Bitchy takes on the January Fledgling Thread. Buckle in and enjoy the ride...

[BitchyTakesOnManagement]

Ok. Welcome to the January Fledglings thread. Before we get started we have Some important notices

1. The fledglings are a long running thread, We are might seem clicky but that is what happens when some of us have been on the same thread for up to 5 years
2. We are rather partial to new blood Pull up a seat in the naughty corner
3. Don't assume you can march in and impose your way. We follow the fly lady way and we adapt it to suit our lives and needs. You are welcome to come join us for support and chat, don't assume you know best.
4. There is more to us than cleaning. If you want to be obsessive about cleaning you will find us and and our interpretation of fly lady frustrating. You might be happier else where.

Right, as harsh as it might seem, it is important to get that out of the way as we expect this January thread to be busier with newbies and there has been problems in the past.

So the fly lady system there are rules and we have adaptations.

1. NO perfectionism!!!
2. Something is better than nothing and sometimes good enough really is good enough.

3.This is not about the housework, it is about having more time to do fun stuff. Don't ever feel guilty about doing stuff with the kids over doing the housework. The kids are more important.

And the practical adaptations. We have discussed the Marie Kondo book and the approaches within on previous threads. We are all agree two things: the author does not have kids and that the principles are very good for decluttering and that they can be used to in conjunction with the fly lady system (Marie Kondo to get in control, and fly lady to stay in control). As for the fly lady system there are some of the babysteps and things that are advised that are either "huh, why?" or just don't fit in with the household. We advise a pinch of salt and discretion with a dash of reality thrown in. E.g. if you are a no shoes household then clearly the wearing shoes in the house part of babystep 2 is going to make you go This is where adaptations come in and if past threads are to be gone on this will be discussed and there are various takes on it as and when they arise.

Also for the over enthusiastic newbies to the fly lady site and system everything you need will be posted here in the form of links. There are 3 levels:
Newbie: babysteps - get into these habbit
student: Missions and babysteps once the habits are habit the missions are a piece of cake.
Expert: deep cleaning, missions and babysteps - forget this if you have clutter, seriously.
Oh and for the love of all sanity do not subscribe to the email alerts. Seriously. Just don't.

Jump on board, buckle in and lets kick the butt of January.
Bitchy special brew on the naughty corner bar, natch
do we warn the newbies about the special brew or let them find out for themselves?

Bread done, cake not done, but about to put pizza dough ingrediants into the bread machine so we can have pizza for tea

Thanks for the brew, Bitchy. Hope the report is cooperating.

SC sorry to hear things are so difficult with FIL. No wonder DD's feeling stressed with tons of homework on top.

Quite productive again today.

Ta da!
General admin
invoices
Exercise game on Wii
Tedious circular phone calls
booked optician for DS2
Hoovered (except boys' room where I couldn't see the floor)
Tidied the plastic pot cupboard of doom
Resolved to keep it tidy this time
Casseroly thing in the slow cooker
Tidied a bit and found book I'd been looking for for ages.

Afternoon new and old

Have been flying and reading, just not typing and dieting!

Can't remember who has said what but:
Hope poorly people get better soon.
Plumbing issues get resolved quickly.
Babies put in an appearance soon - D's was 12 days late, I remember it well!

Ta da not just today
Fridge cleaned
Bath and toilet finally stain and limescale free
Decs put away
Homework and reading being done again

Oops better put dc's tea on and late routine

Have a good evening everyone

Ta da
hoovered upstairs
gave bathroom a once over
emptied all bins/recycling
dinner (leftover Stilton and red onion quiche that I made yesterday - even better on day 2)
washing up
wrote last Christmas thank you cards, engagement card, letter to dsis2 and walked to postbox
popped to MIL to ask her to watch DS Thursday afternoon for our hospital appt.
pamper session this afternoon - feet buffed, nails filed and facial - while watching last few episodes of Doctor Who

Feeling quite zen but have tomorrow to get through with DS. Should make the most of what is possibly our last day just the 2 of use for quite some time (DH at home to help on Thursday and then will probably be induced on Friday, depending on bed availability).

Back again, visit from Great Aunt went lovely and we popped her on the bus for the next leg of her travels this afternoon just before collecting DD from school.

Bit sad as we've not seen her for 22 years (she lives in Oz) and as she 75 (!) she doesn't think she's likely to come back again. On the plus side my cousin is coming over next year to do the West Highland Walk.

Not much done, but air bed etc is put away and laundry re-booted.

Only had a quick skim through the thread so
Welcome back SC
Yay Trazzles

Waves to everyone else

Hi thanks for all your good wishes. It was a bloody huge relief. A later phone call to announce he's dehydrated so back next Monday for repeat blood test :(.

Been at work today - first 3 day week since 2011! So not done a huge amount of flying. Turns out we did today's mission very recently so that's nice .

Hope babies arrive so. And sorry everything is so crap sc xxx

Not much flying here this evening (have kept up vaguely with my routines though), but I have made three bracelets as gifts for relatives I am seeing this weekend, so that's a weight off my mind

Had a typical procrastination Tuesday. The DSs have swimming lessons back to back across lunchtime which seems to consume the day as I don't get into my stride before exit mode, and then we're all knackered when we get in mid afternoon. They managed to unleash some beanbag stuffing, and blimey that was a mission to vac up!

Some progress in the kitchen, and the dishwasher is half loaded and ready to come into action mid morning, hopefully with breakfast items in.

I work pt so my term starts tomorrow. I need to have a check through my work bag. I've already checked emails which help engage my brain into work mode. What I have noticed is that what state the house is left in on Wednesday stays on Thursday and Friday, mainly because I go straight to brownies on Thurs and it's chippie night, so I need to get the kitchen mostly hygienic after dinner tomorrow.

I'm using the 15 mins bit. Not very Fly Lady otherwise, but the house is in a slightly better state now than when we woke up, so I'll call it a sucess.

Evening all

Nightmare journey home has resulted in little flying, still, tomorrow is another day!

Ta das
Ironing finished and put away
Bags packed and outfit sorted for tomorrow
D/w loaded
Two mins hotspot
15mins living room blitz
One load of washing complete
Some planning started but need to sit down with DH on Friday to go through budgets, meal plans (he is a fussy bugger), etc

Sorry took ages to get ds to sleep tonight and still have lots of report left to write.
Links:

Wednesday is anti procrastination day

Babystep no 7 lay out your clothes

missions

don't forget your 15mins decluttering in the kitchen zone

Launch pad

sorry if i have forgotten anything.

Evening,

Somewhat lazy day but a busy evening, finally sat down to relax just after 11.

Engels -I know how you feel, my DC1 came at 37+6 so I was expecting similar with DC2 and was very impatient from about 38 weeks, she ended up coming at 40+5.

SC - so sorry to hear about FIL. I sympathise about DD too, DS was an angel through the holidays and transformed into a total PITA the minute he got in from school yesterday, pre-teen attitude is kicking in big time.

Trazzles - so pleased to hear about DS.

Crossing my fingers for news of thread babies very soon.

Engels - I'd love to have seen the look on your hairdresser's face. Bet that was a quick haircut!

We haven't heard from Castle for a couple of days, have we?

Welcome home, SC . Sounds like such a harrowing time for you all. I hope SIL can be persuaded to let FIL go into a hospice. It would probably be best for him, as well as her.

Had an ok day. Am gradually trying to shift the DC's bedtimes back to a more reasonable time, as they have both got used to late bedtimes and waking up late in the morning. DS2 has been awake till 1.15am two nights' running, which is bizarre - he never does that! However, I woke him up much earlier this morning and tried to wear him out with an afternoon walk, then a hot bath and hot chocolate at bedtime. He was still awake when I last went up about half an hour ago though .

Was meant to be taking DS1 to see his therapist this morning, but DS2 had to come with us and DS1 couldn't cope with that. It was silly of me to expect him to, on reflection, as he finds DS2 stressful and wasn't expecting him to come. So I had to cancel. On a more positive note, I have arranged another visit to his new school on Thursday.

Managed lots of home ed: Maths, spelling, handwriting, finishing off work on the human skeleton and lots of reading about the Romans.

Cooked a nice dinner: salmon nuggets with sweet potato chips and vegetables.

Still off the booze. Day 6 so far.

Night all.

Bitchy - loads of luck at CAMHS tomorrow. I know how stressful these appointments are. Hope you get the results you want.

Monday saw DD and I take an unexpected trip into town as she needed new school shoes. That as an expense we didn't need a week after Xmas!!

• Trip into town
• Went swimming for the first time in months (DD decided to emulate her coach and make me swim some drills - boy was she tough!)
• Dinner made
• Sink shined
• Laundry load on and hung to dry
• Went to BoxFit class (tough after a month off)
• Put DD to bed and read to her (DH is meant to do this on a Mon [grr])
• Bags/uniform ready for morning
• D/W loaded and put on

Today DD and I were up and ready for the first day back at school in plenty of time - yeah! I had planned to blitz the house but after yesterday's physical exertions I kept dozing off on the sofa

• Trip to garage for a replacement headlight bulb
• Quick pop to supermarket
• Conference call to accountant (just need DH to find some work now!)
• DD and friends collected from school
• Dinner made for DD and friends
• D/W unloaded
• Sink shined
• Laundry load put on and hung to dry

Morning all,

Nothing like a bike ride at -4°C to wake yourself up (and make you lose all sensation in your fingers)! DS's was the only bike/scooter in the bike rack at school, so I felt quite hardcore.

With the DC now all back at school and DH back at work today, I can finally make a proper start on things. List for this morning (short so hopefully manageable, and I also get an extra hour to myself as DS is at a reading workshop after school until 12.45pm):

Morning routine
Mission
15 mins decluttering
Phone dentist (lost a filling when I was at my parents and am not sure how much longer the temporary dressing will last)
Finish letter

Was quite relieved to discover that I still have the Home Routines app on my phone; I was convinced I'd deleted it and that I would have lost all my lists. Actually, the detailed cleaning lists seem to have reverted to the default but my morning, afternoon and evening routines are still there; now I just need to start doing them again.

Good luck at CAMHS Bitchy.

Good luck at CAMHS, Bitchy, I used to work for them, pre-DC

Right. Anti-procrastination Day. Today I WILL get started on the kitchen detailed cleaning

Nearly finished morning routine.
To do:
Routines
Mission
As much detailed cleaning of the kitchen as I can manage
Room rescue of the living room, just needs 10 mins of tidying

I'm going to ask a friend to feed the cats when we go away this weekend, that'll force me to leave it lovely and clean and tidy when we go away as she is one of those people with an immaculate house, even when you drop in unannounced
Hope you all have a good and productive day :)

Argh, I missed a couple of days in the back-to-school rush. Have read thread now and caught up with you all. Good luck to the ladies-in-waiting and to Bitchy at CAMHS today. Have all-too-much experience of them over the past few years but DD1 is currently discharged so a little bit of respite from the incessant appointments.

Ta-das:
Amended and resubmitted my dissertation proposal
Spent half an hour clearing up DD2's room which was surprisingly effective. Thought it would take all day.
Went to Post Office to Return DDs too-small Christmas present (jodhpurs) and will now await replacement with larger size.
Saw it was anti-procrastination day so made 2 Drs appts (one for smear - urgh)
Have been keeping up with sink shining and dressing to make-up which is new for me! Normally don't bother until I have to go out somewhere and then often forget or don't have time.

To dos:
Clean out fish
Meal plan
Update finances
Apply for an extension for my dissertation
Tidy up the pile by my bed
Tidy up the piles round my desk
Check whether I've done my tax return

well last night my earth mother self took a back seat and I tidied up the kitchen a bit
swept floor
scrunched up rugs for shaking out later
washed up remaining dishes by hand that didn't fit in dw
sorted out the recycling

this morning I took ds1 to hosp and finally plucked up courage to check whether he still needed a plate taken out of his forearm 3 years on (blush] They said he didn't! Yay as his bones have stopped growing as shown by x ray and no movement in the plate. Had been feeling very guilty about that but terrified an op would have led to nerve damage in his writing hand and violin playing etc. dr said all fine to not do an op. Ds1 in excellent spirits - doing usual malarkey of refusing to sit next to be on the bus in case I breathed on him but then delightfully chatty in the hospital about various things he is looking forward to. He also wants to go to a youth club that my neighbours were talking about to me (but I never dared push on him) off his own bat because "he was invited on Facebook"

Dh has done sterling work at home and finally the Xmas tree and decs have been dealt with. Xmas tree lugged to the depot. No meetup this afternoon I think so I will probably just watch an episode of Mr Selfridge with ds2 after all that excitement this morning

Still an appalling mess in this house though. Nothing that could not be tackled by two hours hard slog but just don't think I can face it atm. maybe hoover my bedroom and hang out some more clothes would be a start.

Bitchy Hope it went okay at CAMHS today.

My fingers are too cold to type out a full list. brrrrrrr

So I made sure to go down and put more money on the gas and electric meters.

Basic tidying up, coffee with friend, and now relaxing a bit.

Despite my short to-do list, my ta-da list is even shorter:

Phoned dentist (and went in)
Morning routine only partly done
English lesson planned (more or less) for tomorrow
Finished letter

This was mainly because I wasted so much time at the dentist's; 20 minutes there and back, nearly an hour waiting to be seen and 5 minutes actually with the dentist - who didn't have time to sort out my tooth today. The dentist in the UK said the temporary dressing would last 1-2 weeks (I've already had it a week), but I couldn't get an appointment to have an inlay fitted until the end of January (I actually wanted a morning appointment, but none of those available until February). Grr.

Have now lost motivation after my very unproductive morning. Will see if another list helps:

Afternoon routine
Get letter ready to send
Finish preparing English lesson
Take DS's friend home (hope it's stopped snowing now - too dark to tell, but it was snowing heavily earlier this afternoon)
DS to scouts
Evening routine

Ta da:
Morning routine
Mission for today and tomorrow
Did an hour of cleaning in the kitchen It didn't even look that bad when I started and I haven't got round to the floor yet j

Just got to get my arse in gear now and do ten mins tidying in the living room and the afternoon routine. Oh, and nit check both DC :( DD brought some home for the Christmas holidays, how kind of her

Camhs done. Exhausted after today. So here are the links incase I fall asleep unintentionally early.

Babystep 8 routines and controll journals. Controll Journals: Some of us have them some don't. Of those that have them some use them and some don't. This is a suck it an see kinda baby step. It can be very useful to have your routines in a plastic wallet/laminated so that you can use a dry marker to tick off/refer back to them regularly. Please feel free if you want advice on this baby step. Lots of different perspectives are available and there is no one right answer.

missions

15mins decluttering in zone

Thursday is errand day

launch pad

Oh dear god that is dreadful clearly very tired.

Correction:
Control Journals: Some of us have them, some don't. Of those that have them: some use them and some don't. This is a suck it and see kinda baby step. It can be very useful to have your routines in a plastic wallet/laminated so that you can use a dry marker to tick off/refer back to them regularly. Please feel free to ask if you want advice on this baby step. Lots of different perspectives are available and there is no one right answer.