June 2014: half way through the Flying year, fledglings get themselves in gear!

[slackcabbage]

Heartfelt and huuuumungous thanks to Goth for being such a superlative, consistent and professional thread leader throughout May (and wow to all those fantastic round-ups every night).

If you are strugging with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (something that undermines family fun) then this is the thread where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of chat, support and and along the way.

Flylady link here.

This little-and-often system is designed so that you can follow a series of steps and routines each day (which gradually become second nature) in zones of the house which are designated weekly; defining and minimising housework, which in theory should leave you with loads more time to do something more interesting instead!

At the same time it is intended to reduce that panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. No problem if you miss a day or two; just jump right back in and it will all come around next month again!

It's up to you, but we advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be inundated! All the information you need will be linked here on a daily basis.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's steps and routines using a three-pronged approach (dependent on the stage everyone is at):

1. start or repeat baby steps

1. repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

1. reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.

[And if you are really enthusiastic and have finished decluttering - you can go on to detailed deep cleaning in each zone.]

More info here on getting started and Flying lessons. Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings.

Don't be put off by the barf-tastic language of the site - the underlying system is sound!

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 (mentioning no names!) can have scary looking lists but don't let that worry you! Do what you can, anything is better then nothing, and don't judge yourself against others.

If all else fails, a + the power of three technique + a bit of support on here can work wonders!

Oh and don’t let it put you off if we appear a bit cliquey – some of us have been on here for years – but all lurkers, oldies and newcomers very very welcome!

Hello! Thank you very much everyone - dd's ballet audition class went really well . I was very proud of her because, after a bit of a tentative start, she just slotted in despite being really nervous and having hardly danced for a whole year! She now has some serious decisions to make for Sept ... .

So sorry not to get back on here again! In fact had the first lovely relaxing Saturday in ages where there wasn't some big school/church/social event going on but nonetheless the day ran away with me again. Spent it trying to keep a nearly-post-exam-hyper dd occupied and out of the way of dh who is absolutely cream-crackered from a punishing work schedule (have seen him literally for 3 mins a day this week) and is facing a solid week of business trips from tomorrow eve.

And I'm back on here at a wierd hour because I seem to be in the habit of waking up around 3am atm !! This time a buzzing, angry fly is the culprit!!

Hello Hyperhops - of course you are very welcome back on here !! (Very intrigued now about your former identity, although I should remember someone with 6 dc!! [SC wracks brain] ) Welcome back!

Ta da:
morning routine inc rabbits, wm, dw, s&s
tidied and cleaned kitchen and dining room table hot spot from last night
dd ballet audition class
post audition Macdonalds (rare treat!)
assembled mahoosive new hamster cage with dd (vet said ruddy thing is too fat so thought I should give it more room for exercise)
read to dd
supervised final bit of hwk - French poetry (last exam Monday!!)
more laundry
started to organise tiny presents for girls in dd's class who are leaving this yr
quick trip to supermarket
made bread with dd
helped dd construct cardboard car from box in which cage arrived
family film
home made soup and bread (with cheese and salad) for supper
football watching
earlyish bed

Big waves to everyone else and hope to catch up with personals tomorrow!

**

Baby-step no.22 for Sun 22nd is : here. Building a control journal. Some of us have done this, others haven't. Do whatever suits you.

Today is our first day in Zone 4 : The Master Bedroom (June 22 – 28) here.

(And yes, I'm afraid Flylady website still hasn't fixed glitch whereby current zone is still showing as zone 1 if you reach it via 'Today' link on home page or through flight plan . You can only link to correct zone via 'zones' link on launch pad if that makes sense!)

Declutter in Zone 4 for 15 minutes a day!

Detailed cleaning list here if you are at that stage.

No missions because it is the weekend!

Sunday's daily focus is: renewing your spirit or simply doing something you enjoy.

The monthly habit for June is drinking more water.

To summarise the above, today's flight plan can be found [[www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-120 here]] and will update itself automatically.

Have as relaxing a Sunday as possible everyone!

*

SC I find it impossible to keep my children away from dh..he has to leave the house to find p & q..

On that note, he is going to an auction this morning for work, and I've decided to take ds2 to Osterley Park by himself as he is getting more and more angry and shouty and endlessly complaining he is bored and wants computer. Ds1 is still asleep, and dd will go off to church by herself (doubtful)

Morning. I scuppered myself bigstyle. I had plans for sorting out the garden. Instead I will be resting. I did way way way too much and currently have burn out. So today I will be lying in bed most of the day with a craft project hoping I can avoid having to take pain killers knowing full well that I will probably end up taking some just so that I can manage the drive to get ds later. Clearly I do not know what moderation is.

Glad dd had a good audition SC hopefully you can sort the middle of the night waking. It is very annoying.

Swan sounds like a cunning plan. Enjoy the park with ds2.

Welcome hyperhops

Good morning!

[leaves tray of coffee and croissants on naughty corner bar]

Fledgling themes for the week have been football (inevitably), using up wool reserves, white-washing, encouraging dreamers to focus on school work, and happily, sticky beans .

Castle and Engels have been comparing sticky bean time lines and have (hopefully) been eschewing housework in favour of the sofa! (Although I see Engels has been employing the power of three.) Take it steady both of you! [Projects stern thread leader looks over pince nez] And hope you start to feel better soon Castle!

Bitchy and Swan have been changing their diets for the better! [SC looks a bit shifty ]

Bitchy continued her fragile relationship with baby-step no. 17 and knitted like the clappers whilst working through eminently respectable Flying lists.

Following thorough assaults on several bedrooms Swan has (in a very classy way) been decluttering Hermes! And freeing herself from the pyschological burden of craft projects never made [SC again looks rather embarrassed and a bit shifty ) Swan is now considering treating herself (very deservedly) to a bedroom makeover. As is her dd who has (in a very sophisticated way) created a mood board!

Swan and SC have both been swigging metaphorical gin whilst wrestling with religious education, the general horror of hwk in general, and entertaining child guests (although the latter was a pleasure!).

Blue and Alice have both been tackling soot and fireplaces ... Blue because she liberated a dazed and confused dove and then followed its example by Flying high! And Alice because she painted her's in dove-white (wink) and has also tackled the garden whilst questioning the endlessness of housework. (Alice I know you have loads on your plate - but could you possibly ring-fence a bit of time (even an hour?) per week just for yourself and stick to it rigorously? It's the only way I find to keep housework from creeping insidiously in to every activity!)

Carpe (albeit ailing) has aced an interview and departed on hols! Hope you have a brilliant time and feel much better soon!).

Hyperhops re-joined the thread and made a truly humungous Flying start!

Whoknows delivered an always timely warning about carbon monoxide monitors

SC achieved very little in terms of decluttering but just about survived exam hell and is desperately grateful that we are back in the boudoir this week (as are her dh and dd who can't navigate the floor again atm or find their socks ...)

Ellie if you happen to be lurking, hope you are bearing up! Thinking of you x

Just if you are around, please come and say hello [worried about you emoticon]

Big waves to Goth Toffee Feetheart Mercury Pushme Honu Droitwich Eyelet Dizzy Veryseriousgirl PA and everyone I've inevitably forgotten!

Feel very annoyed with myself this morning, because, despite being up for an hour between 3-4 am, I forgot to check on hamster (hopefully) enjoying his new quarters. No sign of any activity this morning ... not sure what I was expecting really ... empty bottles, swinging chandelier, discarded fag ends ....

Had a bit too much family fun yesterday and now need to get cracking to get several things done involving dh (prior to his departure) and complete end of term stuff (such as teachers present) etc etc. HOping to throw a bit of gardening in to the mix too! Glorious weather here and Belgium v Russia match to look forward to this afternoon so must get face-paint back on!

Have a relaxing Sunday everyone!

Which reminds me ... must fix flag first ....

It worked! (again!!) Shame you can't have two or three choices!!

x posts

Bitchy you sound as if you are really suffering at the moment. Hope you are OK. And that you can recover properly today. Take it steady

Hope a bit of fresh air does the trick Swan. We've just decided that dd needs to blow off steam in park before anything else can get done today!!

Big feathery Sunday waves to everyone!

I went for a stomp in the hills. I couldn't resist and I was stubborn and did way too much. Needless to say head over ruled body yesterday. Right now body is over ruling head. I am hoping that recovery for stupidity is less than what it would have been 8mths ago. Serves me right for being stupid really. typical bitchy stupidity though

Also diet changes = not to eat stuff that I know makes me ill (aka wheat/too much dairy) common sense for me but who can beat a bit of proper home made pizza/fresh bread. It is my weakness. That and chocolate.

Sympathies Bitchy I have absolutely no willpower when it comes to bread products!! Hopefully your heavy-duty hill stomp will counter-act the worst effects!! xxx

Today my muscles hate me. 4hrs on the hills was a bit excessive

Lovely but excessive...

SC honest to God, I DO take time for myself each week! Generally when the DCs are in school.

Today I've noted that the earth grounding wire is off and exposed on my downstairs toilet sink. Bitchy you might want to look away now.... ... So I assume this is a "no-touchy" thing, right? But not an emergency?? My plan is to keep the DCs out of that toilet and away from the wire/plumbing there and ring the council in the morning to have them come out and fix it. I'm pretty sure it's the earth/grounding wire -it's green and yellow. And clamped to plumbing pipes. I initially debated taking off the electrical tape that's all over it and trying to reclamp it, but I didn't want a shock (not a clue if it would give me one) and I could just see Bitchy's reaction if I suggested it.

Yes it is the grounding wire, yes leave the electrical tape and don't touch it, yes to get it checked. But i wouldn't panic too much our earth grounding wire on the bath room sink is swinging free atm (with no electrical tape) memory has vague thought it is to do with protecting the house in the event of a lightening strike rather than wired to the mains. But please don't test this!

Bitchy somehow I knew you'd have the answer. (and suspected you'd tell me not to touch it - quite rightly, I might add!) I've told the DCs that bathroom is off limits until after the council has come out and repaired it. I thought that the grounding was more of a safety "just in case" rather than ongoing risk, but no I won't touch it to test that theory.

What can I say? My dad would have liked a son but got a house full of daughters. The stuff I got to learn is brilliantly practical.

My knowledge is outdated (older model cars) and more related to the electrical set up in the states, as that's the stuff my dad taught me. He had a house full of daughters as well.

Your roundup made me laugh alot SC we do all sound a bit ridiculous don't we of course life is deadly serious [cough]
I love the hamster and the discarded fag-ends

back from extremely successful outing with ds2 who played with three different sets of children in the park (football, table tennis anv volleyball) and discussed town planning with me. We thought the house very dull though (not much interest in Robert Adam here - we prefer smelly Vikings in Yorvik, that sort of thing..

the computer is now being grabbed from me, so I will now read my latest s/h bookshop purchase

Never let it be said that we take ourselves too seriously.

I've done a bit of countertop/cabinet rearranging in the kitchen today while the DCs were playing out in the garden. The ultimate goal is to get as little on the countertops as possible, but it's tricky. I miss all the cabinet space I had in my other house - I actually had a couple empty cabinets, as there was so much. I know. Can you imagine? Certainly not ever going to happen here!!

Can I add to the ridiculousness? DS has just pottered downstairs 45 mins after bedtime. He had somehow got out if bed and into the bathroom without us hearing and had a good rummage under the sink, opened my body shop peppermint foot scrub, smeared half on his face in an attempt to eat it and thrown the rest on the floor, pulled out my ttc pee cup, filled it with water FROM THE TOILET and am pretty sure he was drinking it. One for his 18th birthday.

In fledgling related news though..WE BOUGHT A DYSON! And are already disgusted by pushing it once round the lounge. Either our last hoover was ridiculously ineffective or we are disgusting.

DH is now watching a terrible Star Trek film so am going to pick up my book.

Engels oh my! he was busy! At least he's building up his immunities, right?

I have people just irritating me right and left in RL. I swear I'm going to stop answering the phone and texts and not help anyone anymore, as it just ends up being a hassle for me in the long run. argh!!

evening all,thanks for the welcomes.
have had a lovely day today. Mum, Dad, DSis and Dniece visited and we had lovely family garden party for my Bday (tomorrow) and dniece bday (Tuesday) Was all very sunny and lovely and dc were relatively well behaved!
haven't done much FLYing as result but have managed:
2 loads of laundry
painted littlies radiator
general tidying
cleaned downstairs bathroom

also dyed my hair and plucked my eyebrows!! Am trying to take better care of myself instead of making do with 5 minute showers !!

not doing much else tonight.

off to bed soon.

tomorrows list
Put away clean washing in littlies' room
DS1 washing
buy new laundry basket for ds1

dd4 has friend round for tea...

probably more....will add to tomorrow

am also going back to sugar free diet tomorrow after a massive fail today (birthday cake!) had managed 10 days so will get back on with it...hoping I can kick it for good as Im sure I am totally addicted to it and it does bad things to me!

waves to all...I will get round to individuals once I get properly into thread.

Where to start, its been a few days since I posted but work was mad and DH on leave so quite a bit of juggling. Was my birthday yesterday and DH surprised me with days course in baking, when I got home we went for an epic walk with the DDs around a local nature reserve finding oodles of wildlife including baby frogs and a sawfly, finished up eating my baking in the woods with dappled sun. Then they both slept hallelujah and we all woke late this morning. Then today we've played outside, gardened and somehow managed to also clean the house as well as me writing my list of jobs to do for the week.

We have;
Hoovered downstairs
Mopped the hall floor
Steamed the kitchen floor
Bleached the sink
Cleaned both bathrooms and left limescale remover on overnight in an effort to improve the tiles
Cleared all the detritus out of the garden
Weeded two (out of five) of the veg beds
Planted up the last of the flowers
Planted up the tomatoes
Given all the trees their Sunday afternoon feed
Emptied all bins
Thrown out broken toys

tomorrow
Parcel up and post friends clothes
buy two birthday cards
buy wedding card
order wedding gift
order two birthday presents
cancel dd1s paediatric appt on Friday
apply for statement appeal (oh joy)

Clean out the car
Walk to park (reward for dd1 who less than a week after pt has been dry two days running)
Cook breakfast with leftovers from weekend
wipe down tiles

and if I can get both DC down at the same time then maybe finish glossing the lobby.

Just realised that with dh's departure at crack of sparrows tomorrow, I won't have time to post links early (if not in middle of night!) so doing it now.

So pleased you had such a lovely weekend Eyelet you deserve some relaxation for once!! Phenomenal list too! Also good to hear pt progressing well!! Happy birthday for yesterday!

Your Sunday sounds lovely too Hyperhops. Wishing you a very happy birthday for tomorrow (today!).

Treble arf at the antics of your ds Engels that's hilarious!!!

Well done with the counter-tops Alice!

Big waves to Swan and Bitchy and everyone else!

DD drove me around the bend today - she is understandably tired and temperamental but day involved lots of unnecessary procrastination and meltdowns (despite lovely bike ride). Dh was cross with her because she kept everyone waiting at supper which he had cooked (long story).

Last straw was when she remembered at 8.30pm when all the shops were shut, that she is being relied upon to bring in supplies for leavers party at school tomorrow [sigh]. We'd popped out two or three times during the day and could have easily got them then. Aarrgghh!!

Luckily have most of stuff but now have to get up early to (a) revise poem again (b) try and find a shop that opens before 8 am and sells the things she needs [grrrrrrrr] Why oh why???

*

Baby-step no.23 for Mon 23rd is : adding an afternoon routine to your day.

We are in Zone 4 : The Master Bedroom (June 22 – 28) this week here.

Declutter in Zone 4 for 15 minutes a day!

Detailed cleaning list here if you are at that stage.

Monday's mission is here (as are all the missions for the week ahead). Monday's mission involves spending 15 mins getting rid of anything that doesn't belong in your boudoir.

Monday's daily focus is:the dreaded home bleugh.

The monthly habit for June is drinking more water.

To summarise the above, today's flight plan can be found [[www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-120 here]] and will update itself automatically.

Have a productive start to the week eveyrone!

***

Im just crawling in to wave wearily. Im exhausted at the moment I have been flying but have been having early night instead of posting.

Yesterday I began tidying mine and dps room which was a mission but was worth it as it looks so much better.

Ta do before school far:
Bin changed
Beds made
Washing up from last night
Wipe kitchen sides
Get dc up, dressed, fed and out
Stick a washload in

Counting the days to the summer holidays. Bbl