February Fledglings FLYing High

[BlueEyeshadow]

Welcome to the February Fledgling FLYers thread

... where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of and chatting along the way.

This little-and-often system is designed so that we 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 us 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 we get when we are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once.

To avoid being inundated with details, we advise not signing up to the Big Tent

We are in the process of 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.]

Flylady site here

Don't worry if you are behind; just jump right back in and it will all come around next month again anyway!

All the links for the babysteps and missions will be posted here every day and we'll all be here to cheer each other on.

to SC for leading us through January and for the brilliant OP I've just cut and pasted .

So come along in and park your dusters ready for Feb!

[superfluouscurves]

Nicknacks sorry! Those were meant to be exclamation marks after the "no hotspots" bit - not question marks!!! Also, meant it was brave of you to cut own hair (not outraged shock) ...oh dear ... will take my size 13s off to watch an episode of House now ...

Big "February is the new January" waves to eveyrone

[Cuddledup]

SC sorry about your squashed finger. Hope you're ok now. Pity about DH's business trip - is this karma for announcing the trip at the very last minute . Anyway hope the rest of the household is ok despite DH's absence and that you all have a good weekend.

Busy day - not much flying - I can't even remember what I intended to do except I know I only did a bit of it and Mt Washmore has grown

This evening on the "chat" thread I posted an appeal for explanations on what panty liners are for - DH wasn't convinced by my reasoning. These replies are hilarious - lets just say you'll never look at a drip tray in the same way again.
This link should work... ( I think)
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/1674353-Panty-liners-DH-needs-an-explanations

Apologies for digression....

Have a good evening you 'all

[Cuddledup]

lileth I'd vote for the smart casual option for the volunteering interview. Hope it all works out.

[BlueEyeshadow]

Good evening!

Let?s see what everyone?s been up to today:

SC got off to a flying start before being felled by a decluttering related injury. Ouch! Sorry to hear about your DH?s travelling woes, too.

Engelse had a late start ? I?d be not about that! Sorry to hear about your sister but glad she?s out of the hospital. Enjoy your pampering. :)

Bitchy was taking the day gently ? glad to hear it! ? but still had an impressive list. Like ?wash hair in peace?!

Toffee was teaching DS1 to tackle hotspots as a life skill ? excellent plan!

Jdub is planning to tackle the ?dodgy stuffed with everything cupboard? ? a task I?m resolutely putting off, myself.

Cuddled - good luck to your DD with tackling fear of the dark. I?ve recently joined a choir, which I love, but then I work at home so need the getting out part.

NickNacks has no hotspots in the current zone!!

poeia was off to shine her sink. :)

Lilleth had some impressive lists and is getting set for some volunteering. Good luck for Monday.

MrsP was suddenly being bombarded by FLY emails ? the unsubscriber thing is safe and does work.

Going had a good list too.

Crikey has also been flying high ? like the last item on your list!

Meanwhile our day of frantic party prep has gone pretty well. I?m chuffed with the cake as it actually resembles the picture in the book and the volcano fairy cakes look something like I imagined them too. DH is taking the boys out shopping in the morning while I do all the sandwich making etc. I just hope the plans with survive first contact with the enemy 15 or so 6-year-olds!! [eek] [worried about crowd control skills]


No missions tomorrow as it?s the weekend. Saturday is Family Fun Day

Babystep 2 is the controversial dressing to shoes. Feel free to apply this as literally or liberally as suits. :)

The February habit of the month is decluttering for 15 mins a day ? definitely one I could do with adopting.
***

[BlueEyeshadow]

XP with Cuddled - just had a look at your other thread. Mostly but a bit at how judgy some people get on here!

[MrsPennyapple]

Thank you, have unsubscribed. (Again. Grr. Hey Flylady, you know when I said I didn't want emails? Did you misunderstand and think "oh, she obviously wants loads of emails!"?)

Nicknaks well done on your lack of hotspots! My dining table hotspot keeps trying to come back. Where does eceryone else put library books? They don't belong anywhere, if they are put away I'll forget about them!

SC your finger incident sounds really painful! I hope it gets better soon.

I have done basic housework today but am keen to get lots of driving in and build up my confidence a bit, so have been out and about a lot. Today I took a drive to the little egg stall to buy eggs. (Basically a shed with a load of boxes of eggs, some veg, and an honesty box.) I am planning some baking at the weekend, so got 12 eggs. Unbeknownst to me, DP had also stopped by, although he only bought 6. I feel a lot of scones coming on.

[ToffeeWhirl]

Oooh, SC, that sounds really, really painful . We have had quite a few squashed finger incidents in our family (both boys and myself, usually involving doors, but mine involving a full jar of honey falling on me from the top of a cupboard) and they rank as probably the most excruciating. Will you lose your fingernail (owch)?

I hope the pain is under control now. If not, this is the best anaesthetic: .

Blue - thank you for your excellent round up. I'm glad to hear your party preparations went well. Best of luck tomorrow!

Did a lot of work with DS1 today, which meant the house crisis clean took second place. However, I did tackle the dining-room table hotspot, so we now have somewhere to eat again (other than our laps). And my lack of energy / time / inclination to do housework did lead to DH loading up the dishwasher and putting some washing away .

[ToffeeWhirl]

That's hilarious, Cuddled .

[Engelsemama]

snuck downstairs to MN while DH and DS were asleep but can hear them both upstairs now so will come back after breakfast!

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes]

Morning all,

I too got inundated with Flylady emails allof a sudden this week so I unsubscribed and wrote in the little please tell us why you are unsubscribing box that I was decluttering my inbox. Which is true I am diligently unsubscribing to practically every organisation that emails me at the moment because I am fed up with not noticing "real" emails in amongst the marketing stuff.

SC - ouch at your finger incident, hope it feels better today

Cuddled - yout thread is very funny, reminds me of a colleague who told me that his 6 year old son once embarrassed his grandmother at her house by wandering into the lounge with a pack of them and asking what "party liners* were for.

Another busy day yesterday, I ended up going to bed at 9, the week caught up with me in the end.

[SilveryMoon]

Morning. Sorry I've missed a couple of days. No FLYing yesterday, straight to the pub after work.

TO DO
Swish and swipe
All dressed
Change beds (x3)
Clear away breakfast
Take rubbish out
Menu plan and write shopping list
Litter trays
Polish/dust
Glass shelves etc
Hoover
Mop
Driving lesson
Wrap ds2's birthday present
Tesco

Think that's it. We're having my parents round today (is ds2's birthday on Monday) and the party tomorrow so need to make sure the place is straight.
I also need to do some more course work, I failed my last assignment so it needs to be re-submitted. Shouldn't take any longer than half an hour.

My brother and his family (gf and 1yo ds) are coming to London from Glasgow today. My parents don't know so will just find then at their house (well, my parents separated years and years ago but now live next door to each other) when they get back from here. Have to find a way to kick them out about 4 so my bro isn't waiting around for too long. Me, dp and the ds's will go over in the car after work Monday to see them.

Right, must go have a quick look at what everyone else has been up to

[Engelsemama]

silvery what a lvoely surprise for your DM&DF

sc ouch! hope it's feeling better now

Quick list for today

washing
encourage help DH with decluttering loft and putting up stairgates
skype family
pick up some flowers for friend
write and post cards (get well/birthday/new home)
choose some personal decluttering to do
go out this evening for sushi night with the girls and look fabulous
try not to get too sucked into pinterest/style blogs/MN style and beauty!

[elliepac]

.

Morning everyone! January may have been crap re posting but I actually kept up my routines for a whole month properly and am feeling rather smug.

January also ended on a rather fabulous note. After 9 years of trying, which included failure to get pregnant, investigations, a battle with cancer of the womb and a full hysterectomy, an amazing lady has enabled my sister to become a mother at last. My nephew was born on January 31st at 10.16 am weighing 6.13. He is the most precious gorgeous little miracle and his arrival is a day we thought we would never see. It has put everything else in my life in perspective and to see my sister holding her baby makes me cry ...... A lot. That this selfless young woman could do that for someone just shows that the human race can be ruddy marvellous. (apologies for soppy post).

Back to reality and this last couple of days everything has gone bonkers so the house has suffered so restoring order today.

Ta da:-
Cleaned/tidied all bedrooms
Cleaned bathroom
Hoovered upstairs
Cleaned living room

To do:-
Washing
Dining room
Kitchen
Hallway
Food shop
New coat for me
Drop DS at friend's for sleepover
Nephew snuggles
Have a girlie movie evening with DD
Pay deposit for dd's birthday party.

Hope everyone is ok.

[BitchyDragons]

Did too much yesterday and didn't go to bed early enough.
Ds' birthday cake quite frankly looks pathetic. Simple in design looks boring in practice. So i need to rethink that.

Today's list.
make chocolate brownies
finish off the biscuits (dough rested in fridge yesterday afternoon and was too tired to finish off last night)
shower and up
finish pulling stuff out of the study
hoover and relay rug
put table in study
return boxes of stuff that i am really not going to get around to dealing with before monday into study
make sure lounge is tidy
wash my bedding
pull ds' present out of my bed and wrap up
Make sure that i have dress ready for dressmaker to alter for taking tomo
Make sure that i have everything ready for monday
etc etc etc etc etc etc

too much to do fuck all wish to do it. ttfn

[LillethTheCat]

Morning, lovely sunny day here, but it was frosty this morning and cold. DH has just told me its supposed to snow here on Tues. Which reminds me I need to check the weather thread that Kitten runs. Ive not looked for a while. I dont want it to snow on Tues as I want to go to my running club. Ive not been for ages due to the weather.

I didn't go to Parkrun this morning, but I have been on the exercise bike instead even though I didn't burn as many calories as I would have done by running and did some arm work with some weights I have in (got them when I tried to do the shred DVD)

Ive decided on Monday Im going to wear smart clothes: trousers, top and black boots. The same clothes Id be wearing if I was working in an office. I do have a suit, but I do think that will be over the top.

tada

• Make beds
  
• Turn Washing Machine on
  
• Wash Up after breakfast
  

to do

• 2nd load of laundry
  
• Dry Laundry
  
• Put Laundry away
  
• Wash up 2X
  
• Shine Sink
  
• Tidy up front room after DCs in bed
  
• Jigsaw with DD1
  
• help DS with homework
  
• Check homework for DD1
  

SC - Ouch, hope your finger is ok today.
Cuddled - Just been sidetracked by your thread.
Blue - Thanks for the round up and the links. Hope you have a good party. Well done on getting the cakes just right.
Silvery- How lovely of your brother and his family. Hope you find away of getting your parents home without being rude.
Engels - have a lovely night out tonight.



Have a lovely weekend everyone

[LillethTheCat]

Crossed posts

Elliepac - What wonderful news about your Sister. Hope all is well. Also well done on Jan flying

Bitchy - Hope you are ok. Only do what you can and remember Perfectionism is the enemy of achievement. Nothing needs to be perfect. Take it easy.

[ToffeeWhirl]

Ellie - that is fabulous news! It must be a very, very happy time in the elliepac extended family at the moment! I hope you are getting to enjoy lots of the newborn snuggles as well .

Blue - good luck with the dinosaur party today.

Bitchy - is your son's birthday party on Monday? Good luck with the preparations.

Silvery - that will be a wonderful surprise for your mum and dad.

WhoKnows - I also lose 'real' emails in all the junk in my email box. You have reminded me that I need to declutter it.

Engels - enjoy your night out with the girls

Went to bed too late because I was enjoying MN , so am not quite as energetic as I could have been today. However, I still have a 'to do' list:

Sort out stuff for charity shop
Normal morning routines
Ironing
Kitchen hotspot
Lunch
Walk into town - take stuff to charity shops
Visit MIL
Home for dinner

Hope you all have a happy day.

[BitchyDragons]

ellie

lilleth perfection? Nope but the cake looks like a round cake with pale blue icing on it. It is totally uninspiring.

Toffee ds isn't having a party. It's his birthday. But need to get various jobs done so that he can actually sit in the lounge and open his presents because lounge is a no go area. Study had to be dealt with as there was an explosion of the pile of paperwork needing to be filed and a returned coffee table that needed removing from the lounge and could only be put in the study. Seriously serious decluttering is needed but having stuff from 4 households brought in over the last 5 years it is just going to take time. Tis what happens when people die and you clear their houses out. You collect stuff for sentimental reasons and sometimes forget the practical. Thus it takes time for the emotions to be processed so rational thinking can be restored.

[Engelsemama]

A lovely post to make me smile ellie Huge congratulations to your sister

Adding running to list today. Friend just called and we're heading out in an hour (when DS is asleep, DH will be home, but he can get on with some work in the house!)

[BlueEyeshadow]

Morning all.

Ta da!
Washing done and in dryer
Sandwiches made
Lots of other food prep done
DH and boys kicked out shopping
Big box of party stuff packed up
Big bags of party stuff packed up

Now, a quick question - would you go with pre-cooking chicken nuggets etc and serving them cold or taking them frozen, cooking them there (is OK to use the oven) and serving them hot?? Can't decide.

ellie - fabulous news indeed! :)

Thanks Toffee and Lilleth.

Happy birthday to your DS, Bitchy

[SilveryMoon]

ellie Huge congratulations to you all. That is just brilliant news I too marvel at the wonderfulness of some people out there, what a truly amazing thing this woman has done for your sister.

[GoingGoingGoth]

Exciting morning reading the posts

Ellie Amazing news, how wonderful. It's news like this that gladdens the heart.

Blue, Silvery & Bitchy hope the birthdays/party preparations all go well.

Bitchy some of my cakes have looked terrible, but as long as they taste good... It is the thought that counts, and I hope he appreciates the effort you've put it.

SC OUCH!

Mixed morning today, hormonal preteen, but I've had a chat & cuddle with her this morning and we've agreed that when the 'angry' feelings come that she'll tell us, and we'll give her space, if that's what she needs. Which is why I've time to do a long post she's sat in her bedroom singing, rather than us having the per-going out meltdown. What is it with putting shoes on?

Anyway she has a party at the Science Centre this afternoon, so rather than me traipsing there and back again, we're making a day of it.

Ta-dahs
Beds
Windows
Litter tray
Bins
Quick vacuum
Wash up

[GoingGoingGoth]

Blue I'd cook the nuggets there, but I can't bear cold nuggets.

But then children don't seem to be bothered. What is easiest for you? Will you be running the games there, or can you 'sneak off' to the kitchen?

[BitchyDragons]

Tis monday blue, ds is currently at his dad's. All go on the prep front. sort of...

[BitchyDragons]

goth judging by how the bit cut off the top to level it disappeared, i am pretty certain there will be no complaints on the eating side other then the piece being too small no matter what size he is given