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.

I'm still feeling pretty crap with my cold, got a really chesty cough and feel generally weak and feeble. School and work today, then swimming for the DCs this evening and some OU study and cooking for the freezer. I have cancelled all appointments for tomorrow, will be studying and have a busy evening schedule of DCs activities.

Bad news today, the local authority are refusing to assess DS for a statement, I thought this would happen, so I will have to appeal, but it is still disappointing.

Off to bed now, night all.

So sorry to hear about your ds's request for an assessment being turned down Whoknows. That is so demoralising (demoralising because it must seem like a rejection of your child's needs and demoralising for the very fact that it is anticipated.) Wishing you strength to battle on for the next round!

Hope you feel much better tomorrow too. [Are you sure it is just a cold, you have been suffering for a while now?] x

Really am off to bed now. Sleep well everyone!

Pretty standard Monday here

Ta Da

• Washed pots etc from yesterday (couldn't be bothered last night }
• S/S x4
• Upstairs hovered through
• Hoovered stairs
• Downstairs hovered through
• Dry clothes away
• Load of towels washed and hung (briefly) out to dry
• Washing load washed and hung to dry
• Kitchen bin and recycling emptied
• Swam 100 lengths
• Dinner cooked
• Washed pots and shined sink
• Meals planned for week ahead

Sans - my DD is also not a big potato person. She will now eat homemade wedges and likes jacket potatoes but dislikes mash (which I think stems from school's which isn't great). She, like me, could eat pasta with every meal!

to do
finish morning routine
school run
go to supermarket and buy groceries
laundry
washing up
vacuum entire house
strip beds, wash sheets, put clean sheets on beds
tidy living room
tidy dining room
tidy kitchen
read over some paperwork
update diary
file paperwork

I probably won't get it all done, but here's hoping I get through quite a bit of it. DCs want pancakes tonight. (is it pancake day? goodness, I've quite lost track of time!)

Total tizz here, motivation to work day, as well as urgently needed CT scan, and gas people tearing everything apart and demanding I'm available for their access 24/7.
Emergency ironing and try and create list later.

WhoKnows sorry about your assessment news, but gentle reminder that lots of LA’s are currently trying on refusal to assess because of the new EHC plans coming in, and their desire to not have both systems in place more than they have to, and fear of how to run them simultaneously. Should they actually say that, it is of course an illegal blanket policy.

You may want to check who their mediation provider is, and go to them at the same time as starting the appeal.
It may feel like extra hassle, but it’s a good tactic, as well as showing you know your way around and will use all available. Chin up.

whoknows - what a battle. Sorry to hear the council aren't making it easy.

sc (puts on stern voice) you really should sort your op. It will be your DH's job to sort out childcare for DD of he has meetings and otherwise he'll have to take some time off. I think women end up doing this so much - taking on all the responsibility and jumping through hoops to make sure everything runs smoothly if theyhave to take a few days out of ordinary life. If DH had to go away for work for a week (unlikely) it wouldn't make a jot of difference to our lives (I would have to ask MIL to babysit one day but would be able to drop off and pick up at a reasonable time). Whereas if I had to go away for a week there would be much more childcare and drop off to organise and DH would be a complete martyr about it.

Slightly sidetracked, but the point I'm trying to make is that your health is the most important thing!

Ta da
Up, dressed (DS in fancy dress for Carnaval!), breakfast
Caught up on MN

Okay, house is a tip but only one thing on the list today...

To do
Finish marking and reports!

Not sure if I will be bale to get everything done before DH gets home and then DS, but I cannot enjoy the rest of my holiday until I do this. Then hopefully I can spend tomorrow doing jobs in the house that are difficult with DS under my feet.

Now I have to get off MN and I will not be back until I have finished my marking and reports!

Just realised it's pancake day. I have pre-made pancakes in the freezer (possibly one of the only convenience foods you can buy in Albert Heijn - I miss Sainsbury's). Was going to make pizza today but this seems like a better idea!

Morning everyone!

ta da
Swish and swipe
1 load laundry on
2 mins hotspot clearing
Catch train for work
Found I can use mumsnet on phone I may regret this

to do
Buy pancke ingredients - thanks for reminding me Alice
Work
Quick declutter
Kitchen misson if i have time
Admin
Clear sink

Hope you all have a good day, catch up later

Stupid bastard cunting world book day on thursday. today is the only day i have for making the fucking costume. And i have a migraine and a very vile mood not helped by ds who is singing and humming and making a shit load of noise. WHy can't he hate mornings like me? Is. it. bedtime. yet?

FUll of the joys of spring this morning aren't I

Bitchy no one should sing or whistle before 10am. Have you a plan for the costume yet? Am now feeling nervous as there has been no mention of it from DD.

SC sort the op out!

Managed to make little chocolate cakes (for DD) and a mocha cake (for DH me) last night, so actually feeling appreciated this morning!

Done
Beds
Laundry on
Windows (inc battling a midge)
Packed lunch
Dd to school

To do
Laundry out (if the showers stop)
Dry laundry away
Get 'stuff' ready for tonight-we're having our ski/snowboarding taster sessions
Do online shop

BBL

Some schools do it later in the year goth

Oh yes, i have very strict instructions and I am not allowed to look at the film as that would be cheating as it is world book day not world film day bloody child who has to have everything just so!!!!

I have fabric and a pattern and just need to stop procrastinating and actually get on and do. Computer based jobs are far more interesting today I know it is only because i am procrastinating though

DS2 refuses to participate in World Book Day as he hates dressing up at school. Makes it very easy for me .

And DS2 had pancakes for breakfast again, so that's Shrove Tuesday sorted for him too.

No work today which means I can catch up on other stuff.

To do

Clear hotspot corner for coffee machine
Start writing parental statement for LEA
OU work
Help DS1 with homework
Sit with DS1 for online lesson
Usual laundry and routines

I wish my school did World Book Day...actually I'm going to suggest it next year

I'm secondary though and we never do anything fun (except dressing up for Hallowe'en). I want some fun! (and I love dressing up!)

ta da
Find fabric
iron fabric
find pattern pieces
iron pattern pieces
print out code from scratch program ds wrote
sort out a few bits for ds' memory books
be a proper grump
start new crochet project before finishing off the 3 in progress typical crafter...

Okay, 5 mins are up. Back to essays.

I should have DS2 go as Harry Potter. He has already got a scar in the right spot of his forehead and wears similar glasses.

Engels - Hallowe'en is banned in our school on inclusion grounds and it's not even a church school.

I went into the office to find the sewing machine. I got rather sided tracked. 20mins later i have finally rescued the thing. Done a bit of decluttering whilst i was in there though [procrastinating on costume]

Whilst having World Book Day angst I have had a major sort out of the loft :o
DD and her then best friend went as Thing 1 and 2 for WBD in Year2. I kept her Thing 2 sweatshirt and 'persuaded' DS (by telling him we would dye his hair blue :o) that wearing it was a Good Idea. He fell for it but then could I find the damn thing? Spent about 2 hrs last night and the same today going through all sorts of stuff. Have a HUGE bootful of stuff to go to the charity shop, some stuff to Freecycle, have discovered various things we thought we had lost, have chucked some stuff and, finally, have found the sweatshirt. Result :)
Plan B is not needed thankfully (Cat in the Hat hat and bow tie) but I still have to make an elven cloak as DD wants to go as Galadriel

I'm still tidying my bedroom

SC it is difficult with these chronic ailments to know when to act. I know I've been putting off all sorts of health interventions, of a minor sort.

Absolutely cream crackered again today, I went to bed too late. Dh is getting fed up with my malingering tones. He's right as I don't really get anything done staying up late, just make myself too tired to do anything the next day..

better not put off the inevitable. back to the pigsty upstairs it is nice to know I have a straight three hours to tackle it. Something will be better in three hours, that is for sure. [lugs hoover to top of house]

just hope you get through the workshop today, and there are at least some interesting souls there.

Just- thank you, yes I will look into the mediation - if I ever actually get the info from the LA, is is supposed to all be attached to the letter but I've only had an email so far (and had to chase for that). I am going to get cracking on the appeal forms and not let grass grow under my feet.

Funny you should say that Feetheart. I am currently creating a cloak. I have a nasty feeling that ds should be in an adult size not a kid's size but it is an outer layer so if it doesn't meet in the middle it will get fudged with a fastening type thing.

Incidentally I also have a can of wash out blue hair day from mad hair day last year schools do some odd things!

Okay, finished marking and reports for my A-level class. Now onto Year 9 (book reports and missing scenes to mark before I can get near the reports - plus all the little bits and pieces whihc haven't been finished this term ).

Time for a large and the rest of the shortbread I picked up from Sainsbury's.

Wow - I have always been a champion for reading and literacy and now I have another reason to sing their praises - apparently WBD helps fledglings declutter!

Have spent all morning working on the first draft of my parental information form for the statement application.

Then had a phone call from the ASD specialist we want to see DS1 who thinks she might be able to fit him in in May! We are paying this time, as we have given up on CAMHS for ASD stuff.

Doing lunch now, then DS1 has an online lesson that I need to sit with him for.

Washing up is where I left it this morning .

Afternoon all!

Feeling much, much better today so dd and I had a nice floppy morning playing Playmobil schools, Playmobil house and various board games.

Lovely weather so went out to bakery and to supermarket to buy lemons for pancakes this evening and for a bit of a walk, dd on bicycle, me scuttling behind.

After lunch, dd and I assembled a drawer/storage thing for kitchen (another temporary stop-gap but will have to do) and transferred tins and food pkts in to it from two shelves of kitchen cabinet, leaving available space (hopefully) for serving plates and bowls which are currently wobbling in an unstable way on top of fridge (and are exposted to dust so annoyingly need re-washing every time they are used).

Unfortunately all of the above involves humungous clean of kitchen cabinet, sorting of two storage boxes of baking products (done recently so hopefully not too onerous), cleaning of one part of tiled wall that was covered in out of date school/church/what to do in an emergency posters and is now covered in smudged grey splodges of blue-tack, and a huge sort and chuck of lazy susan thing on which dh keeps his vast spice collection. It is going to take forever! And I have done exactly what Flylady said not to do and pulled everything out all at once, and there is stuff all over the kitchen floor and cabinets ... oh dear ... at least dd had a fine old time playing with the cardboard box the storage unit arrived in!

So just having a restorative cup of coffee before I get back to it!

Thank you Goth Swan Engels Whoknows and others for your supportive words and encouragement (here and elsewhere) re: op. I know I must get on with it. My dsis2 (saint that she is) has offered to come out and look after dd so I am just panicking irrationally and using that as an excuse to avoid the inevitable and I need to get on with it. Even though my dsis would be here, I still keep having these ridiculous thoughts such as "what would happen if dd broke her leg in the playground while I am in hospital?" which is madness because it hasn't happened yet in the 7 yrs she has attended school but just have this irrational fear of not being there when needed ifyswim!!! And to be fair to dh, he is completely competent pro-active and hands-on looking after dd, when he is here!! So need to get a grip basically.

Anyway, onward and upward!

More power to your elbow re: boudoir declutter Swan! (And sympathies re: hauling hoovers up and down stairs - it is my aim to have one functioning hoover on each floor but it never works out like that somehow.)

Good luck with all the marking/reports Engels which must be eating up your precious holiday time! Hope you can get shot of them as qucikly as poss

Dizzy yes, I think eating pasta as a staple, as opposed to pots, is a generational thing. Love the way you casually mention swimming 100 lengths as part of your 'standard' Monday I wouldn't be fit to walk afterwards, never mind do chores!!

Hope you can take it steady today and recover a bit Whoknows

Well done re: statement application this morning Toffee and good luck with the rest of it, and good news about specialist!

Good luck with CT scan Just

Have fun tonight at the ski slope Goth!

Arf at unintentional loft tidying Feetheart

Bitchy thanks for links and best of luck with costume creation!!!

And good luck to everyone else frantically creating costumes today!

Waves to Alice and everyone else!

Looks like dd and I will be heading off to Blighty some time tomorrow, with dh following on when and if he can, so sending extra big feathery waves to everyone and will 'see' you all when we get bk.

Right, back to kitchen chaos ... .