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?

Saymwa - that was 'Are you being served?'! I used to love that programme, though it's hilariously dated now. So sorry you're feeling pessimistic. Good luck at talking about it with DD.

Sorry about the job applications, SC, but well done for trying. Agree with you about the 15 minutes and 5 minutes adding up to a lot (at least, that's my excuse for not keeping up).

WhoKnows - ah, didn't realise it was the final statement. The battle goes on. Glad it names the school you want, though.

Bless - don't worry, just do what you can. I rarely manage to keep up with the daily decluttering, missions and so on, but I do find the babysteps and routines very useful. Sorry to hear you are also going through the statementing process. I'm at the end stage with my DS1, but the statement can't be finalised until he gets an offer from the specialist school - and they want him to complete a taster day first, which he can't do because he's too anxious . We'll get there eventually, I think.

ta da

Lazy start to the day
B/fasts
Washing up
Train to another town
Visit to different library - it had a cafe!
Home-ed group
Two hours' of play
Train home
Bought fish and chips on way home

And that's it. No Flying at all. The whole day has been focused on the home-ed group. DS2 really, really didn't want to go. It started well because I managed to get him playing table football with another boy. DS2 really enjoyed this. However, after that he couldn't find anyone to mix with (lots of very young children there) and got bored waiting for me whilst I chatted to other parents. I bought him the fish and chips as a reward for going.

Was it Are you Being Served Saymwa - I used to love that, Mrs Slocombe and her pussy and John Inman's camp character. Sorry you are feeling pessimistic, it's only natural I suppose, hopefully we can provide distraction.

SC - March would be worse for me and it's longer, so I'm happy to do Feb and then you can take over.

Right ho Whoknows it's a deal!!

[Adolescent sniggering at Mrs Slocombe's pussy]

New thread is here February Thread. But let's keep going with this one till tomorrow (I probably won't have the time or inclination to start a thread tomorrow, DS is having friends for a birthday sleepover).

'Are you being served ? ' !!! Yes, that's it. And thanks for the link Toffee.
Loving reading you all. It is a big help too.

Tadas
Showered , dressed to boots
Make up
Played with dog and hairdryer
Waiting for DH and DD by going for a dog walk.

I hope you all have enjoyable Friday evenings. Kisses

Evening all.

Bit of a weird day today. Got all out of whack with the laundry and the final load is still in the dryer... But got a letter home saying the school council is having a jumble sale next week and asking for donations of toys. So had a clear out with the boys and finally made enough space to put away all the new stuff from Christmas and DS1's birthday. Woohoo!!

Better do the washing up. BBL.

Right my lovelies this is it, you have made it to the end of the month. Well done to the newbies! It is hard and it will take a couple of months before you truely get on top of everything. Don't worry if you are not getting everything done. It gets easier and easier the longer you do this. You will even get to a point where you find you are doing stuff without realising and there is sudden 5 mins here for a hotspot or a mini declutter. This is about building long term habits rather than quick fixes. sorry to disappoint we have previously tried appealing to the fat fairy to come and magic away the mess and clutter but apparently we were being unrealistic and demanding :(

So last day of January, there are no missions as it is the weekend.

staurday is family fun day

the last babystep is to unsubscribe from the emails well i didn't see that one coming, she has tweaked the babysteps again recently

launch pad

ta da
check is school open
de snow drive again
throw snow at ds
console ds when his snow cave collapse as it was bad building snow
1 load of washing
folding
pack ds' stuff for the weekend
long long long ass drive
listen to the constant in game chatter until going slightly bonkers
deal with the management role stuff
5 mins filing paper
Make a to do plan for next week/this weekend

I am now suitably dosed up with a lot of meds to numb sore muscles from snow shovelling followed by sitting in one position and off to bed. Night night

Welcome to the thread, Chaotic.

I remember a lot of sniggering at Mrs Slocombe's pussy at school. Even funnier, we had an English teacher who didn't 'get' it, which caused endless hilarity amongst her pupils.

Woohoo at the decluttering, Blue!

'Mwa', Saymwa.

Bitchy - you've been a star at managing the busy January thread. Thank you.

And thanks for the new thread, Who. Will pop over and mark my place.

Managed a nap and am now settling down on the sofa with DH, two cats and a large glass of wine to watch episode two of 'The Good Wife' .

Oops - posted too soon on February thread !
Will have to go into naughty corner, eat cake and have a cuppa . Anyone coming ? ( might even look up an 'Are you being served ?' episode on you tube whilst I'm there )

It doesn't matter, we always have a day or two of overlap and confusion.

Snowing here at last, hockey cancelled, phew, as we have a lot of tidying to do in advance of the 11 year old boy invasion later.

How have you got episode 2 already Toffee? I'm still half way through season 5 so am recording it.

Morning all

Busy(ish) day today DD is already riding with DH and me and DS are sat in bed watching the TV. Need to get up though now.

Well done for January •bitchy and thank you for Feb whoknows*. I'm happy to do April if there's no one else is desperate to take it on . It must be over a year since I last made the effort

Anyway - back to today....

To do
Get up and dressed!
Get DS ready for rugby
Laundry on
Washing away
Wrap present
Take DD to birthday party
Get hair cut
Go to MILs and cook pheasants for tea

Am only on season one, WhoKnows, so I mean episode two of the first season! DH and I are trying to catch up on all the telly we have missed over the past few years with young children.

Going up to London to meet old friends today and leaving DH in charge at home. Am looking forward to catching up with friends, but also to having two and a half hours free on the train to read my new book ('The Paying Guest' by Sarah Waters). Can't wait!

Afternoon all. [Joins Saymwa in naughty corner and snaffles ]

Toffee have a great day up in the smoke!

Funnily enough dh and I just started watching the first episode of Broadchurch last night, which has only just arrived here (we are always behind with UK tv.) Unfortunately, I've recorded episodes 1 and 3 and forgot to record 2.. so we're a bit stuck!

Bitchy you deserve a gold plated crochet hook for handling the traditionally mahoosive January thread so well (and for so bravely volunteering to take it on in the first place)!!

Reckon the fat fairy switches the baby-steps around every so often just to check that all her followers are awake

Whoknows thank you for shiny new Feb thread! Good luck for this afternoon and hope you get some sleep tonight! (I will be in exactly same position this time next Sat!)

[Just to confirm, I will be running March.]

And thank you hugely to Pushme for volunteering to take over in April. Enjoy your pheasants!

Wow! That's the first four months of the year already sorted! That's brilliant everyone!!

Fantastic about the declutteirng Blue!!

Was just about to welcome Chaotic and then saw that post has been deleted! [Waves anyway!]

Big waves to everyone else!

I have so far watched The Morning Line in bed [height of luxury]
Made a big brunch for everyone as dd ballet at lunch time
Ironed ballet kit
Sorted dw
Sorted wm
Cornered dirty laundry and herded it downstairs to basement
And written a huge list designed to transform this house from it's current pit-like state in to a reasonable state by next Sat!
Dh and dd have gone out so I can now get started ...

Beautifully sunny day which makes a huge difference! I can actually see what I'm doing!

Have a great weekend lovely fledglings!

15hrs sleep. 15! guess I really needed that after a shocking lack of sleep this week. Still feeling pretty bleurgh so will be doind stuff whilst sitting down today. Perhaps a spot of knitting or something similar.

Hope you all have lovely days

Sorry, it's been a while
Thank you so much to Bitchy for running the last thread
And thank you to Who for taking on the new one
I will be back on the new thread shortly (have done zero flying this week, so really need a kick up the bum)

hi all, whoknows good luck with sleepover (is it a sleepover?)

bitchy shovelling snow sounds romantic although I'm sure it is not

No snow here at all boo hoo.

Today I have
done
cooked shepherd's pie
numerous driving children to and fro
cleared up lunch
groceries bought

been lying in bed for a while now trying to keep warm..tis grim outside despite no snow

yesterday I ..was outside for a long time...
read some more Moby Dick with ds2
made him write out an Emily Dickinson poem
and read some more Sinbad to me!

today he has been telling me a whole host of David Walliams jokes from Come Fly with Me spoof. After drama. Which went very well.

Dd is dancing tigress atm (in best sense) loving the dance class bit of the drama group

and Ds1 is in excellent form (unless asked to do homework) also loving drama group and chance to shine. I have to say the Rugby phase was possibly a mistake. At least we tried it out but compared to the exercise he gets in dance...well no comparison.

Yes, sleepover for DS's birthday, took the DCs and 3 of DS's friends to Go Ape this afternoon (hoping to tire them out), they're all in their pjs on the sofa playing with the x-box while we wait for pizza. So, had to do a very thorough declutter of DCs bedroom this morning. Downstairs is also looking spick and span. Won't last!