December already! Fledgings will sleigh the pre-Christmas clutter (and eat all the mince pies)

[GoingGoingGoth]

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 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!

Thanks to BlueEyeshadow and SlimChance for the November thread.

All welcome!! And remember that December is the new January!

Just popping by to wish you all good luck, peace and happiness for the next week or so! Hope you have lovely Christmases .

I've been a useless fledgling again thus month.

Oh well, as they say around here: "January is the new January!"

Merry Christmas everyone!

Rofl. castle Hope you have a lovely christmas too.

Blanketgate is progressing slowly. very slowly. way too slowly. But have antibiotics and a tv so hopefully more will be done tomo. 6 days til christmas and i begin to see, I'm trying to do to much for me...

WhoKnows no problem with mint choc in this house, now chocolate orange.... Work of the devil (IMO)

at the jokes Angry, will sneak them into DD's lunchbox this week.

Castle you beat me to it!

Speaking of January, we're going to need a volunteer Any takers? ....tumbleweed......

Oh dear lord the January thread. The thread where people get good intentions and we endup with 1001 newbies. better make it someone with strong constitution and will added craziness. I'll volunteer. start the year as we mean to go on. Full of crazy and insanity

Wooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

yep that one

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

never. happened. Just saying.

Lol! Bitchy either you have had too much caffeine or been mixing your meds! hope you are feeling better.

To do
Get out of bed (always a good start).
Tidy kitchen
2x packed lunches (the rest are having psychology Christmas Dinner)
Doctors appointment

love autocorrect!! school Christmas dinner, though I am sure a psychology one would be entertaining!!!

Merry - am trying to imagine a psychology Christmas dinner .

DS1 is off school again. He is convinced he's sick and is now sleeping. I so wanted him to do a whole week, but now I just hope he can get in for the last day tomorrow.

My laid-back attitude to Christmas this year means that I have done absolutely nothing to prepare the house for next week. Seeing the thread on the pre-Christmas clean and realising I only have five days before my mother arrives has panicked me a bit. Well, ok, quite a lot. So, today I am tackling the house, starting in the kitchen. Expect Bitchy-style lists.

Go Toffee GO... Cheering you along.

Leaves a strong on the counter!!

Mmm

God help the newbies in January

I'm almost done which means something is bound to go drastically wrong. Got last 2 presents today, about to post them, followed by helping at DD's choir performance at local shopping centre.

Cinder toffee fail miserably last night, didn't get it to a high enough temperature, so ended up with a sticky puddle. Oh.well, will do better tonight.

BBL

Meds. it always happens if my sleeping has been ok when i start the abs. feel like death right now though. And due another batch of abs.

Amazon has just delievered the last of the bits that were bought for christmas. only one item outstanding. so I am going to get up in a mo for breakfast and meds and 1 (and only 1) cup of caffinated coffee. Mostly rocking decaff or water or hot squash atm. Need to get the blanket squares finished off. decided it will end up as two slightly smaller blankets rather then 1 double bedspread. so means I can ignore a few squares until after christmas. Final blanket will be about 120cm x 160cm so big enough to feel slightly weighted for ds and for him to hide in completely. Will see what time i have when i have finished the squares and fastened all of the ends as to what I decide.

ta da since 3am
sort out plans
have some sense knocked into me
a bit of sleep
take delivery of amazon parcel - remind me to use them for parcels next year it has taken all the hassel out of christmas shopping.
internet admin

For those of us who have had irritating DP/DH! This thread has had me in stitches.... Not much flying done, too much giggling!!!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/1942883-Until-very-recently-DH-thought-that-the-blue-bits-in-Stilton?pg=1

DH was irritating me this morning and I thought of you lot! Back later.

Where has my post from early this morning last night gone? [Confused] That will teach me to type it on my phone in bed!

Yesterday's Ta Da

• DD to school with PJs to wear at their afternooon ice cream/DVD treat!
• washing load in and hung to dry
• start another 2 strings of bunting (only my DD could have 2 sets of twins in her class with birthdays a week before xmas!)
• DD to swimming club (last session before the break) and they had breaststroke practice yeah! Now she just needs to replicate the 25m in 25 seconds in a gala!
• sprinkled a trail of flour over my kitchen floor as the Elf wanted to make a snow angel!
• D/W on (DH cooked and washed the pots )
• Wrapped some presents

Bitchy I tend to use internet shopping as much as I can as actually going to town drives me loopy and I hate it with a passion

Ta da (so far) :

Ocado order online
Unloaded and reloaded d/w
Emptied and wiped down kitchen crockery cupboard
Cleaned radiator (splashes of food/coffee, etc)
Washed up extra crockery by hand, dried and put away
Wiped down sink
Lunch
Typed up letter to head
Emptied bin and recycling stuff
Wiped down kitchen walls
Cleared out kitchen food cupboard and threw away out-of-date food
Cleared out spices cupboard, found brandy for Xmas pud , threw away old stuff
Put out three bags of rubbish
Warned DH we will need to go to the dump tomorrow

to be continued after the school run

Mess Mess all around!!

However, I have dug out various wrapping materials, packing tape, old jiffy bags and managed to send off five parcels from the PO this morning! Yay! And bought a present for nephew from Morrisons, which I have despatched as well.

The Christmas cake (waitrose mix) is almost gone, but it has helped me through the last few days, definitely

Christmas tree bought, and standing upright in the front room.

Roast in oven for early supper before carol concert.

Decided NOT to give ds's teachers presents. Apparently secondary school teachers won't feel shortchanged. Do have to get ds to write a card to his violin teacher at school though.

Very quiet here this evening .

more ta das :

Long chat with DS2 about school today (a bit peeved that he didn't win Pass the Parcel at the Xmas party)
Threw away old food from fridge (can't believe there was so much )
Took out and cleaned every shelf in fridge
Cleaned inside fridge with bicarbonate of soda
Replaced all the shelves and vegetable containers
Wiped down more surfaces
Cleaned kettle
Hid today's Xmas deliveries upstairs

Had to have a chat with DS2 after he read the front-page article in last weekend's 'Family' section of 'The Guardian', which was in our bathroom. Realised I must be more careful about what papers I leave lying around. The article was about a 15-year-old girl who died after taking Ecstasy; not really the sort of conversation I want to be having with my eight-year old .

Still more to do in the kitchen: another cupboard to go through and the freezer to tackle. Then I have to clear the hotspot. I might have to admit defeat for now and start again tomorrow as it's dinnertime now.

Swan - your house sounds lovely and Christmassy. Am envious of your 'roast in the oven', as we are living on ready meals at the moment. I'm afraid it's chicken nuggets for the boys tonight .

Really fancy a glass of now...

Bad mother alert! I have just fed the kids macaroni cheese out of a tin and even used the microwave to heat it up! Dp is working late and I cba to cook a proper meal as I will be going to slimming world when he gets back and probably returning with a Chinese takeaway. I know it doesn't make much sense but I'm off dieting for the next few weeks and will be hitting it hard in the new year, just go to group to 1-get out of the house 2-make friends 3-be inspired to make better choices for 3 days and 4-try and sell avon.

I haven't done much in the way of flying as there isn't really much to do and I decided it would be a good idea to clean my ears this morning, and I think I've damaged my left one as I have gone deaf in it and it hurts, so I've been drowning it in otex and warm olive oil, which isn't to bad in the car as I can't hear the kids bickering but does mean I'm walking with my head tilted to one side which isn't doing my neck any good!

Sent ds1 to the post office this morning to get a thorntons chocolate Santa (as I knew they were selling them recently) and he came back with 2 boxes of matchmakers and a small tub of bbq pringles for himself. At least he brought a secret Santa present. I have been trying to get him to be a bit more independent but have realised something lately, he's scared of the dark, which is why he doesn't go out in winter. It's not as bad as some, he doesn't have a meltdown every night or he has one if he has to go out in the dark, its more like he'll avoid it or try and get someone to be with him. Which is also why he falls asleep with his light on (i thought it was just laziness) and this is also a very new development.

Everything in the gossip household is relatively quiet, ds1 has got a new hobby, origami swans, just swans nothing else so I now have swans and bits of paper floating about. Ds2 is watching yet another minecraft vis on you tube and ds3 is playing skylanders, will soon be time to take them off the technology and get them doing something less screeny well except for ds1 who has only used the computer for 10 minutes the rest of the evening he's spent folding paper.

You have just made me feel much better, Gossip. Especially as I am about to go to the corner shop to buy more chicken nuggets for DS2.

I would happily cook homemade food for my DC, but usually my dishes are greeted with disdain, so what's the point?

Origami swans are an unlikely hobby, Gossip . My DS2 is also watching Minecraft on YouTube, btw. DS1 is playing Roblox.

And DH has just poured me a large glass of wine, so I will be able to clean out the next cupboard in a happy blur.

I made my DC Chinese Soy, ginger and garlic duck with rice and cabbage. 3 didn't eat it!! Wish I had stuck with pizza which was the original plan!!

Ta Da
Kitchen tidied again!!
Organised and ordered food up until th 23rd.
Cleaned car
D/w x2
W/m
T/d x2
Cooked dinner
Tidied up

To do
Get dc to bed
S & S x3
Clean kitchen
Iron shirts for tomorrow
evening routine

The Elves left some magic glasses for the boys last night, which turn the fairy lights on the tree and mantle piece into snowman, and also made a camp out of the sofa cushion. (Yes, I am having to much fun with this).

One word: Blanketgate cancelled a meeting i was supposed to be at tonight to work on it. must get on...

Passes Bitchy some to give her speedy fingers!!

LINKS FOR 20 DECEMBER 2013

*
Babystep 20 is to include the laundry in morning and evening routines.

This week we are in Zone 3 the bathroom & 1 other room. Detailed cleaning list for those that can be bothered here

Sneak Peak for this week's missions, today we are mopping the bathroom floor, and in the other room it's a 27 fling boogie

It's Friday, Declutter you Purse/Car Day

December's monthly habit is Pampering.

Flight Plan for today.

*
Christmas Holiday Cruise Mission 15 is the end of the 3 weeks of Holiday Super Cruising. We have to take some time out for a cup of tea or hot chocolate and remember that we are FLYing and taking BabySteps through the Holidays.

I think that's a well done

SUMMARY

Merry/AngryBuddha provided some brilliant child friendly Christmas humour, will set DD the job of picking ours, she loved those. Hope the appointment went well.
And linked to this stupid DH thread which is a good antidote to Arse Club.

Castlelough popped in and pre-empted the "January is the new January!"

Bitchy is ploughing on with the blanket, I am sure you'll have something ready.
AND has volunteered for January. She'll weed out the undesirables

Toffee has a poorly DS again (which is why you've not been able to get on) Massive Bitchy-list done today Sometimes you just have to stop and recoup for tomorrow.

dizzy has had disappearing posts (hate when that happens) 4 lots of bunting made in a week! Love the idea of an elf snowangel.

Swan has got her tree up! and been busy wrapping. Hope the Carol Concert went well.

Gossip I love tinned macaroni cheese (with extra cheese on top) Hope your ear feels better soon. Origami swans sound nice, but it sounds like you're getting inundated.

I helped out with the school choir's Carol Singing, we escorted around 60 children to the local shopping centre, where they sang for about an hour. DD looked grumpy all the way through, and she'd volunteered! I think she's so tired now. She was at a friend's after school, so got a quiet 4 hours (bliss)