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

Fantastic to hear you have a holiday to look forward to, Swan. The pheasants we saw today were certainly foolish. DH started mumbling about roadkill for dinner .

ellie - sorry for your shite day . I hope things improve soon

Evening all,

ta-da!

School run, morning routine
Tidying/cleaning
Pilates class
Found a geocache just up the road from the class which had previously eluded me
Home
Vacuuming
One lot of washing plus maintenance wash
Visit from cat sitter we will be using at half term
Lunch/telly
Half hour on allotment, harvested some rhubarb
School run
Home
Drive DD to ballet in the most torrential rain/hail/thunder
Realise ballet shoes left at home
Drive back again
Back to ballet
Drive home again to wait for DS to get back from after school art club
Back to ballet/coffee with friend while waiting
Cook dinner including stewed rhubarb, also cooked some soup from veg box contents.
DS off to Cubs
Walk with DD - turned out to be such a lovely evening, went to nearby bluebell wood to hunt for another geocache. This one has eluded me twice previously and took DD 10 seconds to find! We agreed to go for a walk or to the allotment every week while DS is at Cubs.
Home, DCs to bed
Ordered discount steam cleaner from Karcher outlet website.
Bed!

Night all

Thanks for the support re DD. I know she will be fine in the day, it will just be the lying in the dark at bedtime that will cause the wobbles. She did go off to sleep OK tonight so fingers crossed.

Ta Da

• Printed/scanned documents for DH (who was working from home)
• Dry washing put away
• Laundry load (cricket whites) in and hung to dry
• Packed DD's case
• DD to and from Brownies
• D/W put on

DH was in charge of dinner whilst I did the Brownie runs but the plonker forgot to turn the oven on - twice! - so I was seriously ravenous by the time we ate.

Dizzy - Best of luck to your DD (and you) today. She'll be fine .

I think my sons have hatched a plot to jeopardise my sleep. They were taking it in turns last night. First, DS1, still awake at 2am, wanted me to sleep in his room. A couple of hours later, I was woken up by DS2, who needed tissues and cuddles.

Managed to sneak back to bed later, but was again woken up by DS2, this time at 6am. Gave up at this point. DS2 is now tucked up on the sofa under a duvet, with a box of tissues on the floor beside him. He has a cold, I think.

Looking really rough now. Lack of sleep really not good for me at my age.

Good morning!

Dizzy good luck to your dd on her trip today - hope that she enjoys it and isn't too nervous!

Whoknows glad your teacher friend OK -how horrible for you x Very jealous to hear about the bluebell wood and your newly harvested rhubarb!

Exciting about the new dress Toffee hope you win the bid! (Dh loves a bit of fresh roadkill btw. He once, at university, brought me a pheasant he had come across (to be fair it was quite fresh) with strict instructions to hang it in my wardrobe until the tail feather dropped (at which point it was - apparently - rank enough to eat). Once in the oven, it stank out the whole place and I have been put off pheasant ever since !)

Waves back to Blue and hope public meeting goes the way you want it to!

Alice congrats on all the garden/patio prep! Sympathies re: frustration over short school day. I have a reprieve this afternoon (normally half day on Weds here) but thankfully dd has school choir rehearsal until 4pm, so might actually get something done! Hope so because no school Thurs or Fri this week! And it's only a minute since the Easter holiday!

Good luck with the jogging this morning Newlark! My dsis1 rang me while she was waiting for a "Nordic Pole" person to turn up last week - I thought she was having new curtains fitted - but it turns out to be a form of exercise

Whey hey about the holiday Swan! Lovely to have something to look forward to!

Ellie sorry your dh is being a twonk - just what you don't need when you are recovering/getting back to grips with work. Hope you have a better day today

Hope you are OK Bitchy

Goth really sad/awful about the dad at your school/karate club - that poor family

Peanut hope miniPeanut1 OK and you were able to get where you were going in the end

Big waves to Engelsand Mercury and everyone else ...

Yesterday was one of those big fail dithering days.... did my stint at parish vestiare then had rest of day free to do something creative/fun ...but then felt guilty because boudoir is such a tip and everyone's clothes need organising again ... but then felt pissed off and resentful putting dh's suits on hangers and picking his socks up off the floor blah blah blah and so on and so on and ended up in a depressed heap not doing a lot, thoroughly pissed off with myself in the end... you'd think I'd learn by now really ...

Hoping to resurrect matters today but feel equally depressed because dh being particularly annoying this morning and dd, having faithfully promised she would do x, y and z, has done none of them again. I despair!

x posts Toffee that sounds like a really rough night

Dizzy hopefully, your dd will be so tired with all the activities they have done throughout the day, that she will be asleep before the wobbles have time to strike [proffers reassuring and ]

[no for you Toffee because you are going to look fab in that dress!!

You have my full sympathies Toffee.

I have taken some strong pain killers but combined with the lack of sleep it has kinda back fired and instead of allowing me to be productive I am going to have to take a nap before work.

Blue good luck with everything you are doing. Take the time you need, you will always be welcome so don't feel you have to check in with us if it is going to add to the stress. We are sitting here and cheering for all you hard work with this issue.

Hope you are feeling a bit better this morning Ellie!

Did we find a victim for May or are we still leaderless?

Goth has heroically volunteered Bitchy

Hope the strong pain killers do the job btw!

SC yesterday I really did nothing except pick up/drop off by car and book holiday. The children came back to a complete muddle. Tuna pasta for supper (my I've run out of food option

This morning I am determined to tidy our room. I've put 15 loo rolls which were intended for sweetpeas in the bin. A start. And four cardboard clothes labels.

done
woke up at 6.30am
drove sons to school
found ds2 spellings and tested him on them
encouraged ds2 with his part in Joseph, which meant warding off ds1 who kept telling him he was rubbish all the time
found dd some money for her lost id card

sat in garden with dh for 20mins discussing his latest purchase and referring him to Philippa Gregory for further research
put some children's clothes in relevant rooms

Dizzy I worried SOOO much about ds1's first night away with Cubs. It is a slow process getting used to it. I still worry now he is 14 but not so bad. The thing is, they sometimes come back with bloodcurdling stories, but you listen and then they know they will survive stuff.. I wrote such soppy letters home from my first school field trip aged 10/11, yet I still remember every minute of it, the revolting sandwich spread, the politics of the pairing off, the wildflowers, the smell of the bedrooms. I am so glad I went!

But ferrying teenagers around is a full-time job Swan, I have no such excuses Is it already too late to start sweet peas? (oh dear if so)

Have just had bemused call from school secretary saying that dd's choir rehearsal is not this afternoon but next Wed (both clearly written on calendar correctly) and could I please come and pick her up at correct time. This was two days after I sent her a letter containing Euros 10 for chess club (when it was 10 Euros per session for entire term she was after). Think I am officially losing it ...

The floor is cleared [sigh] I need to start hoovering now. By the time I've lugged hoover upstairs I've officially run out of steam

Tidied kitchen, and wiped worktops
loaded dw
put things in correct places

a bedspread on to wash

more washing taken downstairs
big bag of rubbish taken downstairs
dd's clothes taken to her room
bagged up too big/small clothes for ds2 from ds1

folded some PE kit

had early lunch and disposed of some leftovers

still need to get violin restrung and sort out dd's "school" shelf as she is floundering organisational wise. Violin restringing could be combined with walk?
remake bed
put dh's clothes away
clean upstairs basin and loo
ring bank

Quiet on here this evening.

ta da

Swish and swipe
Breakfasts
Home ed with DS2 - covered reading, English comprehension, handwriting practice and Maths.
Work
Various meals and snacks for small people
Long nap

So, not a particularly productive day. Feeling groggy from my daytime sleep now, but am cooking a roast for a late dinner and about to tidy DS2's bedroom (cleaner coming tomorrow and it was too messy for her to clean last time she was here, about a month ago).

Was about to peel some potatoes for boiling and roasting, but they've sprouted. Not sure I can use them now. Might have to pop out and get some new ones. How annoying.

Still off the booze, so will spur myself on with a big glass of water .

I'm just sitting down after a stupidly busy day (decides to move bookcases amongst other thing) I'll start the new thread in a minute, once I've thought of a good title

Goodness, yes, 1st May tomorrow. Far too many appointments crammed into our calendar for that month. Feeling anxious just thinking about it.

Thanks for taking over the thread, Goth. And big thanks to Ellie for running the thread this month, in spite of challenges at home.

ta da

Cooked roast dinner
Unloaded and reloaded d/w
Washed up
Tidied DS2's bedroom whilst he read
Lights out for DS2
More washing up (I swear our neighbours are smuggling their washing up through our kitchen - I don't know how we produce so much on our own )

Now printing out some stuff for home ed with DS2 tomorrow, then going to spend an hour on OU work before bed. No telly tonight.

May thread here

Computer is fucked. major issues connecting to internet. May go awol for a bit :(

More bees. Beekeeper again. This is getting tiresome. Can't even use the back garden as it's forever flooded with bees. grrrrr