Is June the new January? - the Fledgling Flyers are doing their flaming best

[pushmepullyou]

Welcome old and new fledglings to the June Fledgling FLYers thread!

Thank you very much to castlelough for leading us expertly through May - I shall try not to be too haphazard with June, although I make no promises

If you're overwhelmed by clutter and general household grub then join us as we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system or languish in the naughty corner hoping to do better tomorrow

As usual, we will be following the Flylady three-pronged approach:

1. Baby-steps (a daily step to establish routines)
2. Then baby-steps + 15 mins daily decluttering
3. (And once decluttered) babysteps + daily missions and maybe even detailed cleaning in the weekly zones

For more information have a look here, although to avoid a cluttered inbox, we advise not signing up to the Flylady emails. The basic principle is little and often and don't worry about perfection (no chance of that 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 and chat our way through the month.

xpost hello Narky

that does sound logistically challenging - sure others more experienced/competent than me will be along to advise soon

Thanks sc. how are you? :)

Just back from a very lovely day in the woods with DH, DS2 and DS2's best friend. Did have a few hiccups: firstly, my flipflops broke, so I had to hobble back to the car and get my wellies. Then got completely lost trying to find my way back through the woods. This did mean, however, I was getting lots of extra exercise to burn off the calories.

Then, just as I found the others, my mobile rang. It was a panicky DS1 saying they'd lost the kitten . Turns out DS2 and his friend had left the back door wide open. DS1 and MIL were both almost in tears, thinking the cat had run away, but eventually found him trembling under DS2's bed, obviously terrified of the big wide world that had suddenly been revealed to him. Phew.

We then spent an afternoon building dens, before finally returning home with two very tired little boys (neither of whom had stopped talking for the entire day).

So, apart from the hiccups, a very happy and successful day.

Narky - apologies, no advice, but will watch with interest. If DS1 goes to school again, it will mean my children are in two different schools and it will be impossible for me to be there for them both. I think I am going to have to employ a childminder for DS2's school pick ups.

SC - have PM'd you re MFP.

ellie - glad you have had such a great day. Whoohoo for the money!

pushme - hope you have also had a great day.

Trazzles at giant spider.

CHB - hope you have a good time with your friends tonight.

Off to check on kitty now. He is testing out his new electric blanket [soppy cat-owner emoticon] .

Toffee thanks for and cheers!!

Phew - glad the kitten is safe and sound!! And thanks for pm! Glad you had a lovely day in the woods!

Fine thanks Narky! Hope you are too (aside from forthcoming school worries) Still miffed that dh is away for w/e (having seen him for all of 7 minutes this week) but glad today is nearly over in terms of "playing" duties (horrible mother emoticon) ...tomorrow is taken care of thank heavens as we have church/choir commitment in the morning and dd has a party pm.

[is it wine o'clock yet ... have allowed myself 1.5 glass ration!!]

Cheers everyone! [Nice couple of bottles of prosecco open on the naughty corner bar ...]

Oh goody, I can drink virtual wine as well as the real stuff without going over my calorie allowance.

You can drink as much virtual as you want.

Turned out to be quite a productive day all in all.

Ta da:-
Brunch at mum's
Washing x 4
Cleaned kitchen
Tidied/dusted living rooms
Tidied hallway
Cleaned bathroom
Tidied/polished our room
Dc's tidied their rooms in a fashion.
Changed our bed

About to go and have a nice long soak in the bath I think. DH has fallen asleep already and dc's are watching a dvd so all is quiet. Bliss.

narky as the owner of a very disorganised Year 5 and the teacher of very disorganised Year 7's when they first start i believe the key is routines. They will probably have a homework timetable and a class timetable. Take a copy of both and pin on a noticeboard somewhere maybe in ds's room as well. Homework done night he gets it. Bags packed checking timetables night before. Get him something in which he can place all his schoolbooks in on a desk maybe? Practice getting up earlier before September and practice the bus route and the time it takes him so he feels confident come September.

Forgot to add narky, schools normally publish calenders on website so get a copy and either pin that up or fill in your own family one with things which will be relevant to ds.

Narky - mine are both in the same school but we have just had two years of one in infants one in juniors (DD moves up in Sept thank goodness) and practically all dates and times are different for each of them. Check the school website, write down any dates that come home in letters IMMEDIATELY (I keep the calendar on the wall above the pegs where school bags go,) and put them on a safe pinboard immediately. I also sometimes take a quick photo on my phone of things like homework timetables that will need to be used regularly over several weeks. What age is middle school? We have Key stage 1 (infants, yrs R to 2) and KS2 (juniors, yrs 3-6)

Thank you all- have just had a peek at the new school's website- not entirely sure why that don't occur to me before so thanks ellie

whoknows middle school is years 5-8 so he is (and will be) 9 when moving up. So young. It's a school service bus route so can't practice it but bus stop is 2/3 minutes along our road and bus takes them straight to school (and the reverse route). He will have friends locally doing the same journey so should be ok. I know have the term dates, thank you for that :)

• now

Ah, the same age as my DS then, going into Yr 5. My DS goes to and from school by himself (with me following 5 mins behind with DD) but it is only 5 mins walk away and only one quiet cul-de-sac to cross. I do feel a bit weird about it I must admit, but it makes him feel grownup and confident. I'm sure your DS will be fine.

Today my Flying dones were
load of laundry
wipe worktops for a visitor
move some rubble

otherwise, nothing houseworky at all Dh has done cooking and breakfast and dw loading. Best of all he is watching the dreaded Britain's Got Talent with two dcs.

However, I have done extra-murally
take dd for an assessment at new secondary
long busjourney and train journey to Richmond area and back
bought some Outward Bound wear for twins
bought a new light tent Yay! I live in hope that I will actually do some camping this year somewhere other than the back garden
a new sleeping bag
had neighbour round for coffee, slightly nerve wracking as dh hates her. He hid upstairs

Ds1 is in the Isle of Wight. So lovely and peaceful with two here, and no homework to supervise. And next week there will be two away!!! (They are off to PGL)

SC and Whoknows Dh has set me a goal to lose three pounds in 2 weeks, and my reward is to be that he sets foot in the leisure centre where I take kids swimming..so far he has never once seen them swim except on hols. And of course his reward will be my increased beauty [ho hum] I feel as if I have been medicating mild anxiety with food for a while, so I need to find other solutions!!!!

Mine have walked to school all this year NN (year 6). My heart sank when I saw the road situation at her new school though. Bus stop is opposite school, but crossing is a long way down the street. What on earth is going to prevent them dashing across a pretty dangerous road when they are late for school? I am going to have to redouble my efforts to make sure she knows the crossing code. There is a hideous roundabout feeding traffic into the road just before the bus-stop too to make things worse.

School is an oasis though, all green and lovely once you get inside, buildings dotted around the "campus". My cynical side thinks, how long before all this gets built on and replaced with tarmac for "benefit" of the school facilities. Her school felt v warm and welcoming though and headmistress came and talked to parents table table by table. Quite different from ds1's Boys school, which was also welcoming but so much more corporate and gung ho in presentation.

Tomorrow is more church events so not quite the slobby day I had envisaged, but everything is going calmly for once .

Toffee we were always losing kitten[s] only to find them tucked into bookcases or under beds. I don't think kittens genuinely get lost unless someone takes them physically and moves them to a new street/town. Or maybe I am being too optimistic. I think they have a very strong sense of territory early on as long as they are given a chance to settle in any new place for a week or two at least.

Evening everyone

Glad you've all had good days. Lovely day here at local show where DS joined a throng of captivated toddlers in the pig tent. Peppa has a lot to answer for . Then tea at my parents (hooray for no washing up!) and both fell asleep in the car on the way back so good result all round!

Links for tomorrow are as follows:

Baby step is here, and is the 5 minute room rescue - a personal favourite

The flight plan is here. It's our last day in the kitchen and the daily focus is renew your spirit. I shall be renewig mine with the gym followed by gin!

Evening all,

Family fun day today at the local park, where they were having a family fun day. I was helping on a stall for some of the afternoon, otherwise it was uneventful, these things are much easier now the DCs are a bit older and more sensible and I don't panic if they go off for a few minutes on their own. Ate far too many calories worth of picnic but didn't have any proper dinner tonight, so hopefully not too bad.

Managed three loads of washing this morning but CBA to put them away now. Did an hour of gardening this evening once it was cooler which was nice. Also spent quite a lot of time lounging on our new patio beanbags, which are incredibly comfy (our outdoor furniture previously was limited to table and chairs and a wooden bench, none of which were great for lounging and reading in). No space for proper loungers, so these are just the ticket. Can see me spending a lot of time on there when I should be Flying.

Night all.

A good end to my first week flying! Have completed all missions. A lot of clutter cleared and bare spaes where there were hot spots! And had a lovely afternoon swimming and barbecuing with DC, DH and DParents!

Narky - I sympathise - my DS1 starts secondary school in September and I am seriously not ready for this! Although he probably is.....

Morning. I am clearly sticking to the early bedtime by going to bed early, well in the morning early
sooo much fun has been had. going to pay for it tomo. I suspect hideous burn out so hoping that a good sleep will help but expect to do fuck all tomo. which is a problem as need to have exam stuff ready to go and school stuff ready to go for first thing Monday morning so ideally sunday night. Ah well far too mushed to even consider it now. night.

Yesterday i had fun at a beer festival and today i will be renewing my spirit with a day out :)
still cant toss any more clutter till bin collected but i did sort out a couple of drawers anyway. Keeping on top of laundry and washing up nicely which makes a huge difference to how the kitchen looks.
this week i will be tackling the baby's room and doing something about the outgrown stuff rammed into thecupboard. The bathroom is passable as there is only one cupboard to sort.

Thank you for all the help, tips and reassurance. I have a plan for the school holidays which now includes organising DS room to accommodate book storage, timetables and homework space! Being a childminder he is going to have to start his homework upstairs in the quiet of his bedroom until mindees go home at 6pm.

Quite jealous of all these lovely days out! Dh is working this weekend so I've had to do ll the dc running around and take them all along with me. I did get the paddling pool out so that was fun for them :)

Today I need to go to Wilkos to get some Father's Day crafts for mindees. Our only local one is in the town one over from us which is rank (nationally!) so will have o be brave.

[brews extra strong double espresso for Bitchy ]

Morning my lovelies! Lots of early birds about today. It's amazing what a bit of sunshine drinking can do for one's energy levels!

Loving all the talk of country shows, beer festivals and family fun days!

[Warning: bunny digression]
Had a bit of anxious night/early start as could only get one of the buns to bed yesterday evening. The other decided she wanted to spend the night grazing al fresco, and refused to be locked up. I conceded defeat after a 50-min chase around the garden But there she was at 5.45 *am this morning, safe and sound, pushing her furry nose up against the kitchen door, looking as though butter wouldn't melt etc!

Sounds like a good plan Narky and that bus stop is in the perfect place in terms of safety!

Congrats on completing all missions this week Asheth and on the drawer sorting Kat!

Whoknows ditto re: child supervision and summer fetes! Same situation at dd's school where they make it clear that you are in charge of your child because you are present, but you are stuck volunteering on a stall, and they are on their turf, thoroughly over-excited and running around in feral packs. (And I only have one to track!) However, as you say, much less stressful as they get older!

Good luck with the weight loss Swan! (I'm ashamed to say that I share your dh's loathing of leisure centres and public swimming pools and avoid them at all costs )

Ta da:
rabbit check, morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s
quick tidy kitchen
dd hwk supervision
sort present and card

To do:
make carrot soup
church/choir event
lunch
dd to party
sort 'Walking for fitness file'
bake cake
make greek dishes
garden if time
prep white wash (school shirts)
collect dd
last bit of hwk if any left over
evening routine inc shoe polishing
early bed

Have a lovely Sunday everyone!!

Forgot to say hello to Pushme Toffee Feetheart and everyone else!

And Ellie Goth Blue Engels Honu Trazzles Jdub Just ComradeJ Lilleth Fudge CaptChaos, Lplate Cider
and loads of people I've forgotten!

Hope you are as OK as you can be in circs Castle

Big wing flaps to all!!

oh dear ; missed out line from very tedious bunny para which is whole point of it

'worried about foxes but there she was'

I'm sure that was riveting ....

I enjoyed the bunny roundup, SC .

Dull day outside. Am planning to tackle our bedroom, do some washing and ironing, and walk into town to buy food. Not sure which bit of that will renew my spirit .

Hope you all have a good day.

sc pmpy will be having a heart attack, 4 posts in the space of minutes. And I for one love your rabbit stories.

Quiet day here. Have done morning routine and about to cook bacon and egg sandwiches. DS is bag packing at morrisons later with cubs and that's about it.

Might go for a run......might not.