three thank you e-mails done
god-daughter present
make stoemp for tonight
more laundry
boudoir decluttering
shoe shopping
planning
acad.
afternoon/evening routine

Morning all. Just a quick list dump as I havent done any flying since Sat morning except the bare essentials. Will be back later to catch up on what you have all been up to.

To do:
dw run and unload
make beds
hoover
dust
catch up on some ironing
washing in
write list to pack for hols next week
catch up on yesterday and todays mission
sort through dcs clothes

I think that will be enough to be getting on with! Im off to see a friend this morning so I best get started. Have a good day everybody

Consils the rags are Flylady's purple rags. They are microfiber cloths. Hers appear to have magic qualities that make them better than normal ones, but I just use normal ones.

Disclaimer: I do get the emails and they're GREAT! I signed up for the digest so I only get one a day - no inbox clogging but lots of motivational stuff and a whole lot of ass-kissing

so far...
put some washing on
rescued ds1's room a bit
s & s one loo
3 kids to school
to Morrison's to buy some groceries
decluttered small pile of clothes to charity shop
computer man here to sort out Parental Controls...I am soo,soo not understanding any of this, so I've bitten bullet and paying someone to do it. Also going to give my ds his own password on this computer with time settings, so he can only use it for homework, unless he borrows mine (will keep my password a secret)

Any words of wisdom on Parental settings gratefully welcomed from those with older kids.

I am working, honest! Done 2 lots of marking. Now starting my 3rd (and final) set for today before I do a planning check so can forget about school for the rest of the week. Also want to do some (work related) reading before I blitz the house.

Raining outside whihc is not making me feel quite so bad about not having been for a run in a week. DH going to gym tonight so I may have to Shred while he's out.

Is stoemp like Dutch stampot sc (mashed potatoes with various veg and bacon)? The Dutch do great winter comfort food - erwtensoep, stoofvlees mmmmmmmmm...making myself hungry now.

Quick brain dump to keep me motivated you may see a few of these today - sorry!
Well, WAH job done at least, and I've put the suitcases away in the eaves as I could have been into next year waiting for DH to do it

I've decided not to worry too much about toy central in the living room - the kids will have most things out anyway, so not going to care. Will wipe and Hoover though.

Have started in the entry and hall, and going to work my way through the house looking and doing - so I've just chucked out a load of shoes and put others away properly; and I've left six(!) pairs of his shoes/boots out for DH to make a decision about. But there is space for them if he's keeping them; I'm just fed up of him saying he has no shoes when what he means is he's not wearing that pair coz they leak, that pair coz they hurt his feet and so on.

Have also decided not to use a duster, but a damp cloth instead so it will do everywhere; then I can just spray polish first thing on Thursday to take any dust away that dares to fall between now and then