Remember, remember to Fly through November, but Fledglings will chatter a lot

[BlueEyeshadow]

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 SlimChance for leading us through October and such a copy-and-pasteable OP....

All welcome!!

Meant to ask Dizzy which David Walliams book is your dd reading? We have just finished Gangsta Granny and 3/4 of the way through The boy in the dress. Gangsta Granny had me sobbing at the end,.,

Ta-da!
Ridiculous amount of laundry
Reorganised one kitchen cupboard
Ate/chucked contents of some scarily elderly tins lurking at the back
Work
Aldi shopping
Planning day without water tomorrow
Cooked for today and tomorrow
DS1 to Beavers and back
Decluttered some of DH's totally disreputable clothes for Beavers to make Guys with
Cleaned kitchen
Find email address for County councillor

Angry - DS5?? Two are QUITE enough for me!

Alice - hope glasses etc got sorted out.

Hope dinner going/went well, PA.

Hope your boys are on the mend.

Back in a mo with the links.

Here are the links:

Babystep 8 is about the beginnings of a control journal.

Mission is to sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

Friday is the day to declutter your purse/handbag and car.

Glad your hair is fully restored to normal PA. I bought some spray starch last year to try and stiffen some snowflakes I had crocheted for the Christmas tree (it didn't work BTW but has been quite effective on DS's Cub neckerchief) and it is stashed in the same basket in my bedroom as my styling products (I iron in there) and I am very short-sighted. Hmm. Maybe I should move it.

Toffee - hope the DS's are on the mend tonight.

Blue - thanks for the links.

Well, did a partial home blessing today before I got so bored I turned my laptop on and did some work instead. Also faffed about with my OU work. Then took DD shopping and to Pizza Hut after school as we are still minus DS. Really looking forward to seeing him tomorrow, this week hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be, but still missing him.

Did today's baby step my clothes are ready for tomorrow

Very tired today but having to wait for the washing machine to end. Ds bought his dirty PE kit home today & told me they are having a house sport comp tomorrow so he has to go to school wearing it.

At least dd is staying out tonight so no leotards to wash.

Angry It's Gangsta Granny we are reading! (she got it for her birthday). I realised something was up when she was at the hospital, but DD and I too sobbed at the end :(

Trying to think what I did today!

Ta-Da

• Plaited some strips of fleece into (hopefully) a dog toy for Mum's guide dog puppy
• Washing load in and hung to dry
• Ironing mini mountain scaled
• Dry and ironed clothes & towels put away
• Tried to make ciabatta but it's ended up on the lawn for the magpies!
• Tea made
• D/W filled and turned on
• Washed pots and shined sink

Yeah. Dh mopped the floor before we went to bed last night. So mission already done and I am not out of bed yet!!

Grr. Got up super early after a bad night because the water company kindly informed us they'd be turning off our water at 7. It's still %&*%^ well on now!

Double grr. Forgot DS1's lunch box and will have to drop it off later.

And the cause of all the is the %(&^$ county council who are trying to force the school to become an academy.

Seeing as the water IS still on, I will try and take out all the rage on the kitchen floor.

Eh up everyone. Hope oldies, newbies and lurkers all doing OK.

Did 15 mins X 5 in my boudoir on Wed (yay!) but been up to my neck in editing work since so very grateful for fab round-up Blue. Hope water/school stresses sorted soon.

[Wish I could toss some of dh's disreputable clothes on a bonfire .. but he is ridiculously attached to the "jumper with the huge hole under one arm" and the "slippers that flap as he walks" and the "cords with worn knees that have to be held up with safety pins". Sigh.]

Lovely to have you back Picturesinthefirelight! (When dd used to do ballet [those were the days - blows nose in handkerchief] we tracked down some chemical free hair spray and gel. We've used it all up since so can't tell you the brand name but think Bitchy may have directed me to it (sorry, hideous memory).)

Hope you have a brilliant reunion with your ds today Whoknows and that he's had a splendid time.

Alice hope your ds2 OK!

Angrybuddha love the entry in your list about driving 3 miles to liberate a mouse...

Toffee and Dizzy glad we're not the only one to have experienced "Internet viewing problems"!!

Toffee sorry to hear ds1 and 2 under the weather.

Dizzy aw at your ma's guide dog puppy

We'll be back to you asking for mini-teen advice PA

Swan arf at forbidden croissant

Big waves to ¨Castle Ellie Nicknacks Goth Engels Mercury Honu Just Bitchy Feetheart Trazzles Saturn Stillwearingoddsocks Rummikub Owlface Petmyunicorn Witco Splatpancake and everyone else I've inevitably missed!

Had better get back to it ... .

ta da
laundry x3
sort and tidy ds' room except the lego which has just been collected together It is no longer a health hazard!
Sort and tidy pile of random stuff
Wash hair brushes
15mins in my room x 2
folding
internet stuff
put clothes away

Afternoon everyone! Posting from Blighty. DS is asleep (thank you lord!) And I am munching crumpets after spending an eyewatering amount at sainsbury's this morning. Going out for dinner wigh lovely friends tonight and Dsis is coming over to babysit.

Have a great weekend if I'm not back in.

Great to hear that you have managed to get away Engels you deserve a break! Have a lovely w/e and hope you and dh get to enjoy your child-free time x at Blighty shopping

DS is back, so pleased to see him. He more or less staggered off the coach he was so tired, one of the teachers said he had been great and coped really well and could she take him home with her? Phew. So, he's ensconced on the sofa with the telly on, his DS in one hand, comic in the other and will probably stay there till bed time.

Engels - sounds as though you are having a lovely break, hot crumpets are just the thing on a day like this.

Hi all. Had so many errands and school meetings and general things to do today that I really didn't get much of anything done at home. Mainly because I was out almost all day getting everything done!!

Now I'm sitting down and putting my feet up and resting. I don't want to wear myself out before the weekend even begins!!

Engels Have a good time this evening! Sadly, it doesn't take that many groceries to spend an eye-watering amount anymore, does it? Every time I do the shopping I see another price that's been marked up.

Didn't do much today, but did my first home blessing!! Which was bloody hard work!!

Now enjoying glass of wine while watching Lego Batman with my DSs.

Did you manage to get the home blessing done in one hour, Alice? I never do.

Ta da :

Swished and swiped in bathroom
Early dr's appointment with DS2 about his eating
Picked up key for party (nobody there so no key - argh!)
Cajoled DS1 into having some b/fast
Got DS2 to school
To work with DH
Shopping
Picked up key for party
Home for lunch
School run
Nap
Dinner
Persuaded DS2 to try a bite of apple and satsuma
Delegated bedtimes to DH
Baked birthday cake for DS2's party on Sunday

Struggled through today because I didn't have enough sleep last night, thanks to staying up late printing out stuff for DS2's Minecraft party. I never learn.

Ds2 is much better; DS1 is still very little, pathetic and polite in the way children are when they're ill. He can't speak because his throat is so sore, poor thing. No more sickness though.

WhoKnows - so glad that your DS is home and that he had a good time. I remember how exhausted DS1 was when he came home from his one and only school trip. Have never seen him so tired.

to everyone else

Toffee - he's still up and wandering around saying how tired he is. Think he's in "brain racing at 100mph but body tired out" mode. I get like that quite often.

Glad your two are on the mend BTW.

So glad he's back safe and sound Whoknows and was obviously a star throughout!

Restorative for Toffee

Weary wing flaps to everyone!

Thanks SC. Unfortunately, school stress unlikely to go away any time soon. All very depressing and appalling. Getting involved with the campaign as far as I can.

Went out shopping to try and forget it all for a bit and then spent hours in a meeting about it which then overran and put us all behind for the evening.

Will do the links after QI because my phone doesn't like them.

to Blue and anyone else in need ...

I'm feeling very nostalgic tonight because I'm currently labelling and pricing a load of old maternity, baby and infant clothes and equipment for a sale tomorrow (trying to raise some readies!). [Second lot I am getting rid of.] Feeling a bit although dh says I am being ridiculous of course ... know I won't ever need them again ... they just bring back such lovely memories of when dd was small and pink and couldnt answer back or reconfigure my computer without permission.

Cheers, SC!

Glad DS had a good time WhoKnows - sympathies with the racing brain, am like that myself at the moment.

Toffee - glad your boys are improving. Our DS2 has a horrid cough and sore throat at the moment too, but it's making him whiny and cheeky rather than more polite.

Well done on the house bleugh Angry

Alice - hope you've managed to enjoy a restful evening.

Engels - hope you've had a great evening too and enjoy the weekend.

Big waves to everyone else.

*
No missions at the weekend.

Babystep 9 is about decluttering and 5-minute room rescues.

Night all!

Blue I have, actually. I made an easy tea for the DCs and am watching a bit of television. I did manage to get two loads of laundry done, and the washing up, but that wasn't too taxing.

Managed a mini Ta Da today

• Parcel to Mum taken to PO
• Debated with myself about whether I have enough time to make DS a quilt for C Day that is made up of 1600 squares (Jury is still out!)
• Popped to shops to get bread and milk etc
• To school early for Star Assembly
• Tea prepared
• DD to swimming club
• Tea cooked
• D/W emptied
• Pots washed and sink shined

I found a pair of DH's cufflinks he had worn to work on top of the chest of drawers. I asked him why he hadn't moved them 6" and put them into the box they are kept in and he just laughed! He is always doing things like this (tonight cleared the table but left the dishes on the side as the DW needed emptying! Taking his empty beer cans into the utikity romm but not putting them in the recycling bi

Oops! Posted too early

I just don't understand what prevents him from just makng a tiny bit more effort! [annoyed emoticon] I don't expect miracles but a little effort would be nice!