Fledglings polish their pumpkins and do their best, it's time for a Fling Boogie Octoberfest!

[Stewedcoot]

Heartfelt thanks to Engels (and Bitchy!) for leading the thread throughout September (Sept always being a busy one) despite feeling a bit poorly and despite being pregnant. Hope beneficial effects of injections kick in soon!

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 daily and doing the babysteps is a good way to start. 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 brew + 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, intermittent returnees, oldies and newcomers very, very welcome!

salut! 3rd tome trying to send message from phone, dont knpw what iam doing! With fil. Just wanted toi say thx everyone for zdvice about DD, much appreciated, will reply properly on return. Thx Aldo toi whoever doing links. Big waves

Sorry to have avoid the thread today. Have been suffering after last night, got to the point of tollerance saturation of the mess/chaos and thus had a bit of a blow out.

Wrt toys ds has a small room, it is not possible to stored everything in his room and be able to use the room. He seems to have so much more than what I had as a child of the same age. We have toys stored downstairs, but not lego. Lego is banned to his room. Mostly cos i am fed up of finding it all over the house. doesn't mean to say I haven't been removing power miner rock monsters from their hidey holes all over the house today. Sometimes I do think that the best answer is to sit down, budget and then just blitz change the furniture. Fingers crossed you can get some resolution on this challenging problem Whoknows

I am getting bogged down and frustrated with the lack of tidy that is visible so need a ta da list to remind me that actually I have had a very productive day.

Ta da
strip my bed
retrieve matress topper from under my mattress
Rotate my mattress
Take hoover apart and replace bag and filters
tidy and cull a floors worth of stuff (imagine only foot holes in junk)
Hoover floor
wash 2 sofa throws
damp dust tv stand, bookcase, and coffee table nest
hoover 1 sofa down
remove toys off the book case,
clean everything removed
relocate a set of books and return toys to shelve (complete with any relocated missing pieces)
Wade into study of junk and spend 1hr decluttering and sorting bits and bobs out
3 loads of washing pots and pans (big and bulky) and recycling
load and run DW
wash ds kit
wash my bedding
1st load of normal laundry
remove pile of folded towels from lounge
remove dead plants from kitchen and lounge
remove and put away all the clutter from kitchen bench
wash table cloths
iron and return table clothes
folding (but not dreaded sock pile)
sort out plans for tonight
sort out some planning sheets as my currently diary is not working for me (no matter how posh it was)
collect all plastic tubs in one area
collect hair bands from around house and return to pot
5mins decluttering in my room
knit one row of over due jumper project but give up
collect all random boxes and bags of stuff earmarked to leave house into one place ready for sorting and shifting

I am in the process of cooking a fry up. I think I have earnt it today. Plus i think I will sleep well tonight

Wow, yes - fry-up definitely earnt Bitchy! Hope you enjoyed it!

Had a productive day's work while my parents took the boys to the beach and to play crazy golf etc. They didn't leave till about 11.30 though, so boys were nearly frantic with impatience by then!!

Sympathies with storage woes, WhoKnows. Boys share a small room at the moment so almost all their toys are downstairs.

Waves to all. Night!

Bitchy see you're back on the mega lists again

Fairly standard day here, but I have been anti-procrastinating! A day early!!
I've been going through my work in progress bag and been sewing in ends, adding buttons etc. I now have a carrier bag of stuff to go into the shop for sale

Need to get some more buttons to finish off the last 5 cowls, so I'll start building the pile back up until I can get some. It's insulation

went to see a friend for stitch and bitch, which was actually sit and watch a film. Very relaxing AND i manged to get a lot of lose ends fastened off. Don't know about you goth but I hate fastening ends off.

Just about to put clean bedding on my bed and I will be back with some links.

Links:

Anti-procrastination day - just get it done, you'll feel better if it is not hanging over you,

Baby step no 29 - nearly the end of the month!

Missions

Launch pad

Oh and for those of you who are feeling the christmas spirit fly lady has a holidays control journal - just be warned it is set up to take into account thanks giving. find it here if you are brave enough

Morning all,

Sorry about self-indulgent thoughts yesterday. I wanted to ask - has anyone else who thought they'rd unsubscribed from Flylady years ago suddenly started getting emails again? Just one a day, and it actually seems to have all the right daily links in it (as well as a load of adverts and gushing testimonials). I think I will de-subscribe again!

Work today, back later.

Thanks for the links, Bitchy.

Have to take DS2 to the dentist this morning. And he wants to carve another pumpkin today. Am concerned the pumpkins will be mouldy by Friday, but he's willing to take the risk.

Other than that, my main mission today is to do more decluttering.

Have a good day, everyone.

Toffee Good luck at the dentist. As far as the pumpkin is concerned, just wipe down the inside of it (after all scooped out and cut) with a little bleach, as that will keep it from getting mouldy. Then put a little vaseline around the cut edges (face and top) and it will keep it from curling up and shrivelling a bit longer. If it starts getting "wilty" then fill up a bucket of very cold water, and submerge the pumpkin in it for about 30 minutes to 2 hrs and then take it out (can put it upside down to dry on an old towel if you want). Just don't drown it in bleach and then put a candle in it right away, as I suspect that's not a good idea. (oh, the weird and wonderful knowledge we have, eh?)

I've done my grocery shop online today, so it will be delivered tomorrow. Taking a day off the DIY to do some paper shredding now that the blister on my hand has gone.

I feel cold today, but the boys are wearing tshirts and claim they are just fine. (and their hands are warm, so obviously they are fine!) Hmmm...

Toffee oh, and if you have room in your fridge, you can leave the pumpkin in the fridge overnight at night between now and Friday and it will last longer as well.

I'll have to look at that Christmas Flylady, as we do celebrate Thanksgiving in our house.

Wow, there is no end to what you can learn from Mumsnet! Very impressed with your pumpkin knowhow Alice. I've had a butternut squash languishing in the fruit bowl for 6 months (came in the veg box and none of us like it) I was thinking about carving that but it could be tricky, would probably have to take the back off as well as the top.

Impressed at the durability of your butternut squash, WhoKnows. You can make cake with it if nobody wants it as a veg.

Oh, and I can take on the November thread if nobody else is burning to.

I have fussy cake eaters Blue, they won't eat anything other than plain sponge cakes (DS won't even eat chocolate cake). None of us like sweet veg (parsnips, beetroot, squashes, pumpkin, sweet potato, anything glazed with honey).

After yesterday and the insomnia the night before I had a massive lie in. If I am honest I am lacking the motivation to get anything done though, so I guess I am going to need to sort some planning lists out and then get on with it by the power of three.

ooops that reminded me to take out some pumpkin bread out of the freezer as ds1 asked for that today

Alice - that's amazingly helpful - thank you!

ta da

DS2 to the dentist - another cavity in a baby tooth
Another conversation with DS2 about teeth cleaning and sweet food
Resolved to ask MIL to stop bringing him cakes and sweets every time she visits or he visits her (she thinks you need sugar to survive)
Ignored DS2's repeated questions whilst I decluttered ("Are you finished yet? Is it time to do another pumpkin?")
Cleared and wiped down all kitchen surfaces
Threw away clutter
Managed to fit bagfuls kitten food in the cupboard, so now off the surface
Cleared out litter trays
Emptied kitchen bin
Put recycling out
Cleaned kitchen windows
Washed dirty Lego
Transferred collection of disparate small toys to DS2's bedroom
Hoovered and mopped kitchen floor
Cleaned cooker hob
Shone sink
Lunch

Feeling a bit better now I've managed to declutter the kitchen surfaces a bit. I do wish DS2 would leave me alone for a bit though. I've explained to him that I have lots to do and he needs to play on his own for a bit, but all to no avail.

to do

More pumpkins, FFS!

I toyed with the idea of buying a pumpkin. But here's the thing. As much as the dcs think it's cool and just remember the carved jack o lantern in years to come, I know it actually goes like this:

Buy pumpkin. actually we would have to buy two.. because they can't share a pumpkin, now, can they? They have to make their own individual faces, as ds1 likes happy pumpkins and ds2 likes scary ones (which upset ds1).

*Cut top off pumpkin" well, we all know that's MY job.

*Gut Mr Pumpkin." Yep. You'd think dcs would love the slimy ooky removal of smelly pumpkin guts and seeds, wouldn't you? Nope. Ds1 won't touch it, just stands there "directing traffic" for lack of a better way to put it. Ds2 will WANT to help, but will either A- accidentally dump all the pumpkin guts on the floor or B- accidentally drop the pumpkin on the floor, smashing it to bits. Thus leaving one pumpkin. And lots of screams.

Carve the face out Again, we have a spare pumpkin carving kit from last year. Why? Because all they did was play with the items and not actually carve the pumpkins themselves because they were too busy trying to see if the carver actually would cut off a finger. Or cut the chair leg. Or poke 60 million holes in the pumpkin with the little poker thing (for making pumpkin patterns). So then we all know who has the job of carving the actual face. Yes, that right. ME.

Admiring the pumpkin Two seconds. Okay, that's done. Light a candle in it, mummy!

*Lighting the candle in the pumpkin." Ongoing litany of the following sentences:
No you can't light the candle.
No you can't light the match.
Put the candle down.
Put the match down.
Don't touch the candle.
Don't touch the flame, it's HOT.
Yes, I TOLD you it would be hot.
No you don't need an ambulance.
Yes it's out because you put it out with your fingers.
No you can't light the candle.
No you can't light the match........

Happy Halloween? Seriously? pffffft!

alice

Ds is only allowed to do pumpkin carving at his dad's We will allow a candle to be burnt and watch the fucker rot. And of course deal with the tears because it doesn't last forever and you can't keep it.

Totally unproductive day, totally procrastinating. Dreadful state of affairs I know

Yes, I well remember the screaming last year when I went to finally throw away the rotted pumpkin. Seriously, you'd think I was tossing a BODY in the bin, the way they were going on.

Kids are weird Alice

Oops I fell asleep sitting up in bed last night writing my message to all you fledglings!

Busy, busy, busy the last few days. Still working through Sunday's list plus all the little extra jobs that keep cropping up.

Have murdered my paper clutter this week - so pleased with progress!

Alice Happy pumpkin carving!

Bitchy when you achieve THAT much in a single day you are allowed have a day off! Thanks for links!

Sc Enjoy trip. Hope hassle with DD has relaxed a bit!

Waves to everyone else!

Power of 3:

• Builders providers for nails, a door and enquiry re wooden panelling quote.
• Tile shop
• Call to friend for coffee

That is very true. Alice. Which is why I've spent the last hour or more carving another effing pumpkin for DS2.

And I taught him how to strike a match, having emphasised to him that he can only do that with an adult for now. He was so proud of himself when he did it. Not sure if I should have taught him, but he's a sensible boy, so I can't imagine he'll start lighting them on his own . He's nearly nine.

Anyone who has the energy or inclination to carve pumpkins: this video is really good (it's the top one out of five).

Was going to declutter underneath the sofa next, but now it's dinnertime and I suppose I should probably feed people first.