Mad Fledglings March through the Spring cleaning

[BitchytheGreat]

So here we are, March already.

So for those who don't know the fledglings is a long running thread. Some of us seem clicky but that is because we have been chatting on these threads for nearly half a decade makes everyone feel old we quite like fresh blood though so feel free to jump in and join us.

Three key 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.

If you are new then trying to spend 15mins decluttering and the babysteps is the most. Some of us Bitchy can have scary looking lists. One word of advice ignore them. Do what you can, anything is better then nothing, and don't judge yourself against others.

oh dear I've burnt the blessed pie! Not too badly...

ooooh I love chicken pie. I'm not very good at making it though.

I may make some brownies instead.

swan it IS frustrating that he can just swan around, wreaking havoc in everyone's lives (egged on by his fruitloop sister), but I firmly believe that karma will eventually bite him on the ass bigtime, so I am waiting (not-so) patiently.

Hello all, I'm back again after my rubbish attempt in January and occasional lurking in February.

Waving at everyone with plenty of , , and for all who need it (the cake is special zero-calorie cake for those dieting and full calorie cake for those who need the boost).

Today's Ta-das:
Got up, dressed and fed DCs (DCs and DH still in pyjamas though )
Load of washing on, load of washing folded and load of washing in tumble dryer (not all the same load) - all ably assisted by my 14 month old who now knows how to unload the washing machine and load the tumble dryer as well as scatter sundry items across the kitchen floor!
DH is now putting dried washing away
One load of dishes done
Part of kitchen floor painted
Some kitchen carpet tiles take up, cleaned under and re-laid
Some prep for a meeting at work tomorrow

To dos (I'm out the house at least 12 hours a day week days so do home bleurgh at weekends)
Vacuum house
Dust
Clean bathroom
Paint 1 kitchen wall
Finish carpet tile up, clean and re-lay in kitchen
Sort out pile of clothes in DCs room that I keep tripping over
Ironing
Finish dishes
Cook
Coerce older DCs into changing their own beds
Sort out work clothes for week (finding suit jacket for important meeting on Thurs, I know it is somewhere but haven't worn it since October!)

Sounds like your DD has her own ideas, Swan, but just wanted to point out this in case it's of interest. DS1 made it when I was home educating him.

Sorry you are having stressful times with DS2.

Alice - so insensitive of your ex to talk about the new woman and her children in front of his own DC . How horrible for all of you. I hope you are right about the karma. Good idea to concentrate on making the house YOUR home now.

Peanut - good luck with the clearing up. I hope you get some time for tea and relaxation later.

SC - glad you had a lovely evening out. Enjoy the gardening.

Cyber - well done on your productive day and glad to hear you had a much-deserved enjoyable night out later.

dizzy - Science Museum trip sounds great fun, if exhausting. Glad your DD had fun mud surfing (but sorry for all the washing). .

Hemlock - welcome back (have you namechanged?).

Oops, I have a small child perched on my shoulder all of a sudden. BBL.

Very late straggler returning to the fold to mark my place.

Small child swiftly followed by a larger child demanding ice cream, but they have both gone now.

Ta da

Took DS2 to his trial swimming lesson
Did half an hour of OU study by the pool
Booked DS2 in for weekly lessons
Walked home
Stopped off at a fallen tree, where DS2 started digging...and digging...and digging - whilst I waited, shivering. (There should be medals distributed for standing around in playgrounds whilst DC play)
One hour later, DS2 came home proudly carrying several 'treasures' - old tiles, one Minton (Victorian, I think)
Helped DS2 find out more about the tiles by googling (very excited, happy boy)
Sympathised with DH who is still in bed and still poorly
Made lunch for everyone
Put washing in tumbledrier
Put DS2's muddy clothes and swimming stuff in washing machine

Feeling very groggy now. Think I may need a nap again. I only managed five hours' sleep last night.

Slept for two hours. Woke up with a headache. Cooked several different dinners. Put a couple more loads of washing on.

DH has a chest infection and has been in bed all day. He's so fed up with being ill - and I'm so fed up with him being ill. Won't be much of a knees up on his birthday tomorrow (in fact, he'll be visiting the doctor).

Lots of clean washing piled up on the dining-room table, but somehow I don't feel as if I have the energy to do anything about it.

Right tomo is monday - home bleurgh day

The babystep is to keep doing babysteps 1 and 2

And there are missions because it is a weekday.... you can find out what it is here

link for daily focus

Bit of a question for people - can any of you vacuum your whole house in 10 mins and change all the beds in 10 mins like Flylady suggests for home bleurgh? Seems to take me about 30 mins to do one bed! I am a short-arse though which makes the bunk beds and double duvets a bit harder. I'm not doing full-blown vacuuming either, just moving accidentally sucking up stuff out of the way with the vacuum. Am I missing some great household tricks?

I can strip all the beds in 10 mins (just, DCs have bunkbeds full of teddies and other crap), but certainly can't remake them in that time. My new strategy of taking an Ikea blue bag into each bunk and putting all non bedding in there then tipping it back in once the beds are remade speeds things up a lot.

I can just about hoover the house in 10 mins if all the floors are clear (rare) because we have a small house and a very lightweight cordless vac, if I had to lug a heavy one around and plug and unplug it in different rooms the answer would be no way.

Sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the thread but thats due to all my training etc!! But today I completed my Half Marathon and raised some money for the NSPCC, so a very good day in all!

No, I don't think you are missing any tricks Hemlock it takes me 30 mins to change a double bed too. This has often been the subject of discussion here because very few of us can do a home blessing in an hour. I think Flylady does admit somewhere that it can take longer than that. She does also provide a reasonable explanation about it somewhere on the site, but of course it would be too logical to find it under Flying Lessons. The following are the explanations I can find, but not the ones I wanted ifyswim!

This is Flylady's take on it it even includes a picture of her grinning maniacally smiling at you in encouragingly.

And more information here too.

Anyway, I think the idea is that you rush through it working to a timer, doing it imperfectly, and that's OK. Whether this is a big psychological ruse to get one started so that you end up doing it properly I don't know.

Some people choose just one of the seven "ways to bless your house" [barf] to work on each day.

I can strip the beds in a couple of minutes and then leave them to air all day and remake at bedtime. Don't do it as part of the house bleugh though. We don't have carpet in every room so could probably do a quick and dirty hoover through in 10 mins (ie not moving furniture etc).

Well done on the half marathon Merry - impressed!

I can't manage in 10 minutes either. I can probably do the beds in about 20 minutes, hoovering to do the lot I reckon is more like half an hour, although I'm probably being too perfectionist about it still.

Had a good day today,
ta da
Met friends and had nice lunch
Took DCs swimming
Much laundry washed dried and put away
Ironing
Cleaned shoes
Packed lunch ready for morning
sink is clear and about as shiny as it gets (considering its a crappy off white matte plasticky one)

to do
Put ironing away
Get clothes out for tomorrow
Bed

Tomorrow's going to be a challenge to keep things running, I'm out at work all day then I've got a PTA meeting at the school in the evening. No bleurgh for me but I'm going to try to keep going with decluttering.

Night all.

I have my own Home Bleurgh list - but it does take me longer than an hour - but I feel it sets us up pretty well for the week.

Today I have ignored BabyStep No 2 and stayed in my PJs all day

Ta Da

• D/W stacked and put on
• Brushed mud off Forest school clothes Washed 3 times* Forest school clothes to get the mud off!
• Ironed uniform/shirts for the week plus DD's bits and mine
• Dry clothes put away
• School bags ready for the morning

DH has cooked tea tonight and has helpfully left the kitchen in a right state so I need to sort that before I go to bed

Merry - Congratulations on your run. Have some and

Final ta da for Sunday

Bathtime and bedtime routine for DS2
Put DS2's laundry away whilst he was in the bath
Reading and cuddles with DS2
Put wet load of washing in tumbledrier
Took Paracetamol (uh oh - feeling a bit achy and sore throaty)
One hour of telly time
Washing up
Made pancake mix for morning and put in fridge
Wiped down cooker and worksurfaces
Room rescue - sitting room
Wrapped DH's presents
Laid out clothes for morning
Avoided ironing by shaking clothes out and ignoring creases
Spent ages washing mud off DS2's shoes and polishing them
Put DS2's shoes on radiator with kitchen towel inside (cross fingers they are dry inside by morning)
Reminded DS1 to go to bed
Made hot-water bottles
Printed out online learning forms for DS1 for online lesson on Monday
Put out rubbish bags for collection tomorrow
Set alarm

Ta Da
No more remains of tree! (bags and bags of chopped twigs to be collected, and a bit of clearing up still, but it's now all gone and gas people can access the flue etc.
Dealt with neighbour with MH problems without bloodshed!
Half of kitchen walls fillered and re papered.
Some stuff boxed.

Morning all!

just and alice and

dizzy I like the sound of mud surfing - I obviously had a deprived childhood

merry well done on your marathon!

sc for last month

bitchy thank you for doing this month

toffee that cell cake looks great fun forwards to science teacher

I am half term this week. Spent the weekend in UK. Had a great day on Saturday up in London with Dsis. We had lunch, went to see The Mousetrap and wandered round the West End. I'd forgotten how insanely busy London is. But had a great time (DH was hanging out with my BIL and DS was at the zoo with my DPs - my DM even decided to get DS started on potty training!).

DS seems to have recovered form tongue op last week, now we just need to get back into a routine this week. Am going to try and put him back into his own bed this week (sicne I'm not at work - he'll go to bed in his own bed, but wakes up every night and comes into us. I don't even hear him come in anymore - just wake up to find a ninja toddler in my bed at 3am).

Ta da
Up, dressed
First load of wash on
Peter Pan on (DS has a Peter Pan costume for Caranaval at nursery tomorrow)

To do
Unpack
More washing
Meal plan for the week - I'm free and feeling the need for some nutricious food, lots of veg (always feel like that after getting back from England when we tend to eat out and have lots of big meals).
Supermarket

To do this week (but not necessarily today)
Finances
Clean car
Get bike fixed
Finish marking and reports
Sort out some of stuff in attic and transfer to cellar
Take some time for myself - reading and writing

Morning all. Sorry for late arrival...although nothing particularly unusual there.

Am being sensible today. Was in quite a bit of pain this morning so have opted to take the day off. On a positive note, DS got his first choice of secondary school and will be joining me at my school in September. Am now planning 101 ways to embarrass him.

Am going to catch up with the thread in a mo and then going back to bed.

Waves to all oldies and welcoming waves to any lovely newbies.

Morning, I'm feeling really low today. I can't seem to get the energy to do anything.

My downstairs looks grubby.
Master bedroom is in a state - laundry and lack of clothes storage.
I have no bread so Im having mini cheddars for breakfast because I cant face bran flakes

I often think my house is a barometer of how I feel. The recent push to get back on top since joinging this thread has helped. I know I'm moaning but I stayed up until 2am to have some time and peace to myself but now I'm tired with only housework to look forward to. I think I'm destined to be always teetering on the brink of depression - I dont think I am but always feel as if two sniffs away, if that makes any sense. I wish I wasnt so self aware.

Trying to be positive and think if I get a lot done today, tomorrow we can go out somewhere nice.

Ds got up in the night, nothing unusual about this, and can in for a hug and to be tucked back into bed, again nothing unusual. He actually asked me if i had forgotten to go to bed. Clearly I had because I was under the illusion it was only about 1am, unfortunately when i checked the time it was nearly 4am I was working on that bloody blanketgate blanket. It would seem I am rather eager to get rid of it, can't think why....

Needless to say today I am doing zombie.

Ellie glad to hear you are being sensible

Re the cell model, most students miss the point that the actual model can be the crappiest thing in the world because the marks are not rewarded for effort or the model but the detail and their ability to label and annotate. And whilst is an annoying project to be sent home it is typically a standard assessment piece of work used in sorting out the kids ability levels. bringer of bad news late to the party

I have windows open it is lovely, if on the touch nippy side.

Must get moving. Am tempted to kill off the blanket but need to get a ton of other stuff done this week so will have to see... Will think over a rather large cup mug of coffee.

Thinking I feel similar . However, will try and tackle my bedroom today as it is having a terrible effect on my good humour and it is shocking that it has got so bad. I feel like I have actually given up bothering now to tidy or clean, just little sputtering attempts, and endless rounds of laundry seem all i am acapable of. But I can do it, I know I can, I MUST TRY!!! Cleanign lady was here on Friday, and it has made not the slightest impression on the general squalor, except possibly clean sheets and the hoovering upstairs. That is my fault, not here btw.

ellie brilliant you got the school you wanted...I must find out [nosey gossipey emoticon] what all my friends with children in yr 6 got offered. I am in strange position of sending my children what is considered a 2nd division school (although it is Outstanding) so when these ambitious friends get offered their third choice (my sons' school) I spend a lot of time pontificating reassuring about what a great school it is. The problem is that we are in competition with two very very oversubscribed state schools, that everyone thinks better because they are so difficult to get into...

Toffee sending you lots of spring to cheer you up.

engelsyes London is insanely busy I think it has an effect on everyone's mental health in a way, we all think we should be impossibly thrusting and motivated
Btw, my theory is that children need to co-sleep for a while, then they just get bored of it, and like their own beds. I remember my mother sayign in a resigned sort of way that she once woke up to find all 4 of her children in her bed with her! Certainly I think far more people co-sleep than you can possibly imagine. It is normal for toddlers to want to get into their parents' beds, and if they can get in by themselves all the better (no waking up to deal with screams) I think if ds2 kicked too much I did use to put him back in his own bed but otherwise, it was lovely.