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!

SC STOP procrastinating about the home office. Set a timer for 15 mins and just get on with it. The more you put it off the more horrific and daunting it is. Doing a bit is reducing it and making it a slightly less horrifiying prospect. Also once you get started you are more likely to get it sorted in the long run. Trust me on this, it was the only way i got the rooms that were stuff like a hoarder would have tackled this year. One box at time and only focusing on the success of sorting that one box. Remember it is the only way to eat and elephant!!!!

I am also procrastinating. I really cba to speak to the ex. It can wait until tomo as our paths have to cross then so it is not a huge procrastination but still

I know you're right Bitchy - thanks - and good luck with your difficult conversation tomorrow.

Promise faithfully to tackle one box before school run (which is later tonight owing to hwk club)..... but before I do .....just need to hit the toy shop for stocking fillers ... ho... hum ....]

[SC sidles out of thread stage right, using large Christmas tree as cover; hoping no one notices ..... ]

I know! Will take 'before' and 'after' photos too! (May not publish them here but will help with motivation generally I hope!)

Tally-ho!

Before and after pictures can help SC for me it was working per box. 1 box removed and it chucked over the floor so seeing the floor again = success. Good luck with the toy shop are you crazy woman? toys shop are hell this time of the year

Day 1 of no nappies and so far 2xwees on potty and 1 accident (poo and wee...not surprising as he's steadfastly refused to do poos on the potty). Sticker chart in bathroom.

But...he has chicken pox! Luckily we've both had it and it doesn't seem too bad spots wise, mostly on back, tummy and under hair, though he is very full of cold/tired.

ta da
wrote christmas cards (actually di last night while watching harry potter, but finished stamping and adressing today)
supermarket
washing (in td)
Quick coffee with inlaws

engels can you do me a favour and contact your MW if you haven't already, just to checked out what the situation is like. Chicken pox exposure needs extra checking in pregnancy if my memory is correct. Sorry.

Rang GP this morning and told them about chx pox and 36w pg and they said since I've had it, I'm fine. DS is past contagious bit now, just itchy spots. Will definitely mention to MW as well bitchy . I did call my DM at 7am this morning to check I'd had it though!

Ta da
posted Christmas cards

DS ta da
Another wee on the potty

Glad you are way ahead of me Engels well done to ds!

Flap flap and awaaaayyy!! I am flying today!!!!

Ta da
Two beds made
Wash on
Wash hung up to dry
Emptied dishwasher, refilled, on again
Cat litter boxes dealt with
Descaled coffee machine and kettle
Hand washing up
Two loads of laundry folded and put away
Batch cooked four portions of chilli con carne
Worked out how to set up timer plug thingy for slow cooker
Sausage casserole in said slow cooker
Cross referenced my diary and family calendar
Mission completed: rescheduled cleaner for Christmas/new year weeks
Sorted pile of DSs outgrown clothes to sell on
Sorted bag of carrier bags to give back to tesco delivery driver when he comes tonight.

(can you tell I have a child free day today?!)

Engles, boo to chickenpox! And good luck with the potty training. My DS will be two this month and I have no intention of starting potty training for a long time yet.

SC get thee back to thy home office! The only time I use the 15 minute timer is when having to do a job I hate or have been putting off, it's amazing how much you can get done.

Bitchy, happiness is indeed real coffee. I had a whole caffetiere to myself earlier and it was GREAT!

[waves to all]

I will repeat my earlier warning to ignore the scary list... It is growing scarily.
Js.

Ta da
play hunt the school uniform and swimming kit
despatch ds to school
Brew up a pot of proper coffee not the instant stuff
move sofa out of way into middle of lounge floor
finish craft project
parcel up
Sort out school trip letter
Collect all laundry in dining room
1st load of laundry on
Play check the wool colours in day light (well as much as is possible on this rather grey day)
Mutter about balls of wool being different shades of grey
Fish out decorations for ds later.
check emails and social media
leave feedback for amazon
5 mins decluttering in my room
construct shopping list
Drop school trip response envelope behind bed
swear a lot!
strip bed
take bed apart and retrieve letter
clear surfaces and make note to take apart and properly spring clean under bed storage in the spring
flip the matress
crochet 32 squares for blanket 3 and realise there is not enough wool for the remaining 8 required in that colour
swear some more
post office to post parcels
pick up a few bits from the local shop
2nd load washing in machine
prep back bedroom for receiving more stuff in the great downstairs carpet area eviction
1st batch of ironing done
boil up some hand warmers
Deliver ds tea in his room - only practical option atm and being pre-teen he is rather enjoying it
Block out squares made earlier
start on creating black squares
continue emptying study and lounge
try to convince ds to go to bed

What a week this is turning out to be - my biggest Ta Da is that I found out I was successful in my application for secondment to maternity cover a higher grade job. More responsibility, more money - what's not to love?

As well as that I have:
Washed, dried and ironed uniforms
Tidied up
Did Tesco online grocery shop
Supervised homework and music practice
Had DS1's friend home for supper, then took DS1, DS1's friend and DS2 to youth club.

Looks like everyone else has had productive days too. I really need to get a move on writing my Christmas cards, we have had 3 through the post already and I've hardly written any yet.

Congratulations jemima !

Ta da
washing up
wash#2 now dring
wash#1 away
sewing repair on cardi
wrapped ds's sinterklaas presents for tomorrow

ds very tired this evening - can see that he's not well. Still, I'm at home with him tomorrow.

LINKS FOR FRIDAY 5th DECEMBER

Babystep 5 is to think of the internal negative nagging voice we all have and then turn it into a positive. Then you're to write it down where you can see it.

Thursday is De-clutter your purse/car day

This week we are in the Lounge, Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room
Friday's mission is to spend 15 minutes de-cluttering the Dining Room.

The Launch Pad is here

Christmas Links

Holiday Control Journal

Christmas Mission 5 is to clear out the fridge.

Congratulations Jemina

Have you come down off your caffiene high yet Grey? It does seem to have given you wings.

Engles good luck with the potty training and boo to the chickenpox

Dd has been at friend's this evening, so a fairly chilled afternoon, got some housework done and was nice not having to rush to the school for 3. DH made a curry for lunch which was nice.

Well done Jemima

Oh no, sorry to hear about chicken pox Engels. Calamine cream and bicarb baths are the way forwards.

Tired and drained today, but at least I got rid of the charity shop bags.

Congratulations Jemima

Friday's to do list:
ds to school
remove pile of stuff from study floor
laundry
work
remove storage units from study
remove ds' kit from study
Folding
ironing
put clothes away
sort out stuff from behind sofa
hoover study, dining room
move rug
hoover lounge
move remaining furniture from lounge
drop ds off with his dad
have a nervous breakdown and be found rocking in the corner...

Afternoon all! Feeling a bit cheerier today as being forced to get my act together because of St Nicolas's arrival tomorrow ... as ever, actually doing stuff towards Christmas etc much less stressful than procrastingating and stressing about it!!

[Breaks in to lusty singing for Engels]

"Sinterklaas Kapoentje,
gooi wat in m’n schoentje,
gooi wat in m’n laarsje.
Dank u, Sinterklaasje."

"Zie ginds komt de stoomboot,
uit Spanje weer aan.
Hij brengt ons Sint Nicolaas,
etc etc etc"

And big hoof waves from Slecht-weer-vandaag!!

Right, having got that off my chest ....

So sorry to hear about the chicken pox; glad not contagious and hope your ds recovers soon [hands over calamine lotion] good that he doesn't have too many spots ...hope it doesn't stop him enjoying his presents anyway! And doesn't set back the potty training too much. (Have you tried him doing poos directly in the "grown up" loo btw? Just mentioning it because dd preferred it!)

Hope you have a bit more energy today Blue but well done for decluttering anyway

Many congratulations on your new position Jemima !! (Great time of year to hear about it too ... .)

[Faints upon reading Bitchy's list] Will join you for a bit of brink-of-nervous-breakdown mutual rocking in the corner later if I may

[Surveys Greymalkin doing Flying aerobatics in the sky! Congrats on your long list including decluttering of old clothes]

Hope you are totally recovered now Goth

Couldn't come back on here without mentioning home office ... . Thanks for the kick up the bum encouragement Bitchy and Greymalkin!!

Have cleared one big rectangular box of papers (chose easy one that contained dd's old school files and notebooks that just required removing/de-stapling and shredding and no actual thought. Took me 3 x 15 though.) Less successful was miscellaneous bag of old scarves/single gloves/homeless belts etc and miscellaneous beads and old junk that I am still doing ... 2 X15 mins so far .. but now dashing off on school run.

Big feathery waves to everyone else!

Btw, have also received 3 Christmas cards so far ... yikes .....!!!

I just started singing Sinterklaas songs and ds asked me to be quiet sc - so he can't be that ill!

Ds has got loads more spots today and very itchy, but managed to get 4 stickers on his sticker chart for weeing and the smallest poo I've ever seen on the potty (despite a few accide ts) which means a reward later (profiteroles for dessert!) And hopefully he'll be awke enough to enjoy the small presents Sinterklaas is going to leave on our back porch during dinner (nothing big - some stickers, socks, a cow onesie that dh will hate and some farmyard animals).

Ta da
rang insurance company re: bill from stupid pharmacy
cancelled museum card for next year as just not using it - we use our zoo cards all the time but ds still a bit too small for most museums
wash on
good skype with best friend
rang mw just to let them know about chicken pox so noted on my file, especially impt if baby comes super early

well done on tackling some of the office sc

Friday's to do list:
ds to school
remove pile of stuff from study floor
laundry *1st load done
work
remove storage units from study
remove ds' kit from study
Folding
ironing
put clothes away
sort out stuff from behind sofa
hoover study, dining room
move rug
hoover lounge
move remaining furniture from lounge
drop ds off with his dad about to do
have a nervous breakdown and be found rocking in the corner...
take a nap and pretend that there is nothing to do

So basically there is a whole heap of stuff that needs to be done tonight

SC bin the odd gloves and scarves wicked as it seems. They take up too much mental energy (rather like odd socks) even if they might just might come in useful. I now use odd socks for dusting and throw them away immediately if their partner is not found within I week [stern]

today
cleaning lady came which I tried to see in a more positive way instead of wringing my hands because it meant the kitchen would be tidy for dh's birthday tea at the very least!

tried in vain to get ds2 to read to me one page from Tom Sawyer on the basis that it was full of long interesting words and new grammatical constructions (as well as being extremely funny) but no...he was interested in one thing only..Home Ed football at 11.30 am. I may give up doing any work on Friday mornings ds2 is completely preoccupied
However he did read to me from our fallback book...Bible stories. Jonah but only because he said he couldn't bear the sound of my croaky voice. (cold/lost voice)

Home ed football went extremely well
exercise for me too
visited SIL afterwards who was entertaining two three year olds and a two year and they were having such a lovely time throwing clothes down the stairs and then pummelling ds2. SIL who is naturally very tidy seemed to have just accepted the law of the toddler jungle. Then they all sat on the heap of mess/ bedclothes and listened to ds2 read a story. Very sweet.

Then rushed to shops, sending ds2 home by himself, to buy pjs for dh birthday from M & S.

Home to make birthday cake

Birthday tea and Dh took dcs to a pantomime at 6pm so I am having a truly lovely evening without anyone.

On negative side ds1 was in trouble at school again today (incident on Wed came home to roost) so he's still struggling to get on with everyone, and ds2 was in a state by 6pm and spitting at ds1 over choice of music. South Park the Musical seems to irritate ds2. deep breath there.

ta da
very happy boy when Sinterklaas knocked on the windows outside and left a bag of presents
FOUR more reward stickers for DS for peeing on the toilet - the boy may be getting it after the depressing morning
washing up
2nd load of washing done and td now on
showered myself and ds
15 mins decluttering of dining table whihc led to me discovering a drink ring

tomorrow am going to:
continue with potty training
clear rest of my things on dining table
do ironing and DS trousers repair
Christmas cards for NL
put up Christmas tree
make non-alcoholic mulled wine
water plants

praying for sleep tonight

Engels - I found keeping a potty-training diary helped because I could see the progress. Sounds like your DS is doing well.

Big ta da - DS1 managed another visit to prospective SS yesterday! He was on good form and even met and chatted with three members of staff . Fingers crossed next visit goes as well.

Engles do you think there may be a link between the successful wees and the Sinterklaas visit?

Seemed to have been doing a lot of laundry today, but that's because we're drying inside (grrr) I'm back into the ruth em though, can almost stick to the "1 load a day" routine. We have enough clothes horses that I can have one load drying and then another load airing (after ironing)

Also done
Blanched 2 Savoy cabbages and 1 swede for freezing
Proper dinner tonight
Cleaned fridge
Sort out of freezer
Put Christmas cards up (we have a wooden panel next to the bay window, they get blue tacked there)
General tidy up
Also got DH to re-dye my hair. It's a darker purple, almost black so I get a shock every time I see my reflection)

Forgot to say yesterday, it was the 21st anniversary of first meeting DH. I think I can honestly refer to it as a life sentence now