August is when the fledglings party, and perhaps do a bit of flying, maybe.

[BitchytheGreat]

Roll up, roll up to this special birthday month for the fledglings...

We are going to attempt to keep the dc happy, whilst flying. No mean feat in the month of holidays and adventures.

Rule 1. yes even in a birthday month we have rules
It is not about perfection. A little is enough, no really.
Rule 2.
You are aloud to spend time doing fun things, don't regret them or feel guilty.
Rule 3. This one is a fat fairy rule.
you are never behind, jump in where you are

So newbies if you are reading this you are probably thinking wtf?! This is a wonderful system designed by the fly lady. in days gone olde one fledgling had a dream about the fly lady in which she was a fat fairy, thus the thread nickname fat fairy was born. Just so we don't confuse you like
Anyhows, this month it is Bitchy's turn to lead, and perhaps this should come with a warning. She has her own unique style of leading but don't let that scare you off, the fledglings are luffsly and generally far more sane then the bitchy one just be aware of bitchy's special brew. Terribly high in caffine and can sometimes be found in the naughty corner. Which reminds me, the naughty corner if for those who are struggling for whatever reason or those just in need of a stiff drink.

So this flying thing. It has three stages:
stage one: the babysteps. these build a routine. some of them are contriversial, and some a little wishy washy seem a little less significant. But most are really good.
Stage two: babysteps and missions one the routines are in place the missions are designed to help you tackle tasks room by room. These room by room approach is helpfully referred to as zones.
stage three: the mythical deep cleaning stage yeah lets just ignore that, none of us have got to the point where we have not only decluttered but got in control of the chaos

Oh yeah CHAOS - what the fat fairy calls "Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome"

That clear as mud? good. Let's Begin....

Hello... Can I jump in?? Not sure I'll get much 'flying' done as DCs need entertaining (5 and only-just-4) but I'd like to try, again, to get a bit more order and control....

Today my parents have DCs so I can finish decorating DD's room (I see a theme here!). They'll be back this evening so I'd better get a move on. The lovely cleaners coming this afternoon so that's a good start.

Today's to-do:

Sort out bank balance (OD - need to do transfers)
Pay nursery balance
Pay fine for going in a box (don't remember at all and am surprised as am v careful normally )
Do food shopping
Finish painting
Change DCs bedding
Meal plan
Invite DD's friends/plan play dates!
Finalise holiday plans...
Tidy playroom
Oh, and shine sink?

Ta-dahs
Um - put bread ingredients in breadmaker... Not v impressive!

Ive just been reading through the flight plan for today and dp did todays mission on Sunday - so that is one less thing for me to do today

Welcome Beginner. I think that making your own bread is enough to be proud of!

Okay, I have almost finished the bedroom. The amount of dust under the bed was scary. I haven't been properly decluttering - too overwhelming right now - but am hoping that once everything is a bit more in order I will be able to steel myself. Though having said that I do have a rubbish bag and a donation bag for clohtes with some stuff in.

Am also hoping that since DH will get 3 whole days to himself in the house this weekend (I'm taking DS to UK to visit my family for a long weekend and DH has used most of his holiday - saving rest for Christmas and a long weekend later in the year) the tidyish house will spur him into action an encourage him to declutter his own clothes and all the tardis-like cupboards that have been full of his rubbish since I moved in 6 years ago.

Question to you all - what do you do with old receipts? Obviously we keep receipts for big items but what about thyings like clothes, books, hotel stays? How long do you keep stuff for if you keep it at all? I'm drowning in little bits of paper!

Going to dust off the Christmas control journal - found my wrapping paper under the bed and was inspired by the Christmas bargain thread to start cracking!

I'm confused by FL's website. It says the zone is the Master bedroom but all the missions are for the kitchen!

Okay, the bedroom is done, windows and all apart from the neat piles of things on the bed looking for a home

Time to move rooms!

Just so you know I am not responsible for any confusion as a direct result of the fly lady site. I just sometimes when i remember cos i am crap post the links. Just saying like.

FLying is not going to happen. But there is other stuff to be done.

For those struggling with the balance between life and housework: This month is really tough. And tbh you need to focus on the kids more then the house work during the day. You need to be flexible and lower your expectations about what you can achieve.

This week whilst ds is here I expect to:
put furniture back in lounge
finish far end of lounge
tackle the washing and get that away
pack ds' stuff for going away

That is it. for an entire week. Flying other then that isn't really going to happen. And I am going to enjoy my time with ds as much as possible.

next week is a whole another ball game and being child free i will be back to scary lists again. But I don't feel bad because i am realistic about the achievable. It really does help. Anything is better then nothing and you will find you will do little bits of flying here and there even with the kids under foot (eg laundry, hoovering, etc) just because they are still needed. Detailed cleaning imo is to be avoided and tbh if you don't get time for the missions so what they will come around again. Do them next time. Just don't beat yourself up about not achieving stuff. Life is too short and there is life away from housework.

Wise words, bitchy.

Basic morning routine done. Washing on. Also, I have cleared out some kitchen cupboards and put the online shopping away. About to take the boys out to the playground, then it's lunchtime.

Looking forward to going out for dinner with DH tonight, as it's our anniversary (and am not saying how many years 'cos it dates me ).

Def a fat fairy fail bitchy

Okay, bedroom and bathroom done (haven't cleaned bathroom - just s&s but reorganised cupboards so I know what I have).

Now downstairs working on the living room, one shelf at a time!

Looks like car situation is on the way to being resolved! Not quite sorted yet, but still.

Hope you enjoy your anniversary dinner Toffee

Happy wedding anniversary to you and your dh Toffee! (Somehow managed to miss your New Year antics so very entertaining to be able to re-live them now

Engels Flylady is drunk too Just kidding! That glitch in the system reoccurs every so often. Think you will find kitchen zone and missions are now re-aligned. Well done for conquering the bedroom! Will enquire about receipts ...

A warm welcome to Beginner! And best of luck to you and Ellie with your speed-decorating challenges! (Like one of those makeover shows on the telly!)

Arf at "contraception personified" Ellie!

Hope you are ok Zing

Mercury Sympathies over holiday weight gain. I put weight back on last week. No wonder because I ate the wrong things and didn't exercise so don't know what I was expecting. Just thoroughly fed up with myself. Well done to your dp re: baby-steps.

Jess I think holidays are hard because they are so structureless (which has its lovely aspects of course) but difficult when you are trying to keep things from going completely downhill and having to keep dc happy. It can really get you down when you feel torn between the two. I think what Bitchy says is right. Lower your standards. Prioritise dc and having fun! Take the pressue off yourself. Give yourself a very realistic and achievable structure and put a bit of basic ring-fencing in place which gives you the serenity of not feeling torn and knowing what you are going to do in the house and when, and what you are going to do with dc and when, ie basic routines every day plus 15 mins or 30 mins of other stuff a day. Or maybe focus on one room per week. Same with dc - one major day-trip out a week (museum, or zoo but doesn't have to be expensive ie riding around on tram/metro/treasure hunt in park) then one major creative project a week (or baking or something), one or two play dates a week, the rest of time just 45 mins or one hour's full attention/play per day and/or time outside, but then give them the resources to let them get on with something themselves allowing you to get on with chores. ANd don't forget to build in time for yourself. It is your holiday too!!!

Of course I have completely failed to follow the above advice this week. Instead of giving myself permission to profit from having an empty house (first time in a month) while dd is out riding, I got carried away and set myself the most ludicrous and unachievable set of objectives for decluttering kitchen, boudoir and home office. I've done some but of course I feel resentful and unmotivated now and have resorted to biscuits. So much better if I'd "officially allowed" two days for myself, three days on house. Probalby would have been much more productive ! Should know better by now too!

So Bitchy don't repeat my mistake - don't forget to build time in for yourself next week while ds is away!! You are allowed! (No rush for educational sites btw - but whenever you have a mo is good)

Sorry about family ructions PA. Hope your dd1 enjoys her day! My sister served the Duke of Edinburgh once (her students were doing the catering). They were in a marquee in the summer with huge pyramids of strawberries on stands. 5 mins before Duke's arrival everyone was standing to attention when one of the students snaffled a strawberry and discovered that they had all been dusted with salt, not sugar. Cue mahoosive kerfuffle and chains of buckets and strawberries going back to the kitchen to be washed and sugared and re-arranged while someone kept the Duke talking out back.

Blue good luck with travel plans - hope it works out

Trazzles am v. impressed!! A nd it's back to the encyclopedia for me because I knew they spoke Portuguese in Brazil but not that it was different from Portuguese in Portugal, and I told dd that Swahili was spoken in Rwanda (she has Rwandan class mate which is why she is interested) so I've obviously mis-led her there!! Have never heard of Kinyarwanda Sorry about Eurolines - I had some pretty good experiences with them - admittedly a while back now.

Right, I must get on. I am spending far too much time on the Internet at the moment. May impose on myself a couple of days absence ...

Meant to wave to Castle Thinking of you x

Big wing flaps to eveyrone else too!

Well, I thought I'd caught up with the thread yesterday, but you lot are being very chatty!

Finished the unpacking yesterday, plus another 5 loads of washing, most of which has been put away. Did quite a bit of general tidying while I was at it, including clear out medicine box (our holiday was on board a cruise ship, so I stocked up on seasick tablets, Imodium, dioralyte etc and mercifully didn't need any of it, but there was no room to put it all away). DCs have been despatched to my parents for a couple of days now, but I am working, so need to fit in a bit of Flying (upstairs looks like a bomb has hit it) and catch upw tith quite a lot of paperwork. Engels - I only keep receipts for small stuff (books etc) till the next time I do my filing, which is about 3x a year .

Exciting news here! I have finally (after 4 years) come to the top of the allotment waiting list! Haven't seen the plot yet, so not committed to it and am a bit nervous about the commitment of time, but very excited by it.

Castle - so sorry to hear about your father . We're hear if you want to talk.

SC - how's DH now?

Honu - sorry your DH is not so well.

Blue - hope the repeat trip to France goes smoothly for DH

PA - ooh, hobnobbing with Royalty! Good for DD1. Sorry DS's job hasn't gone so well. Grrr to your Dad. My DM is a bit of a one for that sort of thing, luckily we live 15 miles apart so our social circles don't overlap too much.

Toffee - Happy Anniversary, were you a child bride?

Ellie - good luck with the decorating

Bitchy - thank you for running the thread this month in your own inimitable style. I spotted another Bitchy nn out there the other day but pretty sure it wasn't you.

Welcome to Saturn and anyone else new to the thread. I think I have seen some of you around before?

Question - when is the thread birthday party? Is it 4 years now?

really? oh hell. that could make things interesting

WhoKnows - arf at child bride comment! Sadly not, as all the make up I'm about to plaster on my rapidly ageing face will testify .

Don't know when I'll be back, as I'm going out for the day with DS2 and friends tomorrow. Happy Flying everyone!

Offs toffee pimms is clearly not strong enough!!!

I dunno, Bitchy - depends how you make it!

WhoKnows - travel plans are coming on and I'm going to be able to tag along after all. DH was pulling his hair out just now as it's ending up costing more again due to the stupidity of various online booking systems crashing, helplines being based in India, etc etc. But we WILL do it. And it will be nice. I'm determined of that.

if there is anything more then a few ice cubes in my spirits tonight that will be too weak today. Strong stuff definitely needed!

C.b.a Sorry

wednesday is antiprocrastination day Find that motivation pronto or the fat fairy might go all miltant on your asses again still slightly traumatised by miltant fat fairy on shoes issue

babystep 7

missions

I'm another one finding it hard to do much flying with the DC off school and needing to be entertained! So I try to every day do some washing - that one is pretty essential, otherwise we'd end up naked/filthy in no time! Next if i have time I do 15 mins decluttering/tidying and get the DC to do the same in their rooms. On the slightly less hectic days I clean the bathroom and/or the kitchen. Only on the rainy days/DC occupied without me days do I attempt more than that. It seems to work ok. If I'm busy with the DC out of the house then I don't get much flying done, but then neither can they mess up the house! The rainy days result in more flying but also more chaos.

Hope everyone else is having a good summer. The sun was back with us today so definitly no guilt in going out!

I fucking hate decorating. Every fucking muscle in my body aches but...... have stripped wallpaper, painted and glossed all walls, ceilings and woodwork. All that's left to do is paper 1 wall and mil is doing that on thursday as i'm shit at it. Carpet fitted on thurs aft and job done.

Happy Anniversary toffee.

Big waves to everyone else as am posting in bed and my eyes are flickering.

Thanks for all the lovely, kind thoughts ladies.
Happy anniversary Toffee!
I decluttered and scrubbed a cupboard today for Mum, but my sister gets the flying prize- she spent the day in the utility room, washing the walls and cupboards and decluttering!

Evening ladies. I survived the hell that is school shoe shopping. Dd was a nightmare to find shoes for and ds hates shopping so it wasn't the most pleasant afternoon, but at least it is over for another year.

I had a reasonably productive day and completed everything on my list except writing a uniform list.

Ellie I know it has been hard work but I am sure dd will be pleased with her newly decorated room.

Plan for tomorrow:
Make beds
Swish and swipe
Dw
Wm
Ironing
Mission
Hoover throughout
15m declutter cupboards
2m hot spot - not sure where yet
Clean out gp - anti procrastination
Visit grandparents to borrow book for literacy assignment
Hopefully take kids out to the park and burn off some energy.
Write uniform list

Night all.

Morning. Another busy day today so going to post a list.

Shop to pick up wallpaper
Different shop to pick up uniform
Different shop for food
Washing x lots
Drying x lots
Putting away x lots
Iron dd's new curtains
Hoover downstairs
Clean bathroom
Tidy/find floor in our room
Change our bed
Ring sky
Pay bill
Tidy ds's room
Put up new shoe/coat rack in hallway
Unpack from the weekend
Dinner
Swimming lessons
Gym (possibly)
Catch up on Masterchef
Wipe down kitchen cupboards
Wipe down hallway woodwork
Gather dd's stuff together ready to put back in her room
Ring carpet shop to check fitting time.
Get dressed.

That should do. That's almost a bitchy list.

Only done one thing on the list but just to say I never realised BT were such a bunch of robbing bastards. Have merrily been handing them 67 a month for broadband and phone for god knows how long and have just spoken to sky and they can do the same package for 18 a month. Can't decide if I feel happy because I've got myself a saving of 40 a month or a twat because i've been paying it for so long without being arsed to price compare. Am going with twat for the time being.

Morning. Good luck with your list Ellie and well done for getting all the painting done yesterday! It will all look wonderful on Thurs eve!

And good luck with yours Mercury! Still have to face school shoe shop next week (not lookign forward to it!) Well done for being so efficient!

Thanks for links ¨Bitchy

Sounds as though you are really on top of things Asheth!

Great you can go after all Blue!

Have a great day Toffee!

Enjoy your child-free time Whoknows Dh is well so far thanks, esp considering what he has been through. He is tired but back at work for a few hours a day, and taking things very steady until we see consultant next week. Hospital have sent DVD of his innards to take with us and dd keeps playing it for her friends!

Glad you have the support of your sister Castle You are all doing a great job of rallying around your mum x

Limiting myself to 10 mins on here today so had better be quick! Just getting house organised as dd is having friend to sleep over tonight. Have been busy bee this morning.

Ta da:
morning routine inc s&s, rabbits, wm, and dw
cleaned kitchen
hoovered hall
cleaned downstairs lav
tidied sitting room
carried boxes upstairs
put away dried washing
cleared dining room table hotspot
hoovered sitting room and play room and wafted a duster about

[Having a pause now: am hot and bright red in face (it is raining but v humid here]

To do:
(while waiting for on-line grocery order)
try and find whereabouts on Amazon UK site one can complain about a faulty product - - can't find right on-line "form" to report delivery of faulty goods
boudoir sort for at least 30 mins
tidy dd's room (it's not too bad thankfully)
hoover and dust dd's room
make up spare bed for sleepover
clean bathroom
make up bed in roof for dh so he can escape tonight and not be disturbed
More laundry
Then: out to buy chicken, some fresh fruit and something for girls' packed lunches tomorrow
Make pancake batter (for girls' return from riding)
Prep supper (chicken and chips)
Masterchef
Evening routine
Early bed (hopefully!)