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

mercury I have done that too

Your babystep today is swish and swipe

Your mission for today is here

Today is errand day

Have a good day everyone

Good morning fledglings! Very inspired/impressed by everyone's lists.

DD has just been dispatched to school with baby-sitter and will be collected by her too, as I am off to the printer's for most of today.

Just need to put some jellies in rabbit moulds before I go - dd poss has English friend coming back with her from tennis tonight. Can only serve jelly to English dc as French-speaking dc look at it in horror and their parents think sweet jelly is an abomination! I know it's not exactly health food but their reaction is out of all proportion!

Dh still away (which is harder and much easier in equal measures!) but good news is that his sister's op went well.

Ta da:
morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s, rabbits
re-booted laundry
ran hoover around ground floor

To do:
jellies
argue with printer
office admin
on-line parcels
make tomato sauce
sort tennis gear for dd
find spare door key
supper
crash

Doesn't look much but enough.

Ellie aww at the bear hugs from 6ft teenage boys Glad you are taking it steady! Btw, if I listed all my many and various parenting fails here I wouldn't get to the printers on time!

Whoknows dd (10yrs - 11 in the summer) has just started cutting her own finger and toe nails in the main (she also hates me doing it) but sometimes needs help with toe nails still. Have bought her tiny-sized straight clipper things which seems to help. Congrats on your module which is a huge achievement considering everything else you have going on!

Toffee glad home-edding going well! I can't imagine ever getting near enough to the bed to cut dd's nails whiles she sleeping, without her waking up, never mind actually cutting them! She is like a horse, when stabled, you very rarely catch them lying down

Mercury hope you can get the dishwasher fixed. Have you looked at the arm sprinkler things? If you take them out, and scrub/clean the holes with white vinegar and boiling water and the sharp point of a safety pin, then replace - it gets all of the calcaire out and can sometimes work better.

Have a productive day everyone!

arrgh, calcaire = limescale

mercury once had a dw repair man who did with my dw exactly what SC suggests - quick scrub and it was mended! Also Salt works miracles and rinse aid if that is not too patronising to suggest..

Whoknows I cut the boys' nails, especially toenails, as no fine motor skills, but dd has done her own for ages. Actually boys finger nails get worn down by life as in the wild.

done
drove dd to school and back
put out recycling
watered some plants in the front
swept path
watched Antiques challenge with dh, sometimes it's fun having your dh at home during the day

Complicated afternoon/day,as we have a guest that may not come afterall staying night with her two year old, after funeral, and I am not sure whether to cancel my book club evening or not, or read the book!!! Or tidy the house for that matter. I suppose I had better just tidy it anyway...

Had a lovely day with ds2 yesterday, we went for a haircut after school (him) and chips in Morrisons, and lots of chatting. Dd very tired after first day back at school, and clearly unable to function, as she had a screaming fit when she discovered it was bolognese so had to rustle up an emergency carbonara for her Ds1 in excellent spirits, I don't know why, possibly finding it easier to get on with his classmates than latterly..Tonight is the first Joseph rehearsal and he's the Narrator. Ds2 got the Baker's part so ds1 is dreading ds2 singing in the chorus as apparently he is awful

Better get on. Pit of anxiety about where to start, but I suppose I did do a lot of drawer decluttering and laundry yesterday so it is a bit better than before.

ds won't let anyone do his nails by anyone other than his great grandma. Although he has been encouraged to use nail clippers (fair easier than sissors), he would prefer the biting method - even for toe nails

I had an early night and have woken up disorientated and sore. I do have problems with muscle siezing and it takes a while to get going first thing. Have had a constitutional this morning but a collapse sewer issue in the village means that it was not as pleasant as it could be with the lovely weather.

Not sure what the plan is for today, i think more rest and work with a hook to cull some of the wool stock (ie decluttering) might be the best plan. Especially as a lot of the mess in the way in my room is crafting things. So much that needs to be done so this will at least allow me to feel productive whilst doing the rest thing my body currently seems to need.

Will lurk but I doubt there will be a ta da list.

at linguistic confusion and French reactions to jelly, SC!

I also find that boys' fingernails seem to sort themselves out. Think they tend to pick them too...

My parents have finally gone home - love them dearly, but they fill the house, somehow, and muck up my routines! Need to get back to normal and diet now.

Off to do errands day now...

I am fucking bored of rest but have bugger all energy to do anything

Bitchy I don't feel that energetic, but unfortunately I don't have the excuse of having been ill. I'm just feeling a bit lazy today.

Ok, ex strikes again. I lied about the ta da list:

ta da
watch the rental film and post
collect laundry from around the house
make oatbread
make sheep cakes with the usual saw it on pinterest results
figured out a way fo giving sisters access to an inherited recipee book
put chicken on to cook
count out the shrapnel
work on culling the wool stock

off to tackle some of the laundry in a don't fucking get in my way or give me lip way.

[Crawls on stumps towards keyboard... and waves feebly at everyone]

Bit of a long day...

Ta da:
morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s, rabbits
dd off to school
re-booted laundry
ran hoover around ground floor
made jellies
argued collaborated with printer for five long hours and now I have a headache
1 hr office admin (still loads to do)
made tomato sauce
made rock cakes
made lemon sponge cake
made berry compote
dw load no. 2
sorted tennis gear for dd
tried to find spare door key without success
stripped and re-made 2 beds
rubbish/recycling
cleaned top of stove
cleaned microwave
cleaned fridge (wasn't intending to do this but the temptation, in dh's absence, to go through the fridge and throw out all of his festering pots of pickled beetroot and cod's roe proved too great!!)
made marinated courgette salad
supper for dd, dd's friend, dd's friend's father
dd to bed
various phone calls
dw again
rabbits

[Crawls in direction of bed ...

sorry - crossing out went a bit wrong there - brain dead!

G'night all!

Evening all. Frustrating day. Spent 2 and a half hours waiting for a hospital appointment that took 5 mins although on the positive side i now have a clean bill of health after the whole knocking myself unconscious business.

Another small ta da list in my gentle flying recovery:-
Morning routine
Work
Wait for hours at hospital
Dinner cooked and cleared away
Packed lunches made
Clothes laid out
Bags packed
General tidy downstairs
Swish and swipe in bathroom
1 load of washing done.

Now collapsing with a small glass of in front of Masterchef.

Hope everyone is ok.

Sorry for those who've had exhausting/frustrating/infuriating days.

Struggling to remember what happened today ...

Oh yes.

ta da
Breakfast
Swish and swipe
Washing up
Room rescue - sitting room
Handwriting with DS2
with MIL
Took DS2 to have hair cut (DS1 refused - will need curtain tie backs for his fringe shortly)
To library with DS2
Chores in town
Home for lunch
Washing up
Maths & reading with DS2
Impromptu nap on DS2's bed whilst he played with Lego
Put online shopping delivery away (me and DH)
Dinner
Bedtime routine
Telly time
Washing up (DH)

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by lack of space in our dining-room at the moment. The table is used for DH's work (piles of books) and now for home educating DS2 (more piles of books). It's very difficult to clear space for eating there too. DH protested today that the printer has taken up permanent residence on one of the chairs, like an uninvited guest, but there's nowhere else to put it.

Not at all tired now, thanks to late nap, so may be MN-ing for a bit yet .

Yay it is Friday!!
I was in bed by 8 last night. I was ridiculously tired and decided to listen to my body for a change. It means I have lots to do today but at least I will now have the energy to do it!

Thank you for the dishwasher advice SC and Swan I will soak the arm tonight.

Glad to hear you had a good night's sleep and are reinvigorated this morning, Mercury .

Unfortunately, I couldn't get to sleep till 2am and now feel tired and groggy, in spite of coffee. And we're going out for dinner with friends tonight, so I need to stay awake till late.

Need to tackle washing up and room rescues, then we're taking DS2 to work with us (he loves helping with the packing and has told us, very kindly, that we don't need to bother about paying him ). Home later for home ed stuff, then online lessons for DS1.

Really, really need to tidy DS2's bedroom before MIL turns up for babysitting tonight. You can't walk on the floor thanks to all the Lego. Aiming to get DS2 involved with the tidying too.

Hope everyone has a good day.

ds was very lovely and got dragged out to run most of the errands i had planned to do today yesterday. Which means i can focus on culling some of the almost done blankets. And wash ds' bedding (including duvet) from last night's whoops.

ta da
stitch a name tag in new shorts
put duvet on to wash

will be back later. Am on a bit of a missing today. Hope you alll have productive days

Morning all! Running late with links this morning and posting sneakily at work.

Your babystep for today is here.

Your mission is here.

And today is Declutter your Car and Purse Day.

Have a good day everyone!

Good morning fledglings! Hope all well with everyone.

Headache got worse in the night and spent the hours between 3 and 4 am taking pills and drinking tea but woke blissfully pain free this morning. And pleasantly surprised to hear that dh is coming home tonight (although I must admit that it has been very peaceful without him and the house is certainly much cleaner and more organised ).

Got dd to school early this morning but it's taken me a longer than usual to get through the morning routine partly because I had a little pause on a bench on the terrace in the sunshine, drinking tea, with a rabbit stretched over my feet - aahhhh bliss - partly because I'm feeling a bit jaded - and partly because I was distracted by a strange looking "swarm" of winged insects that are fluttering around a particular shrub in the garden ... have never seen them before .. smaller than wasps, black in colour, large irridescent wings, furry black undersides and long white antennae? Anyone??? Annoyingly we have a reference book about European insects and I can't find it!

Right, must get to it... .

Ta da:
general tidy up downstairs
morning routine inc dw, wm, s&s, rabbits
school run
clean stove top and rest of kitchen which didn't get done after supper last night
phoned dsis2
phoned friend

To do:
more laundry
French poetry vocab (in advance of this weekend's hwk supervision)
reply to e-mails
admin (lots)
on-line packages
boudoir
make up pancake batter
do something creative for an hour!
20 mins brisk walk in sunshine
supermarket run
school run
dd to friends
collect dd from friends
supper for dh
crash!

Good luck with your mission Bitchy - muscle seizing sounds v. unpleasant indeed.

Toffee hope you can conserve some energy today for your outing tonight, despite the bedroom rescue! (If it's any consolation btw, I'm worried about my memory too; keep forgetting names and couldn't remember the plant name 'wisteria' the other day and had to point and say "that mauve plant" ). And re: dining room - we had same prob with dd's hwk permanently all over dining room table - we solved it by buying corner desk for her from Ikea. Not the most beautiful looking piece of furniture but has really, really helped with keeping the room tidy. Dedicated piece of furniture for printer might help too. Not a fan of Ikea quality but they are clever at designing space-saving items.

Mercury glad you feel well rested! I've seen posters on Mnsnet say that they have a policy of going to bed at the same time as their dc one night a week - I think it's a really good idea and should do it myself. Sets a good example for dc too ...

Ellie what a bore having to waste your time waiting at the hospital, but glad outcome was positive.

Waves to Alice Blue and everyone else!

arrgh - the 'hour' between

Argh - forgot to say

Swan Hope potential visitors/book club issue resolved itself happily and without too much angst for yourself and that Joseph rehearsal went well for your dss.

SC I am awed by the amount of cooking you did yesterday I watched dh put on fishfingers with gratitude

I had a long day yesterday, worriting about the potential guest and minding her little girl who I hadn't properly met during funeral, but in the event, she decided to leave her safely with other friends, and I went to my (ex- uncle's funeral as I was there anyway. (My dear cousin decided to go home afterwards to Sussex and so we didn't have to spirit up a spare bedroom after all, but dd's room looks a LOT better so it wasn't a wasted effort). Lots of walking through the magical Kensal Green cemetery where all sorts of famous people are buried, and then meeting all the friends and family of deceased (who I didn't know well, although I knew him from a long time ago) Happy but sad day in equal quantities. So it was a bit of a burnout by 6pm and I gave up on bookclub. Absolutely shattered from all the walking and talking and cleaning

Today there has been a lot more cleaning going on pre: cleaning lady. The children's room are dusted and sorted out; I've culled some clothes. She has ironed everything (whisper I am beginning to feel ironing is pointless activity rather like having doilies on plates) There are now piles of new washing from my big sort, and changing the sheets. It feels endless...And my room is back to Armaggedon.

It's always like this when we come back from a holiday -which was not a holiday-- but I just wonder why I can never get to grips with everything. When will this household run smoothly? No sooner have I sorted one thing, another aspect rears it's head. The plaster in dcs bedroom is literally suppurating due to some leak from redundant chimney. dd wants her room decorated. And my hair as dh pointed out badly needs dyeing! Dh mumbled something about wanting to convert small loft, so that puts paid to mending the chimneys in shortterm. One of trays in the fridge for milk bottles has broken too, which means I need to order a new one from Bosch if such a thing is possible.

todo
Alright, my goal today is to put all the stuff ds1 has grown out of into a
BIG PLASTIC BOX marked DS2 Sept 2015 and put it in the loft where I can actually find it.
roast chicken
photocopy passport and Ehic card for ds1's Belgium trip
B & Q for turf strip and bedding plants for window boxes
nap to get through the day
look again at holidays for summer in Spain/Deal?

done
sorted out some of my bedroom (5 piles now)
more dirty washing excavated from suitcases/bags
taken some of the ironing to relevant bedrooms

decluttered bathroom in order to wash down basin and cistern and hoover lino

put dd's duvet cover from yesterday into wash
eaten lunch (bread and pastrami)

Dh has gone off to town for the day to do business and socialise

Oooh! We saw some of those bugs on a recent walk in the woods, SC. Forgot to look them up till just now though. Were they these: green longhorn fairy moth?

Not done very much today, yet again. Just a bit down and CBA.

God I love this thread!! Thank you so much Blue! That's them! They do look a bit like flying fairies from a distance! Now I have the identification, I can go and investigate further - intrigued because I have never seen them before!

Sorry you are feeling a bit down... any good??? Sometimes it's good just to allow yourself to give in to CBA-ness for an hour or two and do something that makes you feel good for once!

Swan glad the funeral went as well as these things can - albeit exhausting - as these occasions are.

And sympathies over "getting a grip" exasperation! I had exactly the same feelings over the holidays - I felt so depressed and yet furious with myself at the same time - I just can't keep to get a handle on the house and have a much easier time of it than you with only one child. Really identify with the horror as one end of the house starts to unravel literally as one is trying to organise the other!

As ever, it's three steps forward, one step back ... .

And re: holiday unpacking - if it's any consolation, I found some of dd's clothes and some missing shoes in a suitcase last week, that returned from a trip to the UK at the end of March

Thanks for cooking compliment btw but was v. short of time so prepared everything concurrently a la Masterchef (not remotely to same level of course!) instead of in a calm, consecutive manner, resulting in one very stressed hostess and a wrecked kitchen!

Blimey, it's almost school run time again. Where did the day go? Not even half way through my list ...

Glad to help, SC. No, I'd never seen them before either, and neither had my parents.

Thanks for too - I did go and have some for real in Sainsbo's café on grounds of it being A) fairtrade and B) on special offer, which obviously negates the calories...