April's Fledgling Fliers: there's no fooling the Fat Fairy this month.

[elliepac]

In a blatant steal from last month's thread:

So here we are, April 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

Well I only got out of bed at 10:30am to see what all the yelling was about. One of the people was throwing toys out of their basket. So now that has been dealt with there has been allocation of jobs and tasks and mostly boy playing chess with the other person. Although they are currently engaging in mass war with a rather lively game of battle ships.

ta da
lose voice
feed child
clear side board in dining room
15mins decluttering in dining room
1 load washing on
fold a mini moutain of washing
30mins decluttering in back bedroom
15mins decluttering in study
play hunt the item in the safe place
send a stroppy person outside to clean windows
fish out a huge bag of random bits of tupperware tubs for ds to sort (used to contain lego)
find some temp storage stuff for dsis who wants to rescue some of her stuff out of storage in the back bedroom
sort out the arts station drawers
give person the emergency no board to deal with (and thus be out of the way)
Drink coffee
sort out a whole mountain of stuff to go to charity shop

to do
Bonfire
clothes away
ironing
find ironing board
find dining room table
wash chair throw that bares brunt of people sitting on it with food
load of normal washing
clean laundry container so it can go back

Okay. Wiped out. Stood outside with manual hedge trimmers and snipped off as much of the hedge as I could and filled up the garden waste bin. My arms are about to fall off. God, it was high. Still have some more to go, but at least it's better than it was.

Well done, Alice. That's impressive.

Hope your day improved, Bitchy.

Good to see you back here, Swan. Sorry to hear that there was a lot of housework and shopping involved on your holiday. And that your sister went away - that would have annoyed me, unless she had a good excuse. At least you are appreciating your own home and mod cons again . Sounds like you are well ahead of me on the DC and housework issue, by the way.

hotcross - I felt like you when I read Mercury's post .

Mercury - that was a very impressive 'ta da' list for first thing on a holiday morning . Did your energy last the day? And can you spare some of it for me?

Engels - hope you feel well enough for the party today.

Dizzy - so glad to hear you loved the IOW . Hope your DD does well in her race today.

Managed to get out to the local farmers' market and then for a walk in the countryside this morning. DS1 said he'd come with us, but chickened out at the last minute. The rest of us had a lovely walk and even saw baby bunnies - perfect for an Easter weekend .

Finished my book, then fell asleep when I came home. All the energy I brought back from my holiday seems to have gone already. Feel somehow overwhelmed by this house and all there is to do in it. No matter how much I do, there is always so much more to do .

Anyway, being on MN won't help, so will shift my backside and start tidying the kitchen and making dinner. Salmon tonight, with lots of veg. Then surprise Easter eggs for the DC.

I am in danger of doing some harm to anyone who happens to annoy me tonight. Not particularly happy bunny but have been a productive bunny. Not eaten properly so have an absolute thumping migraine. Drunk far too much coffee as I think someone was helpfully refilling my cup for me and I didn't notice. People being helpful in an unhelpful manner is pissing me off tbh. Meh and grumpf. Will update ta da list later, but will leave it for now as it will be scary bitchy's list kinda levels.

On a plus note we are getting roast duck for tea definitely a bonus to the clearing out the freezer things

Bitchy have some God knows I'm right there with you here and there this week. DCs have been lovely, STBXH not so much.

Glad you liked the IOW Dizzy. I think we will plan a daytrip on the hovercraft sometime this summer. I haven't been on it for years but have always loved watching them take off from Southsea beach (I used to live there).

Glad you had a good break too Toffee.

Bit of a mad clean up of the house before leaving for the ILs this morning, we have spent most of our time outdoors this week and the house had deteriorated a bit (fairly tidy but in need of a good vacuum and floor mopping).

alice I find angry flying can be rather productive. Currently hiding in my office until after I have eaten. Then I am kicking everyone out of the lounge and dealing with that. Not much but it is half sorted piles of stuff on the floor that i need the floor for finishing off. So they can all sod of to their bedrooms.

Annoyingly I have run out of black printer in as well. I am sure i saw some the other day in my decluttering but can only find colour atm. Might see if the ink in the printer that has not been used in a few years is still ok. probably not lol

Must also remember to turn my laptop off. FB has been beeping away at me.

Another one signing in after being on holiday

Got back yesterday afternoon and even though I knew I'd have DH's laundry, there was a MUCH bigger pile than expected. DH had a friend come up for a few days, he stayed at this friend's house when he had been looking for work there, what I didn't know was that there were clothes still there which his friend returned (understandably) DH alleges he didn't realise he'd left so much. Anyway these have been sat in a pile in the friend's spare room (Flylady would be appalled at the level of stuff there) so DH just dumped it all in the laundry.

Plus I changed DD's bedding before we went on holiday but left ours until I got back, so that I could have clean sheets last night.

On the plus side house is cleanish and tidy and DCat has been well looked after, although he has missed me, and not left me all day.

So...

Done yesterday
6 hour train journey with Dd
Sorted dirty laundry
Changed bedding
3 loads laundry washed

Done today
Hung out 3 loads laundry
Swapped some summer & winter clothing over
Vacuumed under bed (that's where case of spare clothes are kept)
Vacuumed rest of bedroom, hallway & bathroom
S&S
Futile trip to library (should have realised they'd be shut)
Trip to supermarket to restock
Trip to Post office
Laundry in
Dinner
Wash up & SS
Ironing
Load laundry in

Am now considering and catching up on thread. Like the new name Bitchy they don't stand a chance

I am exhausted. The day carried on pretty productively Toffee.

Ta da
Ds hair cut.
Weeks meals planned
Food shop done
Cake tin purchased
Dad picked up
Chocolate mousse cake made
Trip to get flowers and soil for back garden
Downstairs dusted and hoovered - dp
Junk cleared out of garage - dp
Hanging baskets and pots planted
Another trip to get more soil and flowers
Brackets put up for hanging baskets - dp
Freezer defrosted
Garden de pood
Washing in
Dw on
Wm reloaded
Dinner made
Kitchen cleaned
Dad dropped off
Harry potter read to dc
Dc in bed
Collapse onto sofa

Im off for a bath now and then to bed to read. It is nice to have so many of you back from your trips it has been very quietbon here.

hi all, nice to see you have all had productive days, we've been shopping, tidied the house got Easter eggs, plus extras just in case anyone pops round with some!!! I'm going to be decorating his cake tomorrow, because my back hurts too much to be standing about decorating right now.

Ok, i did warn you it would be a scary long list. I appologise, it really is a scary long list. And it explains why I feel like death now.

ta da
lose voice
feed child
clear side board in dining room
15mins decluttering in dining room
1 load washing on
fold a mini moutain of washing
30mins decluttering in back bedroom
15mins decluttering in study
play hunt the item in the safe place
send a stroppy person outside to clean windows
fish out a huge bag of random bits of tupperware tubs for ds to sort (used to contain lego)
find some temp storage stuff for dsis who wants to rescue some of her stuff out of storage in the back bedroom
sort out the arts station drawers
give person the emergency no board to deal with (and thus be out of the way)
Drink coffee
sort out a whole mountain of stuff to go to charity shop
Get ds painting the rest of the salt dough shapes
folding
pair socks in sock basket of meh
clothes away
ironing
find ironing board
find dining room table
sweep dining room floor
wash chair throw that bares brunt of people sitting on it with food
load of normal washing
15mins more decluttering in study
boot up computer of virus and print out picture onto photo paper
print out the files that need keeping - almost but run out of black ink so have 71 pages left to print
Try to figure out best way of storing 373 page print out of doc
get ds to stick stuff ready for xcel work
cut out more shapes to help with this
play hunt the black ink cartrigde and only find a colour one
spend 45mins decluttering in the office
find random ball of wool in approx colour of wool needed to finish blanket but actually wrong colour (and probably brand)
check emails and internet stuff
15mins mad decluttering in my room looking for ds' sleep meds
regret not remembering anti-histine tablet this morning
clothes away
ironing
find ironing board
find dining room table
wash chair throw that bares brunt of people sitting on it with food
load of normal washing
Discover some really fascinating family tree stuff that I didn't know I had, and realise that the family tree files are out of date and all over the place.
get ds to try on pe kit bits and remake kits
cull worn out clothes
cull telephone directories drawer
collect together a load of stuff for the charity shop
return emergency no board to its location of living
get ds to cull some of his favourite boxes
find some stuff of dsis that requires her attention and put accessible
get a person to cut a new length of dowling so the mended remote control holder can be returned to it's normal location
find 15 pairs of socks in the office and wonder wtf --I think i might have considered sock monkeys at some point but they are getting washed and put into use.

And that they say is that. I should be tidying the lounge but have a thumping headache so have taken some strong pain killers and hoping for an early night. I suppect that too much caffine, not enough proper food and the lingering effects of a couple of recent bad night's sleep are the cause and hopefully a good night's sleep will be the cure. Ds has helpfully said that as his favourite aunt is visiting tomo I can work on getting tidy and sorted because he is busy. Poor Dsis

I think the plan for tomo is as follows:
up at a school run kinda time (we have been lying in recently)
tidy lounge
play match the tupperwear tub to lid
iron the bedding to go on my bed
hoover through as soon as it becomes acceptible time wise to do so (ie around 10am)
decluttering in my room
find the eyes to stick on the sea creature/salt dough sheep shapes
sit in a quiet corner and finish the blended crochet blanket
finish the blue hug blanket
start 2nd blue hug blanket
consider tackling the mending (ds' trousers and school jumper; unpick two zips - one with requires a new zip to be purchased)
take picture to send to friend for a measurement of her daughter so can get that project culled

I think the cunning plan for monday is to be up and out early and go for a stomp in the hills weather permitting. Although as it is bank hol monday I think i need a back up plan. Might teach ds how to use Xcel instead, plus there are plants needing planting I think i will be pleased when the schools go back on Tuesday, I need a day to recover from this weekend At least there has been no proper DIY.

Goth hope you had a lovely holiday, and anyone else who has recently returned. May you be refreshed and ready to deal with reality.

Swan good luck getting the brood to the service, may you have a peaceful day with kindness and as little shouting and sibblingness as possible

Ellie hope you haven't frozen yourself too much, look after yourself, and good luck with the return to school

Whoknows the hoovercraft sounds like an adventure. I am scared of boats and anything that involves water but I would like to do something like that so that I can say I have done it.

Alice may the stbxh be less problematic for you. Tbh i think some of my rage is pmt related. I have been pretty dreadful with it in the recent months. unfortunately there is not such a simple solution and explanation for your problems. unfortunately a hitman or bodily damge is kinda illegal although sometimes achiving this mentally is satisfying

toffee it is a well known fact that a holiday is just a change of scene, nothing wrong with having a relaxing afternoon with a good book and a nap. It sounds perfectly lovely. Don't be so hard on yourself.

SC I do hope that all the ill people are recovering and that you have managed to enjoy some of your holiday.

Right really is time for bed now. May you all have lovel easter sundays and come back with tales of exciting things. night.

so today..I have...

cooked lunch (sausages potatoes and green veg)
cleared up lunch (with help of dcs)
put load of washing on
taken out rubbish
recycling
been to Westfield and nearly pegged out walking around that horrible place, BUT have managed to get ds1's birthday clothes some clothes that fit him rather than in any way festive and then braved Superdry - apparently a place for trendy hoodies. Bought three Easter hoodies for dcs. not literally Easter just circumstantially.

dd made ds1 a birthday cake, and cleared up, a bit

garden is looking good. Lots of orange. Never had that before, but it is a nice contrast with bluebells

read newspapers. relaxed a bit. I love it here. As long as no-one is screaming Oh dear first casualty of packing Easter eggs, it appears to have been sat on...

Hope your back is feeling better tomo babblehag does the cake have a theme?

Mercury I was thinking that. can get too quiet around here in the hols.

Alice take it slowly with that hedge. It is hard work clearing up the cuttings so you have to do it little by little. I used to be sole cutter of a ginormous hedge in my twenties when I had a flat with a giant privet hedge to the street side. It is worth using electrical ones if you use a circuit breaker for safety and get someone to stand by the ladder. So fast compared to manual. Although sharp hand clippers are a revelation, if you have been using blunt ones for years without noticing

bitchy I'm going to attempt a pintrest style minecraft cake, I was going for some blue jelly squares to put in front of the cake but I only had raspberry flavour jelly and the blue food colouring wasn't strong enough to overpower it, so I guess they are going to have to be a nether portal type thing

Ooooo sounds adventurous babblehag

is it just me?

Toffee - close your eyes to the time of posting. I am in bed just not sleepy!

DD had a pretty good gala coming home with 2 PB's and was close with the third. It was a joint 9/10yr age group so no medals but her highest placing (excluding the 10s) was 4th. We now have a month to her next one (plus our 3k run) so we are planning a big fitness push - and get me back on the diet wagon!

Ta Da

• Cooked pasta and packed gala food
• DD to gala
• Unpacked gala bags and hung out wet towels etc
• Laundry load in and hung to dry
• Watered veggies
• Played frisbie with DD
• Washed pots that DH had kindly left festering in the sink after cooking soup and dinner whilst we were out [grr]
• Left out a chocolate egg for him and her

Dizzy - I didn't go to sleep till 3am, so I can't tut at you this time . Like you, was in bed, but not sleepy (thanks to afternoon nap, I suppose).

Well done to your DD.

Sympathies on finding the festering pots: I have come downstairs to a roasting pan still soaking in the sink this morning. It was DH's turn to wash up last night.

Was meant to be taking DS2 to his swimming lesson this morning, but overslept. He was delighted (what a contrast with your DD, Dizzy - my DS2 hates getting water on his face or hair) and at least I now have time to tidy the house and get lunch (roast lamb) ready.

(Anyone else eat lamb, but always feel guilty about it? I feel bad every time I see the leg in my fridge ).

Eating breakfast now (sharing DS2's pancakes - that'll be good for my diet ), then going to do some work before starting a crisis clean. Am way behind with my OU work now, so will need to do some of that later too.

hotcross - DS2 had a Minecraft party for his last birthday. I'll see if I can remember anything helpful.

hotcross - I used these food labels from Etsy and matched them up to the party food, eg red jelly beans for redstone, twiglets for sticks, etc. I dyed rice crispie cakes black to make coal. Also found some printable labels for drinks online somewhere and labelled water 'Creeper Juice' and juice 'Potion of Healing' .

Correction: this was the Etsy shop I bought the labels from. Lots more Minecraft stuff there too.

Currently in hiding. Still in a grumpf so best this way.

The to do list was as follows:
up at a school run kinda time (we have been lying in recently)
tidy lounge
play match the tupperwear tub to lid
iron the bedding to go on my bed
hoover through as soon as it becomes acceptible time wise to do so (ie around 10am)
decluttering in my room
find the eyes to stick on the sea creature/salt dough sheep shapes
sit in a quiet corner and finish the blended crochet blanket *about to start working on--
finish the blue hug blanket
start 2nd blue hug blanket
consider tackling the mending (ds' trousers and school jumper; unpick two zips - one with requires a new zip to be purchased)
take picture to send to friend for a measurement of her daughter so can get that project culled
Make cake and ice
3 loads of washing
folding
ironing
15mins decluttering in the office
speak to dsis about stuff she wants sending to the charity shop
washing up of pots
fill and put DW on to run
successfully finally get ds into the bath and clean

Could do with a nap tbh but not sure i will get away with it.

I'm in hiding too, Bitchy. I can't listen to MIL's tales of death, illness and DM stories anymore, so I'm hiding in the kitchen busy cooking.

Incidentally, in one of her stories, she told me that a friend, who had deep vein thrombosis, had been rushed to hospital, "with a DVD".

Thank you toffee I will keep that in mind next time ds2 wants a minecraft party, ds1 doesn't cope with parties, but has stressed that he would like a cake, and egg sandwiches.
I can imagine ds2 wanting proper wooden blocks and earth block and everything for his!!! I'm already saving cardboard boxes!

tada list,

get up
get dressed (in onsie)
ice cake
get dp to fix cake and make it better
ring exh and ask him to drop Ds off to dfs
eat egg

to do
cook off some sausage rolls
make some egg sarnies
get some party food together
have family tea party (literally the people he lives with)
try to not make it party ish
do not song happy birthday!!!
cleaning hour!
relax
pack picnic for tomorrows trip to bewilderwood
tell ds1 of tomorrows trip to bewilderwood when ds2+3 are in bed to save meltdown!

Hello All! Happy Easter!!