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!!

Hi again everyone

Absolutely filthy weather here - like someone is chucking buckets of water against the glass. Dd and dh still lying around in quiet ailing heaps poor things. Crikey it is really really quiet when dd is ill!!!

Ta da:
washed school uniform
washed bed linen
polished dd boots and shoes
tried to encourage dd to learn French poetry and finish maths hwk (fractions) but got less than half done - she is feeling grim
listened to Archers omnibus
made sauce for spag bol
used rest of veg to make pumpkin and chickpea soup
made 5 different ratatouille dishes including pasta sauce (thanks everyone!)
home office decluttering 2 x 15
found yet another (final I hope) wandering box of Christmas cards and put it in roof - must remember not to buy any more next yr
tidied boudoir but no decluttering
didn't get out of house for walk but had bubble bath instead and tackled eyebrows, manicure, pedicure, etc.

Toffee don't know if this is of any use at all but have combination skin. Find Clinique too strong and Clarins too rich (and resent price). Liz Earle good but bit of a pain to have it delivered here so always running out. Anyway, don't know if this will have any impact at all on spots as know very little about beauty stuff but picked up jar of Nivea pure and natural anti-wrinkle day cream recently. It was roughly Euros 8-12 - can't remember exactly - just bought it on impulse as was displayed behind supermarket check-out. Anyway, it is absolutely BRILLIANT! My skin isn't particularly brilliant but I've definitely noticed a significant improvement since using it! Great for blending with foundation too! I'm finding it 10 tens better than all the expensive alternatives. Definitely going to buy another pot! Hope your dh feels better soon.

Engels respect re: 5k run in this weather

Goth respect for window cleaning on a Sunday

Blimey Bitchy respect for humungous list - definitely take it easy now and rest that wrist!

Thinking101 Blueandwhite Humanordancer no apologies necessary - it's just good to 'see' you - as I said to Stillwearing downthread, we are all falling off the wagon on here (and clambering back on) on a regular basis. I have only just got back to what I call 'proper' Flying (which in reality is pretty improper ) after a seven week gap. Remember the Flylady mantra - you are never behind! Just jump back in where we are at!

Thinking101 socialising/cooking must more important than Flying in my book - otherwise, what's it all for?

Lovely to have you back Blueandwhitelover - that sounds like a pretty exhausting work schedule - hope you can relax a bit now the teacher is back. [Respect to all teachers and classroom assistants - simply don't know how you do it.]

Humanordancer chicken broth sounds just the job in this weather!

Right, back to check on the patients. Dreading the fact that it looks like dd will be off school tomorrow. She has already had 2 days off since September (owing to illness) and because those were in the first week back after the holidays it was very noticeable, she has been labelled as "frequently absent" (even though she did quite a bit of work at home.) They hate it when pupils are away; and to be fair they get through so much work in one day that it is very hard to catch up. Plus, because there are loads of holidays, they expect full attendance in term time. There is nothing I can do, because she is genuinely ill but starting to feel really anxious about it. Arrrgggh.

BBL. Big wing flaps to everyone in the meantime!

I don't mean dd has been officially marked "frequently absent" on any records or anything, just that the headmistress has got it in to her mind that she is ifyswim. (And she probably has been off more than many to be honest but all genuine illnesses apart from one day last term when she was swinging the hook.)

Sorry, will stop rambling now

SC - thanks for the tip on the Nivea cream. It's good to hear about something that actually works. I bought some Boots Time Delay Wrinkle Filler with a Xmas voucher a month ago and it does absolutely nothing .

Sorry about your DD and DH being ill. I don't know how you cope with the school system there, honestly. It sounds really tough. Children can't help being ill. What does the headmistress expect you to do - send her in so she can infect everyone else? I had a letter from the headteacher about DS2's level of absence last term. In fact, he had a virus and chest infection and the GP told me to keep him off for another week after his first week off, so there was nothing I could do about it.

DS2 is requesting a second pizza . BBL.

Thanks Toffee I'm calling the doctor out tomorrow morning straightaway so we can scan and e-mail medical certificate over to school immediately, which will hopefully pre-empt any probs. Ridiculous waste of money/doctor's time because it's obvious dd just has a virus that will resolve itself with r & r but necessary to go with the rules.

***

Tomorrow's baby-step, no 10, for Monday 10th Feb is a useful one about the power of 15 mins.

Tomorrow and all this week (9-15 Feb) we will be 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.

Monday's mission (and all the missions for the week ahead) can be found here. Monday's missions involve cleaning the back of the lav in the bathroom and removing obvious litter from a child's bedroom.

The daily focus for Monday is: the home bleugh.

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

A summary of the above plus reminders can be found here in the flight plan which updates itself daily.

Newcomers; do remember that you can adapt the system to suit yourself ie I don't have to declutter my bathroom because I dont have any storage in it, so do another room instead.

Have a great start to the week everyone!

Evening Flyers,

I can't even remember what jobs I did yesterday. How bad is that?

Today's completed:
Long dog walk
Instructed MrPP to wash our bed linen whilst I was out
Emptied and reloaded DW
Clean laundry put away
MrPP has hoovered and mopped the whole entire house and cleaned the lounge blinds and window

Still to do:
Call British Gas - if I haven't done this by Wednesday someone please shout at me
Make appt at vets for Miaow
Car insurance
Tidy Pet cupboard
Filing sorted and away
List dates of Direct Debits and amounts
Make a start on cleaning the car
Bloody ironing
Put dried laundry away
Bloody ever increasing laundry pile
Buy more laundry powder

I am going to have to put a ban on people wearing clothes once before putting out for washing. Underwear excluded obviously. Seriously it's driving me crazy. I've got two tops loitering at the bottom of the laundry bin because they are handwash. Hate handwashing.

I've not read everyone's posts as been out and about a fair bit today and I'm now propping my eyelids open so unlikely I will manage it tonight. Will catch up properly tomorrow. Hope you have all had a relaxing weekend and indulged in some fine wine and food. #priorities

Oh yes, SC and Toffee I love that Nivea pure & natural. It's often on offer in Wilkinsons and even cheaper.

What a bore about medical certificates SC.

Haven't done much this weekend, but trying to get back into the mindset of tidy being the default - ie when you've finished with something, or see something in the wrong place, put it away! Was working for a while but got swamped by other concerns...

Have finally been able to do some reading for pleasure too. I'd got into a rut of taking ages over boring but worthy stuff I felt I ought to read, but got loads of fun books for Christmas and have read 3 of them in the last week.

Big waves to all... Night!

Sorry been a bit of a hectic week, managed to fly but haven't had time post.
Thursday meal out with mum to celebrate her 70th.
Friday ladies cocktail night (around a friends house)
Saturday Convent garden and War Horse
Today 9 mile run
Tomorrow Start work.

Hope everyone is keeping Well, will now read back thread,to see what you all have been up too.

We are back as a trio! DD seems to have has a great weekend with my sister (they went ice skating today!) and said tonight that being away wasn't as scary as she was anticipating - so it seems that mission was accomplished

Yesterday DH and I went out to lunch then I dropped him at the pub to watch the rugby whilst I saw a bit of the Olympics at home! He went off to cricket nets this morning so as this is the first exercise he has done for years I anticipate he will feel it in the morning!

Had done no flying at all over the weekend so that was rectified this evening
Ta Da

• DD collected
• Tea made
• Mega pot wash and sink shine
• Washing load in and hung to dry
• DD bags unpacked
• Uniform/bags/shirts organised for the morning
• DD bathed and put to bed

As it is the first day back to work, super organised. Packed in lunches in school bags, alongside shoes and coats by the door. Empty d/w, shiny sink, w/m on. Breakfast stuff out. Off to S&S before getting change and feeding the dc.

Morning all
sc - dd2 has had about 10 days off since sep. she has had virud after virus. and about to have today as although she is bouncing now she was sick for 14 hours on saturday and I tend to stick to the 48 hour rule. lots of patents dont though.

Morning all!

blue I have also been trying to read more (kept track last year and managed 51 books!). I started off this year trying to clear my backlog before buying anything new. Managed to read nearly everything on my kindle but still a few eighty tomes to get through! Trying to alternate them with books that I really want to read, like the Bill Bryson I finished last week. I read a lot of YA too.

Good work on the run Buddha - what was War Horse like?

Sc hope the invalids get well soon.

yay to dh doing some exercise dizzy - I wonder if I can prise my dh off the sofa?

I need to make a list for today...

ta da
washing on
up, dressed, breakfast

to do
put yesterday's washing away
ironing
mending
Give bathroom a once over
if I pop out - supermarket essentials, nuts for bird feeder, tea lights, plastic place mat for ds
washing up
shred
declutter hotspots

and so much more!

DS2 not well (cough and cold), so another child off sick from school today. DS1 said last night that he'd definitely go in today, but this morning says he has "the worst stomach ache" and will try again tomorrow .

And now the boiler has broken down, so we have no heating or hot water.

Meeting at the school about Ds1 this morning, then work. Will have to drop DS2 off at MIL's for a couple of hours.

Ta da

Washed before boiler broke down
To corner shop for eggs and dishwasher tablets
Breakfast
Phoned school about DS2
Tucked DS2 up in bed with hot-water bottle; dosed him up with Calpol
Switched d/w on
Put rubbish out
Woke DH up with the good news about sick Ds2 and broken boiler

Morning thanks for the re-welcome.

Ive actually clicked on the links today to get going and read them all.

Dressed to Shoes including Hair/Face, Brush Teeth done
Fed DC's & school run.
Make Bed
Swish & Swipe (doing as part of zone cleaning)
Empty Dishwasher
Reboot Laundry

I need someone to slap some sense in to me. The DCs are dancing on my last nerve. The house is a state. I'm scared the community nurse is going to take one look and call sicial services because I'm not coping. Gaaaaaaaaaah. My house is shit.

And I have to go shopping. I honestly don't know how I can negotiate a supermarket with DS in his pushchair which I can't steer one-handed, DD running all over the place and me also trying to carry a basket.

S
DCs have been in front of the tv all day and I can't even cope with that. Am terrible mother today. Have had enough and I don't even know where to start.

Okay, time to get back into gear for me.

ta da
usual morning routine, school run
tidy up living room
check bank
check budget
check diary for this week
update wall calendar for this week's appointments
put out rubbish and food bins
cleaned bathroom sinks

doing right now
taking a break from super cleaning the dining room - it sooooo needs it!! So time and another look through my list - then back to work on it.

to do
washing up
laundry
empty upstairs rubbish bin
take out recycling
clean the toilets
vacuum upstairs
bring in rubbish and food bins once the binmen have been to collect
split school runs today
figure out what to do for tea as I neglected meal planning this week (another thing to do)
meal plan put together for this week

Morning all!

Hope all those ailing/recuperating are taking it steady [stern looks at Ellie]

Just hope you are ok ...

Don't tell me someone is actually reading the links!! Thinking101!! Steady on everyone, or we will actually be doing housework next !! Good luck with your list today!

Oh dear Toffee ailing dh, dc and a broken boiler is a perfectly horrible start to the week... hope it improves.

Engels do you mind me asking how you managed to have a Kindle set-up abroad? We investigated it, and it all seemed too complex ie having to have UK credit card registered at UK address etc. A friend of mine ordered one, and then had difficulty getting English lang products for it because of licensing agreements or some such? Do you mind me asking how you overcame all of that?

Eustacia thanks, it's awful when dc have to have days off isn't it, it's just the luck of the draw sometimes. Very glad to hear your dd is on the mend today though!

Good luck with your first day back Merry - you sound super organised!! And wow - what a fantastic weekend! Very at seeing Warhorse - and many, many happy returns to your mum! . V. impressed by 9 mile run too!

Dizzy so glad the sleep 'experiment' worked well and that your dd had a great weekend! Well done re: your productive evening yesterday.

Blue I've just finished all my Christmas books and am desperately scrabbling around for things to read!! Will look out for Pure & Natural when I am in the UK and stock up!! Top marks for "tidy mindset" mentality!

PeanutPatty Well done re: your lists (and for getting MrPP involved!) Sympathies re: over-flowing laundry baskets - it drives me nuts too - there are only 3 of us and it is full every day; now just how does that happen??!!!

Things much the same here. Dh is a terrible patient (absolutely hates being ill/missing work) and basically growled at everyone for an hour this morning and has now sloped back to bed. DD (who is now coughing for England) insists on sleeping downstairs on the sofa instead of upstairs in her bed, so I'm having to tiptoe around again doing chores quietly and can't really get on so am going to focus my activities on first floor instead. First free slot for doc is this evening. And so on ... .

Ta da:
e-mails to school
rang doc
morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s, rabbits
tidy boudoir
dining room table hot spot
folded laundry
re-booted washing

To do:
more on-line purchasing returns
work admin/letters
buy items for dd's summer wardrobe on line
home office decluttering; box labelling, carry upstairs etc
more laundry
look after invalids
brisk walk (if I can escape the house for a bit)
quick supermarket shop
start on boudoir drawers
dsis birthday present
finally choose new baby present and stop dithering!
rubbish/recycling
doc
evening routine

Hope everyone has as good a start to the week as possible!

x posts

Silly Oh poor you!! Wish I was just around the corner to be able to give you a hand! First, don't feel badly about the state of the house. You and the entire family have had mahoosive obstacles to overcome. Everything else naturally got shoved down the priority list. That was absolutely right and normal. Can you do a quick on-line supermarket shop or ask a friend to pick up some things for you? Sorry, it is very easy just to type suggestions here and altogether a different matter when you are in the middle of it having to cope. You are NOT a terrible mother today or any day!!!! (You have been through so much; you are bound to feel utterly depleted of energy now things have settled a bit.) [Wafts full strength of collective fledglings towards you ....]

Good luck with your list Alice and with deep cleaning of dining room!

Good morning everyone. Just having a bit of a catch up with the thread!

Silly I'm no good at slapping, but it very much sounds like you need more. And I'd hazard a good guess that the community nurse will not think that at all.

Dizzy the first time I went to Brownie camp - I wasn't far away at all - my mum insisted on driving past the site on the pretext of going somewhere else. Dad drew the line at letting her peep over the wall. I think they were worried because I was the the youngest going, but when they collected me I was exhausted but very happy.

We were only talking about it the other day because I came across the toilet bag she'd bought me (I still use it for toiletries I could take on a cabin bag only flight - the one area I've always been organised in, mysteriously,) and I have such clear recollections of the bag she packed for me, even down to the smell of the soap.

ellie It's so frustrating having to watch from the sidelines, but it will all still be there for you to rearrange when you're back on your feet. The lack of control over your health is harder, but in a way you are in control because you're doing the best things for the situation now and in the long term, if that makes sense. I struggled with this a lot!

Swan we love that M & S cookbook in the human house too. So much so I bought a spare one from a charity shop. Of all the hundreds of cookbooks we've acquired, it's the one that never fails.

I say we - I'm trying to declutter on two fronts, having moved lots of things into my mum's as we're short on space in the flat. Some of my work is based there, hence all the to-ing and fro-ing. (And also because I'm country person at heart and enjoy getting out of the city ) We have to be based in London for DP's job - indefinitely.

SC and Swan - I want to rescue every dog

PP I hate handwashing too. I have a sort of on the side of washing basket could be worn again pile, which annoys me. But I don't want to put them away in case of moths. (I seem to be on top of them at last.)

Hope everyone ill is feeling better soon.

Here I am working a strictly skeleton to do list:

Finish piece of work
Essential bank thing
(Wash up)
Eat
Drink water

I am postponing my bleurgh till tomorrow. If I did it today, it would be in the spirit of procrastination, and I reason that the fluff on the floor will not kill me tonight.

Whew! Small break in cleaning dining room to clean the microwave. I rarely use the stupid thing, so I'm going to store it in the dining room and of course that means it needs to be clean!! Worst job in the kitchen, other than cleaning the over IMO.

But.... I've had 3 coffees this morning so far, and am literally buzzing along. Okay, maybe I should cut back on the coffee. LOL

x post

Big waves to Humanordancer I'm with you on the decluttering (although it's painfully slow going here!) and with being country girl at heart (also stuck in city indefinitely owing to dh's business). Absolutely desperate for serious veg patch + cob] Good luck with your list today!

Would either you or Swan mind giving me the full title of that M&S cookbook please? Sounds like one I need to track down!

Had better get cracking ...

Waves to everyone else!

argh!!! cobwebs down the side of the cabinet in the dining room! between it and the wall. I'll bet a tenner a spider runs out when I run the duster between there.

Toffee look away!

Glad I'm not the only one with cobwebs Alice (quite a few of mine are up high apart from- the ones in the cellar lav which looks like a Halloween film set)

I don't mind the cobwebs, it's the spiders that invariably are there as well. Hate spiders. Really really hate spiders.

SC would that be a small horse or an auto corrected dog you'd be after?

My version is the St Michael All Colour Freezer Cookbook, by Madeline Fraser (1976). At first glance it could be a bit underwhelming, but it works (Especially the mince pies.)