Deck the halls (or the wine) as the Fledglings head into December.

[GoingGoingGoth]

Huge thanks to Blue for leading the thread throughout November (and to SC for such a copy and paste-able OP )

If you are struggling 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 wine and cake along the way.

Flylady link is 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 + 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!

Safe travel, Bitchy

Linzer - so sorry to hear your FIL is so ill. I hope you (and DD, if appropriate) can get there in time to support DH. It will do him good to have you with him.

Disappointed that there are still no Christmas babies, Engels and Castle .

Bitchy - safe journey. Looking forward to you reporting back later.

We had a lovely Christmas with my Mum and the rest of my family. It was blissful not having to cook Christmas lunch. And when I felt overwhelmed by all the socialising, I retreated to the kitchen to do all the washing up, much to my Mum's delight.

Spent Boxing Day taking DS2 to the beach and then playing games in my Mum's garden. Watched 'The Boy in the Dress' in the evening - one of DS2's favourite David Walliam's books.

DS1 coped pretty well. I think knowing he was only staying for a couple of days really helped. He has been driving me mad repeating phrases from YouTube. He nearly ruined 'The Boy in the Dress' by going on about 'memes' for half of it .

Back home today. Came back to a warm house with two very happy, well-fed cats, who have been cared for by our next-door neighbours.

Back to Flying today: have filled the fridge with food from Tesco (bought on our way home), unpacked all our bags and distributed them in appropriate rooms and put a load of washing on. Am now sitting down to eat lunch and have a .

Engels I cannot do links but they are Celtic Sheepskin. Not really waterproof for driving rain or puddles but fine in mud if you brush it off afterwards when they are dry.

Trazzles I have a Belfast sink in utility room old kitchen and tbh one coffee or tea rinsed out is its undoing. However they take very large roasting tins Stainless steel although more forgiving in general use tends not to clean up so quickly.

Castle we have a gas Aga and a hob for summer and my mum has a reconditioned 40's coal Aga in Ireland. In those days it was considered a labour saving device and particularily economical to run Certainly lasted a very very long time...Although rather like the tinwoodman in W of Oz it has so many bits of it reconditioned I am not quite sure which part of the original remains except the logo...

SC It sounds as if your Christmas was just what it should have been despite the worry of FIL hanging over you - you are very generous to be the hostess - I'm sure it is perfect way to celebrate Christmas for your dd surrounded by relations. Ours are rather missing visitors to dress up for and chat to, so I suppose we pay for our freedom to do whatever we like and lounge around

I am off to Eire tomorrow without dh, but with two children.

done
visa waiver form with dh for ds1 school trip in March
collected some piles of stuff to take to Ireland
ds1 did some homework
dd went to the shops for short errand
cooked roast beef for lunch
went on a run with ds2
bought potatoes
tidied my room a tiny bit
did some washing
hung it out
hmm - suppose spent quite a fair amount of time eating Panetonne and drinking some Prosecco and gossiping about the neighbours

ooh and read Nora Webster by Colm Toibin. sequel to Brooklyn. Sad but good. for middle aged people [disclaimer]

need to
order parking vouchers
and permit
pack
print off tickets
make a new handbag from 3 different piles of useful stuff in 3 different bags

Back safely. Ds is needing attention. Will be back later

Glad you made it back safely over the hills Bitchy. Snow settled quite thickly here.

Thanks Toffee and Swan. Just re-read my post below and it sounds horribly callous saying we had a lovely time despite fil's illness. It wasn't a question of forgetting him and sil (in fact we were in constant contact throughout the day); it's just that, without going in to details, it is a hopeless situation in every respect and has been ongoing for years; so one has to carry on as normally as possible as it were and to protect dd a bit.

We have finally decided on a plan. Dsis1 taking dd back to UK with her, where she will be working so can't baby-sit, but saintly dsis2 is going to meet them half way and take dd home with her. Which means that I can join dh and sil in FRance and lend some support. Thank heavens for kindly sisters! Sometimes think I could not survive without mine!

Only stumbling block now is severe weather. Lots of delays on trains and at airports so studying the form tomorrow before setting off although I'm hoping to travel on my original ticket. Really glad that dd is going to have something to do though as she has totally recovered from pre-Christmas school exertions and is now bursting with energy/is hyper-active!! As a result, did not get quite as much done as planned today but still have a couple of hrs tomorrow morning to sort more laundry and tidy up.

Safe travelling to you tomorrow Swan hope planes to Eire unaffected by bad weather and that you have a lovely time. Love Colm Toibin btw, recently re-read The Testament of Mary prompted by a fascinating interview with him on culture show.

Toffee Boxing day on the beech sounds superb! Also, think your ds1 did really well wrt to travelling and socialising! Well done to the both of you!

G'night all!

SC - you didn't sound callous at all - I'm sure none of us thought that. You were right to continue as usual with Christmas, particularly when you have DD to think of. I'm really glad your DSISs are helping out with your DD. Sounds as if she will have a wonderful time in the UK and it's probably just as well she won't have to be part of what will undoubtedly be a difficult time for you and your DH. Best of luck coping with the journey and awful weather conditions. I'm sure your DH will be very relieved to have you with him. I know how much it meant to me to have DH with me when close family members were dying.

Bitchy - thank you for reporting back safely . Hope you get enough rest tonight.

Swan - hope you have a good journey tomorrow and a lovely time with family in Eire.

Had to go to bed this afternoon, ostensibly to read and rest, but then I fell asleep for about three hours [shocked]. Feel completely exhausted by the amount of socialising we have done over the past few days and just want to be on my own for a bit. DH feels the same, so I'm now giving him some time alone before I go up to bed. Looking forward to a quiet family day tomorrow.

Am enjoying our tidy house. It felt so good to come back to a spotless home and it's been easy to keep it that way today just by doing the basic routines. I hope I can keep it this way as long as possible.

ds is very not going to bed. Guess who has been allowed up too much whilst at his dad's Guess who will be going to bed on time tomo...

Make sure you wake him up early tomorrow, Bitchy . DS1 was back in a good sleep routine whilst at my mum's, but is refusing to go to bed now. Am hoping the melatonin kicks in shortly and he won't have any choice.

Hope you get some sleep soon.

Threat of no technology time, food and melatonin might have done the trick. PLus he has a 1 hr rule where if he tries to sleep and can't he can half half hour up before trying again. He wasn't in bed in 5mins sod the 1 hr rule I was going to bed.

FIngers crossed ds1 settles soon toffee

Evening all, we've had a nice couple of days at home (first time we've ever spent both Christmas and Boxing Days at home) and headed off to the ILs today, journey took 4 hours instead of the usual two, DCs were very patient about it thank goodness. We will be here for a couple of days then heading off on our own to a seaside holiday cottage for New Year, which I am looking forward to. Hoping everyone who has to travel manages to do so safely and without too many delays.

Also wanted to say Welcome back to Trazzle - lovely to have you back and glad you are all doing well.

Am hoping hot chocolate and melatonin might have done the trick for DS1. Also, we gave him a lava lamp as one of his Xmas presents in the hope that he'd find it relaxing and he has that on for the first time in his bedroom tonight.

Fingers crossed for you too, Bitchy.

I am now getting into an arguement else where on the internet. I could be a while

Oops. You'll regret it tomorrow morning.

I am going to regret soo much tomo. I should have faxed something earlier but was missing info. I have to now send it tomo and have to work out how to fax from my laptop via a scanner. I predict so so so much swearing!

That would baffle me too, Bitchy.

Urgh need a list to distract:

Sunday:
Fill in missing details in form, rescan and email
Fill in paperwork and magically fax by computer
laundry
christmas mark 2 with ds
Sort out diary
check where I need to be next week and when
Confirm will be somewhere on the 4th (admittedly weather dependant)
swear at stupid wooden puzzle things that I thought would be a good idea for ds to get from FC. They are soooo going to be the bane of my life

Seems like an achievable to do list. However perhaps vodka should replace some of the swearing at stuff it won't because i need to be able to drive in case ds does something stupid but it is a nice though

DS1 still up, but says he's going to bed in a minute.

Hope you can switch off your busy brain and get some sleep soon, Bitchy.

I managed most of my list today except the repacking of hospital bags....but the night is still young!

SC best of luck travelling to France. I don't think anyone thought you were callous! Glad your DD will be entertained by your sisters in England, leaving you free to concentrate on DH.

Swan safe travels to Ireland! You will have to advise me on cleaning the underside of the Aga hot plate lids when you return! So far my spanking new Belfast sink looks fab - am dismayed to hear this will not last very long!!!

Toffee your clean house sounds fab! You have clearly graduated from the school of Flying, with top marks!

WhoKnows enjoy the beach house. Sounds like you had a lovely Christmas!

Bitchy hope you get a break from the road for a bit. All that driving must be tiring.

Sadly, it is only the 'public' areas of my house which are tidy, Castle, so I don't think I can graduate just yet. But I am planning to tackle the mess in our bedroom tomorrow.

Get those hospital bags packed!

castle it cleans up very nicely. It's just that putting anything in it that isn't soapy water makes it look a bit grubby. Quick wipe round and it's like new .

My DMIL (and actually DAIL) used to have an Aga. I really miss it. DAIL makes me laugh whenever she gives me a recipe - cook x in an oven, I put it on the bottom shelf of the top oven so whatever temp that is, for x minutes . DMIL's Aga was always inexplicably covered in drying underwear. Never put other things on it to dry, just underwear .

DS and DBIL are coming to stay for New Year so I really need to find their bed today. And employ DCs in some tidying. Post-Christmas exercise also starts this evening.

Then, Monday and Tuesday brings a Drs appt, a hospital appt (for DD) and a vet appt so I need to be organised.

I think I cleaned the kitchen about 7 times yesterday. We have wooden work tops and they are lush and it means you can't really leave stuff on them!

So I think my to do list is to clean toilets and find spare bed and make sure bedding is clean.

Morning all! No more snow here overnight and a lot of it has melted.

40w today and no sign of baby

I'm just making an effort to keep up with things that are necessary - washing up, laundry, vacuuming, and so on - until the dcs are back in school. Then I can get more actual cleaning done.

LINKS FOR SUNDAY 28th DECEMBER (sorry it's late)

Babystep 28 is to take care of yourself. Take 15 minute breaks for and book/magazine/MN/FB. Now that's a Babystep I can do although it's often an hour or two

Sunday is Renew Your Spirit Day

As it's the weekend there are NO missions!

The Launch Pad is here

Morning all. Beautiful crisp sunny winter's day here so am pondering a walk and some fresh air this afternoon.

Dmum is back from duncle's this afternoon so am having a quick whip round the house though, to be fair, it isn't too bad. Like you alice, i have been keeping on top of the day to day stuff.

Ta da:-
Dishwasher on
Kitchen cleared round
Living room cleaned
Hoovered downstairs
Made frozen stickers with DD.
Painted some clay with DD

To do:-
Walk to shops
Clean bedrooms
Shower
Change beds
Prep dinner
Walk
Watch ET

Dd playing with her frozen castle and ds constructing lego. Not a screen in sight. Happy days.

Alice I'm with you, I find Flying when DD is off school is getting easier, but I also want to feel like I'm on holiday too and not just the housekeeper. Will flick the vacuum round today as the lounge floor is getting covered in bits, but mainly concentrating on food and laundry.

Bitchy DD is the same, and I can only blame myself. Wouldn't be so bad but a late night for her is 9:30. If she's not tucked up by 8:30 she's awful the next day. I'm getting her to help round the flat a bit more, the novelty hasn't worn off yet so she's still enjoying it.

WhoKnows beach house sounds lovely.

SC you are still allowed to have fun at Christmas, I doubt you're FIL would want you all to sit around being sad. In fact, I would think it's more important at sad times like this

Got DD out for a short walk yesterday, we took monkey nuts to the squirrels in the park, she's obviously not fully over her cold yet, but I do think the fresh air did her some good. We're planning a trip to the cinema tomorrow (and blood donors for me) so the walk up the hill in the city tomorrow will give us both some much needed exercise.