Stepping through April and beyond

[BlackCatinChaos]

Hello and welcome to the shiny new babysteps thread.

This is where we have a go at following babysteps, support each other and just pop in to chat about our day and whatever life throws at us.

Old and new members are welcome.

The main thing is to take it one step at a time!

That's progress for you Scout, as you say, at least he is telling you.

few Ta Da's here

Morning routine
assembled packed lunches
shoe'd DDs out the door
my breakfast
Emptied DW
Cleared away and reloaded DW
WM on
Tea and pastry, don't care that it's before 11

I've been having a problem with my legs itching for a few weeks and last night I realised that it could be because I bought a different washing liquid, they didn't have my usual one for black clothes. So as it seems to be only me I'm going to wash my jeans, only thing of mine that goes in the dark wash, without detergent until I've used it up

Don't know what else I'll get done today, might pop back later.

In fact, he's told me often then not today. Wahoo! We're not long home from (our monthly HE meet-up at) soft play and even there he told me when he needed the toilet. No accidents! WAHOO!!! Today was a test -- being someplace exciting, with lots of playing.

Wow Scout I am seriously impressed with SB, he deserves an extra sticker.

Latest Ta Da's

2nd and 3rd loads in WM, hung out
S&S'd 2 bathrooms
Fed dogs
Went into town for errands
School run
Dropped friend's DCs home
Home
Brought all the clean washing in
Coffee
Dinner, pic-nic stylee tonight
Interupted dinner for vet to remove Teddy Bear's stitches
Resumed dinner
Cleared away
DW on
Got DDs to bed
Sat down with a tea, still need my multi vitamin to try and combat this cold.

Tomorrow I should be home all day so will see what I can get done, oh, kitchen sinks are shiny

I've run out of steam, today will be mostly spent perusing t'internet and making lists for next week. Morning routine is done, I've had breakfast, OH put the dustbin out and I'm washing clothes he needs for a trip, but not much else.

How's SB doing today Scout ?

Thought I'd update after a weekend of next to nothing in terms of housework

Ta Da's so far

Morning routine plus school run
Towels washed and ready to hang out
My sheets etc in WM
Dogs fed
Me fed

Need another coffee before I continue, then DW needs emptying and breakfast stuff needs clearing.

Hello, sorry for going AWOL. Hope someone has been shining my sink for me? xx

I have a migraine. I am not impressed.

I wouldn't be impressed either Scout, hope you feel better in the morning. I used to get them, horrid things.

Bessie I'm sure my sink shining will have rubbed off on your sink too, don't stress over it.

Well, someone wants to view the house tomorrow, it's basically okay, but a new table delivered today was not assembled, OH is away still and I can't lift a 2M x 1M x 1 inch thick piece of glass on me tod. It's in pieces in the hallway. Anyhoo, once I've dropped DDs at school I have 1 errand in town then I can get cracking on making everything look shiny then collapse, but not until after dinner

Ta Da's so far

Morning routine and school run done
Dustbin out
My breakfast
Last bit of rubbish taken out to dustbin
Cleared away breakfast things
Coffee
2nd load in DW
Sorted recycling to take later

Still to do

Flick switch in DW
General tidy up room by room
More laundry
Move chairs and table base bits to garage
Clean terrace
Hose down outside, bleeding dusty here
Clean bathrooms
Lunch
School run

I'm sure there will be more coffee in there somewhere.

So, upstairs is spotless, dogs escapted and I lured them away from the rabbit hole with roast chicken. Dropped and egg while trying to make an omlette, got Pirate to clean that up for me, she likes eggs.

Still need to get this furniture out of the hallway before I do the PM school run.

I did mop the floor after Pirate had licked up the egg, btw.

Are you getting many viewings adora?

Hope the migraine didn't stay too long scout - I've only ever had one once & I hope I never have experience it again.

House is vaguely under control, but garden is eating into available decluttering time.

Bessie not many, estate agents here are not "active" IYSWIM. What we're finding is that unless a buyer walks in to their office and specifies which house they want to look at nothing happens. That's why we've gone with this British agent who has set up here. She's worked in a few countries and actualy tries to sell the properties on her books.

Scout, hope you are feeling much better now.

Oh, and decluttering the garden is still decluttering

sorry ive been MIA...
dd2 had a lovely birthday
sadly playing in the park the day after i made mistake allowing her to drop from a wall into my arms and swing her round..my back made a ping feeling and i thought nothing of it til next day and i was struggling to lift my feet by lunch and in lot pain
tuesday morning i could barely move and i sat by fire hoping heat would help.i got stuck as totally seized up ad couldnt even turn toturn off fire!i had to wait for 2 and half hours til dp finished work to come and rescue me
i rang gp and spoke to them and she confirmed i did some muscular damage and would be a week of pain and a bit longer to regain mobility
its been horrible,i wasnt able to sit,except on arm of sofa so could get up again,for long orshuffle around,couldnt lay flat and laptop was in cupboard i couldnt get at so was very lonely
zoolets were amazing-dd2 was on food duty.good job we all love sarnies adn cereal and putting little zoo to bed with a story as the stairs were like climbing everest!
ds adn little zoo were great getting mummy things and putting toys away so didnt snap neck as shuffled around

anyway,started feel better middle last week and began reclaiming from health hazard to bearpit status

friday i had planned to chack back in here after picked up the zoolets..
then dd2 came out very distressed a classmate was threatening to stab here!!!!!!!

i was so furious i didnt trust myself to speak teacher there and then so rang school when got in
i went in to see her monday early and she was like i spoke to cild involved and told her wasnt nice and to apologise.
i wasnt happy that was dealt with properly as this child and dd2 have a year long list of she did this/she did thats and sindce term started she was responsible for dd2 drop from play equipment and have huge lump back head and a 2 day headache,following week pinched her crisp at lunch

anyway i withdrewdd2 and sounded off a warnign letter to head if had happened out of school wouldve called police,still will if isnt resolved to my satisfaction...

dd2 saw behavioural learning mentor yesterday and she encourage her to stay on grounds she will be mediator and her playroom will be a haven for dd2 and 2 friends for lunch and break for the rest of this week

i see head today and he was most apologetic for class teachers response and he hs spoken to her.other kids mum was called in yesterday.he was surprisingly helpful so hoping it will blow over

sory for the essay i needed to vent it all at someone as ive been close to breakdown

rant over

on flying front
ta dahs

fed cats
fed zoolets
made pack lunches
schoolrun
pop co op for bread and milk etc
have cleaned bathroom
2x washing-one dried and folded,other almost ready to TD
cleared toys back from front room to bedrooms
made beds
made batch sultana and sunflower seed cookies

i am now going to go and feed my face then crack on ...hoping to deep clean front room before zoolets come home!!

hope everyones ok
noted SB doing a great job.happy days scout

Zoo what a nightmare I'm glad the head is taking it seriously and hopefully with the other mum involved it will get resolved.

Glad your back is getting better. I have a problem with my back muscles if I get too stressed, they just go into spasm and I'm stuck in whatever position I'm in when it hits until the muscles relax, sometimes for weeks.

My recent Ta Da's

Yesterday I was out in the afternoon doing errands after vacuuming all over. No laundry as cloudy with rain forecast. It rained heavily, and audibly, over night and the ceilings upstairs seem to be dry-yay.

Today
Morning ruotine
Assembled packed lunches and threw together croissant sarnies for snacks
School run
Back home and fed dogs
My breakfast
Cleared away and put DW on

Still to do

Look for DD1's tooth, came out yesterday but she dropped it, and the carpets are oatmeal coloured.
Sort clean socks and put away
Make some jam, got frozen blueberries to use up the sugar that's sitting in the cupboard.
General tidying
Feed myself
School run
Collect DD2 from friend's house later
Feed all of us, and dogs again
Chase up vet guy for deworming pills-looks like Floppy has picked up something on hunting trips between deworming treatments , but the bloke is never there. He can't delegate and wants to please everyone so he delivers everything, will run around going to people's houses to do vaccines etc rather than inconvenience the owners by having them take pets to him. This means when he says he'll be an hour it frequently means he won't get here that day. But, but, if he was in the office everyone could get what they need. Okay, mini rant over.

^Scout how are you feeling now? And how is SB* doing with his potty training, still being a little star?

Oh zoo! Hope the head gets it sorted & that your back sorts itself out soon. Great to hear the kids are helping out so much (don't rush back to full fitness too soon! ;-)

Good luck finding the tooth adora!!

scout hope you & SB are both well (& covered in stickers!)

DD2 turned 2 the other week (DH's cake creation is on blog) & has done a wee on the potty every day this week! Total coincidence/good timing of course, but is lovely to see her so excited about it & of course about getting a sticker!

I need to do meal plan... I have wine & chocolate though, so I should be able to get through it....

Found the tooth! Not by stepping on it either which was a relief

Not much going on here housework wise. Yesterday we ended up being out all day and today other than cooking we've chilled out and watched TV. Had to wait until nearly 5 for hot water for showers and didn't put the DW on until after we'd all showered. It's almost ready to go on again now, just prepped tomorrow's packed lunch and I'm having a tea. Had a beer earlier so no wine tonight, I have to do the am school run. Dogs are fed, DDs are in bed, we've spoken to OH, lunch is prepped but the kitchen is borderline disaster zone. Table's clear though so I can do breakfast.

Bessie belated happy birthday to DD2 and well done on the weeing on the potty

Grrr, do this new estate agent hadn't collected the signed contract and isn't answering the phone.

On the flying front

Morning routine
School run
Back home & swapped cars over
Back out To get petróleo and shopping
Back home --To check if I'd turnes into a yo-yo, haven't
Fed dogs -at last
Emptied DW
Put WM on
Roasted chicken for dinner
2nd load in WM plus hand Washing
School run
Snack at home

Now need ti bring in laundry
Do dinner & packed lunches
Feed dogs again
Get organised for the morning.

I have fallen off the wagon.

Would you like a hand up Scout, or are you comfy down there?

Done my morning routines and school run
Had my breakfast
Fed dogs
Looked at kitchen, made another cup of tea
Sat down to MN

I'm going to have a bit of a rest, waiting for water to heat up so I can wash my hair.

im fed up!

school now feel its sorted and they should play together
ds fell off his bed tuesday morning whilst wrestling himself free of his onesy and manage do backward roll and land on his ankle
swelling nad screaming determined not brokenand after best past 2 days wearing a bag peas on his foot he is now back in shoes and returned to school

he says they all have attendance around 80% and as such education welfare ar echamping at his neck...he wants to see them in everyday regardless and if i am worried for him or family support worker to decide whether they should be there.what happenened to mums know best
on flying front ive been having a go at sifting through old toys recently.its very slow and soul sapping...

managing to do at least a load a day washing,and the bathrooms ok.kitchen is another story!!!

im bored with mundane cereal breakfasts and have been searchign something different.current faves in the zoo house are
carrotcake oats-oats covered in water and left to soak in fridge overnightthen add pinch cinnamon,grated apple and equal amount fine grated carrot.nuts and raisins optional
bagels split and toasted and spread with cream cheese and topped chop dry apricot and slices banana

Zoo

I hope DS's ankle is much better now. One of mine is back in a support boot, second week now, turns out she (and DD2 too) has hyper mobility. Not so much that it's dibiltating, but she keeps twisting her ankles and knees. Now I know why. I really hope the situation at school improves, you need to keep an eye on it though.

I'm having a slow start. DDs woke me up for the school run, luckily their lunches etc were already packed and ready to go. DD2 and I are up early again tomorrow. Dropping her at school at 7.30 am for cross country. Then I'm coming home and going back to bed. DD1 is staying at her BFF's tonight.

So, Ta Dah's not a lot
Morning routine and school run, I took coffee with me and the cereal out of DD1's lunch bag from yesterday, to have in the car. Got DDs to school on time.
Back home
Fed dogs
Coffee
Spoke to OH
Sat down.

One of the puppies has caught a bird and is now wondering around trying to find a safe place to hide it, 'cos his sister wants it. They aren't hungry so he's clearly planning on saving it for later disgusting creatures

Scout how are you doing?

Zoo I like the sound those breakfasts, might give them a whirl.

good luck jumping through required hoops zoo - remember, they have these things in place for good reasons, however ridiculous they are in your situation.

Your breakfast sounds like what I take to work - half a cup of oats + half a cup of milk + whatever I fancy & leave in fridge overnight.

adora - I know nothing about hyper mobility - is it being "double jointed"? Is there anything they can do to stop the twisted ankles?

Am struggling with house stuff atm - am very tired & have recently started doing a keep-fit class every week, which is eating into my time for "getting stuff done". Did list something on gumtree this weekend though (although none of the 5 people who have emailed me has actually come to look)

DD2 has been sleeping ok the last couple of weeks & my getting-to-sleep has dramatically improved since "giving up" tea (** excluding first cup in the morning) so why am I still so tired & unable to do proper joined-up-thinking? (I know it is late now, but am usually in bed by 10pm)

Will stop winging now & go to bed!