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

you see - I have very few brain cells left - Bitchy you obviously can get away if you are having a change of scenery but what I meant to say is you are not having a break/rest/holiday at all! Oh dear ... think I had better go and embark on some advanced cognitive training!

Glad to hear you had such a relaxing day yesterday, Ellie. Much needed, I'm sure.

SC - very worried about you missing a scan. You must go! Put it on the top of your 'to do' list. Similar worries about brain atrophy here too, by the way (mine, I mean).

Ta da

DS2 to swimming lesson
Completed OU activity whilst DS2 swimming
Long walk home via park
Lots of chivvying about swimming lessons and the importance of having them (DS2 hates them)
Snacks
Breakfast and meds for DS1, who is apparently incapable of walking downstairs to the kitchen and doing this himself
Unloaded and reloaded d/w
Attempted to scrub off black mould from washing machine drawer
Attempted to scrub off black mould from hair washing jug, but ended up throwing it away instead
Loaded washing machine
Made

Ahh. Lovely to sit down again. What's the chance of DH coming back in from work at this very moment and thinking I have been relaxing here all morning?

Toffee

but to be serious a minute, they say very high cortisol levels (mine are monitored for heart thing and they are off the scale for some reason) kills brain cells dead - so if you are constantly experiencing stress from an outside source (as you are) then that could be it. They say all the usual things combat the process: exercise, regular activitiy, good sleep (not easy in your case, healthy eating etc

Did you mention mould, black mould btw? [Stands on alert] [grin

sorry - that came out all wrong - didn't mean ds1 = outside source - meant trying to find him the right provision and battling the system etc etc

Oh dear - I'm off to stimulate my neurons by running up and downstairs collecting all the detritus dd has left all over the place

And yes, you are right, now fil and sil health situation more stable, need to put scan on top of list!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

Slept til about 12 so have had 6hrs hours. not great but in the grand scheme of things could have been a lot worse.

Ellie your day yesterday sounds lovely

Toffee glad you managed to get a good night's sleep

SC don't beat yourself up, it is miserable being enough being in pain. Can you get the scan rebooked?

Right 5 jobs to do today:
pick up a little bit of food shopping
sort out the paperwork I was dealing with last night
finish blanket
make ds' room ready for him
be ready for tomo.

Nothing too taxing, but all important.

Go steady Bitchy hope you can enjoy some final relaxing child-free moments for yourself today and glad you got a bit of sleep at least! Yes, will re-book scan, thanks, must do so tomorrow and no excuses now sil and fil situation a bit more stable.

DD and friend are playing badminton in the garden while pretending to be horses at the same time (Lots of neighing interspersed with shouts of 'out'). They say it is quite difficult to learn to volley with hooves ....

done
I've decided the driving is not the problem with booking this holiday, it is actually DH! He obviously has no intention of enjoying any holiday and gives reasons why each and every destination would be unsuitable. I think if your holidays as a child were based on driving it is very difficult to imagine any holiday working without a car Also if you and your brother played happily as teens all hols, it is difficult to imagine going on holiday with two sons who fight all the time..(which I don't find that difficult to imagine as my brothers were ALWAYS fighting

Homework has been done with ds2. English and History, printed out and in the book bag. Shield has been cut to size by Dh. Ds2 is v pleased with it.

However, otherwise, Ds2 is behaving like a maniac today, screaming and shouting all the time when asked to do anything he doesn't want to do. Dd is luckily (and I'm sorry to say this, but after yesterday's screaming fit I'm relieved she is safely tucked up somewhere) in bed with fluey cold. Ds1 is lovely typical teen which means not moody but just slothful...and wandering around in underpants/hoody. Ds2 needs to do something structured but the rest of us cannot face anything alas We did play badminton yesterday SC though!

Dh is in a very bouncy mood, has already bought a large breakfast feast, and has gone off again to buy the ingredients for Sunday lunch. He bought some fabulous books at the Oxford fair yesterday so he is desperate to get back to cataloguing.

Nothing done except some laundry. DS vomiting everywhere. Fun times.

Very behind with everything again... dh having to work today but we had a reasonably productive day yesterday thanks to him organising some laundry and shopping while I was organising dcs being at the right place at the right time with the right kit.

To do:
Tidy living room
Throw out random bits of plastic toy (e.g. things off the front of magazines, happy meal toys)
Change dc's beds
Deal with hot spot pile on kitchen worktop.

I'm doing fairly well with my desk which has been a major hotspot for years - it has been more or less clear for about 3 weeks now.

SC - I didn't know that about cortisol - scary. I dunno. Might be that. Or age. Or too much alcohol over the years (have given it up for now and am hoping I'll regenerate ). Could also just be that I'm trying to get too many things done and therefore not concentrating enough on any of them.

Have spent far too long trying to set up a blog about home educating DS2 this afternoon, which turned out to be far more complicated than I expected (there's the brain atrophy issue again). DH wanted me to work this afternoon, but I intend to be rebellious and go to bed for a nap instead.

things improved! Dh cooked nice lunch from M & S
Dh made ds2 mow the lawn (which he loves)
Dh played badminton and watched Smaug with ds2

I've gone to bed, as I think I've caught dd's cold, but done a fair amount of laundry/declluttering small stuff

re: Cortisol. I have very little left, my reaction to most things now is neither fight or flight but to lie down. Sometimes a bit of cortisol would be useful However I notice how incredibly relaxed just one unit of alcohol makes me, which would imply I am incredibly stressed!

Alice sorry for the vomiting.
Toffee I love reading blogs.

cortisol is what they measure for for stress reaction. Swan

Well I figured out why i couldn't sleep last night. nothing like a bit of cycle linked insomnia

Managed to do some of my list (the important bits) because tbh the chaos in the paperwork is upsetting me atm and I feel the need to impose structure and order. is this the point where i need to go lie down in shock or something?

Back to a normal week, well I say normal byt ds' preschool and afterschool activities are unusually intension this week. Clever teachers done it so that they can recover due the bank hol nxt wkend. Kids will need the recovery too I suspect.

I should finish sorting things for tomo and then go to bed early. Instead I am going to do a few bits and bobs before heading to bed so that I can feel like I am achieving and the paperwork chaos annoys me less. Was also thinking that i need a filing cabinet that is fire proof to protect important documents and back up disks and stuff. wtf is wrong with me at the moment???

Ta-da!

I have empty laundry and ironing baskets! Not much else achieved Flying wise today, but I did get the DCs to come and do the weekly food shop with me this morning and I felt that that plus a bit of ironing was enough for one day.

DS had St George's Day Scout Parade this afternoon, miraculously the rain held off for the duration, I walked alongside them to the church, then had coffee with some of the other mums and walked back again. He hates these (according to the other mums he's not the only one) so at least that's out of the way.

On the subject of holidays, we have difficulties agreeing too. DH likes nothing better than being on a beach or by the pool somewhere hot and sunny, I didn't mind that too much pre-DCs when i could read books all day long under an umbrella but it is my idea of hell with young children. I like to be on the go, sightseeing, shopping, walking, just doing stuff. We also have to factor in the facts that DH hates flying and I am left to do all the booking and organising. Oh and that I hate being without a car on holiday. The end result has been that most of our family holidays have been in the UK and been the odd day at the beach interspersed with lots of activity. The DCs have always loved these holidays. Poor DH.

This sorting and organising thing is a bit addictive. Bugger. I was just going to spend 5 mins sorting something. 4 hrs later and how the hell has it been 4 hrs? and bugger. Am going to be a walking zombie with a headache tomo aren't I I think I need someone to remind me to step away from things in a sensible and timely manner.

Who knows I am very jealous if your empty ironing basket - I can't remember the last time that happened in the Mercury household!

Bitchy it sounds like you have been doing some mega decluttering. I hope you managed to beat the insomnia and aren't too zombie like today.

I spent pretty much the whole weekend planning. I am in my mentor's class for 3 weeks today and feel that the pressure is on to prove myself. The only flying that got done was the basics. However I did do all the dcs school admin bits last night because I realised on Friday night that I had forgotten to book breakfast club this week

To do this morning:
Make beds
Swish and swipe
Dcs up and dressed
Wm reloaded
Breakfast
Hand in job application
Washing hung out
Dw on
Make lunched
Rr living room

Bbl

Morning all. I have had the most lovely weekend. Saturday, as described in an earlier post, was spent doing nothing. Yesterday was spent pottering around the house and garden. DH and DD did a fabulous job of making the garden look half normal. Then we had some friends round for a roast and spent the evening laughing. Twas lovely. On a negative note was supposed to do lots of schoolwork but didn't do anything. Whoops.

whoknows ds was supposed to be at st georges day parade yesterday but i conpletely forgot. He hates them as well.

bitchy what you need my dear is a fat fairy timer.

mercury good luck at school this week.

Back in a mo with links.

Your babystep for today is looking after yourself.

Your mission for today is here

This week we are in the living room

And today is Home Bleugh Day.

Have a good day everyone!

Thanks for the links Ellie and your w/e sounds luverly!

queen of paperwork- organisation-- Bitchy you are getting me worried now! Rather inspiring though [surveys home office slightly less despairingly than usual]

Good luck this week Mercury!

Hope your cold is not making you feel too grim Swan

Toffee yes memory atrophy definitely age related for me and related to the fact that I don't have a proper job ie one that's mentally stimulating. I'm sure it comes from having nine million things to do at once (in your case) too!

Congrats on the empty ironing basket Whoknows!

And congrats on your newly clear desk Newlark (good to hear your dh is on board too)

Hope your ds feels better soon Alice

Big waves to everyone else!

Having whipped the house in to better (but by no means perfect) shape while dh was away last week, he has managed to set it back again fairly thoroughly this weekend But I can hardly blame him because (a) I did next to no Flying over the past two days and (b) he took the main part in supervising dd and her friend yesterday (took them out for tea/bike ride too). DD and friend had a high old time - making a "grotto" of our downstairs lavatory - among other things!

Tired but need to get on. School shut for May bank holiday Thurs-Fri so DD only going to be at school 2.5 days this week! That leaves me not a lot of time to make progress ...

Ta da:
picked school uniform
morning routine inc s&s, dw, wm and rabbits

To do:
on line parcels (different ones)
more laundry
clean out ruddy hamster not done by dd again
a serious attempt at sorting boudoir
school run

Boudoir so awful this could easily take two or three days to do properly [sob

"Speaking" of end of month ... I am happy to run thread in June ...anyone up for May?

Morning all. Sorry have been AWOL again Back late last night from long weekend in UK. Poor DH up at 6.30 for work. My job today is to get house back in order and unpack so I can crack on with marking and decluttering the next 2 days when I'm childfree. DS is still sleeping though and haven't done much so far except breakfast and MN! Enjoying the peace while it lasts!

Hope everyone is okay. sc - all good? Have scanned through thread (pardon the pun) and seen that you've missed one. Hope it's nothing serious.

Talking about holidays, we are going away with my Dsis and BIL - the first time we've holidayed with others for a very long time (7 years!).

Ta da
Wash on

To do
unpack
change beds
hoover
dining table
meeting at DS nursery later
supermarket
what's for dinner?

Does it could as decluttering when you are just restructuring and reordering? Not actually removed anything and have ended up with more files rather than less. Should be able to find everything very quickly by the time I am finished other then the current where the fuck is that bit of info that is currently the situation

I appear to be a little addicted as I'd rather stay home and sort paperwork then go to work. Which is really bad because work is ok and I enjoy it. Speaking of which need to grab breakfast and get myself there.

done
two children to school, drove ds2
(dd is ill with fluey cold after going to Funfair in the rain on Friday and going down a wet slide into a puddle
stuck all ds2's homework into his book, redid the handle on his shield as he complained he could not ward off enemies with it
[Last night] filled in forms for ds1's trip to Belgium photocopied passport (which arrived incidentally, such a relief to have that sorted for this year until 2019!!!)
rang school

brief tidy of kitchen and coffee with dh

now off to count money, although I have to get dressed properly now

SC I love the grotto..it only takes one letter doesn't it to convert grime to fairyland?

Morning all,

SC I'll do May, will give me the motivation (fear) to make sure I keep on top of things.

Done
Beds
Pack lunch
DD to school
Laundry on
Pruned/deadheaded plants on balcony.

To do
Lots, but will go for power of 3. So pleased we're in the lounge this week.

Woo-hoo! Just realised I can listen to BBC radio (1-4 and world service) via our (not so new) TV package!

bitchy It definitely counts!

ta da
unpacked