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!

done
great party last night at my cousin's 50th, saw lots of old acquaintances and some friends
today dd and I have been swimsuit shopping, and I ended up buying boys shorts and underpants
lunch was a summery spread of kebabs, boiled eggs, salad and boiled potatoes

dd has gone to a swimming party
ds2 is examining his latest World Cup chart purchase and sticking it on the wall
ds1 has been exasperating and shouty all morning but has now been despatched on a hike in his new shoes, still shouting about how come ds2 got a WC chart and not him.. honestly you would think he was 4 not 14..

dh is all packed to go off, but a deep sense of exhaustion has descended on me, partly hangover partly a lot of walking yesterday partly worn out with thought of all the shouty children next week to deal with by myself..

still have to force ds2 to do homework too.

Hi all.

So sorry to hear about your friend toffee.
Congratulations Castle!
Sorry to read about hammy Droit

I have not had a particularly productive weekend although it has been very relaxed.

Friday night we celebrated my dbs 30th birthday. Yesterday I went shopping with dm and did some school work followed by an early night. Today I went swimming for the first time in months and went for a walk with dsil. I have done the bare minimum flywise but will be back on the wagon properly in the morning.

Well today I have mostly been holding a baby, rocking, feeding, juggling, pushing the pram etc etc. Genuinely this particular baby is becoming more and more work not less and less! In her defense she isn't well but even by poorly baby standards today was like wading through treacle.

• We had more stuff picked up
• We realised that once the last few paperwork piles are done and DH has put things in the loft and done a dump run then we are significantly closer to having a tidy well run home. We've left no box unopened and some have been untouched in 3-4 house moves!
• Three loads of laundry washed
• Two loads dry and in airing cupboard
• One load drying
• Bins emptied (DH)
• Nappy bin emptied and Milton'ed
• Black out blind hung in baby's room (DH)
• Shopping ordered (DH)
• Playhouse emptied, swept and all toys checked (this was a massive bundle of old toys 'given' by a friend IYKWIM) - (DH)
• Garden watered
• Upstairs vacuumed and dusted. (DH)

tomorrow's list
GP for baby
More listing on freecycle
Investigate under beds
Bath DC

Tuesday list
Bathroom
Sort back of car
Wash car

Good evening everyone!
I've been quite productive today. I decluttered and tidied the kitchen/sitting room, got the bedroom ready for DBiL and blitzed the downstairs bathroom, which is next to the guest room.

However, in decluttering, I've moved heaps of stuff and laundry upstairs and into our room...out of the way for now, but will need to be tackled tomorrow.

Swan I hope your week goes well by yourself with the children.
Bitchy Mind your hand, and rest up!
Mercury you sound as though you've had a lovely weekend!

Evening! Just written long-ish post and lost, so hope you don't mind me not repeating it. Still have headache - trying to avoid screens! Sweltering here, hope you are all ok! x

*

The baby-step for today, no. 9 for Mon June 9th is: here. Learn about decluttering and add 5 min room rescue to morning routine.

We are in Zone 2: the Kitchen (June 8-14) here.

Declutter in this zone for 15 minutes a day!

Detailed cleaning list here if you are at that stage.

Monday's mission is here. 10 mins looking up and tackling top of fridge, light fixture, cobwebs in corners of ceiling in kitchen etc.

Monday's daily focus is: the home bleugh as we call it.

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 good start to the week everyone!

***

I don't like monday mornings. And I have my week backwards. My weekend is always 150% busier than the week. I can't decide if that is a parent thing though.

Out from 10.30am till nearly 10pm yesterday! Poor MIL was nodding off on the sofa when we arrived home. We worked really hard all morning, packing up books, then our clients decided to take us out for lunch . It was so refreshing to meet new people and be in a different environment.

However, I was interrupted by DS1 ringing me in tears because I wasn't at home. I know he can't help himself, but I do feel DH and I should be able to have an uninterrupted day out now and again.

Finally finished the job at 7pm, then had to drive back to work and unload everything. The sun was setting as we finished.

Back to the routine today: home ed with DS2 this morning; supporting DS1 with online lessons this afternoon. DH has gone to work.

I'm not sure we have anything in the fridge to eat later. I suppose I should do something about that.

phew, no money counting this morning - I turned up and it was cancelled, so

done
3 kids to school
drove ds2 to school
persuaded two to wash luckily someone had given ds2 a Lynx pampering set so we had this in reserve as emergency washing bribe! Nothing like some blue Lynx bodywash to persuade the hygenically challenged when someone is screaming at you that they had a bath last Friday..

dh went to Rome, not happy, it is boiling hot there and his parents have picked the worse possible time to move all their possessions back to Germany with Dh's help, having originally planned it for March. However, I suppose no plans with parents ever go smoothly, they are a law unto themselves. Hopefully he will have at least one or two happy hours enjoying Rome itself, and he does love seeing his parents as long as they are not waving packing lists at him

went to shops bought groceries for next few days
now home and hopefully today I can grasp the nettle of throwing out some stuff whilst dh is away..but I also need to pace myself because the evenings are going to be hard work round here..

immediate plans:

supper - cold roast chicken, salad, fried potatoes

Hello. Had mahoosive storm here and just like that my headache has cleared. So lovely to be without the nauseating screwdriver that has been boring in to side of my head the last two days !!

[Disclaimer: self-indulgent, 'me' 'me' rant follows which is very poor form really, given lack of personals!! - so many apologies in advance!!)

Spittingly furious with dh who in the space of two days when I've been lying in a darkened room has:

(a) failed to identify the specific homework that dd should have been revising this long Pentecost weekend (school hol today) despite constant bleating and reminders from myself to get dd to look in her daily Agenda should have bloody well done it myself . He reassured me that revision was being done in the office while he worked; but I've discovered today that he hadn't verified this and dd was doing nothing of the sort - just frittering time away! Would it have been too much just to check once or twice? Worse, I have discovered today (at the end of the long weekend when time has nearly run out) a six-page revision bundle listing all the subject headings and contents that dd needs to know by the end of this week/beginning next - and believe me - there is a sod of a lot of it! Neither dd or dh even contemplated taking this out and studying it or using it as a revision template [tears hair out in bewilderment] (Furious with myself for not getting to grips with this earlier too if I'm honest.)

(b) fed dd almost exclusively on either sugary/buttery croissants or Quickburger takeaways; having reassured me he'd be feeding her chicken/veg/fish and melon/strawberries which I had bought on Fri

(c) failed to get dd to bed before 11pm on Sat, or Sun eve

(d) failed to uphold "no tv until after exams" rule (it's only a week and a half fhs!!!)

(e) wrecked my laundry room (he decided to wash some of his shirts, socks and underpants and needed receptacles for when they came out of the machine - so took it upon himself to empty out on to the floor (and on to piles of dirty washing) the nearest laundry paniers that came to hand without checking what was inside them - which was three loads of clean and folded laundry ready for ironing which now all need washing again

(f) has just taken dd out to see a friend of his and play mini-golf instead of backing me up when I said she needed to sit and revise NOW! (DD will be attending choir rehearsal later so not much time remaining today.)

And of course dd LOVES fun Daddy and doing no revision, eating junk food, going to bed late etc. It is me who is again cast as wicked witch of the North AND who will be dealing with fall out next week [seethes].

I know dh thinks I am being a pain and "not fun" and he absolutely loathes anyone telling him what to do, but when I try and talk reasonably he just stubbornly refuses to communicate. Thank God I can vent on here because I am so angry right now I feel like setting fire to his tie drawer and dropping each precious tie one by one - flaming - from a great height!!!

Pls forgive indulgent 'me' 'me' 'me' rant - just furious right now - will catch up with personals later tonight I promise. Going to use anger to clear out room full of junk on 2nd floor ....

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr [anger] [anger] [anger]

Big waves to everyone nonetheless!!!!

Toffee!!

Great you had a day out yesterday, albeit working!! Everyone needs a change from time to time. (Even though must be stressful when you know ds1 not happy about it!!)

Swan sympathies ) the screaming about having had a bath last Friday rings oh so true here too!!! Good luck without your dh this week and hope he survives parental house move!

Extra strong for Bitchy Hope your hand is improving!

Well done re: yesterday's decluttering Castle DO TAKE IT STEADY though!!! [proffers foot stool]

Eyelet you've done BRILLIANTLY to get all of that done while nursing a poorly baby!!!

Mercury great you had a relaxing w/e for once - you deserve it!!

Big waves to everyone!!!

Actually SC I'll pass on that you sound like you need it more than I. I got all the work for work done. So that was fab. I really really need to sort out this sleep pattern thing. It is a nightmare. Really not sleeping well, and really want a nap. But if i take a nap we all know that i won't sleep tonight

Thx Bitchy I'm calming down a bit now ... I shouldn't really complain .. he is a saint of a husband generally .. it's just that we have defined domaines and when one crosses over to the other for some reason (ie illness) all hell breaks out And, I was, admittedly, very behind with his washing!!

Hope you manage to sort out sleep issues tonight although not easy with this muggy weather x

SC incredibly annoying behaviour. Mine does that with pizza nights [grrr] and football on telly. Just as long as you log the lack of revision guidance and THEN when there is a problem with her tests, wave the evidence in front of his nose, dated and signed. Dh has a most annoying habit of saying I thought you were in charge of that, when he has in fact countermanded my directives
I suppose your dh thought he was being very helpful not to disturb you.

However, sigh, I shall miss mine. And all the early mornings he does as I am so incredibly lazy Atm I must say it is delightfully peaceful without him, but that will wear off by 6pm I fear..

done
watered the plants
washed PE kit
put groceries away
located foul smell (old dishcloth)
talked to friend on phone
dw
washing in
recycling
recharged phone
rang home edding acquaintance to check with her about local groups, turns out she is not sending her Yr 6 to secondary school after all, which is nice for me if I decide to home ed ds2...

Bitchy I'm not sleeping well either - it's that wake up at 4 in the morning lark, and then go back to sleep but a bit too long awake - it may be the light that triggers it, in which case get lots of morning sunshine apparently that helps reset the melatonin production to right time of day. I think after lunch is a natural dip, which is worth taking advantage of if only for ten minutes.

Quick post as it's Monday and a work day for me and I really should be working.

Good weekend though with DS's first cinema trip on Saturday, and then on Sunday visited a local fruit farm as part of Farm Open Day; we got a tour on a tractor trailer and managed to eat our own body weight in strawberries and raspberries.

Meant little in the way of flying was done, but hey ho!

Unfortunately, it would appear that we have a mouse/several mice in the loft; thankfully not in the house. Got the Moses basket down ready to sell and... well... we're not selling it.

DH can't see why I'm all and stressed about it as it's "not in the house" (technically true as there are no signs in the house, just in the loft, and the basket has been up there for 3 years, and we don't know when it was munched), but I just want to bleach everything in sight. Will be getting traps in, and I don't think they will be humane.

Busy week this week with work, and then only one weekend to organise holiday stuff. But I'm not stressing as it's a UK based holiday with family, so if I don't have it, then I can borrow or buy it. DH is looking disturbed at this lack of stress

Oh sc - I think I would be spitting!

Sweltering here, though had a big storm earlier so air has cleared a bit. DS is struggling with the heat so has been waking up frequently all weekend.

Bank holiday here today so have been down to ILs caravan though it was too hot to do anything.

Am almost up to date with the washing though. One lot on atm and then one more lot and that's it. ironing pile is not quite so promising

Cold pasta for dinner - don't really feel like eating everything though.

Hope everyone's had a good day and see you tomorrow

when did we get and ?

is new, Bitchy, but and have been around for a while. Since the beginning of the French Open and the Giro at a guess.

Blimey, SC, I'd be spitting too! Glad the headache's gone though.

Survived the school fete at the weekend, but now very busy with work again so flying will be even more minimal for a while.

Thanks all!! Much cheered by all your sympathetic comments!! Really don't know what I would do without this thread sometimes for one thing -dh's ties would have been shredded long ago--

And Dh has just redeemed himself by carrying lots of very heavy items up out of 2nd floor junk room (old furniture etc) in to roof in scorching heat!!

And, to be fair, can't have been much fun for him (having worked so hard all wk) to have me incapacitated for half the w/e and ranting for the other half

Ooooooh - I didn't spot most of those eitherBitchy!!!
I wonder if Mumsnet central could be persuaded to introduce a horse emoticon?

Blue Here's some for treatment of PSFFS (post-school-fete-fatigue-syndrome)

Fabulous drying weather isn't it Engels? (Although I imagine it must have been stonkingly hot in caravan.) Keep hydrated and put your feet up!! [proffers another footstool]

Carpe love the sound of your fruit farm tractor tour!! Good you had a rest at the w/e! Sorry to hear about mice invasion though! We get them here intermittently. Could it have come through from next door? Or, we once, without realising it, brought a field mouse home in a rucksack and it ate its way through lots of tents and camping equip before we realised ... .

Swan good luck with the early mornings this wk and yes, my dh does exactly the same thing about passing the buck!! Infuriating indeed!!

Oh sc hugs and .....

If it makes you feel any better I am also fuming with my DH who never came home this evening and has appeared to have absconded with DBiL on a pub crawl since early this afternoon.
I know they haven't seen each other in ages, but I am really . I was worried something had happened to him and went up to DMiL's house to see was everything alright (I dropped my phone yesterday and broke it, just to top things off ) as I had no other way of trying to contact him, being phoneless.
Feel like he should be worrying about me and not the other way around. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

I achieved very little - DH and DD1 did most of it. I might accept the role of team leader however ;-)

Today I got everything dry into the airing cupboard,
Another cloth nappy load,
A tapas dinner for us (which sounds grand but I can work on through the day storing each dish away as I do it),
Cleared all the empty bathroom bottles of shampoo etc
Put out clean toothbrushes!
Sorted a tub of toys to keep upstairs (all the toys were in the playroom but I can't entertain them up here otherwise)
Sorted a tub of toys to go in the car after its cleaned tomorrow.
Replaced the batteries in five toys

Also did an hours work while children slept. No matter how badly my children sleep I can never sleep during the day.

I didn't drink enough.

tomorrow

• clean the bloody bathroom. Including the annoying window shelf and ledge under the bath which I can only see when sat on the loo
• empty the car of rubbish, car seats and buggy then take to be valeted
• Move the sheet music box upstairs
• Measure size of dolls house and a possible unit for it on Gumtree (4th b'day present for dd1)
• order new car seat for dd1
• prime the MDF in cloakroom
• buy carpet for lobby
• bake cake
• pack nursery bags
• sort weeks clothes

castle & sc
carpe definitely get firm with rhe mice, they can cause untold damage to electrical wiring too. We had them in the roof of this house when I was pg ans I called in pest control as we couldn't find where the little bastards were getting in
bitchy I hope you get your clock reset, only way I can do it is by getting up early and ditching caffeine so I can sleep in the evening. Baby was up every 20min last night. I'm shattered.
swan tour immediate plans made me laugh at lunchtime when I had two smalls screaming at me. I opted to go to our local garden centre and have lunch there as my 'immediate plan' was to make everyone happy!!!

1. 12 am here and I can't sleep! I don't have an office to get to in the morning so have given up trying for the moment. Dh is snoring and coughing intermittently. The bedroom alarm clock is saying that the temp in there is 22 °c but it feels hotter. And someone in the flats next door is having a later dinner party and there's lots of loud conversation/intermittent laughter.

Hope you are all managing to get some shut eye!!

Thanks for the cake Eyelet. I can't sleep during the day either (well I can but I feel so awful afterwards that I don't!). I don't know how you manage to function (never mind Fly/organise others to Fly) having been woken up every 20 mins through the night!! YOu are doing incredibly well!

Oh no Castle definitely insensitive timing on the part of your dh and dbil. I hope they are back home safely now and you can stop worrying x

Might as well post tomorrow's links while I'm up ... .

*
The baby-step for today, no. 10 for Tues 10th is: to learn about the power of 15 mins. It's a good 'un!

We are in Zone 2: the Kitchen (June 8-14) here. Btw, don't be confused by the Flylady website if you are looking at it; in some places it is still showing Zone 1 incorrectly!

Declutter in Zone 2 for 15 minutes a day!

Detailed cleaning list here if you are at that stage.

Tuesday's mission is here. Wipe down kitchen cupboard doors.

Tuesday's daily focus is: planning holidays, medical appts, hair cuts, menus, wardrobes, birthdays etc etc

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 good day everyone!

***