July's Fledgling Flyers: Summer holidays are on their way and the clutter is going to FLY away

[elliepac]

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

Thank you very much to cpmpy for leading us expertly through June- it's been a while since I lead so I can't promise to be as efficient but will do my best . This will start by copying and pasting pmpy's original June post

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

Morning all .

Thank the lord for the weekend, it has been a tough week and last night was spent bbqing and drinking wine. Not much sleep last night though due to a combination of DS having a friend to sleepover and extreme heat. We are supposed to be the hottest part of the country over the next couple of days and, whilst I like the warm weather, tis a little bit too much for me. Not that I am complaining plus I can guarantee it will fizzle out by next weekend as I break up for summer on Friday and that normally heralds 6 weeks of cold and invariably wet weather.

toffee . I haven't got any sage advice but that sucks.

pa.

Today I am trying to get jobs done this morning because i it is as hot as they say it will be I will melt if I do them in the afternoon.

List looks like this:-

Washing on
Washing away
food shop
DS for haircut
MOrning routine

That will do .

Back in a sec with links.

Your babystep for today is missions. Simply to do one. Easy enough .

No missions for today as it is the weekend.

And today is Family Fun Day. Enjoy the sunshine everyone!

at the dieting advice PA!!!!

And thanks for kind words everybody re: evil cardiologist (she's pretty good actually although I hate to admit it!!). I just have to buckle down and do what I need to do finally

Anyway, morning my lovelies! Hope you are all OK today. I hear it's going to be a hot one in the UK! (Bit cooler here I'm glad to say.)

Ta da:
Morning routine inc dw, wm, rabbits, s&s
Extra bits of washing up
Hang out first load of washing
Cleared up wooden blocks/lego etc etc
Cleared dining room table of play-mobil stable and horse show scene
Watered plants

To do:
Saturday:
Draw/paint and deliver/send dd party invitations
Wrap sister's retirement present and card
Buy niece's present on-line and post with card
Send nieces package that I neglected to send before
Post on-line shopping returns
Finish drawing/painting infamous anniversary card
Draw and send nephew's 18th birthday card
Plant more lavender bushes
Various shopping errands including party stuff for pinata, shuttlecocks, and look at exercise bikes and suitcases in sales
Channel 4 Racing from Newmarket, York and Ascot
Find jam pan, funnel and extra large wooden spoon!
Sun:
make blackcurrant jam

Toffee I'm so sorry to hear about the holiday refund (or lack of it). That's so disappointing, esp on top of loss of kitten ...hope things look up for you all soon ... and well done: re tidy house!

PA hope your ds's first day in his new job went well and that your dd3 arrived home safely OH and congrats on the little jobs btw, fingers crossed for the bigger one!

Feetheart glad to hear the penalty notice was sorted out favourably and hope the school disco goes well after all your strenuous efforts

Bitchy good for you re: emotional declutter (and Dr Brigitte would be very content if she knew her influence spread so far -I can see her now sitting in her office chair stroking a white cat and cackling-- )

Wow your kitchen sounds fab Asheth well done on all the hard work

Thanks for low carbing advice Swan - fortunately I love all those summer 3-beany salady dishes ... I'm afraid there are many more dishes I could add to the list of Belgian's finest but will be definitely eating my 'witloof' in salad form today!! Good luck with the moth extermination.

Respect to those of you who have energetic young boys - had two of them here yesterday afternoon (favour for a friend) and they were delightful - but much more energy-intensive than girls (imo)! But went to bed early last night and raring to go again now! Speaking of which ...had better get on.

Enjoy your sunny weekend everyone!!

x post

Waves to Ellie [proffers ice blocks]

Waves to everyone else!

Morning all, we're supposed together only 22 degrees today ( only! In Glasgow!) but the thermometer in the living room says 24.

Using this weather as a chance to wash my quilt, it's a feather and down king sized monstrosity (in winter it's my best friend) and takes days to dry properly. Will then stuff it into one of those lovely vacuum bags until the weather breaks.

I am also doing the pre-packing washing while warning Dd that she can only play in clothes she doesn't want to take with us. It's a few days to go but I think I'll get the case down today and start "hiding" some of her stuff in it.

Hope you all have restful Family Fun Days, Dd is coming to work with me again. I can't believe how much she enjoys it.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and good advice and yes, swan, it is a bit like a bad dream at the moment. I have checked every account I can think of to see if anything includes travel insurance, but haven't had any luck. I paid the deposit straight into the holiday flat owner's bank account as he didn't accept credit cards, so that isn't covered either.

DH and I went out to a friend's birthday party last night. It was lovely. I arrived feeling as if I was coming down with flu, and left feeling great again . The medicine I required was obviously good company and Pimms .

Today, DH and I are decluttering and making a trip to the dump, then I'm popping into the hairdresser's to have more highlights put in for free (as she didn't do enough last time).

PA - it is lovely to have you back on the thread. I'm glad some work is turning up for you already - and congratulations to your DS on becoming a pizza chef! (Can't believe he is so grown up!).

SC - sorry cardiologist was so tough on you. Are you going to try the PA Diet?

Feet - good news re the penalty notice!

Bitchy - hope your feeling of contentment is continuing today.

I feel like i have been beaten up with a large stick and have slept over 12 hours. not feeling so great and i think that burn out is the culprit so going to do as little as possible today and just rest. not so hard when all i have done this morning is sleep and i could happily sleep through the rest of it. But there is noisy DIY going on somewhere and it is a tad irratating and will put pay to more sleep.

cardiologist wouldn't be pleased to know that i still cheated on my diet twice though yesterday, i have a weakness for icecream in this heat but it is very much banned

Ta Dah
Living Room
Kitchen
Bthroom
Laundry

To Do
Massive amount of sugo in progress cos bought too many cherry toms and prices for Barilla have been mad lately. Sweating onions as I tupe. Am also sweating. Becuase am that attractive.

It's hot.
Too hot
Stinky humid hot
Am bitten by mossies
Currently not all that in love with La Dolche Vita
House stupid big
Don't want house
Want nice dark, damp, cool cave.
A very small one
That takes ten minutes to tidy/clean on a bad day.

fantastic Toffee that you got to the party.

done
stood my ground over dd and chores
went shopping with her (no success for party dress
drove ds1 to his performance
helped at school barbeque serving drinks
two loads of washing
cleaned alley a bit
and yesterday did about an hour of pruning/gardening

Ds1 sang in a performance at school. He sang a solo of Happy Ending by Mika, and a song from Matilda the Musical. He was drenched in sweat, it was a bit like that scene in Broadcast News where the hero gets flop sweat Very very hot today!!
Ds2 is still having screaming fits every so often (usually fighting with dd or ds1), but he has been alright and really enjoyed seeing his new school and the performance which included lots of Roald Dahl poems.
Breakfast felt very tense Dh does not like the heat. I can't bear sitting at the table with everyone getting cross with each other, so retreated to garden, but that made him crosser still! I can always tell the bad vibe which comes off him when I mote the possibility of helping at any communal event

Bought loads of lovely cakes for freezer from school cake stall! After telling everyone about my low carb diet. Still, just for holiday guests...

Have you all been out in the sunshine today (those of you in UK heatwave)? I hope so.

Did lots of decluttering this morning. Cleared stuff from the garden and managed to chuck out lots of old pans from my kitchen cupboard. It looks quite presentable now.

Going to the hairdresser and having a few extra highlights put in cheered me up. I wish I could just pop in for a hot chocolate and a quiet read of a magazine whenever family life got too much.

Taking DS2 to the beach first thing tomorrow, before it gets too hot. Hope you all have a lovely relaxing day.

carpe I have a happy memory of watching my friend's mum in Italian house, making jars and jars of tomato sauce with celery, carrot and onion and putting mixture through a mouli (old fashioned food mincer thingy). You have brought it back. She had a big wooden chest for groceries, I remember how odd that was. House is tremendously posh now and for rent, and none of us can afford to stay there anymore, including the owner! I liked it when it was just big and dilapidated and odd.

Well done to your DS1 on his performance.

feet I've always thought those penalty notices complete b**ks. It is so petty and bureaucratic, as if your child was a parking offence in the wrong place

.

Well, there's nothing like getting a phone call at 9.30pm from friends who have got stranded whilst travelling nearby and need a bed for the night to get all hand on deck with the tidying!

[swoons at thought of being near the sea in this weather] to Toffee

better go and lock various doors and windows now and try and find a cool [sea breeze

ooh, I love a friend turning up unexpectedly - far less stressful than oodles of preparations. Especially in the summer.

Goodnight all!

I've just pegged out a load of washing, it was lovely and cool out there.

I can't believe how much tidying we got done in half an hour. Admittedly I had done half an hour in our room earlier, but the landing and spare room were in total meltdown, luckily Dh had done a bit downstairs this afternoon while I took the DCs to the circus which is outside our house at the moment (it was like a sauna but very good). The friends are a colleague of DH's who I have known for years (we all used to work together) and his DP who I have only met briefly once before but seems very nice.

Well done on your speedy crisis clean, WhoKnows.

Goodnight all.

Bloody hell Whoknows.

I have been a little, err, impulsive. Not much flying done though. But i have had fun.

Up early. Can't sleep.

I am finding it pleasantly warm here over the past few day, while everyone else is melting.

DS has a second shift today. First shift went well, although he came out looking dead on his feet and absolutely knackered! Yesterday he was flopping around like a wet fish - welcome to the world of work, son!
One "incident" which certainly got the new boy noticed.... DS has always been very bad at the sight of blood. If it is someone else's blood he has about 1 second warning before he lands flat out on the floor. His own blood and it is instant, flat out! He managed to cut his finger while chopping something and next thing was staring upwards at all his new work colleagues looking concerned over him. Apparently there was blood "everywhere and LOADS of it" a tiny cut and a few drops, more like, but hey ho!! They all thought it was amusing - apart from DS who was mortified! He thinks they have called him back for a second shift for amusement value!

We are doing a presentation at a different church today about our work in Cambodia. A bit nervous, it is so not me to be in front of people talking like that.
Off to a good friends for a BBQ later this evening and a visit to DD3 this afternoon to meet her new puppy that she collected yesterday.

No to-do list from me. I plan on doing nothing very little flying today.

Have a good day everyone and enjoy the sun.

Joe is still in hospital so DH relieved me at lunchtime so that I could go to a wedding with DD. was a lovely afternoon but obviously no flying! I'm just taking it as a personal achievement that I didn't fall asleep on the m1.

Today will involve playing with DD until its time to take over from DH.

Joe should have been discharged yesterday but he's too poorly to come home yet so no idea how much longer this will last.

Poor Joe. Sorry to hear he's too poorly to come home yet, Trazzles. TGlad you managed some time out at the wedding.

PA - that's hilarious! Tell him Jamie Olivier cut the tip of his finger off once whilst demonstrating on telly - and carried on filming! Good luck with the presentation today.

Bitchy - that sounds good .

Went to bed too late. Why do I do this to myself? Up early to get ready for our trip to the beach (sorry, Swan). MIL is coming over to be here for DS1.

So, probably not a lot of Flying going on here today either.

Tglad? Glad, of course.

My washing is dry already, that's amazing.

PA - this heat must seem very cool to you. Too hot for me! (not right now, but later in the day). Well done to DS for getting a job so quickly, even if he had a first day trauma it sounds as though it's going well. Good luck with the presentation.

Toffee - I was sorry to read about your holiday woes, hope you have a lovely day at the beach today.

Swan - well done to DS1 performing in this heat.

Feet - well done for getting the fine revoked.

Trazzles - sorry to hear Joe is so poorly, thinking of you today. x

Bitchy - what are you like?

Overnight guests have disappeared (they were off to Goodwood for the Festival of Speed), need to pop the spare bed sheets in the WM. I'm just enjoying a few moments in a quiet, cool tidy house. Think I might go for a quick swim. Got to take DD shopping for bridesmaid shoes later (joy!).

We went to the circus yesterday (it is currently residing just outside our front door). It was like a sauna in there. The artistes were amazing, the skill and strength have to be seen to be believed.

Very quiet on here today. DS1 went off on a Beavers fun day and had a whale of a time. We had a nice quiet day at home with DS2.

One question though - if you were a 3yo boy, where would you hide the padlock to the bikie shed??!

Circus sounds good, WhoKnows.

Hope presentation went well, PA.

Trazzles, glad you were able to enjoy the wedding.