Feisty Fledgling Flyers flutter through Feb with flair, finesse, flaws, failures, fortitude, feedback, fiascos, fabulousness, friendship and fun!

[sanschocolat]

[The fiascos are all mine btw !!]

And just for Just, February is the new January that was the new January before

If you are struggling 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 wine and cake 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 something 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!

It’s up to you, but 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!

Points to keep in mind:
(1)No perfectionism allowed - this is harder than you would imagine
(2)You are never behind just start where you are and anything you do is progress.
(3) 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.

Humungous thanks to Bitchy for steering us through the hectic January thread and for the wise three-line mantra above.

All regulars, lurkers and newcomers welcome!!

Good morning!

Apologies for posting links at last minute!

**

Baby-step no.9 for Sun 9th Feb is : to read the decluttering Flying lesson and add a 5 min room rescue to your morning routine.

New zone today so here is basic zone cleaning info.

Today (Sunday) is our first day in zone 3: the Bathroom and one extra room here.

Declutter for 15 mins a day in this zone!

Once you have decluttered, you can if you wish go on to detailed cleaning.

No mission because it is the weekend.

The daily focus for Sunday is:doing something to renew your spirit.

The monthly habit for February is: decluttering 15 mins a day.

A summary of the above plus reminders can be found here in the flight plan.

Hope everyone has a relaxing Sunday!

*

Think you were the busiest though Bitchy that list sounds very organised and glad you had family fun too!

Alice hope everyone is ok!

Well done re: planting in the rain Goth!

Swan it's really foul weather here atm too - dark, cold, wet and generally grim. I wouldn't feel too badly about the activities that your dd has started and given up. It shows you are a good mother who has allowed her dc to try different things; which is , after all, what being a child is all about. And also there are bound to be things she learnt during guides, team sports, music lessons that will stay with her for life. None of it is wasted. Also, I am rather consoled by the list because dd has so far given up:
gym (after 1 year)
piano (after two years)
ballet (after 7.5 years)!!
She has to learn poetry at school as part of language lessons and does guitar/recorder during music lessons but wouldn't be doing any of those if it weren't built in to the curriculum. The only thing she has kept up with is tennis (once a week) which is odd because she's not particularly good at it (!) and riding every so often with me. I do worry about her resilience/persistence as all my parenting books stress the importance of 'stickability' but I guess you also have to find the thing you want to 'stick' at!! Agree with you though about wishing there were activities dc could do for the sheer enjoyment of it, without being tested and examined to the hilt!

Well done re: your list Not2nite

Big waves to Pictures and everyone else!

I did absolutely naff all yesterday except a small supermarket shop, make a salad and bung a frozen meal in the oven and waste time watching obscure winter sports (such as women bouncing over moguls - must kill the knees!).

My excuse is that dh and now dd have succumbed to some sort of cold/flu-like virus so I have been on nursing duty but they don't in reality require much nursing.

So today I had better get my act together.

Ta da:
morning routine inc rabbits, dw, wm, s&s

To do:
wash school uniform
polish dd boots and shoes
encourage dd to learn French poetry and finish hwk so she is prepared for school if she is well enough to go
make sauce for spag bol
home office decluttering 2 x 15
other decluttering in boudoir?
brisk walk

We've had to cancel our lunch guests but I had already made a large vat of ratatouille. The invalids don't fancy it so does anyone know what I can do with it instead (we were going to eat it with lamb which I have now frozen)? Think it might be too liquid to freeze?? Do you think it would be ok for soup if liquidised???

Morning all. Starting to feel a bit more like myself (with the help of some good drugs). DH is being amazing. If I had known that all it took was a few days in hospital to get him to do some housework, I'd have faked an illness years ago.

Actually finding it quite hard to sit around and not do anything. The control freak within me doesn't like the fact that at the moment I am not in control of anything....work, house or health. Trying to be a good patient but don't know how long it will last!

Well DCs were just too grumpy yesterday morning to inflict on DPs so ended up staying here. Had an unexpectedly productive day.

Reclaimed 2 work surfaces in the kitchen
Washed and dried heap of laundry
Changed beds and washed bedding
Finished knitting bolero cardigan that's been lurking for a few weeks

Today DPs are coming over her for lunch so my list is
to do
Half hour dust/Hoover/mop
Go tesco to get food for lunch
Cook roast dinner
Persuade DS1 to do homework
Ironing
Training tutorial thing for work
Admin stuff for a group I help organise

ta da
Swish and swipe
Beds made

Hmm feel like I need mission impossible music running for that list so I'd best go get cracking

Hope all invalids are feeling better today

Had a fun night out with friends last night. No plans today, so I'm looking forward to a day of pottering at home. I should do the ironing, but I think I'm going to go back to bed first . In my defence, I was the last to bed and the first up with DS2 this morning and I may have had a little too much wine last night.

Oh lord, my question about spots has made Discussion of the Day. I wouldn't have just posted about squeezing had I known .

ellie do you th7nk going away for the weekend will work just as well?! (Am going on a course on Thursday for 3 nights so DH will be home aoone with ds!).

Sorry to hear you're suffering from skin problems toffee . I have had bad skin since I was 14. The best thing for me has been pregnancy and being on the pill! Not great when we were ttc ds for 18 months (one of my colleaguesasked me, 'What's wrong with your face?" ). I use Liz Earle and find that whenI eat better, drink more water and most importantly exercise my skin is much better, but unfortunately, since it's very linked to hormones, there's only so much I can do (can't use most acne treatments if ttc or pg).

sc hope you're all resting up. I reckon you could use ratatouille as base for a soup or pasta sauce if you need to freeze.

I am renewing my spirit todayby refusing to do any schoolwork, wearing nice clothes instead of slobbing like I usually do on a Sunday, and am going to settle down and carry on reading the new Bill Bryson. I so enjoy his writing - the book equivalent of a nice warm bubble bath!

However...to do
washing
washing up
run

Ellie Great to hear you are feeling better and that your dh has stepped up re: chores! Long may it continue ! Take it steady and let yourself be waited on for once!

Sounds like a lovely Sunday Engels you deserve it! Thanks for ratatouille advice; base for pasta sauce it is! Have also come across Italian recipe where you use tomatoes, veg and stale white bread so going to use some of it for that too.

Glad you had a good night out Toffee and sorry to hear about the spots. I do think hormones are at play here. I use Liz Earle system too when I cba and think it is good.

Arf at mission impossible music Cyber and very impressed with your productive day Saturday. Hope you enjoy your family lunch.

You could hear a pin drop here. Everyone is ailing. I am trying to get things done but am having to tiptoe about, trying not to make a noise, covering the invalids with fleeces and blankets wherever they have happened to fall asleep.

Well today is goiung along quite productively.

Ds is dealing with his room and is singing So far he has: tidied the floor hoovered and now putting the rug, stool and bin back.

My ta da list is less impressive but i have managed the renew your spirit aspect for today And i am about to get on and tackle more stuff. Soo much that can be done that i showed ds my to do list when he wanted help and he has disappeared knowing that if he wants me to get around to the job that he really wants done he is going to have to let me get on with the long list first. I have just introduced first/then lists... Before i can connect the tv in your room then you need to tidy and sort your room. Needless to say the first list is broken down into like 1001 bullets but still it has today stopped an arguement so will see how it progresses.

I used to have terrible spots in my teens; I am dreading my children inheriting this tendency. But at 19 they disappeared, and I look back on it as a bad dream. The worst was that they actually hurt I can remember clearasil, oxy something or other and horrible face washes. And despair at discos..

All of us are exhausted this morning. Dd has already laid on the floor and screamed twice, ds1 seems to be doing homework and ds2 has refused to go to drama sucked into the Winter Olympics, despite dh disconnecting the telly . Dd and I have been lying upstairs in bed, eating pancakes and looking at rescue dogs on the Heathlands site (a pipe dream, as dh hates dogs), dh has given up on family life and gone to a Book Fair, as no-one will budge and go anywhere or even get dressed..

On Friday dh changed our room round, so the bed is under the eaves; the whole room feels quite different and the children are enjoying lying on the double bed pretending we have moved house! The cats have also decided this is their new spot (another reason not to get a dog I fear...too many cats to chase)

A large fox was walking across our garden today. I think there is a den around the corner under someone's big shed.

I've always thought Ratatouille fine to freeze, possibly a bit squidgier when it comes out, but still delicious. It's in the M & S freezer cookbook from the 70's isn't it? (my bible)

Meh cook books can be wrong Swan times change and the 70's freezes hadn't been tested as widely as they have now. If you find it works, it works.

You can freeze ratatouille, absolutely!

Oh thanks everyone - I'd just assumed it would be too liquid to freeze - as I have vats of the stuff I will freeze a bit and let you know!

Top marks for persuading your ds to tackle his room Bitchy and for renewing your spirit too.

I also spend far too long browsing dog rescue sites on-line Swan.

Oh thanks Trazzles that's great news - we'd be eating it every evening for a fornight if not!

Ta da
washing up
washing in machine
5k run along very windswept canal path
Chx out for dinner (DH is going to make a curry)

to do
washing in td
shower
Date with mr bryson (in order for this to be achieved I may have to resort to Bambi!)

Afternoon all

Toffee no advice on the spots, but I love Liz Earle C&P, although her toner can be a bit harsh for me. Hope you get them sorted ( I love a good sporn thread)

Done
Beds
Windows
Sunday lunch
Laundry
S&S

Waiting for a break in the rain to go for a walk.

Really Goth? I love the toner, my skin's quite sensitive as well. I find it so much gentler but still effective than any of the many many brands I've tried in the past. When I was a student I used Simple but since using LE when I went back to Simple, I found the toner really ineffective. Clinique 3 step wrecked my skin - I used it for a week and it was so harsh I had to stop after a week as it just stripped my skin but my dsis loved it

Asa teenager I tried things like body shop tea tree and clearasil but they took all the goodness out of my skin and it was red raw.

ta da
laundry x 1 load
wash and put away the last of the summer quilts x 2 loads
folding
20mins decluttering in my room
renew my spirit
ds' room floor tidied and hoovered
Jelly made
Handwarmers boiled up
put some stuff into office which should be there
come up with a cunning plan
evict spiders, sharks, bats and walruses from the bath tub
15mins decluttering the landing
sort out dresses into dress bags for going into storage
Realise that yet again I am far more productive in PJs then when i get up ala fly lady
Empty bins
sort out recycling to go out
put bathroom bin in to disinfect
Wash blankets from the car
strap wrist and it is still not happy
Start 100 days of happy
15mins decluttering my room
15mins more on landing
fuss ds' giant mechano dog so he is still smiling
Realise the half dead plant that wouldn't die is now 3/4 dead and might just dry so the bloody ugly thing can get recycled
Update monthly overview sheet
hoover landing

Random question toffee how much water are you drinking? For me this is the one thing that is the simplest thing to fix wrt spots. Always prone to break outs when i neglect the water.

I am beginning to get to the point where i would quite like my bed. Still feeling crappy from the virus. Trying very hard NOT to over do things. But this productive and tidy thing can get a bit addictive...

Aargh I've been rubbish again

Thanks Goth for recovery wishes earlier. No pain now, just snapping sounds, so much better

Toffee I have had terrible problems with spots over the years, and find toner generally doesn't add much. Someone on your thread recommended Zineryt from the GP - I've had success with this in the past and always keep an unmixed bottle of it at the ready, just in case.

It's always so difficult to know what's making a difference, or whether things would have cleared anyway, but I've found over the years that being gentle and not stripping (apart from a timely blast of Zineryt on the actual spots,) has been best for me. I'm spot-free at the moment and have been using the REN Rose Centifolia range. Also, I'm on the low carb bootcamp, and it may be a coincidence, but red marks from old scars seem to be fading. I think it must be the fat.

Right, today:

Ta da:

Chicken broth on stove

To do:

Work
Wash up
Washing
The renewing of spirit business

That'll do, I think!

hELLO, checking in after a long absence and the Blueandwhite Household is definitely in need of a good clean and tidy. My teacher has been off for two weeks so I have been covering the class-this has meant going in for half seven and not leaving before five, lots of instant meals from the freezer and no housework. (However, the classroom is the cleanest and tidiest it has ever been.......)

Teacher is back tomorrow, so in view of the fact I haven't had to spend today planning, I have put on three loads of washing, hung one lot in front of the radiator in the lounge on an airer and tumble dried anything that could be tumbled, changed the bed can't actually remember when it was last changed , cooked a load of chicken legs for tea, tidied off the kitchen table onto a chair ready to sort out over half term , and tidied the lounge.

Oh, and DH has bleached the mould off the bedroom wall and ceiling-will this rain never end???

DH is off over half term, on the one hand this means he will be here which will be nice, on the other it means that all those fifteen minute blitzes that I do in the holidays won't get done.

Now Ive got off to a bad start rejoining this thread.

I have done a lot of socialising this weekend and two v late nights.
Ive cooked a lot of food too.

I will be starting tomorrow in earnest - people comming over on Friday.

Toffee I hope you visitors go soon

bitchy - PJ's yes yes yes!

So do I, thinking. One has given up the fight, anyway.

Thank you everyone for the tips on fighting spots. I have read them all.

Bitchy - that's a good point, actually. I'm ashamed to say that, despite following the Fat Fairy, I am not drinking much water at all. I don't think tea counts, does it?

Had to go back to bed this morning and slept for two to three hours. DH has gone back to bed now, as he's feeling rough again. Have been trying to get him to go back to the doctor for the last couple of weeks, but he keeps putting it off. I think he still has an infection. Wish he'd stop procrastinating and just make an appointment.

Loaded up the d/w an hour ago and then realised I have run out of dishwasher powder - and the corner shop is shut. I have put it on rinse cycle, but now I have to unload it all and wash up by hand.

Or I could just leave it all until tomorrow morning .

MIL rang this morning. DH refuses to ring her back. I don't want to either. She will talk for ages and ages, which is fine when I can cope, but I just want to be left alone today.

Right, time to tackle the kitchen...

(And will drink a glass of water too, Bitchy).