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?

whispers

5min room rescue Babystep

it's friday

missions

Pamper mission aka do this bit for you and it isn't cleaning

I slept really badly last night so feel very bleary this morning. My pampering might be to have a nap! I will need pampering after going for my smear test later. ??

To do:
Put water in car radiator
Get Christmas storage boxes out of loft so we can actually get decorations put away.
5 min room rescue
This year's budgets
Buy a few extra bits to make dinner.

I'm still hovering here. Need focus today. Had a 3 day week at work for the first time since 2011 and I'm exhausted and the house is more of a state than normal!!!

My house is not a state. It's lived in and loved by 4 busy people.

Cananyone remind me of the 5 min room rescue? I can't get through the link on Flylady's page. It sends me to some crap about fake health things x

Trazzletoes The five-minute room rescue basically involves spending five minutes tidying the worst room in your house. I'll see if I can find the link... should be here.

Well, I'm having another blitz with the bicarb and bleach this morning, all round the window seals in the spare bedroom and a few grotty bits of grouting in the bathroom.

Been made to feel inadequate by another mum at the school gate this morning (not intentionally, she is a dear friend and very kind) but told me how her two DCs (in the same classes as mine) do 20 mins maths every morning without fail. DS has slipped into the bottom maths group again so I think he needs the help. It's so frustrating as his mental arithmetic is red hot, but he can't problem solve.

On the plus side, DD turned over a new leaf today, got dressed before breakfast, allowed me to help with her hair and was all ready for school 5 minutes early. I have never successfully implemented work before school though.

So, I've dug out all the books again and will be reinstating extra work in the evenings.

Thanks Linzer I managed to speed read before the bloody advertorial appeared again.

Have just done the mission for today and put a loaf of bread on.

DD is engrossed in Peppa Pig and Fuzzy Felt :)

Fell off the fly wagon there for a few days!

No sign of babycastle to arrive here yet. Best of luck Engels!!!! Looking forward to your update!!!

Workmen have arrived this morning to put in the granite worktop in the new kitchen and to finish the bathroom vanities...so the water has been turned off, the kitchen and bathrooms are off limits for the next few hours.

Hmmmm I'll just have to put my feet up, won't I?

Hello again Castle! I had been wondering how you were doing How many weeks are you?
I'm amazed that anyone pregnant manages to do anything tbh, I couldn't even unload the dishwasher without needing a sit down when I was pregnant

I'm doing ok here, have finished most of the packing (just need fridge food and DH's clothes yet) and car is fit to burst loaded. Just got to clean kitchen floor once DD has fallen asleep and do a 5 min room rescue on the living room and that should be ok for the weekend

Thursday and Friday's to do list:
Baby blanket present
end fastening of blocks
make up missing squares
write card
Ring hospital to put in complaint couldn't get through so going to email
Ring different hospital and book ds in for his bloods lost no :(
Fold laundry
Ironing
Block up squares
End fastening
Pick up a new pair of headphones for ds forgot arses :(
Fill in work paperwork
Send out whole heap of important emails
start clear out yahoo email account with intent of closing the compromised account down
Get a piece of ds' training kit fixed
speak to pharmacist re meds for ds
take 1 batch of stuff out of the car

Whoknows IMO it is not up to the mothers to achieve pre school study. It is down to whether the kids are morning larks or night owls. Ds would happily do stuff before school, but mum only tried once to get me to do stuff before school as it caused so much distress. For me it is better that I stay as late as is needed to finish a task than to attempt to get up early to finish things off as I am really not a morning person and it takes me forever to get to a point where my brain is firing on all cylinders. Your friend has manage to make use of her knowledge of her kids. You kids have always sounded more like owls and thus perhaps forcing them to study before school is not the way to go with them. Don't beat yourself up on this one, just focus on what will suit your kids best and then do it that way. Good luck with the after school work.

Ds is coming off his sleep meds for a while as they are not currently working. Which means we will be returning to 3am lessons for home school. That is going to be oh so much fun. Thankfully I have a lot of 'lesson plans' stashed for as an when he requests them. But don't be surprised if my fooked up sleep pattern becomes even more abhorrent than normal. I expect that a lot of my ta da lists will become 'sleep' it is not going to do my fibro any favours :( hey ho. Not the kids fault, at least he is happier with the idea of diagnosis after the camhs appointment the other day.

You are right Bitchy, both mine would far rather work in the evenings. But there isn't a single time slot that works for all 5 week nights, because of activities, having friends to play etc. Doing it at different times each night makes it much harder to keep the momentum going.

It's really hard isn't it. I guess that is the difficult when you have a huge amount of afterschool activities. I am glad that we have so much time in the car as it is surprising what you can do in the car. Homework, spellings, reading, mental maths.. etc etc Makes it easier on motivation too as car journeys are boring and I don't allow technology in the car.

Howver, could you not use it as a choice for dc. EITHER we get this done every day after school OR I will get you up early so it can be done before school YOUR choice. Illusion of choice is sometimes goo for motivation to do.

All packed and ready to go (anyone would think we were going on an arctic expedition, not 2 hours up the road ), just waiting for DH to get back, and then we are off
We will have wifi where we are going, so I will probably be popping back onto the thread if only to see if there is news on the flybabies but I won't be doing much flying while I am there
Hope all is going well, Engels!

We never get more than 5 mins in the car on a week day, if that, and it's town driving so I am negotiating junctions the entire time. Choice does work though, I have done that in the past, you have to do this today, you choose when and if you haven't done it at 7.30 it becomes my choice and you do it then.

Enjoy your trip Whispers.

Have a good trip Whispers

Right because I am tired and really can't be bothered despite having had a nap here are the links for tomo:

[[http://www.flylady.net/d/daily-focus/daily-focus-saturday/ Saturday is family fun day. Not sure ds will think that our plans will be fun because they include dealing with his room.

No missions or zone work as it is the weekend. launch pad is here

The Babystep: the power of 15mins

Something that I have wanted to explain is the crisis clean. A number people who have said I have been doing 15mins here, 15mins there but not really flying have been wrong. The fat fairy has a system for cleaning the entire house when you have a panic on that people are due to be arriving in a few days/hours etc. It uses the power of 15mins and the full explanation for the crisis clean is here It is very useful if you are feeling out of control for installing enough tidy to help you keep on top of things with the routines.

Oh bollocks shall we try that middle set of links again?

saturday is family fun day

Launch pad

It's a boy! Born this afternoon just after 4. Will update properly when home. Both doing fine.

Congratulations Engels

Congratulations, Engels - wonderful news!

Brilliant news Engels!

Congratulations engels so happy for you

Congratulations Engels

Congratulations Engels!