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

Thanks for sharing my frustration, Mercury, Swan, Alice.

Alice - yes, psych has also requested therapy from CAMHS for DS1. However, I asked for that, in writing, four months ago - as soon as he started going downhill again - and it looks as if this is the first time she's requested it.

Swan - I remember when you were going through FT and how difficult you found it at times. The only people I know who have had FT have found it made things more stressful, rather than less, which does put me off. We don't need any more stress in our lives. DS1 has enough medical / psychological appointments coming up in the next few months, without adding that into the mix too.

Poor Eustacia . I hope the migraine clears up soon. I have never had one, but DH had one just once and it was awful. He thought he was going crazy because he had the aura thingy. Luckily, he's never had it since.

We have all eaten too many chocolate cookies . DS1 said they were the best chocolate cookies he's ever had (recipe here if anyone wants to try them. Warning: sugar overload!).

DS2 told me, before bed, that every day is a happy day at the moment, which made me happy too .

Didn't get a lot of Flying done today. Will try to work alongside my cleaner tomorrow. Having her here always spurs me into action because I feel guilty about getting her to do our work for us, so always feel I should be working too.

Off to drink wine, eat dinner and relax now.

Goth - we are coming up next Friday (11th) and going home Sunday. We are taking part in a masterclass run by an Olympic swimmer and have got tickets for the swimming championship finals afterwards. Maybe we will get a bus there (DD will love it) and then a taxi back to the hotel!

Ta Da

• D/W loaded and put on
• Gathered together gala info for the weekend (DD swimming both days)
• Realised I have no felt to make bunting lettering with (need to get some tomorrow)
• DD to swimming club DD to school disco (snap Mercury* )

That's about it

Bitchy - I have a blog but it is very neglected. I keep meaning to resurrect it as I write about my sewing on there.

I think sometimes it is a case of having to jump through hoops so you can say you have jumped through them and they aren't the solution. Incredibly frustrating? yes, pain in the ass? definitely, helpful? if you like holes in your head.

Really weird evening with ds tonight. Like really weird. He is really so so so grown up for his age in so many ways. But i am never sure if he has emotionally processed or just logically rationalised to appear so. He is happy so I am not going to ponder it too too much.

Fuck all flying and ds' kit has been abandoned in the lounge. I will probably regret it tomo but right now I am going to pour myself into bed and hope not to over think things.

Mmm, cookies look good, Toffee.

Thanks for the spag clarification, swan.

Bitchy - didn't see you asking about blogs earlier. Mine is on Wordpress which seems pretty good. There is a bloggers forum on MN too, though I don't know if you have to be in the blog network to use it.

Today has been weird and unsettling in many ways. Hopefully tomorrow will be better...

Hello. Would you mind if I joined in? Is there anything I should know? Read first post and a few others. I Have been a member of several housework threads before but always seem to forget about them after a while somehow.

I finally feel like I am getting somewhere with my house though and even better; my HABITS!

I am in the middle of a mass declutter but have tonnes that I have put aside to sell, have done really well, made a few hundred pounds at least recently, all on old toys/clothes etc from around the house. And have binned/given away too, However still have lots still to sell and feel like it's all in my way and preventing me from finishing things a bit BUT it's getting better by the day as stuff is selling all the time and have people collecting stuff daily. DD2s birthday next month though to put us back to square one

Anyway, I am ready to take on flylady - I THINK! I am gutted that the habit for April is making the beds.I spent a lot of March getting myself into this habit, felt fab about it. Now DH has changed back to working nights so is in bed all day and I can't do it! I know exactly what he will say if I ask him to start doing it - "What's the point in making the bed look nice in a messy/cluttered house". I may start asking him to pull back the douvet and open the window though, which would air it a bit (when it's occupied from 10pm till 4pm between us it needs airing!) And then I can make it once he has been up for a while and the room has aired.

SORRY I am totally ranting on but I am ready to get stuck in tomorrow if you will all have me!

Welcome, Lilly. Of course we'll have you. Just follow the daily babysteps and enjoy the chat (there's a lot of that). Am very impressed by all your decluttering. I'm afraid I rarely make the beds unless we have visitors , even though I've been following Flylady for some time.

Bitchy - FT is one too many hoops, to be honest. Hope you get some rest tonight.

Would like an early night myself too. Might have to trust DS1 to put himself to bed tonight, which means he'll be up till the early hours. Oh well.

What a lovely thing for your ds to say Toffee

Welcome Lilly

This morning's to do:
Make beds
Unload / reload dw
Tidy bedroom
Iron dcs uniforms
Make my lunch
Hoover upstairs
Wipe down kitchen sides
Get pie for dinner out of the freezer

Stupid insomnia - have been awake since 4 so less than 4 hours sleep last night. Am going away with my best friend who I haven't seen for a year for a night tonight and am going to be too tired to properly enjoy it. Am so annoyed with myself.

House is clean though

morning, have been up since 630,
one child off to school,
next one to running club in a mo
dh will get third off

just need to find my socks which are drying

no cat food disorganisation again, have given them some real food instead

back to the fray!

push that always happens to me when I need to be prepared, insomnia, and early waking...makes me so . Now I ask Dh to set the alarm on his side and that helps slightly, he doesn't mind waking as long as he can go back to sleep, and fact that I dont have to listen for alarm always makes me sleep better. Although in your case you probably have the RL alarm in form of small children..

Morning pop pickers Hope everyone OK!

To do:
Getting about is going to be a nightmare today because of African summit. Basically need to watch the Morning Line on C4 do some power work on boudoir, and the putting away of clothes (not easy when dd's chest of drawers is busted), full on supermarket shop, prep supper (doing indiv cheats beef Wellingtons with mince instead of inflicting veggie Thurs on our guests) do stint at parish vestiare, run various errands including get hair cut (if poss), school run, tennis run, supper for dd and friend (and poss two more).

Spurred on by productive day yesterday: started a bit groaningly but ended up having achieved quite a bit!

Yesterday's ta da:

Thanks to grim focus on ironing this week and last, actually reached the bottom of the ironing and washing piles for all of 3 mins - laundry floor beautifully clear - then stripped 3 beds and brought in clothes that had dried on terrace and ruined it all!

Thoroughly sorted, tidied and cleaned 2nd floor (well the two rooms we use on that floor anyway) which included dd's bedroom which is now looking uncharacteristically spick and span. DD helped me for the last hour after school (and offered guidance on chucking stuff - God forbid I throw out the wrong horse poster!).

Stripped & re-made 3 beds

Post office run, chemist run, school run.

On-line banking and on-line shopping.

Spoke to sil at length.

Healthy but quick supper with dd (dh still away) in front of Stuart Little 2!

Today's ta da so far:
DD up and off (having supervised bath we didn't manage last night)
Morning routine inc wm, dw, s&s, rabbits
Dining room table hotspots
Folded huge pile of dh pants

Sorry about the insomnia Pushme (and Bitchy earlier). It is so frustrating when you have a lot to get through.

A very warm welcome to Lilly! Sounds as if you are off to a great Flying start with all that decluttering!

Hope your migraine is clearing Eustacia

Toffee so sorry they won't provide the help you actually need for ds1 (esp when the CBT really helped him before)! How infuriating for you all!

Hope today proves better Blue

Take it steady Mercury (easier said than done I know)

Big waves to Ellie Swan Dizzy Feetheart Just Alice Goth themoneyone and anyone I have missed!

Better go, Nick Luck's sultry tones (not) are calling ...

Hope you find your socks Swan

Thanks for all the good wishes my lovely fledglings. Am feeling better today having taken it very easy yesterday.

Your linkies look like this:-
easy do as you already have

mission

Today is errand day

Have a good day everyone!

toffee yep I can see that. I felt that way with CAF and was proven to be right. I think the GP who set it up was rather taken back by my hatred of the process and the end result. and breathe But if you don't jump through the hoop ime sometimes they systems says 'well you didn't x how will you know it won't work' also i know that people only ever see the stuff i deal with from ds when he is in the worst possible stress/situation for him because he is so damn good and pretending to be normal sometimes. So as a parent I feel that it is in his best interests not to put him in that situation (because quite frankly i can't handle the fall out) but equally I need someone to say 'OMG this kid really can't cope' and then get off their arses and do something about it with the understanding of the situation. Iyswim. It will feel like a hoop to far but don't write it off immediately because sometimes you really do have to make the situation worse before you can make it better and I fucking hate it is sometimes that way Try keep an open mind and see if you can gain anything from this, although i know that you are in a different position because people are already acknowledging your ds' issues.

Got a good night's sleep but realised that all that paperwork i have been putting off, I need to do as i have a big meeting at school later. And i think taking the report with me will probably help me. Although his teacher and the higher managment member who I am seeing are very good and have already a good grasp of what is going on. We just need to see if we can find loop holes in the system which we can use for ds' situation so that we can do the best for the kid rather then trying to fit ds into the view that the lea has of kids without having a fucking clue

To do:
dye hair
make cake
laundry
boil up handwarmers
write paperwork
meeting at school
plant plants with ds
Go to wedding reception

Right, i have a vat of special brew. There is another on the naughty corner bar. Help yourself. Although newbies be warned it is strong stuff...

done
driven ds1 to school for running club
put a wash in
wiped kitchen down
cleared utiltity room of catfood
swept utility room and surfaces
swept hall
swept garden again
threw away about 10 things
resigned myself to lingering smell of enemy cat in tv/ utillity room the has sprayed the wicker sports chest something I cannot wash or scrub down, although I might try to throw it away at a later date. I was about to sort out the old sports kit therein, then dh said...don't waste your energy (which I admit is limited or you'll be unable to do the gardening you wanted to do...

up and down 3 flights of stairs a few more times, now I am completely and utterly zonked and going to do an internet order from a horizontal position.

push my sympathies. I struggle with insomnia when I'm really stressed. It's frustrating and exhausting. Hope you can get some sleep soon!!

ta da
usual morning routines
school runs
new "to do" list
glared at spider outside my window and resolved to spray it later if it's still cheeky enough to be dangling in the same spot later today
tidied up living room

All i've done so far is the morning getting ready and getting the girls to school (They are 4 and 6) and put a load of washing in

Now just had breakfast with DS (14 months) and trying to muster some energy. This is usually my time of day where I am bursting with energy but I think I simply haven't had enough sleep. I am 6 months pregnant and struggling to sleep well.

I am going to give myself 10 more mins on here and then:

• Put approved food order away
• Get the big bundle of stuff together for lady who wants to buy lots today, then put in the car ready to deliver this afternoon.
• Sort out the other bits people asked to buy last night - always loads go at once and it gets really confusing! Then nag Message them to arrange pick up.
• List the 3 big boxes of books to sell. Hoping to sort into bundles to save a bit of time.
• Put DS down for a sleep

Then

• Clear my hallway as Flylady says! My Entrance to my home is always the messiest area and annoying as it's what everybody sees.
• General tidy up downstairs
• reload dishwasher and clean kitchen sides

Days like this I miss being about to consume loads of caffeine to get my arse in gear!

www.pinterest.com/pin/90423904989009791/

bitchy

dizzy sounds like fun, I would have invited you for a if you'd promise not to tell on the state of my flat, but we're in England that week!

done
Beds
Pack lunch
Dd to school
Met friend for coffee
Food shopping

to do
Dry laundry away
Fresh load in machine
Ironing
Paperwork
Maybe catch up on this week's missions
Stuff...

BBL hope everyone has a good day.

Done:
Re Load Laundry x 2 loads
Fold first lot
Reload dishwasher
Clean sink/drainer
Put away Approved foods order (Never seems to want to fit in the cupboards very easily!)
Sorted pile of paper that had accumulated on kitchen top!
Empty recycling

To do:
Sort sold items
List the 3 box of books for sale
Finish cleaning kitchen sides
Make lunch and clean up
Clear Entrance hall and clean
Wash bathmats/Hand towels

ta da
2 batches of boiling handwarmers
2,000 words of report written
5,000 words of report printed ready for proofing
1 cake made
ds' kit in washer
email adminy stuff

Next stop hair dye...

Flagging ...

ta da:
spoke to friend about arrangemnents for next wk
spoke to sil
stint at parish vestiare sorting, washing and ironing clothes (term time activity only so that's it for 2 wks thank heavens)
big supermarket shop
2 hours (off and on) putting away clothes and sorting old old ones and generally tackling boudoir (which looks worse than it did before)

Right, now for a quick bubble bath and then on to second part of day ie cooking and poss hair cut (although latter not looking likely).

Swan sympathies over stair-fatigue . I get so frustrated with it (not to mention exhausted). As you know, the problem with a tall/thin house is they don't have enough storage on lower floors for hoovers/coats or anything really and no one else but me carries stuff back to its proper place (or down again). [Hell, dh isn't even capable of closing his sock drawer in the morning, so is hardly likely to be found carrying a box from the basement up to the roof!] And today if I say "I spent a couple of hrs sorting boudoir" he will assume I have done a bit of dusting and nancying around, rather than carrying winter coats back up to third floor, pictures up to roof, laundry paniers down to basement, boxes of books up to third floor, dd's toys down to ground floor, bed linen up to third floor and so on and so on... never mind lugging hoovers about ... . It gets one down.

Congratulations on your pregnancy Lilly take it steady!

Good luck with school meeting later on Bitchy!

Waves to Goth, Alice et al

sorry, that last post was a bit of a whinge-fest wasn't it

Feel much better now after bath!

SC

Eustacia - hope the migraine has gone.

ellie - glad you are feeling better today. When DH was recovering from his op, he found that he'd think he was ok, do loads, then suddenly feel terrible and have to go to bed. He just had to learn to pace himself. It's annoying, but part of the recovery process.

Mercury - yes, lovely to hear DS2 say that . Very reassuring to know that he's so much happier already.

pushme - I hope you can still enjoy your night away with your friend. Often I find lack of sleep hits me two days later, not the next day, so I hope that's the case with you and you don't nod off halfway through dinner.

SC - well done on all that ironing, cleaning and completing of chores. Sympathies on the going up and down stairs thing. It's a bit like that here. DS1 rings me from his loft bedroom because it's too much effort for him to come downstairs .

Bitchy - yes, I see what you mean. You are certainly right about people having to see for themselves what you've been telling them for years until you're blue in the face . I don't know why people think anyone would make it up when describing their child's difficulties though . I'd much rather DS1 was a happy boy who loved school and had good friends - obviously.

Anyway, I am very reluctantly willing to give FT a go if I have to , but DH says he won't go and I don't really blame him.

Am very, very impressed, Bitchy, that you have managed not only to finish writing and print your report, but also to bake a cake today!

Swan - not surprised you're exhausted after all that housework. Good idea to do an online shop (I love doing online shopping . Would happily never set foot in a shop again).

Alice - at spider!

Lily - you have three children, you're pregnant and you're still doing more housework and decluttering than me (my DC are 8 and 14). Impressive!

Actually have some Flying to report, but only because my cleaner came today and spurred me into action. At the moment, I am feeling overwhelmingly bored by having to do the same old tasks over and over and over again.

ta da

B/fasts
Swished and swiped in bathroom
Phoned Mum to confirm trip to her house next week
Dh took DS2 out for a walk to enjoy the sunny weather
Quick cuppa with neighbour
Unloaded and reloaded d/w
Washed up extra glasses, saucepans, etc, dried up and put away
Put DS1's sheets into w/m
Persuaded DS1 to leave his bedroom
Binned DS1's rubbish and tidied bedroom
Opened windows - fresh air!
Discovered three days' worth of Ds1's meds in the bin (explains a lot)
Discussion with DS1
Unloaded w/m and put DH's wet clothes into tumbledrier
Put more washing on
Tidied kitchen hotspot
Wiped down counters, window sill and cooker hob
Emptied kitchen bin and put recycling out
Cleaned kitchen bin properly (took apart and washed inside and out)
Tidied dining room
Tidied sitting room and moved Lego back up to DS2's bedroom
Moved shoes off floor and onto shoe rack (where they're meant to be anyway)
Caught up on some reading for my OU course
Lunch

Meanwhile, my cleaner did all the sweeping, mopping, hoovering and dusting .

So now the house looks tidy and clean again, which is a relief. And I have an online order arriving this evening, so I feel as if everything is organised again.

Next task is to tackle the ironing. Stunningly boring job, but at least I can listen to R4 whilst I work.

SC hope you get the chance to sit down during tennis session? I hope you don't have to play too [shudders] I think you are extremely productive. The supermarket shop would have been enough to knock me out

done
pootled around garden with dh who was in a rather wistful mood, thinking of family holidays of his yoof, bicycling down dusty French lanes etc etc, whereas I was remembering bicycling down muddy Irish lanes through cowpats The one seed I sowed last year,(pot marigold) is STILL flowering in its new planting hole.
finally ordered a shrub to fill the big gap in the flowerbed (that took me a month to decide)
cooked flapjacks
cooked potato bake for this evening
wiped kitchen down

now about to do some hoovering, dh has gone to pick up ds2 from the tube.

Ds1 concert this evening. Thank goodness no glamour needed, I don't think I could summon it up with a bargepole.