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!!

Sowornout there I knew my children would be capable of making me lunch in the forseeable future. Well done dd!

SC briefly, you are doing a wonderful job on all the links etc. Hope tomorrow's Art Academy is a welcome change of scene. Children's parties are exhausting.
Engels ditto! My dutch friend's kids were very boisterous and lively, but by about 9 exceedingly well brought up, I think the exercise must have done them good in intervening years.. I remember one friend of ds1's who used to pull every book out the shelves aged two and climb every piece of furniture. her sister is now dd's best friend and so polite (but can still climb for England Holland oh yes Holland is a bit flat

waves to all and sundry, [nostalgia] over wendy houses Lauren we had a hen house when I was little, disused of course...

Hi there everyone. {waves to all}

We had friends coming over today for a visit & lunch so this morning finished the tasks I didn't get round to yesterday. They were an old friend of DH's (who's DD's Godfather), his wife and DD. We hadn't seen them since they got married in June so it was great to catch up whilst the girls played together. After lunch we had a walk out to the park before they had to head home.

Today's TaDa list reads:

• Hoover downstairs
• Sweep kitchen floor
• RR Lounge
• RR kitchen
• Empty recycling bin
• Shower and dress
• Make apple crumble
• Help DH cook dinner
• Wash on and hung to dry
• DW loaded
• Wash every pot/ oven tray / serving dish in the house (thanks to DH's cooking!)
• Spend 20 mins brushing knots out of DD's hair
• List a few random things on Ebay

This cleaning malarky is costing me a fortune in "products" as I've now run out of washing up liquid!

I didn't get around to my normal Sunday ironing so I must at a minimum do tomorrow's school uniform and a shirt for DH

I have finished my ironing and shined my sink . Just preparing work for DS1 tomorrow, then off to bed.

Does anyone else's e-cloth look manky and filthy even when it's clean? I have just washed mine in the washing machine and it still looks as if it's never been washed . Am thinking of chucking it out, but it works fine - just looks awful.

What's an e-cloth?

Tbh if it's for cleaning rather than display and still does the job, I wouldn't worry.

Dizzy aside from washing up, this is why flylady advocates purple rags (or microfiber cloths to the rest of us). You just use them with water and they are aMAZing. I love cleaning my cooker hood and windows (not at the same time!) with them!

Morning all! Just a dump before mindees arrive, but ill be back for catch up! Date goes back to work first thing in morning so it's last date night for a few weeks tonight, which means I might get Some paperwork done

To do:
Home bleugh
Mission- wont take 15 minutes but needs doing
Food shop and write shopping list
DD and mindee to playgroup
Walk dogs
School run
Make your own pizZas with DD and mindees
Routines
Brush dogs
Put laundry away!
Date night

BBL!

Trazzle - e-cloths are microfibre cloths too, just a brand name.

Toffee - some of mine are a bit manky but if you do replace it the cheapo ones work just as well!

Should probably try and do a bit of flying today but can't get my brain into gear yet. Might come up with a list once the coffee's kicked in a bit... Anyone else for a ?

No flying here as no time, just keeping basics together.
Pleased to say though my back?s twinging it got me through and hopefully will again today. Am just going for infection control over the foot and worry about the rest later. Very grateful for the help yesterday and a fresh face around. The work is going much slower than needed and generally not well, though a kind random stranger stopped and rescued us while we were struggling with something yesterday.

I'm committed to other things all day Tues and most of Weds and there?s no way out of them even though I need the time for myself, one I should have foreseen and refused but now can?t get out of, and the other I couldn't have, so I don?t know how this is going to work itself out.
Friend who I listen to daily has been out each time for three days in a row, and I'm crossing my fingers that she?s ok.
I renewed my spirit with the remains of a bottle found in the clean up! Not quite what she meant, but it?ll do.

Gossip well done with d/s, we have a lot of anger management here too. Wonders if it?s a coincidence that many of us with similar children are struggling with housework.

Ellie a late happy anniversary!

Swan I love the knocking up of 50?s taffeta dress for party on demand! That?s a talent.

Sowornout same for you with ?make a pair of curtains? casually on your list! Hope you've survived the interesting chicken!

Shifty hope you have a launderette nearby, and get fixed soon, and builder stress subsides.

Who Knows hope you?re ok

SC hope art academy is going well. Thank you for wishes, this too will pass as they say.

Lauren your DD!

Engels well done on party survival!

Toffee well done on the de-cluttering and getting the boys happily involved.

Dizzy it?s amazing the way men manage to use every item when cooking!

Trazzle may I borrow your had no idea either.

Blue cheers!
Apologies to all I?ve missed, must get on.

just I renewed my spirit in exactly the same way last night

I will take that Blue, thank you very much.

dizzy I almost choked on my coffee when I was at my parents' house recently. It is a complete mess (and has been for years) - I started on at my mum about Flylady this summer and gave her the book to kick her off (but it doesn't seem to have had any effect yet). They have the makiest house of anyone I know and yet when I opened the double cupboard under the sink it was STUFFED with cleaning products - alas many unopened, or multiple bottles of the same thing half used. I really wish I lived nearby so I could help her out more often (when I'm over I find myself spontaneously cleaning skirting boards and doors, and cleaning out the fridge).

swan glad to hear they get better

DS certainly enjoyed his cake sc - think he was a bit confused as to why all these other children were in his house!

To do list to get me going today...

weigh-in
write packing list for wedding this weekend
try on bridesmaid dress and make sure have everything for outfit
sort DS's wedding outfit
finish lesson planning for tomorrow (The Road)
one load of washing (already on)
change DS bed
finish cleaning toys covered in birtgday cake, snot and slobber from yesterday
writing/nanowrimo planning
post DS bday pictures on fb group for my family

Just - I have wondered about the correlation of boys with SNs and untidy houses on this thread too (mine has AS). Glad your backs feeling better, I get sciatica sometimes and it is so not funny. I think my current lay-off from heavy duties will be doing my back good as well as my pelvic floor. I bought a cheap litter picker recently and it's great fir saving on bending so much, going to keep using ut even when I am fully recovered.

I'm itching to tidy today. MIL did a great job last week but since she went home on Sat it has all deteriorated again. Must stick to light duties, must stick to light duties, must stick to light duties.

Weigh-in Body Clutter: 65.9kg Have put on 0.3 (not surprising given the amount of birthday cake I have eaten this week!).

Can I ask everyone how long is an acceptable time to leave birthday cards up for? Mine have been up a week and they are in the way. Will I be seen as ungrateful if I took them down and cut the pictures out for children's crafts this soon?

I never leave them more than a week Lauren partly because we've got three plus Valentines Day in a five week period in Jan/Feb and have only just got rid of the Christmas ones at that point. I think a week is plenty long enough.

Ah excellent that's those vanishing today then thank you!

A week is normally my cut off time lauren

I have come home from dentist appt to find the boys room carpet on the front lawn, turn's out dp is laying a brand new carpet so upstairs - the entirety of it, is in absolute chaos !!!!!!!! however I am still adoring the dishwasher, 5 mins of loading all the sunday roast pots and they're done . Well I suppose I had best sort lunch out then try and sort upstairs out.

Cards stay up for a fortnight in our house as that's the gap between DS2 and DH's birthdays.

Good evening everyone

[Looks shifty re: length of time cards left on mantelpiece . I blame it on out and out laziness being an expat; contact from family and friends imbued with increased significance ... or some'at .

Had a good day today - shorter than usual painting session because tutor was absent - I finished the thing I was working on - and configuration of easels meant that I couldn't really start on any of the other still life arrangements (so came home and prepped a few canvases instead)

Absolutely glorious day here - 23° - almost like summer. Apparently it's all change by end of wk though.

What have you all been up to? Hope you've had a good start to the week.

Gossip new dishwasher, new carpet - sounds great (once resulting choas cleared up of course) 'ca vaut la peine' as they say over here ...

ooohhh Lauren dead of your playhouse - you can have gingham curtains and everything [swoon] Enjoy date night tonight - sorry he is away for a while

[looks sternly over pince nez] do take it steady Issima you seem to have a very organised plan though

Engels party sounds lively - glad your ds enjoyed the cake (huge pressure for cake to be good here - dc really "in to it") - and glad you all survived! Generalisation but most Belge enfants/kinderen v. v. well behaved in presence of adult - then go mad when left to their own devices. Your parents' house sounds like my in-laws' place - my late ma's house positively gleamed even in her last year (when she was 87 and lived alone) so I have no excuse whatsover ...

Justgettingonwithit Hope today went OK. Thank heavens for random kind strangers - we all need one of those from time to time - and the odd bottle of leftover red ...
Wishing you strength for the continued clean up/putting back to rights and hope your friend is OK. Oh and mind your back (literally!)

Resist that itch Whoknows!

You sound on top of things and that you are really diminishing the clutter Toffee How's the great ds1 room decluttering going? (I'm afraid I waste a lot of cloths because I can't bear it if they look manky so tend to chuck 'em). I do occasionally wash a load of J-cloths though and they come up ok.

Sounds as if you had a lovely (and productive) Sunday Dizzy I'm always surprised at how much cleaning products cost when I do the on-line shop despite keeping them to a minimum

Sowornout How was your Sunday lunch? V. impressed by your 16yr old dd for volunteering. Hope you don't have to work quite such long hrs this wk.

Swan oh yes to more determined continental mindset - wish some of it would rub off on me ..;

Arf at Madwoman

Consils what did you do with all that paperwork in the end? Could you be ruthless and shred?

Hope this week is a little less demanding Shifty

Safe travelling (if you are away this week) Bitchy sorry if I have wrong end of stick there though

Huge wing flaps to Trazzle Blue Ellie (hope anniversary w/e went well in the end sans tooth pain) Feetheart Carpe Castlelough (pls report back, esp if you saw Frankel in the flesh!) and eveyrone I've forgotten - and there may be a few - as was interrupted several times writing that!

BBL!

Evening all! Day off today, (hollow laugh), so I had a HUGE list and I'm feeling smug.

Ta da list

• made bed *swish and swipe *3 loads laundry *washed up and hasty swipe round worktops (and shone the bloody sink which started the day full of washing up from Sunday lunch) *took stuff to the dump *sent flowers to Granny
• took wallpaper stripper to DM (recklessly told her I'd wallpaper her bathroom on Wed - but she and DF are going to strip old stuff old)
• 15 mins paperwork
• Cancelled DH dentist appt (it's for Thursday when he has funeral) *Ordered prescription *Made second pair of lined curtains
• 15 min bedroom de-clutter *Hoovered and mopped dog room

I'm working again tomorrow so won't get anything much done then.

Sunday lunch was beef (phew) and I like mine rare so that was lucky! DD2 made a pretty good job (despite using about 27 pots I didn't know we owned and leaving me all the washing up.......)

Justgettingonwithit - mind your back and take it easy! Hope your foot is recovering.

whoknows - I have no excuse for my untidy house. Certainly having SN children is a very viable reason - don't worry about it, and take things slowly.

dizzy Amazing ta da list considering you had visitors!

bitchy hope you're having a great time wherever you are.

engels Oh my goodness! Well done, you (I loathe children's parties!) Same to strictly - did you say you volunteered? What a great friend you are .

Issima - lie down! You need to rest! (Stern face).

lauren our cards stay up forever purely out of idleness (but I HAVE turned over a new leaf). (I threw away cards in the living room today that were to me........my birthday is in March.......) They weren't nicely displayed though - just abandoned on the windowsill.

Much love to everyone else (sorry running out of time for the personals). Catch you all soon.

Ok, well I almost had a complete meltdown at the weekend. I am going insane with the mess!!!
Not so bad today:
Make chocolate cake with Lindt chocolate
Got washing machine repaired
Looked around local primary school, seems lovely.
Took builder to my friend who is an osteopath (he's got a bad shoulder)
Made veg stew for me and DS (he ate a little which is good as he's never had it before)

Meltdown averted... Just

To do:
DS's nursery bag
Pack up DVDs and CDs in living room

Waves to all and sorry for the lack of personals.

Quiet day today as I didn't have to do Home Blurgh having done it over the weekend. I did bring the ironing board downstairs and did all of DD's bits and DH's shirts whilst watching The King & I.

Took DD for her swimming lesson after school then we popped into the hairdressers - me to have the ends tidied and she had @6" lobbed off!

Shop bought pizza for dinner - but I forgot the washing up liquid so will have to get that tomorrow

Went to bed at 10pm because I was tired (unusually early for me) and now of course I am !§§%*&!! wide awake [grrr]

Still gives me opportunity to post links which I failed to do earlier:

Baby step no 23 for 23 Oct is here If you are not doing so already, add an after work or after school routine to your day

Examples of routines here

This week, we are in Zone 4: the master bedroom here

Try and declutter for 15 mins per day in this zone. Once decluttered, you can go on to detailed cleaning here

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

Tuesday's mission is here tackling piles of clothes

The daily focus for Tuesday is : planning

The habit for October is: getting rid of paper clutter here. Try and shred/recycle/jettison papers you no longer need, 15 mins per day.

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

Dizzy hope your dd loves her new hair cut!

Cake sounds delicious Shifty bordering on the sacrilegous to admit this living in Belgium, but I much prefer Swiss chocolate - Lindt is one of my all time favourites! Builders certainly get star treatment in your household btw! Hope you get some free plastering in return!!

Sowornout well done - you've accomplished loads today! Arf at rare beef and 27 pots! Read your ta da too quickly and initially thought you had "hoovered and mopped the dog"

Going to try and get back to sleep now [harrumph]

Morning all! Just a dump while a wait for mindee, DD is still asleep

To do:
Today's mission- really does need doing
DD and mindee to baby gymnastics
DD to CM
Horse riding all afternoon
Course tonight about getting training for caring for children with SEN and SN (I might start asking lots of questions on here! )
Routines

BBL!

well, done
three children off to school
I am showered and dressed
forced dh to countersign a few forms
ds2 has worked out finally how to put his kiddizoom camera footage onto the computer

otherwise...I get the feeling we are on a massive downward slide in this house...
ds1's homework is really deterioating
ds2 is refusing to do much homework at all
and dd has started stealing my credit card and ordering hair straighteners from Curry's Direct!!!! (she said I owed her some money )
ds1 and ds2 fought non-stop yesterday after football session, to the extent that ds1 missed his long awaited i-player of Downton (dd and I watched it instead)
We are also in process of trying to placate our neighbours over catpoo in their garden Dh is not pleased that the litter tray has returned to the house, and is denouncing the neighbours as uptight neurotic upwardly mobile *&&&. He said it extremely loudly on the front porch that our garden was much more "bird friendly" than theirs (grapes, figs, wild ivy etc), [even if our cats were lying in wait next to their bird feeder]. I feel the most important thing is NOT to antagonize the neighbours who clearly regard us a family from hell what with all the screaming from the children and us too