March of the Fledglings 2015

[Slingclutter]

Heartfelt thanks to Whoknows for running the February thread during such a stressful time for her (and to Toffee for helping out.)

If you are strugging 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 and along the way.

Flylady link link 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 on Flying lessons. Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings.

Don't be put off by the purple prose and 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 might 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 15 mins 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 brew + 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, regulars, oldies and newcomers very, very welcome!

Thanks Toffee :)

I love the idea of Oftwat :o :o

Thankfully I made it up to bed halfway through the night, as I was woken by the phone ringing?! 2am. Number withheld. WTF. Anyway I feel a bit more rested now.

to do
Put yesterday's dry clothes away
2x regular laundry
Wash bra
Wash sleeping bag
Tumble dryer on
Put next lot of dry clothes away
Start packing for our excursion to Southampton on Thursday! (Will use this as a list-writing exercise for DCs)
Put clean crockery away
Washing up (see if DCs want to help)
Make a decent dinner
DD to Brownies, find out about enrollment in a couple of weeks
Get bread and maybe milk
Read!
Bathe DCs
Have a bath

YIKES that's a big list

Morning everyone, how are we all?

Arf at Oftwat Ellie but hope it goes ok. Also your dating - my BIL met his lovely wife through online dating so I hope it goes well for you.

Busy day for you then Peg !

Toffee I hope your DS can come round to your idea of a 'normal' tidy bedroom.

Big waves to Engles sounds like you're enjoying time with your boys

My ta-das so far:
Cats fed and thrown outside for the day
DS fed and dressed
Me dressed and pumped full of coffee
Beds made
Laundry basket tipped out and sorted into wash loads
First wash in machine
Yesterday's laundry folded and put away
Dishwasher emptied and partially refilled
Washed up baking trays
Air bed pumped up (DS is waking at stupid o'clock every morning and won't settle unless one of us stays with him, I'm sick of sleeping on a cold hard floor so this seems a good solution)

To do:
Supervise the chap who is coming to buy the 50 patio slabs currently clogging up the garage
Some serious decluttering of general debris all over the kitchen surfaces
Thinking about going out for a coffee with DS for his nap and using the time to fill out an application form for a diploma course I want to go on (I have been seriously procrastinating on this one)
Play with play-doh (I might let DS join in!)
List more stuff on eBay

Good luck!

Right, it's 11.30 and I've basically done nothing because of a dentist appointment. Must kick myself off MN and get some work done.

My vague idea for the DVD database is because we keep them all in those black caselogic book things, and ditch the plastic cases (well actually if they're new I donate them to the library I work in as we reuse them when cases break... you should see the happiness on my colleague's face when I bring in a hard-to-come-by multi-DVD box :o). We have such a huge amount that it's easy to forget which case they're in. So we want to get it properly organised (but also allow for the fact it's an ever-expanding collection) so we can see where something particular is rather than searching through it all. I'm not expecting to use it that much (some DVDs we watch all the time, others hardly ever) but thought it might be a fun and educational project

Didn't log in to thread yesterday but I did do Monday Bleurgh, hoovered whole house and did some dusting and polishing and changed bed sheets, emptied bins, etc. So felt like a achieved quite a bit in not a huge amount of time.

DP got his annual bonus so I bought him a nice bottle of wine and we went out for a meal, nothing special but it was nice to make a bit of a fuss of him when he's been working hard and is really tired.

Feeling tired today so I have read thread but it doesn't seem to be going in, tried to absorb cheese bread, dvd databases, etc. but it's turning into a blur so will have to skip personals, although I may come back and ask about cheese bread at a later date as it sounds great.

Have just been for midwife appt and to get petrol this morning. I plan to do the hotspot thing for 5 mins in a couple of rooms and then have some lunch. Then depending on how tiredness progresses will either go into town and buy some bedding, which was my plan, or if tiredness keeps on ramping up as it is I'll be spending the rest of the day on the sofa catching up with a few items that I've recorded but am yet to watch, final episode of Casual Vacancy and Indian Summer x 2.

Bedding plan is already a step down from plan 1 which was to do some DIY, I definitely don't think I've got the energy for that today, especially as first job was finishing removing some reluctant nails in the wall where I removed the skirting board, far too much effort today I think. Sofa is feeling more and more appealing.

Midwife appt did show that my blood pressure is lower than normal today although still in the normal range, normal for me is about 120/70 and today I'm 100/60 so maybe that is a factor, who knows. Rambling now so will be off. Hopefully brain and body will be working better again tomorrow. Happy flying everyone....

Just nipping in to post a halfway mark list, keeping me motivate and all that :)

ta da
Put yesterday's dry clothes away
2x regular laundry one down, one to go
Wash bra
Wash sleeping bag
Tumble dryer on
Put next lot of dry clothes away
Start packing for our excursion to Southampton on Thursday! (Will use this as a list-writing exercise for DCs)
Put clean crockery away
Washing up (see if DCs want to help)
Make a decent dinner
DD to Brownies, find out about enrollment in a couple of weeks
Get bread and maybe milk
Read!
Bathe DCs
Have a bath

Hmm, not bad progress really. On I go.

Hi Dogs blimey I don't blame you for wanting a rest! Have you enjoyed the casual vacancy? I've not started watching it yet but I did enjoy the book. Some of the characters are so bloody irritating (and well written as they are supposed to be irritating) that I actually wanted to reach into the page and punch them! So I hope the actors live up to it.

Hi Pegleg, I think maybe I did overdo it a bit with the hoovering, especially carrying the hoover up and downstairs, lifting is starting to get harder now, I need to remember that.

I'm not quite sure what I'd say about the casual vacancy, it feels like a strange mix between Hot Fuzz and Midsomer Murders with the odd bit of grittiness thrown in. I am enjoying it but it doesn't feel very original. I imagine that the book would probably be a lot better, the characters are really horrible and I can imagine the book being quite a dark read if you end up in some of their minds. I can imagine it would probably be better if made over 6 episodes rather than squeezed into 3 as there are a lot of characters to get to know. Will see how I feel after the final episode.

Peg we do the same, the database has name of film, rating (U/12/18 etc) who owns it (some were presents), where it is stored also where I have the info length of film and whether it is mutlidisk/special edition etc.

ta da
sleep
console a very upset ds who has already said he is not going to school tomo because of that supply teacher

Not feeling any better for the extra sleep but know it will have done me good as was still struggling with burn out after that stupid spring cleaning thing I did in my room the other week.

I have done nothing today. Apart from thinking a lot about things which need to be done (does that count). I think I did too much in the hall yesterday so I've come to a complete stop. Very weird feeling.

Ta da
rescue plants from over winter position and put them in their summer position
water/feed plants
try to rescue the very poorly looking plant
consign the rather dead plant to the bin
laundry
rescue the kitchen

ds is still up, he is refusing to go to bed as he and I are the only members of the household still up I am resisting the urge to shout very loudly at him. Instead I am just ignoring him mostly. I hate it when he is up so late is causes no end of issues in the morning.

Today I have

drumroll had an appointment to measure up for new curtains in kitchen and new curtain pole
arranged for kitchen chairs to be reupholstered (15 years old (and they were secondhand when we bought them and thoroughly manky green velvet)
dh has actually looked at curtain fabric (swoon)

up bright and early to get everyone off to school
Moby Dick reading

took ds2 to distant parks meetup - he played and played and then we went to the café for cake and promptly lost each other at the end I found out later he had gone home without me...I then waited one hour for him in case he was waiting for me somewhere else in the park. Nevertheless He is amazing (if rubbish at listening to instructions) He found his way home by himself without having been that way at all (we came a different route) from a completely unknown area (deepest darkest Maida Vale) two tube changes. I am rubbish too though - my phone was out of battery and he didn't have one at all. Tomorrow I am buying that boy a phone - then he can be a bit more independent.

We have had a lovely evening after all that exercise and upset. Ds2 really quite upset at losing me - he said he searched for me in the loos (where I told him I'd gone) but didn't go in - went off in different direction and the and then decided I'd gone home (which I hadn't) and set off himself. Home ed people all very helpful but unfortunately ones he knew had left by that point. Organiser said we should introduce ds to every one of the adults properly next time so we never had the "not knowing" situation again. Dh ordered Chinese to celebrate ds being safe home.

Dh's father a bit ill last night. Better this evening and safe in hospital under observation so another thing to be grateful for.

Big hugs to all! Ellie our school has still not had an Ofsted and it is 6 years...why are they picking on yours?? Dd's was reduced from Outstanding to Good for some nitpicking reason.

done
I think I cleaned the floor round the loo
did one load of washing
and dh did the recycling and unloaded dw. That's about it today
and breakfast - I made breakfast..and loaded the breakfast dishes
I also put away a small amount of laundry and stuffed some of ds2's underwear in his drawers

Flapping through...(I will do better tomorrow!)

Evening all,

I gave myself a couple of days break from the thread after being on every day last month, but I'm back now and have skimmed through.

SC - I hope yesterday went smoothly and was a comfort to you all.

Ellie - surely it's only about 6 months since you last had Ofsted?

Flying wise - I went off-zone today, and tidied the landing (well, the half you see as you come up the stairs) and decluttered a kitchen cupboard which was overflowing with empty multipacks of crisps etc, why am I the only one that throws the bag away when I take the last pack out of it?

Also did a bit of paperwork, some phone calls, had my hair cut and did some shopping.

Talking of haircuts, I followed through on my threat to have DD(9)'s hair chopped off yesterday . She has been refusing to brush it properly or let me help her with it off and on for the last few months, so we would have a cycle of me detangling it while she screams the house down, her looking after it for a couple of weeks, then getting slack and it all getting matted again and round we go. Yesterday she faffed about so much in the morning that I was going to be late for work and emerged from her room with a ponytail that looked like a squirrel's tail, so that was it, off with about 6' of it. She was not happy, but actually it looks amazing and in so much better condition. It's still below her shoulders (needs to be bunnable for ballet) so could have been worse. Bought her a couple of new brushes today with a view to moving forwards with proper brushing and being able to grow it again. Fingers crossed!

Swanhilda, that sounds a pretty stressful day! Hope DS and your FIL are both doing OK.

Good luck to anyone with an OFSTED inspection, even the pupils at DD's infant school noticed how stressed the teachers were about it when they had one!

Have actually managed to find my Flylady book so can read that for motivation. Signed up for her Babysteps download via the FB page and now I'm back on the list for the emails - that'll teach me!

Still got a lot of cardboard in the garage from the furniture so need to do a couple of tip trips this week.

Glad you and DS found each other again Swan - that must have been very worrying.

Shame about dd's hair Whoknows sometimes there is nothing else you can do in that situation. :( ds wants to grow his hair but is cursed with a double crown and no idea what a hair brush is.

Well done to ds2 for getting home safely, sorry you were caused so much stress by the situation though Swan and YAY about the curtains. Glad you have found some that you want!

Just passing through quickly to do the links. My Mum is arriving early tomorrow morning, so I want to get to bed in good time.

Well done to your DS2 on finding his own way home, Swan - but losing him must have been dreadfully worrying for you at the time.

Babystep Number 4: write down your reminders.

Wednesday is anti-procrastination day.

The mission is here: clean off finger prints and smudges from the walls in your dining room and hall.

Wednesday's flight plan is here.

Night all.

I also suffer with the curse of the double crown Bitchy, I love my hair, but hate the fact that the crown shows as a white stripe down the back of my head (hair is very dark). I've decided I need to lead by example and start brushing mine (I know!) But mines very wavy and I do detangle it diligently every day with my fingers. I hate how mine looks brushed, all the curls merge into one flat, limp, floppy wave instead of being defined. Whereas DD's is dead straight and made for brushing.

WhoKnows I never used to brush my hair when I wore it curly, as it used to turn it into a giant frizz. Fortunately the girls haven't inherited my hair - DD2's is long, straight and blonde, the kind I would have killed to have at primary school as then I might have been allowed to be Mary or at least one of the angels, but have completely different approaches to brushing; DD2 is obsessed, whereas DD1 would happily leave it for days if we didn't remind her.

swan What a scare, glad you found DS in the end. We lost DD2 in a Bratislava shopping centre when she was five and it was the worst 10 minutes of my life.

Just back from doctor's, where I had the first part of my annual medical (basically a blood test). I should really make an appointment for a mammogram but keep procrastinating; I was supposed to go in February but have decided to leave it for a couple of weeks, when work will hopefully be a bit quieter. Possibly. Talking of which, must make a start.

I only bloody finished my list yesterday!

ta da
Put yesterday's dry clothes away
2x regular laundry
Wash bra
Wash sleeping bag
Tumble dryer on
Put next lot of dry clothes away (DCs doing theirs this morning, I just folded them all as they were asleep)
Start packing for our excursion to Southampton on Thursday! (Will use this as a list-writing exercise for DCs)
Put clean crockery away
Washing up (see if DCs want to help) (they didn't! They were watching Fawlty Towers)
Make a decent dinner
DD to Brownies, find out about enrollment in a couple of weeks
Get bread and maybe milk
Read!
Bathe DCs
Have a bath

I also put most of the DVDs away and helped DH do a load of mash for the freezer. Today needs to be much less ambitious as I'm tired!

to do
Hospital for ECG fitting
Read more
Finish packing
Order clubcard vouchers for trip
Return DVD
Decide on simple WBD costumes (not compulsory as HEing but DD wants to be Arrietty when we visit the library to see my colleagues' costumes!)
Visit Primark for the above
Put last DVDs away
Decide what hours I'm doing at work on Saturday

I've got lots of time in town before my appointment so I am going to have a nice breakfast :o

peg can you explain how you sort your mash for the freezer and how you deal with it when you come to use it pretty please. This is something I have considered doing.

ta da
ds to school on time and without shouting
attempt nap and fail
work on craft project
plan how to achieve what needs doing today.

to do
finish project 1
finish project 2
wrap project 1 and write card
ds to get his glasses fix
empty car of "stuff"
hoover car
throw a bucket of water over the car and remove the field that is currently accessorising it's natural colour

Well I would explain it, Bitchy, but it's the first time I've tried it! Over on the Frugaleers thread they said it's suitable to freeze as it is, and you just microwave it - possibly from frozen although I tend to prefer defrosting things first. Anyway I just shoved it in a freezer bag and will see how it goes. I might add a bit of milk or butter if it turns out too dry.

Cool. i have mash on top of the cottage pies I shoved in the freezer for ds. I was considering prepping mash and onion gravy portions for when I am suffering burn out issues. Cooking sausages is the easy part of that meal. I need grab an go meals too for when we are flying about like crazy people. Thankfully we are not flying about like crazy people atm though as I am still reeling from doing too much and the last virus I had. 2nd day confirned mostly to bed but at least I am awake enough to pootle with craft projects today. Slept between the school runs yesterday.

I freeze leftover mash in plastic tubs then either let it thaw on the counter or microwave it. Don't make the mistake I made of trying to reheat it from frozen in a pan, it all got burnt and stuck.