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!

Afternoon. Bit disillusioned with this decluttering lark ... .

Thought I'd get a start on making dd's costume for school play (she plays an elderly retired cook/servant) and went to find barely worn brown linen skirt that had been lingering in the "maybe chuck out" pile for ages (would have been perfect to adapt); only to find that I have put it in the charity bin. Now going to have to (a) waste money on trip to fabric shop and (b) going to waste a day. Bum and double bum.

Engels well done to your ds on continuing potty progress!

Bitchy watch that allergy! And treble wow at your list!

Fab glittery birds Engels!

Oops, that should have read, of course, fab glittery birds Goth!!

Sorry!!

Love the glittery birds Goth

Well the tree is up, along with most of the decorations as we can't find one box. It will have to be found before Christmas as that is the box with the stockings!

Have also:
Cleaned and tidied before the decorations went up
Finished my Christmas shopping
Written all the cards that need posting
Made some spiced butternut squash soup for packed lunches
Made a roast dinner with enough leftovers for tomorrow night
Added a bit more brandy to the Christmas cake
Done an online Tesco shop and meal planned for the coming week
Lots of washing, including changing beds

To Do
Ironing
Put laundry away

But first I am going to watch a Christmas film with DS2 and DD (DH and DS1 are at the football).

All carpets are now clean, ds' room has returned to HIS room (and not a temporary storage area) I am now broken but the carpet cleaning machine has been cleaned ready for its return tomo morning.

Now to go collect ds from over the hills.

My bed is already calling!

I managed to post this on the wrong thread so trying again

We have snow. Hopefully it is not sticking as it is still a bit warm on the ground but we definitely have had snow falling.

LINKS FOR MONDAY 8th DECEMBER

Babystep 8 is starting your control journal. I can see the positives of one, but I tend to use this thread and the Flight Plan instead.

Monday is Weekly bleugh day If doing it all on a Monday is difficult, just move it to another day, or split it up so it's over a couple of days. I always change my bedding on a Sunday as it fits better for us.

This week we are in Zone 2:The Kitchen detailed cleaning list for nutters Bitchy is here This is the only zone where I just about do all the detailed cleaning, but that's because I'm a messy cook.

Monday's mission is to clean out the kitchen bin.

The Launch Pad is here

Christmas Mission 6 is to make a list of anything that you still need for any baking that you are planning to do and also for any party/entertaining food that you need.

No point in detailed cleaning the kitchen until AFTER the Christmas Baking has been done this week.
Going to skip the weekly bleurgh as there is nothing in the bins and the carpets don't need hoovering.

to do list
ds to early doc appointment
ds to school
work
put some furniture back
ds to training
relay rug
clean sofas
Early night

Oooo I could do the christmas mission as that does need to be done before thursday anyway...

So which thread did you post on Bitchy? One of your lists can unnerve us and we're prepared, they must terrify the uninitiated.

Still no decorations up at home yet, but we've started on a tree in the workshop, the children are painting a window scene next to it, and we're going to make/paint a fireplace next week. (That's not me in the picture, I hide from cameras)

Got some Flying done too. Mainly laundry but I also cleaned my bin ( the Fat Fairy's timing is good)

Tomorrow's plan, if it isn't snowing or raining is to get DD's window cleaned, dried and a plastic film put up. I love this being an old house, but the high ceilings, badly fitting wooden windows and crap heating is a nightmare from December to February.

Also need to marzipan cake, and plan baking. We've the end of term party for Woodcraft on Wednesday so I'm going to make veggie sausage rolls and gluten free brownies.

I've just read this again, I'm a hippy aren't I?

Only put the snow statement on a dieting thread. Perhaps me posting a ta da bitchy list on a wrong thread could be a fun thing to do. Watch half of mn rocking in the corner and listening to the other half discussing whether or not it is actually flying and if it is the correct approach it is almost tempting...

Oooo sausage rolls. I could do with some of those...

SC - similar decluttering problem here too: a friend has just asked me to lend her DS2's Victorian costume. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I have recently dispatched it to the charity shop...

Bitchy -

Goth - useful reminder about the plastic window sheeting, thank you. It really helped last year. And I love those glittery birds.

Jemima - that is a very Christmassy list .

Engels - fab news about the potty training going so well.

Have had a good weekend. My child-free morning went very well - it was so nice to meet friends and talk freely and for as long as we wanted . And DH took DS2 out for a long country walk, which meant I could get stuff done at home later.

Am losing the fight against Christmas as DS2 wanted to make a gingerbread house today (we have one of the Asda or Aldi kits), so we spent an hour or more doing that this afternoon. Then we wrote some Christmas cards. I may even have ordered something for a Christmas stocking.

Have realised I can't hang up my card ribbony things for display this year because the cats will jump up on them. A Christmas tree would be a disaster. Does anyone know how long it takes for kittens to calm down? Ours are driving us a bit bonkers at the moment. They are six months' old now.

Toffee - we got a self assembly Christmas tree ginger bread shape from ikea. You have just reminded me I need to get in some bits for decorating it Totally forgotten.

List for today
keep focusing on potty training - ds had a couple of accidents when I took my eye off him and asked dh to take over (words were had)
washing
do something crafty with ds - a friend gave him some animal masks for his birthday to make, or perhaps some playdoh.

that's about it as would rather not leave the house right now apart from the garden!

ds hasn't had any new/blistered spots since Friday so everything is crusted over. I think that means he's safe to go to nursery tomorrow (especially since he probably got it from nursery and whoever it was didn't tell nursery as haven't had any notifications. Same think happened when ds had slapped cheek - we told nursery straight away and they put up a sign, but he must have got it from a child there in the first place).

Rest of the week reminders when child free:
wrap and label Christmas presents (in case of early baby arrival, everything needs to be dh-proof!)
Garden centre for wreath and a few more decorations
defrost freezer
pop into town for last bits and haircut
sort out paperwork in front of tv
tidy landing

Toffee' what an amazing gingerbread house

Done
Beds
Dd to school
Part 1 of DD's window- blind in soak in bath, windows cleaned, frames bleached, now allowing to dry out

To do
Marzipan cake
Weekly bleugh
Finish window
Dry blind
Re hang blind.
Collect DD
DD to karate

Hi, can i join please?

Hello! Who mentioned sausage rolls?? [salivates]

[Yet another frustrated ranty diversion alert - please feel free to ignore]
Had weekend of two parts. Saturday, when St Nic visited, was absolutely lovely! Half of it spent with dd's godparents.

Sunday was hideous owing to exam week ahead. In an attempt to mitigate stress I had, after church, identified four simple objectives to achieve which I (naievely) thought we had all signed up to (a) that dd did a reasonable amount of revision (b) that she would be going to bed early/on time (c) that she would have some exercise and (d) that she would eat a healthy supper. Did I say simple objectives? Ha!

DD tried to procrastinate/delay/wiggle out of revision, and then when she finally got down to it I found her reading listlessly/obviously not taking anything in. Couldn't believe her casual attitude given that she has exams every day week and early next. So we went out for a bike ride in the park. On return, I tried to be helpful, offering highlighter pens and index cards/offered to test her etc. There ensued a bit of a scene in which she was incredibly rude and mouthy. At which point I (very stupidly) lost my patience and raised my voice and came extremely close to administering a smack on the bum which didn't really help matters.

Cue long (oft repeated) discussion about how we weren't against her, but because we love her we are anxious for her to do her very best, whatever the results, making an effort etc etc. About hard work being the only way to achieve results and there's no avoiding it blah blah blah. Apologies were then exchanged and we did manage 40 mins of fairly consistent work converting decimals in to fractions after that though and 20 mins on Egypt and 20 mins on latitude and longitude, meridiens etc ... . (Wish we had been able to achieve that without long shouty prelude though.)

All of this took so long that supper of roast chicken and veg was delayed. (Not helped by dh who - having watched far too many episodes of Masterchef recently - insisted on cooked himself a roast squab pigeon at the same time - while I quietly seethed and looked at the clock.) Again, dd tried her best to wriggle out of bathing. Another shouty bit ensued. But she finally had a shower and washed her hair. But not before declaring herself 'starving' to dh (out of my hearing) who prepared her a large ham sandwich. Which meant she didn't want to eat much supper when she came down.

Final straw was on chivvying her up to bed, she darted back downstairs to 'put extra pencils in her bag'. Highly suspicious by this point, I asked her to turn out her dressing gown pockets in which I discovered: a torch, a bouncy ball and a mobile phone . And then I looked down and saw a tablet lying on the hall floor (which had obviously been hastily dumped there).

Suffice to say, after the days events, I was not best pleased... cue more arguments/delay/general tearing out of hair on my part. And I know for a fact that she was still awake at 10.30pm because she came down to the loo. [sigh]

I'm sure we'll laugh about it in years to come . Not quite there yet SC surveys grey hairs in mirror].

Summary of day: one big fat failure on my part. The school said that we should leave all of this up to our 11 year olds... I probably should have taken their advice .

Right, having got that off my chest (again)

A warm welcome to Pippahooper!

Toffeethat gingerbread house is fab!! I am also losing the battle against Christmas barely started yet. Have Lakeland gingerbread house kit that is somewhere in the basement, refusing to be found!! On the positive front, I have finally (finally) found my Christmas file!

Goth love the Christmas tree mural! (Really envy your access to such a fantastic project!). Actually, that would be a really good idea as a Christmas tree alternative for someone who doesn't have much space or who has climbing kittens!!

Thanks for reminder about buying Christmas baking ingreds - def need to sort that!

Ditto about loving old house/lovely period features etc but hating the cold. Our downstairs loo is so parky that I swear one of us will get frostbite in a very unpleasant place before too long!

Engels you are bound to have a few potty setbacks -it's always three poos forward, two back as I recall You sound very organised/on top of things in relation to Christmas btw!

As do you Jemima

Arf at Bitchy scaring posters on other threads !!!

Ta da:
morning routine inc dw, wm, rabbits, dining room table hot spots, general tidy up
half a home bleugh (downstairs)
emptied/shredded one box in home office and one carrier bag
quick supermarket shop
cleaned kitchen bin
washed all gym kit and ballet kit and hung up to dry
stressed about Christmas presents

Big waves to eveyrone I've missed!

I got to throw my first snowball at ds this morning. And whilst i was kinda and aimed to miss, ds was not so kind and hit me square in the back with soggy snow

Children can be a nightmare sc

to do list
ds to early doc appointment
ds to school
work
put some furniture back
ds to training -urgh I don't want to go :(
relay rug
clean sofas first throw done, 2nd two throws in machine
Early night - now would be nice, oh so very nice.

ooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh how exciting Bitchy!!

You have snow!!!!!!

[snaffles sausage roll gratefully]

very impressed by the continuing deep clean btw!

Welcome, pippa. The Flylady routines help, but the chat and support on this thread helps most of all .

SC - what an awful day . I think you did an amazing job of keeping your cool, considering the provocation. Actually, I don't think there's anything wrong with our DC seeing their effect on us when they push us too far. In the end, though, it's your DD's responsibility to revise and, if she won't, she will have to suffer the consequences. Hard to stand by and let her learn for herself, though, I know. As for your DH deciding to cook a pigeon for himself instead of getting on with cooking a roast chicken for all of you - I think I might have hit him over the head with it .

Bitchy - you have snow?

ta da

B/fasts
Early start for an Aldi run before the crowds
Stocked up on household goods for Xmas season
Home to unpack
Arranged various appointments
Maths with DS2
Reminded DS1 about his online Maths lesson
Frustrating argument with DS1 about doing his lesson (he refused, but would only grunt in response to my increasingly unsympathetic questions)
Emailed teacher to apologise for his absence
Briefly cheered up by email from his old school (the one he never goes to, but where he is still on roll) which told me DS1 had been awarded a 'positive commendation' for good behaviour . Hilarious, as he hasn't been for about a year!
Lunch
English with DS2
Dealt with DS1 getting hysterical over the cats getting into his room (they have learnt how to open his door)

No time for any Flying, unless you count shopping.

Am thoroughly fed up with the cats at the moment. DS1 claims to love them, but finds them too stressful to spend any time with. He's right that they are maddening to be with because they jump all over everything, destroy or chase whatever they can, etc. If we shut them out of a room because they are too energetic, they stand outside the door yowling, which makes us all stressed and unhappy. I'm really beginning to have second thoughts about keeping them as they seem to cause us so much additional stress . The trouble is that DS2 really loves them now.

drove home in a blizzard last night and there was just enough snow on the windscreen this morning for two small soggy snow balls

Doesn't exactly class as having snow but we had snow iyswim!

Have just cheered myself up by ordering the Christmas tree and hidden the invoice from dh

Be careful driving in snowy conditions on your slope Bitchy! Apparently there are gales-a-coming too!

Toffee have you tried the cats outside yet? To start with they need to be monitored but you can train them to come back quite easily with some shakey shakey food if you are worried about them running off. They will come back honest because they might find outside quite alarming to start with but it will take the edge off their energeticness. If they've been outside already ignore my interfering words...

SC snap with the reluctant reviser. Ds1 is determined to fail his exams. He keeps saying he is going to get a C and that's all he will manage therefore he doesn't need to revise - some very circular argument that any philosopher would find holes in..ds1 is not a fan of logical thinking.

We have had to give him 15 minute revision slots just to get him even to open the text book. The sad thing is that when he does read it (for revision) it is apparently the first time he has come across ANY of the information.

So you are actually doing brilliantly to get her revise as much as you did, considering she is a biddable 11 year old Maybe this is just our job for the moment - persuading reluctant learners to do what they are not keen on. Who cares what other people's children can manage -ours certainly find concentrating very difficult and no amount of hands off is going to make a difference. I've done self motivation with ds1 for ages and it has not worked at all on academic stuff although it has curiously with other aspects of his life (like travelling, singing and reading to himself)

It is hard work.