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!

Bitchy is spot on with her method. Are you sure there isn't a typo and it's really 27 books? Please let us know the outcome!

Had a fab time with the DCs in Southampton. It's the first time I've taken the two of them anywhere on my own!

Anyway I've not done any flying today either - I had to work longer to make up some time I owed, and the little bit extra has done me in. Will catch up on the thread later

Dc in southampton having fun = family fun day = flying Peg !!!!! well done.

I like that angle Bitchy :o technically I guess we were home edding too

and that is winning on all counts days like that which tick boxes but seem like fun are good.

now if I were doing that Maths problem SC I would just play around with nos until I got the answer.

2 x 9 = 18 plus 9 plus 8 doesn't work - 27 + 8 = 35
2 x 8 = 16 plus 8 plus 7 doesn't work - 24 + 7 = 31
2 x 7 = 14 plus 7 plus 6 doesn't work - 21 + 6 = 27

hmm same answer as Bitchy. Wrong answer

Have done an un-Flylady like house bleugh today and things are looking a lot better now, although still not great.

Did play games with DS2 and take him to the park. Sad when it seems we can only manage family fun by separating the boys and taking one each.

Currently sitting in semi-darkness because a light bulb has gone and we don't have a spare. Oops.

Maybe just maybe it is a trick question. Maybe there are 28 books in total but they don't have to read them all??? Maybe you are meant to put remainder 1?

Ooh I do love a impossible question. Or is that just the Flemish phrasing?

done lots of spring cleaning of playroom for sofa tomorrow
3 kids to drama in two different places
cooked supper
picked prescription
and threw away some rubbish

dh sorted out some cds and reunited them with their cases My children are soo messy it is quite shaming. They obviously have far too many possessions and no respect for any of them When I think of how I used to just hoard my meagre record collection it is like the worst clash of two worlds in this house hoarders and spendthrifts. We have Les Miserables and Muse floating around in perpetual caseless free-play interspersed with about 7 scratched Hans Zimmer cds and a Frozen singalong.

Also tidied front room.

Now to deal with the kitchen again. Have swept floor earlier.

A very late good evening to everyone (in fact it is morning here)

Dh and I actually went out to dinner tonight alone for the first time in aeons. I'm afraid it did my diet no good at all but it was lovely to have some time alone together! Even better, dh just about managed to resist looking at his phone throughout! and dd had a great time with her baby-sitter.

DD also very happy because her dance teacher told her she can go en pointe next year (over-growing bone allowing). She is delighted because she thought (having missed a year) that she would have to wait at least another 12 months, but it appears she has caught up really quickly. Forgive maternal boast but am really proud of her!

Thank you Honu and Swan! The fact that neither of you (or Bitchy) can solve it proves there is a typo I think and I'm not as completely useless at maths as I thought I was (well I am actually, but I was right wrt that specific sum at least). I will let you know what the outcome is! Maybe the school have just dropped a mistake in deliberately to see if parents are paying attention!! It's not like them to get anything wrong.

(Like your trick question angle too Swan! Or maybe I have mistranslated; I've already checked it multiple times but I'll check with dh too)

Oh and if it's any consolation many of our cds are mismatched or without cases too. As you say, too much stuff, too little respect for said stuff.

Pegleg ditto what Bitchy said about you Flying fabulously by having family fun on family fun day!! Hope you can catch up on some rest tomorrow!

Waves to Blue in the gloom!

Ta da:
rabbits
dw
dining room table hotspot
cooked breakfast for everyone
nipped to bakery, newsagent and bank
lots and lots of hwk supervision (helping dd to catch up on work missed last week)
ballet bun and ballet run
more hwk supervision
2 loads of washing
carried unit from roof downstairs with help of dh
extra thorough s&s
general 30 min tidy up
supper out
watched Crufts (recorded earlier)
one more load of washing on

G'night all!

***

The baby-step for Sun 8th March is about establishing morning and afternoon routines from the daily habits we have started. Flylady suggests using a ring binder for this but many of us don't bother about that! (I've got routines written down in my cj but barely look at them now.)

Today we are starting in Zone 2: the kitchen March 8-14.

If you want to, you can declutter 15 mins a day in this zone!

The detailed cleaning list (if you are at that stage) for Zone 2 is here.

No mission because it is the weekend!

The daily focus for Sunday is renewing your spirit but quite understand Minisok (with four young 'uns) and others who find this rather irritating and impractical.

The monthly habit for March is the controversial one about [[http://www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/march/
getting dressed immediately and wearing lace up shoes indoors etc]].

For a summary of the above, see the flight plan : www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-120 which should update itself daily.

Hope everyone has a relaxing a Sunday as possible!

*

Finding thread very interesting at the moment even though I haven't posted the last few days.

I can't do maths but my contribution to the maths puzzle is that whilst an error is perhaps the most likely scenario, technically I assume that if you add the extra to the person who read double the amount it would still be correct as they have still read double even if they've read one more than double. I know that seems improbably complicated for a child's school maths problem but equally the teacher can't say that you've got it wrong as long as the problem doesn't specify that they've read exactly double the number of books. What do you think?

Thank you so much for taking the time to work all of that out Dogsbumhair (I think you should be called Sherlock from now on ) although agree error most likely scenario. Will add your impressive potential solution to the others and see what the teacher says!! (Should get good marks for effort thanks to all of you!!)

Very quiet on here today. It appears spring has sprunged. Hope you are all out enjoying the glorious sunshine!!

Ooh I like your lateral thinking DBH. A serious logical answer. SC I think you should try this - use Bitchy's solution and then DBH's idea to explain what to do with the extra book.
And please let us know what the teacher says!

X-post with SC. What comes of being such a slow typist.

Just had a quick read through of last few pages to try and catch up at least in my mind with where others are at.

Swan I nearly had a heart attack when I read your lost child story, I don't know how old he is but that must have been so stressful for you not knowing if he was ok or not, thank god he appears to be a homing pigeon!

Toffee very interested to hear that home ed child is going back into school, at least part time. I'm glad to hear that it seems to be going ok. I imagine it's a big culture change moving between school and home ed. I don't remember starting school but I've been trying to imagine how different being home with only a parent and a sibling or two around must be compared to being at a school full of other children and adults and the structure that school involves. I always loved school but it still must have been a big change.

Sling thanks for reassuring me that flying and DIY are more important than personals, it's good to hear. Thanks also for the stern look over carrying the hoover up and down stairs, I think I need the telling off at times! I've never been good at accepting my limitations.

I was interested in joining the body declutter and Sunday weigh in and then remembered that I'm six months pregnant, doh, memory lapse again. Still after mini dogsbum emerges I'm sure I'll be interested in joining in.

My DIY exploits this week have involved putting a big tv bracket up on the wall so that we can wall mount our new tv that we bought just before xmas and we currently have sitting on a table in front of our old tv in the front room. Old tv is huge and weighs a ton as it's about ten years old, so about 2 foot deep. Me and DP would probably struggle to lift it between us even if I wasn't pregnant so DP needs to get at least one other very strong person (probably his brother) to help him remove the old tv. Our front room isn't very big so we really do need to get it sorted.

The situation isn't helped by the fact that I was in the middle of constructing alcove shelves in the front room for our dvd, amp, dvd collection etc when I got pregnant, so progress has slowed a lot and I really do need to get things a bit more sorted before baby arrives or it will be carnage. I've also only done half the skirting boards in front room and the remaining bits are in the bay window so it's more complicated than any previous skirting boards that I've installed, typical!

I also decided that I needed to get out bathroom skirting boards sorted so this week I've cut the old one off and bought new ones and as I needed 3.6m length boards as one length in the bathroom is about 3 metres but our house is pretty small for storing such long boards so I had to get them sawn to size that day, that is why Thurs was such a hard day. The cellar is my workroom but it is only 3m wide so the only room big enough to cut such long boards is kitchen/dining area, so I had to carry portable workbench and mitre saw up from cellar and cut boards all in one afternoon which proved to be exhausting, especially having done the tv bracket in the morning too.

Currently I've got skirting boards in dining area slowly putting primer and knot treating coats on them before installing in bathroom, hopefully Mon but more likely Tuesday. DP hates it when house turns into my extended workshop but needs must. He's too nice to say anything but I know that stepping over skirting boards to get to the fridge isn't his idea of fun! How strange!

Anyway, I'm rambling excessively about DIY now so will just say that I haven't done anything today apart from washing up. I need to go and sand skirt boards and put second coat of primer on front of boards. Apart from that I don't plan to do too much.

I may get a head start on the kitchen zone though as it's one place that I actually enjoy cleaning up, god that makes me sound sad. I also know that I wont get too much chance in the week as DP is off and it's harder to do anything, flying or DIY when he's here.

Glad you like my idea Sling and Honu, just call me wily Dogsbum

Wily Dogsbum Crikey!! I am SO impressed by your DIY exploits!! I wouldn't know where to start with half of the things you are doing, and certainly wouldn't attempt when pregnant, so hats off to you!! It's seriously impressive, and oh what I would give now to have the skills to put up shelves on either side of fireplace (unfortunately fireplace one of those wrap-around-alcove numbers so not straightforward). Good luck with it all!! Is there anyone you could call on for help with heavy lifting (or bits that involve bending over to do skirting boards) helping as second mate/fetch and carrier??

Hellooooo again Honu will do!!! (And will present it to teacher exactly in the way you describe!) And will report back. Thanks again.

Thanks Sling, I hadn't thought about the fact that I could maybe use DP being off this week to get him to help me with a few jobs. He hates DIY but if I plan the week ahead now and think of the most effective way to use his help in small intense bursts so that he doesn't feel too much like his precious and much needed week off has turned into a DIY bootcamp from hell then he might well be able to help me make some real progress.

The only hitch is the fact that a recurring back problem of his has come back with a vengeance in the last few days so we'll have to see if it calms down enough for him to be of much use to me this week. His bad back has already stopped us putting the tv on the wall bracket, so the bracket is there on the wall but no tv....

Much to my surprise I'm still ok on my hands and knees for jobs it's just that I can't stay there as long as normal and I have to do only very limited amounts of lifting for brief periods and then remember to take a rest, I just need to work on pacing myself basically and keep on adjusting to my bodily changes.

I think realistically I'm not going to be able to do things like skirting boards beyond the next few weeks so I do need to kick myself up the arse and get them sorted. The bathroom is quite straightforward, it's the front room that's harder.

I'm actually trying to apply flylady tips and tricks to my DIY and remind myself that it's ok if I can only do 15 mins or 30 mins at a time because I am still getting there, just a bit slower than I would have before. I was feeling like it had to be either all or nothing, either doing hours of DIY like I used to be to do or not start at all. Evil perfectionism again!...

Anyway, I'm rambling again. Do let us know how it goes at school with the maths problem, sounds like a number of us are hooked on knowing the answer now

I am actually wondering if this is a question thrown in to remind the children that they need to write down their working out. Ds is a bugger for only putting the answer down. His school often throw in questions where there is no right answer just method marks. Drives him bonkers but proves the point.

ta da
sleep in
Batch of chocolate flavoured biscuit gun biscuits
Batch of vanilla flavoured biscuit gun biscuits
find a home for allergy child's treaty stuff

I have to go for a long drive shortly. I am feeling cold and bleurgh. Part of that is the fact that I have done a lot of taste testing whilst breaking my diet so I feeling the effects of a food intollerance rather greatly. The other part is the fact that I could actually do with another really good night's sleep.

Dogs I totally understand the evilness of perfectionism! I feel paralysed by it sometimes. By the way, please can we call your little one Puppysbum when he or she arrives? :o

I've caught up with the thread now, not done any list today but have done laundry and DH tackled the kitchen. Oh and I cleared out my bag and wallet of hideous numbers of receipts and bus tickets!

This upcoming week will be like our first 'normal' week of home ed, as we've been on big trips the last couple of weeks. Still should be 'deschooling' of course but DD is itching to do Titanic themed stuff now!

Ooh, that's an interesting new angle on the problem Bitchy, seems a bit cruel on the school's part as I can imagine some kids worrying that they are going to get in trouble for not being able to work out the answer but as you say I guess it does force you to write down your process and any justifications for getting there. Definitely sneaky though!

I keep meaning to ask you about your baking as I see lots of interesting bread making on your lists and I keep meaning to ask for recipes/ideas, etc. as I make our bread most of the time but I don't have as wide a range as you. Mostly it's just white bloomer as DP doesn't like brown bread although I do have a few more interesting recipes that I call weekend breads. I've only been doing it for about a year or eighteen months and I literally just decided to make one loaf of bread for fun and I enjoyed it so much (eating the bread that is) that I've just carried on and decided that I will carry on until I get fed up/can't be bothered, etc. I assume baby is likely to stop me for a while at least though.

I meant to ask you how you got into bread making, it didn't occur to me that you might be doing it for allergy reasons until your last post though. By the way, are gun biscuits gun shaped biscuits or a type of biscuit. Cinnamon rolls and cheese bread were two other recipes that sounded great.

this is the biscuit gun you make the dough - has to be the right consistency other wise there is issues, stick dough in and press out 101 blooming biscuits without the trauma of having to cut with cutters. Sooo much faster.

I promised I would look out the cheese bread recipe properly so I will find the recipe book later and give you the recipes. We have oat bread, the rye bread has now been dropped as the oat is better, white bread, cheese bread, sesame seed bread and sunflower seed bread. Basic recipe and tweak. some less tweaking than others. Also used to make pizza rolls which are great when you need meals fairly quickly. Shame I can no longer eat wheat but great for ds and others of the house. Hence why i am feeling a bit rubbish has have to taste test when adapting recipes for ds as some end up tasting like soap and just don't work milk free.

Last post appears to have vanished as I posted it so will try again, how annoying.

Pegleg, yes paralysed is exactly the word for what happens to me sometimes. Especially with the DIY I sometimes think of all the things that could go wrong to the point where I find it hard to start. I know it's ridiculous but hard to turn off at times. I try to remember a mantra of a friend of mine which is JFDI (which means stop thinking about it until your brain is in knots and Just F*ing Do It!) Sometimes it works....

I laughed out loud at your idea of calling baby puppysbum when she arrives, that is so cute, please feel free to use it!

To add to the confusion, DP calls me meerkat (there were already two other meerkats on mumsnet so I didn't use it as a name) so he has started calling her meerkitten which I also think is really cute.

By the way, I'm looking forward to hearing about your home ed experiences, it sounds like there are a few home educators on the thread and it's very interesting to hear about.

I'm feeling smug! DH decided to do a shepherds pie with the lamb mince so I grabbed some to make minty burgers as I'd planned (I bought the mint leaves to finally try minty pasta, but won't need it all), and I used half the chicken we got for tomorrow's curry with a quick stir fry marinade (ginger, lime etc). So that's two meals' worth of protein prepared and added to the freezer stores in about 10 minutes. This is a big deal for me as I'm really not organised. It will be worth buying a bit of meat sometimes if I can divide it up like that and hopefully it'll mean more variation for dinner during the week when I'm tired.

Wow Bitchy that is so clever, I've never heard of a biscuit gun before but a very clever idea if you are making loads, I imagine you'd go mad cutting out 101 biscuits without it!

Those recipes sound very good, I look forward to you sharing your recipes with the group. I'm afraid I don't have any non wheat based recipes to share as I haven't tried any. My most interesting recipes are Pain de Savoie (mix of rye and white flour with chunks of Comte cheese and lardons) gorgeous! Stilton and bacon rolls, very good too but doesn't last as long. Foccaccia also good and very easy. I'm definitely interested in expanding my bread range though