Fledglings don't makes resolutions in January, they fly through the babysteps.

[BitchytheGreat]

So here it is the dreaded January thread. The thread of resolutions and good intentions for the year that you are lucky if you see through to the end. Welcome to the start of 2014!!

A quick note for newbies, this is a long running thread. We do like new blood around here. However, we do ask you to be respectful that for a lot of us just getting off our arses is not going to help and to avoid suggesting this. We all know life is more complicated then this. So here we do things a little differently. A little bit of flying and a lot of chatter and moral support. Feel free to jump on board and join us in flying.

For those who are new to fly lady she recommends a three step program:

1. Get those babysteps into a habbit
2. Get rid of the clutter.
3. Get that deep cleaning done.

Don't worry if you think you not doing it right but not getting up to it. Some of us have been here for years and we are still decluttering. Because clutter has a nasty way of multiplying if you take you eye off it, especailly if you have kids.

Fly lady ethos tells us a few things that I want you to remember:
No perfectism this is harder then you would imagine
You are never behind just start where you are and anything you do is progress.
It didn't get into a mess overnight, it won't get tidy over night accept it will take time to get on top of things and you will be happier.

So jump on board and lets get started.

Oh and I forgot the proper introductions. "I'm Bitchy and I shall be your guide to the fly lady system for January" better buckle up as things normally get a little crazy when it is my turn to take control. good luck

Didn't shine the sink, it was full of pots ! Dp says he'll do it in the morning.

Right, the sink is shining from last night, beds are made and we're all dressed (thanks 5am wakers!). Have also found 5 items for charity bag.

to do
yesterday's mission
today's mission
clean the bathroom
DW x 2
WM x 3 (buy powder first)
try and keep dumping ground dining table clear

Wow Lonelygoatherd there are some advantages to having early risers.
Im just getting up after a bad nights sleep. Im spending the day in the library doing coursework again today But before that I need to:
Make beds
Dw
Hang washing out
Hoover downstairs
Dust downstairs
Fold and put away laundry
Empty car of rubbish (anybody sensing an ongoing theme)
Make lunches
Drop dcs to holiday club.

Just realised that is loads - best get my lazy self out of bed!

Set the alarm this morning so I can start getting us all up at a respectable hour. Luckily, DS2 woke up on his own and is now reading 'Tintin' in bed. DS1 won't thank me for waking him. Tomorrow I will be waking them half an hour earlier and so on, until we are all back in the routine in time for school.

DS2 is very unhappy about going back to school and we had a long talk about it yesterday evening. He says he learns more at home and wants to be home educated like DS1 was. I hate having to say no and send him back to school next week, but I have no alternative. Have suggested going to visit a different school, but he says he doesn't want to go to any school. To be honest, I think the only school that would be different enough for him would be private and that's out of the question for us.

Lots to do in the house this morning. All this talk of taking decorations down has encouraged me to get on with it myself, so I might do that whilst DS2 is playing with his friend .

Ta da

Washing on (first of many)
B/fast eaten (mine)

MN

Will report back later with furthur 'ta das' .

LonelyGoatherd - I misread '5am wakers' - thought there was an extra 'n' in it .

Thanks Merry!

Other people go to the spa or get taken out for dinner on their birthday. Not me! My birthday wish is that DH does ALL of the childcare sonthat I can

a)paint the cellar
b)sort my wardrobe and be ruthless
c) get ruthless with the bookshelf

Morning all, we're awake and just heading out for yesterday's walk

Oh, Engels, I didn't realise - Happy Birthday!

Phew, I've had a productive second morning of the year :)
Done my usual morning routine, basics like DW, empty washing machine, make beds, S&S.
Also been to post office. I posted one parcel to Norway, and bought one book each of 1st, 2nd and large stamps... £29!!! I nearly fainted. The parcel was Christmas presents to a friend's DC and was nearly as much as the toys inside, think I'm going to have to get them sent direct from amazon in the future :(

Have also just remembered that I have yet to deliver the village newsletter for this month, and we're going to a friend's after lunch, so better get cracking with getting the DC showered and dressed so we can do that. At least the weather's on our side this morning :)

Happy flying for the rest of the day, fellow flyers :)

Oh, forgot to say, happy birthday Engels :o

Happy birthday Engels!!!

So delighted to see many others have the same resolution! More sex! I'm rubbish- always preferring sleep because....well I don't know why really! I'm quite an early riser compared to dh so he always has the lie ins.

Spent ages (just over an hour) waiting for mindee to arrive this morning. Not that I mind him coming late but it's the uncertainty and constant listening out for the door that I hate. Feel I can't get stuck into anything so it's an hour wasted.

Talking about feeding children.., I think the biggest hurdle is to get them to at least try new foods. Ds1 is fab at that and will give absolutely anything a go, as a result not at all a fussy eater and when he does say he doesn't Like something I know it's a genuine dislike. Ds2 and dd are slightly more cautious but still not too bad. We all always eat the same meals, including mindees, and I get varying degrees of success with each meal/child. It's all balances out in the end. :)

When studying childcare I discovered something interesting about the fussiness that develops in toddlers which you rarely get when they are babies. In primal times at about 2 yrs old they would start to wander off from their mother and the instinct to be cautious about new foods is to protect them from eating poisonous berries, plants and such like. How we react to that period of cautiousness will quite often shape their future eating habits.

Happy birthday engels

whispers those postage costs are horrendous,,,it makes me feel so old, saying things like 'I can remember when a first class stamp was xxx' & 'I'm sure curly wurlies were bigger' etc

PS I want more sex too..well just the sperm really. We are trying to get number two

I'd like to join too, if it's not too late.

Living room and kitchen are a right tip, but it shouldn't take too long to get them tidy and presentable...

Right, will set timer now.

DS2's friend is here and they are catching up on Minecraft and Lego. Will have to hand over the computer to them in a minute so DS2 can show off his Lego animations (but that will be good for me because I can't go on MN).

Have a long list to get through. But MIL rang a few minutes ago to say she is popping in for a cuppa and hopes it isn't inconvenient . She did say, "You sound very busy". Well, YES!

Am being held up with a water pistol by DS2, who is demanding the computer, so had better go....

Phew... Just about an hour, and I'm ready to collapse on the sofa with a hot drink.

ta da

Tidied kitchen and quick wipe of surfaces
Dishwasher on
Rubbish and recycling out
Tidied living room
Cleared dining room table of clutter
Collected and sorted laundry
Washing machine on
Bedding stripped, pillows etc airing
Hoovered downstairs

All fairly slapdash, but like Flylady says a crap job will do. Or something like that anyway.

to do

Will whack some harpic down the toilets before I leave to pick dd up from nursery. Will shift this bloody lime scale if it kills me.
Hoover upstairs.
Finish changing bedding (god, I hate duvet covers with buttons - what the hell possessed me to buy them?)
Unstack dishwasher
Clean windows and dust in bedrooms

Oooh ttcer number four

Ok so I have just read through the how to shine your sink, and again I am one of those that believed that you need to actually wash all the pots in it to shine your sink but you don't!! You just take your dirty pots out of the sink and keep them out, the washing up bowl stays in the cupboard under your sink thus hiding dirty pots from view until you can be arsed to do them or get ever faithful dp/dh/dc's to do them, this may also breed the rinsing pots before dumping in sink habits too, (I do but the other 4 members of the household don't). Also I have no bleach so using disinfectant.

To do :-

shine sink www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/january/properly for the first ever time.
do a 15 min declutter in the dining room
shoes and coats mission
and I might even do a bit of detailed cleaning in the entrance hall.
Charge phone
visit granmama
take ds1 to his fathers

Tada :-

Got dressed to shoes
disinfecting sink (so impressed with that btw) dp thinks i'm a little bit odder now though

See, that doesn't make any sense to me, gossipwitch! I would have thought the whole point of shining your sink was to stay on top of the washing up. Sometimes FL is... But great if it works for you and you find it motivating. I guess it is nice to have a clean sink. I think I'd rather have clean dishes than a shiny sink. Mine isn't ss anyway so not much shine to be had.

Good luck to all the ttc'ers. Anyone else already pregnant? I'm due in March, but as my mother took great pains to tell me already look 9 months gone. Can't get too pissed off about it - she's right, I'm huge.

Happy Birthday Engels

ta da
sink
hoovered downstairs
laundry folded
bins and recycling out

to do
folded laundry put away
ironing
1 load into wm
last xmas decs down (tree, porch things :( )
15 minute declutter in DS2's bedroom

Waves hello to all the new folk.
to Goth for last month, more for Bitchy for this one.
for Engels, Happy Birthday.

Got as far as shined sink then was loaded into car yesterday and in and out of supermarkets and back into bed, so there's a full fridge again at least. Left eye has shut totally and managed to sleep through without listening to friend. Tried to call Dr this morning but they're shut. Too many ill people I suspect.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ENGELS

Quiet day here so far, DH back at work and DC are monopolising the new family tablet which DH has just contacted to the TV - scene-time restrictions not back in place yet
Think we are going to get lunch from local bakery and head to the zoo as the weather is lovely.
So far I have:

• Been for first run of the year
• Showered, dressed and eaten
• Registered for GNR again - registration open for 4 days I think if anyone is interested
• Looked up more local runs to keep motivation going
• 1 load of washing done and out on line
• Planning homemade gnocchi for dinner which I keep meaning to try and make but haven't got round to it yet.

Going to wipe down front door and take holly wreath down then get DC away from screens and into car :)

Thank you for all the birthday wishes.

ta da
handed over ds to dh I am not doing ANY childcare today!
Cleaned cellar walls
Undercoat
emptied outside bin
wash on

DH just asked if I want to go into town but I said no, I want HIM to go into town with ds and leave me alone!

Next......
wash up (only few bits and pieces)
Fold washing and take upstairs
shower
wardobe mission!

Happy Birthday Engels!!!

Good lord, I'd forgotten how quickly these threads flew!

to everyone - I'm too lazy to go through in detail other than to wish Engels a happy birthday

Well, DBIL went home this morning so DH took DS out to the park to console him while I pottered about. My ta-da list is therefore fairly presentable, unlike normal!

Made a countdown chart for DS to mark off until DBIL is back (DS is 3 and needs reassurance at the moment).
Cleaned and hoovered dining room & reset table back to normal position
Emptied DW (and refilled with crap from dining table that needed doing before being put away)
Hung up all coats and tidied away shoes onto rack
Organised dinner (still to make)
Slobbed on sofa with DH & DS to watch films.

Tomorrow will be a busy day as we're stripping the decorations down. It'll look rather bare without it, but it'll be nice to have rooms back to normal too.

Well after shining the sink to sparkley standards, (its amazing how water can make shiny look grubby) dp washed pots while I wiped sides and cupboards, then I dried up and wiped more sides, sorted out the fruit bowl and emptied the bin (somehow I still got the raw end of the deal!) But apart from the floor the kitchen is clean, the living room is tidy and clean, the dining room is clean, upstairs is crap apart from ds1s room and the landing and bathroom. It's mainly washing that's the issue.

The little ones had an energy burst to the point of jumping on and off furniture, so I told them to get dressed and go out and play. Ds2 moaned like hell about it so I said that's fine but you need to burn off some energy, how about you tidy your room instead. He actually went upstairs to do it until he realised ds3 was still going out and not going to help. He was playing out with his brother within 5 mins lol!

Dp is starting to get bored, he's mooching around the house finding things to do. He has built all legos and his eyes lit up this morning when he spied a mechano set.

I have washing and ironing to do and also need to sort out my diary and shopping list and budgeting list. So ill see you all later.

Happy birthday engels have some and .

Not seeing grandmama as thought it was Friday and its Thursday and can't afford to take 2 trips to next town as opposed to one when I take ds1 to his fathers.