Is it October already the fledglings utter? We'll Fly with our broom sticks and start to declutter...

[Slimchance]

If you are strugging with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (something that undermines family fun) then this is the thread where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of chat, support and and along the way.

This little-and-often system is designed so that you can follow a series of steps and routines each day (which gradually become second nature) in zones of the house which are designated weekly; defining and minimising housework - which in theory should leave you with loads more time to do someting more interesting instead!

At the same time it is intended to reduce that panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. No problem if you miss a day or two; just jump right back in and it will all come around next month again!

We advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be inundated! All the information you need will be linked here on a daily basis.

From the first of the month, we will be 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.]

More info here on getting started and Flying lessons. Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings. Don't be put off by the barf-tastic language of the site - the underlying system is sound!

Humungous thanks to Whoknows for leading us through the tricky start to the academic year ....

All welcome!!

Hmm a drsreallyintment is a drs appointment!

good morning!! It's SO beautiful today (but cold) I have had to find a coat -weird!!!Still, I bloody LOVE autumn! I even had porridge for breakfast, and this was before I heard that it was National Porridge day (apparently!) Get me, being on-trend with my breakfast choice!!!

Done so far -
Cooked brekkie for all (And porridge for me) as it's a cold morning
(DH even washed up pans with his one good arm - (the other one is broken but he's coping like a trooper!)
beds made and people out on time.

To do:
Sort toys for a toy sale
filing (to stop the cat from sleeping on top of it all in the kitchen)
assemble beef cobbler for tomorrow's dinner (trying an MN recipe)
hoover

Have a sunny day x

Oh thank god we have mn back!

right I suppose i should have a list. I cba with a list. I don't have many errands to do, just the one which is post a parcel. but other then that today is paperwork on the pooter. if i ever get off mn and fb important conversations, really

Ooh Jdub DS was right on trend with his breakfast too, my leftover pizza breakfast not so much!

Beautiful day here too, could have done with sunglasses on school run.

Done
Morning routines
Dd to school
Bought more icing sugar
Stocked up freezer
Hung washing out - lovely day and I can find anything else to wash (that really needs it)
Litter tray
Emptied bin &recycling
Scraped windows

To do
Ice witch & bat biscuits
Attempt to decorate DD's cake
Dust living room
Vacuum
Wipe down kitchen cabinets
Mop kitchen & bathroom floors
Collect DD
Meet parents at train station

I have a mountain load of washing that you can do for me if you like goth

Right i am generating even more paperwork to do. nature of the task I am feeling really cold. which i guess is the joys of sitting still for hours on end working on a computer.

Good afternoon! (well, it is here!)

Thanks for the explanation Whoknows and aw at your furries. I am not entirely sure that I want to know what a penis beaker is ... .

I'm sat here Mmsnetting doing paperwork too Bitchy

Blimey Goth you could open a patisserie at this rate! Top marks for dust-free bookshelves!

Absolutely glorious autumnal day here today too Jdub!

Don't worry MrsFHTC we all come and go whenever rl gets in the way!

It's amazing what a good night's sleep can do Toffee so glad you and ds2 are feeling better. And yay for kungo fu for ds1! I hope the school appointment went well/is going well this morning.

That looks like a substantial enough list to me Dizzy!

Hope you are having a good day at work Engels

Waves to Blue and everyone else ...

I am still cross with dh. We were meant to have a meeting right now and he has just come in and told me he has a meeting with someone else and er, left .

Did most of my errands yesterday so shuffling between boudoir and home office trying to improve both today while doing a bit of baking/cooking and name-tape sewing on hats, gloves and scarves at same time. Same old, same old.

BBL

All four of us on trend with Porridge Day too :) DS and I have been having it for a few weeks but DD and DH have just joined in too - such a trendy family...NOT!

Swan - not me in Croydon, I'm in the town with the airport made famous by Lorraine Chase a long time ago. That should both date me and out me :o

Definitely Autumn here today - bright and cold and v windy. Have had to chase various contents from our skip down the road already
Building work down to the last final touches - skirting, doors hung, shower and toilet plumbed in, etc should all be done by next week. Can actually see the light at the end of the tunnel and am LOVING our new hallway now the laminate has gone down, it just looks so BIG. We do need to finish painting the stairs and landing (and glossing a lot of woodwork) and get someone in to give us an idea about what to do with the bannisters - at the moment it is nice 1960s hardboard which I want gone. But it is nearly there and feels like a different house. This is very good for me as it is DH's childhood home and has never really felt like mine inspite of living here for 11 years and giving birthday DS in the living room. Now it is starting to :)

Finished high school open evenings last night and DD has made her choice. DH and I are in agreement with her, we just have to fill in the form and keep fingers crossed until March as we are out of catchment for her first and second choices - by about 100m for her first choice

For today:

• All up and out - done
• S&S
• Report written and sent - done
• Coffee cake iced - done
• Coffee cake tested - done :)
• Prep chicken for tonight
• Into town for wellies for DD for Guides tonight!
• Buy water proofs for DS for Scout Assoc District Adventure Day on Sunday
• Thursday afternoon cakes bought
• Pick up DC, walk to diving eating cakes
• Dinner
• DD to Guides (with wellies)
• Admire hallway :)

Not much Flying

birthday giving birth

birth to

I give up! Hopefully buying wellies will be simpler.

So sorry! I tried and tried to post again yesterday but it was down and not accosting my message.

I'm fine thanks, the reaction was nothing really. Just some steri strips and plasters have left me blistered and a bit sore. I'll know girl the future.

Also have a bloke keep messaging me on Facebook. :( I knew him as a teenager from our local pub and I know he had a crush on me but it's 15 years later. Have told dh and he agreed with me just to ignore which I have done but guilt makes me feel I'm being a horrible person.

Sil has had a bleed and another scan but little one has a lovely strong heartbeat and no reason for the bleeding found.

Very excited for hols in just over a week- have started writing lists!!! :)

am chortling over the posts this morning - love the "strategically placed goats and shrubs" SC almost as good as No-One Expects the Spanish Inquistition phrase - I have never imagined a strategically positioned goat before
Btw a dear aunt of mine(who died about ten years ago) once told me that the Garden of Eden had been destroyed by goats...they found archaelogical evidence of this in the layers of organic matter that built up. First layer was amazing variety of foliage, next layer was goat bones and so on..

Dd is at home still, which means Dh in between doing business deals has decided to watch a nice afternoon film with her. I've
done
coffee with friends
taken out rubbish
wiped table
loaded dw
washing in
washing upstairs

but otherwise nothing...I'm feeling suddenly sore throaty and ill, and have given up so I can get through the worst part of this afternoon 4-9 pm without faltering. Lying down now.

Had a good meeting with SEN dept and Dh yesterday at school. Nice sensible man who uses no jargon. Hope the homework setup improves. They are now emailing me list of homework in plain English every eve which is a simple solution to illegibility in diary etc. Ds2 is still screaming a lot though when upset. Art was his undoing again yesterday. Shade in five tones? Dh helped in the end.

SC she was probably arguing for sake of it, but has taken in what you said, frustrating though it seems to debate it. Dd told me this morning that her friends like swearing at each other - I launched into mini-tirade before I realised that my kneejerk reaction was a misjudged, as she was trying to share something with me.. It is hard isn't it not to jump to conclusions about the information they impart?

Shade in 5 tones just means doing shading in 5 different levels from very light to very dark and bits and bobs in between. iyswim.

I am currently arguing with my computer as it won't do a simple task. My brain is hurting and there is a whole heap of stuff going on in it. Need to get this all sorted tbh but...

I am supposed to be going out tonight which is a pain in the ass, especially as stuff that i thought was sorted appears to not be.

Otoh only one load before I have completely converted mount washmore into mount foldandironmore.

Swan well that explains the goat then

Think you will find all the exercises that your ds2 is doing in here - it is the best book! Might be £8 well spent if you are able to anticipate the next "horror" as it were.

Glad to hear the meeting went well and hope sore throat doesn't develop in to something worse.

And yes, you are right about dd. I need to improve my "just sitting back and listening skills". She is so quick to take offense and becomes defensive so easily (partly I think because the school teaches in such a "there is one way, and one way only to do things" sort of way and she is always living in terror of making a mistake) that she is quite difficult to help. Am constantly walking on egg shells. But then I get impatient and make it far worse .

Good going with the washing Bitchy. Having paper/admin hassles here too if it's any consolation. All terribly slow going [sigh].

Nicknacks good to hear all is well with sil and mini-bump and that you are OK too! Sorry to hear about unsuitable suitor!

You gave birth to your ds in the sitting room Feetheart? Wow! Was that a deliberate home birth or a happy accident? Sounds as if the renovatons are coming along wonderfully. Especially great that it feels like a difference house, so important to be able to make your home your own.

Feetheart gah - a 'different' home!

and good luck with school catchment situation for your dd!

Nicknacks I had several bleeds when I was expecting DS1, all unexplained and nothing bad came of them - he ended up being a week overdue.

Slimchance Where do you live? "Training" sounds like my DS2's idea of hell, but would probably be my DS1's idea of heaven!

Jdub we had porridge for breakfast too, despite having no idea that it was Porridge Day! I usually have porridge for breakfast, with honey and raspberries.

I have been doing housework as a distraction activity from the fact that I have a job interview on Monday that I am trying not to worry about. My house has never looked so good

Ta Da
Washing
Tumble drying (raining on and off here)
Ironing
Washed dishes
Tidied up
Cleaned patio doors I hate sticky fingers
Kitchen surfaces cleaned
Cleaned bathroom and downstairs toilet
Hoovered living room

To Do
Put washing away
Pick DS1 and DS2 up from rugby training
Pick DD up from hockey training
Cook dinner
Take DS1 to football training (DH will probably actually do this)

ta da
try to do computer based paperwork
generate 20x more to do
swear at computer that won't do as told
have a cull of old emails
several loads of washing
upset a load of people
get fed up with a whole heap of stuff that is supposed to be sorted but isn't
epic parenting fail moment with ds
Have plans for this evening fall apart due to epic fail of communication
try to figure out how to work the evening's plans instead
drink yet more coffee and try to figure out what to do for tea
try to convince ds that he needs to tidy the lounge floor
threaten black bin bag treatment for anything he doesn't tidy up
discover second parenting fail and that ds was right about the contents of his lunch box.
decide to go sulk in the shower.

Everything is done that can be done...off to collect DPs and start DDs birthday/week.

Will try to keep up with thread.

For one moment there goth i thought Dp meant dear partner. I nearly asked how many dps one girl needed?

Off home & impressed by all the ta-dahs below..,I'm failing 2 flutter yet alone fly this week.

Fridays are my day 'off' so may raise off the ground tomorrow.

When are we doing studies & kid's room? Itching 2 sort those out...

Big to do tonight is to - ahem - DTD ... No passion when you're TTC

Thank you Jemima :) Unfortunately DSIL has had 2 miscarriages already this year so I think she presumed this one was heDing the same way when she saw the blood. Happy to say it's so far different this time.

Bitchy one is more than enough.

Just relaxing now parents are actually here (and seen a clean & tidy-ish flat) They are staying at the local hotel, which is 7 doors down from us, that way we're not on an air bed (we did offer) and it gives them their own space in the evening.

Dd incredibly overexcited but have got her to bed, god knows what time she'll be awake in the morning.

Looks like we've got good weather and a fun filled week ahead!

Hmm, thought I posted earlier, but apparently not. My phone seems to really dislike MN and does weird things when I try to post from it.

SC - assuming you've caught up with PB-gate by now, but if not, check out the front page...

Jemima - house always used to look good when I had exams too. Deadlines now seem to have the opposite effect though.

Going - glad you can relax now. of good weather though - sitting here with rain lashing against the windows. Although about half of today has been fine. It's just been 5 minute bursts of sunshine then really heavy showers.

Did manage the mission and to sort out some laundry but that's the extent of flying for today. Having been watching that Trust Me I'm a Doctor thing earlier, I'm intending to try and get to bed at a decent time for a change. See if they can convince me where the Fat Fairy failed.

Big waves to all. Night!

Just popping in quickly...

Visit to pupil referral unit went ok, if only to convince DS1 that he wants to go back to proper school.

Have come to bed early as am still feeling grotty with this cold. Am so fed up with it. A glass of chilled white wine is helping .

Night all.

Sorry, very late with these tonight/this morning, out at concert, followed by long discussion about house with dh, after which he went straight to sleep and my brain is still racing.

Heavens, where did the week go?

Today's baby-step, no. 11, for 11th Oct is writing down inspirational phrases meh - can't be bothered with it personally.

This is our last day in Zone 2: the kitchen. Spend 15 mins decluttering here!

Once your kitchen is totally clutter-free, you can go on to detailed cleaning.

The last mission of the week is sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor.

Friday is the day we declutter our cars and handbags and purses.

The habit for October is getting rid of paper clutter .

Today's flight plan flight plan is here.

*

Glad the meeting went well Toffee but sorry you are still feeling rotten. If it's the same thing I had, I'm afraid it lingers rather.

Goth hope you have a great time with your parents and that your dd has loads of fun!

Stillwearing funnily enough, on Mon of next week we start in Zone 3, which is the bathroom + one other room of your choice. But you can adapt the system to suit the configuration of your own indiv house.

Bitchy you have been very hard on yourself with that list. I can't count the number of epic parenting fails I have had with dd this week. At least you have a ta da list which is more than I managed.

Am in Bxls, Belgium Jemima! Arf at the power of displacement activity!

Oh dear Blue I'm assuming that it's really bad for one's health to consistently stay up late

[Sends big waves to anyone who is lurking or anyone I've missed and takes a flying leap in to bed]