Fledglings chatter and try to FLY through July

[BlueEyeshadow]

Following June's chatty thread, welcome aboard another month of vaguely trying to follow FLY Lady's housekeeping system. There are still babysteps and missions for each day and the little and often system for decluttering and keeping chaos at bay.

It is still a long running thread and newbies will always be welcome. Usual disclaimer still applies "Don’t let it put you off if we appear a bit cliquey, we really aren’t! Some of us have been on here for years – but all lurkers, intermittent returnees, oldies and newcomers very, very welcome"

But for another month we'll try to fly without daily links. The Big link you will need is the launch pad which will take you to all the daily reminders/missions/zones etc...

The first link for the babysteps is the particularly waffly introduction to the system, and through it you can get to all of the other links.

So it only remains for me to thank DEM for setting up the last thread , and stock up the naughty corner bar for when it all gets a bit much. Plenty of and to see us through.

oh dear, first day of holidays - beautiful sunshine and already everyone is in grumpy disconnected mood - not helped by dd getting ready for a coach trip to France and watersports week residential [packing shopping packing]

Dogsbum great news about weight gain and lovely walk. Toffee sympathise about hairdressing intensity - BUT you are the customer!

Gardener has laid turf and after weeks of feeling rather frustrated by the whole process of excavation rubbish clearance path laying etc and wondering why we didn't do it ourselves I am thrilled to say that paying someone to do a plan of the SHAPE of the garden borders has been worth it. He has cleverly solved a problem which has bugged me for several years - how to integrate a hexagonal patio (my mistake) into a nonsymetrical rectangle. (I mean the existing borders were not symmetrical) If that sounds precious - all I can say is that it always looked wrong as straightlines/diagonals and bits of geometrical manoeuvring/half circles and I couldn't work out why.

He has solved it with inverse organic curves. Curves are always the answer

Today he is coming round with a planting plan.

Both dses are being surly and argumentative. Think we are going to have to have some holiday rules re: GSCE work/home ed work and chores/getting outside.

DEM dses enjoyed Minions.

Now are you sitting down dearest fledglings...you might need to cope with the shock of my next post.

I have done some bloody flying.....I have a fecking ta da list.

Ta da:-
Tidied and cleaned living room
Tidied and cleaned kitchen
Tidied and cleaned dining room
Cleaned bathroom
Tidied and cleaned dc's bedrooms
Washing x 2 on line
Hoovered whole house
Washing put away

I am now rewarding myself with coffee with old friend and then cinema with the BF. I know most of you do these things on a daily basis but one should not underestimate my complete crapness re flying over the last few months. ????????

Well done ellie Enjoy your coffee and cinema trip.

I will not be posting my ta da list but it is uber scary even for me and I really want a shower. Pita about not having any water atm. Exhausted though and it is going to take a month at least to put everything back to where it should be have had to evict furniture and contents out of two rooms It looks like a disaster zone so no feeling of success or achievement.

Ds otoh is greatly pleased by the necessary delay and huge to do list as it means he has pretty much spent all day on the computer watching bloody minecraft videos. 10yr old boy heaven I have been told

Morning everyone,

Flying has taken a bit of a back seat here too

DEM, where on earth has your hot water gone? Shall I send over to help with your heating issues?!

Dogs - lovely to 'see' you! It doesn't seem that long ago since all my mumsnetting was done in the middle of the night with a boob-monster attached like a limpet. It sounds like you're doing well :)

Swan your garden sounds like it's all coming together. Will you get to enjoy it much this year before the summer leaves us?

DH is out all day today and it looks like rain here.so not sure what we'll do. I might consider soft play....

new boiler and pipework being fitter, best done this time of year when heating is not needed tbh.

Struggling to get moving this morning. We have already missed the cinema screening we wanted to go to. trying to wake up enough to get everything fitted in. Not sure it is going to happen though.

Welcome back Ellie and well done on your first day of holiday Flying. Two more days of school still to go here and it is very busy with Yr 6 Leavers stuff.

DEM - DD is addicted to bloody Minecraft videos too.

Dogs - glad Meerkitten is doing well

Fuzz - enjoy the film.

This has been an odd weekend. Can I unburden myself on you all, as I don't want to piss on anyone's parade in real life? It was DS's Yr 6 Leaver's Party last night, a group of 8 of us mums have been organising it for the last few months, it has been a lot of effort but worth it. But, it was a roller disco, and from the moment DS broke his collarbone last week we knew he wouldn't be able to take part and I lost all enthusiasm, but I kept going with the organising, and running it last night, and it went really well. Apart from poor DS being on the sidelines and fairly miserable. Anyway, I was really glad when it was over, but this morning I have been getting non-stop FB messages, photos, texts and emails from the other mums who are on a massive high about how fantastic it was and I've just been sat here crying for poor DS.

Oh, WhoKnows, I'm sorry . I expect it's brought out all your feelings of protectiveness towards DS1, upset over him going to the different school, the end of an era, etc. I'm sure the other mums are just trying to show you their appreciation, as you spent so long organising it. Poor DS1. It is rotten that he couldn't take part. Is he ok about it? Maybe you could arrange a mini-get-together with his friends during the holidays, when his collarbone has healed?

Anyway, here's some comforting for now.

Off out now, meeting my best friend, so no more MN for me today. Looking forward to escaping family life for a little while. Have reminded DH to feed the children (he has been known to forget ).

Thanks Toffee, DS is fine today, but we did have a few tears last night. What made matters worse was that his best (and only real) friend was ill and could't go at all. We popped out for 15 mins to see him as he lives near school and while we were out they must have taken the big group photos that are on FB this morning without DS in. It is all just a very emotional time, I wish school was over but still 2 days to go. And of course I won't be saying any of this to the other mums, but it's good to let it out on here.

what a nightmare...although I think the memory of not being able to disco will fade and he will be left with the memory that you and he together put on a great celebration for his friends for which he can be proud and feel good about. Sometimes knowing that your parent is appreciated for what they do is a source of self esteem in itself for children. We had a pretty disastrous Prom Night for the Year 6s - dd was fine but ds2 not only got left out the group photo due to a soiling incident - Ihad to take him to the car and give him some new clothes in the middle of the party, but did some very embarrassing dancing in the disco and took his shirt off. However - the only "good" thing was that another child hit someone causing a major incident and it wasn't ds2 who was involved or implicated (possibly because he was in the car at that stage having a meltdown

However, it was still quite fun in a way and both dcs (twins) remember it fondly..

Ds2 has just gone off to the park again with his remote controlled car - it's a bit like taking a pet for a walk and also people tend to chat to him (again like having a pet) as result. Ds1 has done two chores. Dd is about to depart after lunch - I'm driving her to school and coach pickup..nailbiting counting down the hours till departure and then worrying we are going to be late or early.

Whoknows - can you find some photos with just a few children including ds (in party clothes)for him to post on your facebook with a message - just to counteract the others. Sometimes small group photos are much more interesting anyway. I think a lot of heads got lost in our big group photos even when the children were included.

Morning Fledglings!

Sorry I've been away so long. Went back to work at the beginning of May when DS2 was 4 months old and the last few months has been a whirlwind. Now taking a well earned break as the school holidays have started,and ready to whip my house into shape and do some major decluttering and sprucing up in house and garden.

Haven't had a chance to read back and catch up on all your news, but looking forward to catching up with you all.

So, jumping right back in, here's my ta da for the day so far:

2nd load of washing in machine
Ordered nursery photos (got the card 6 weeks ago and have only just got round to it)
Skyped family
Wrote 2 cards including a belated one for my mum's birthday (last week - are you sensing a theme?!)

I have done more flying. Clearly the moral of the story is that teaching and flying don't mix although for my own sanity I expect they should.

Ta da:-
More washing
More putting away
Tidied and cleaned my room

I have even weeded the patio and I chuffing hate gardening.

whoknows that sounds difficult. Hope DS is ok today.

Sorry to hear that, WhoKnows. Hope you and DS are feeling a little better.

Well done, Ellie!

Waves to Engels.

Also managed a little flying today, but mostly fretting. hey ho.

Next you will asking about learning to knit or crochet Ellie

Thanks for all the kind words about the party. I do feel better now, and have been plodding on with the tying up of loose ends from it tonight. Swan - oh dear, yours does sound memorable for all the wrong reasons too.

Engels - welcome back, lovely to hear from you.

Managed a bit of Flying today, have definitely made some progress with DCs bedrooms this weekend, following the big furniture reorganise of last weekend. Also done several lots of washing. A bit of shopping this afternoon, and DD's swimming lesson this evening. Then a nice BBQ on the patio and up to the allotment for watering and harvesting my first ever courgettes.

Hi all. Quite pleased I managed to get up and dressed today. We had the family support worker round last week and she helped us come up with a rough daily plan. This includes some tidying time so need to stick to that. DD insisted on moving their bedroom round the other week and it's a tip already.

dem I can make you a solemn promise that there is literally no chance of that happening.....like ever...we all know my feelings on all things craft related.

I am proper possessed by the fat fairy at the minute.

Ta da so far:-
Car cleaned out (got a new one..,it won't last)
Washing done and hung out
More washing put away
Kitchen cleared
Dw unloaded and reloaded

This afternoon is dd's leavers assembly (moving from infants to juniors). Suspect they will have done everything to tug at heart strings and therefore i may shed a tear. Because i am emotional idiot.

DS is going to town and cinema by himself with his friends for the first time. Decided i had better loosen the apron strings a little as he is heading into year 8 apparently though I refuse to acknowledge such a thing happening (same goes for dd moving
To juniors).

And it is the last beavers/scouts run of the year...I am more excited about this than i am 6 weeks off.

Back later. Have a lovely day everyone.

oh dear - this morning started with a series of skirmishes..Dh is determined that we are all entirely selfish and think of nothing but ourselves - which culminated in him storming out over whether we did or did not eat the boiled eggs he had found egg cups for, then complaining that in the 20 years he had know me I had Never ONCE driven him to Morrisons to help him buy large quantities of tinned tomatoes (he cannot carry heavy loads at moment due to his bad leg, nor can he drive in the first place). He then complained I was only interested in the children and not in him...was pandering to ds2 by suggested we could change the air ticket to a ferry journey (that may be true ..spent far too much of my time talking to people on Mumsnet...and finally with a flourish declared it illegal that I had hidden ds1's ipad till he did 2 hours of holiday homework..

However, most of these problems are temporarily suspended as we sent to BBq bought door mats sprinklers for lawn inspected rattan sofas for outhouse, ds2 actually helped us pushing the trolley and ds1 did at least 30 mins of homework. And dh bought brown paper and bubblewrap from Staples which always makes him happy (he has to pack lots of parcels in his business

Cleaning lady has been. Kitchen is tidy. And floors downstairs swept. One less thing to get angry about gardener gently tapping in the distance - think he must be laying some cobbles.

Fuzzpig good luck, really sympathise. Sometimes I just pick up four things to make myself feel calmer. Or move things to side and wipe a surface. I often think part of the problem with housekeeping is that one feels so angry at the mess (whose fault is it etc), that one is unable to view it in a rational way as just stuff to be dealt with. whereas a cleaner just moves it out of the way - she doesn't care. I need to try and imitate this approach more. The flip side/positive side is that of course we love our houses more than any cleaner and presumably should have more invested in enjoying tidying them but I find this hard to put into effect

waiting to see what became of dd in deepest darkest South west French campsite - no wifi but maybe we should try texting her. Teachers said no need but it feels weird to think of her there having a wonderful time and us stomping around B & q buying lawnmowers..

Engels enjoy holidays with two little ones, hope new baby is thriving and ds1 too!

Just a quick Ta da list dump, bbl for a proper catch up:

Lie in!!!!
Catch up with friend over coffee
Made beds x2
One wash load done and hung up to dry
Dishwasher emptied, refilled, on again
More washing sorted
Dinner in the slow cooker
Making a good start on the family business accounts/book keeping

to do
More book keeping
Filing
Nursery admin
Collect DS from nursery

ta da
went into school on the first day of the holidays to finish clearing out my cupboards
ordered repeat prescription and contact lenses
ordered a new skirt (Dr Who starry night tardis fabric!!!)

sympathies on grumpy husband swan
envious of bbq plans whoknows
ellie I would like some of your flying enthusiasm please!

Thanks for the welcome back everyone!

ta da

read more 'Angel' by Elizabeth Taylor, which is annoying me (very unpleasant characters)
family members fed
emptied bathroom and bedroom bins
threw out out-of-date food in fridge
put rubbish out
put recycling out
collected numerous glasses from around the house
maths with DS2 (very frustrating, as usual. He claims he still can't do his three times table and doesn't know what division is, although we revised it recently)
handwriting with DS2 (almost as frustrating, but at least he did it)
seriously wondered whether I should have some
DS2 opened latest Little Passports delivery
emptied and reloaded d/w
persuaded DS1 to have a bath and wash his hair
also managed to wrestle jeans off DS1 for washing
hoovered downstairs
mopped kitchen floor
shouted at the cats for tripping me up and yowling at me
DH arrived with shopping, which I put away
made lunch for everyone (homemade vegetable sauce, pasta and grated cheese)
sent DS2 away so I could eat my lunch in peace and regain good temper

Signing in for my first ta da list since I came crawling back here :o

One load tumbled
Two loads washed
Got DCs to do an hours tidying in their room and decided what moving of furniture needs to be done
Managed to make some sort of lunch for DCs despite feeling like crap!
Super Skills Time (this is what we decided to call the hour or so when DCs do their reading/literacy/numeracy work)

Now settled with DCs watching a movie til DH gets home.

Wouldn't judge you for breaking out the Toffee - know what you mean about the frustration, it can be like Groundhog Day sometimes with learning can't it! We nearly had a full on strop from DD this morning over maths, she was desperate for ages for an easier workbook (she struggles with it - was all but written off by the school - and seeing DS whizz through books was rather demotivating) so I made her one... and today she complained because it was 'too different' [facepalm] :o

Thanks swan yes it's rather hard to see the wood for the trees sometimes!

It's strange, today I feel physically rubbish (bit of a flare up) but mentally I feel more able to tackle it. We actually achieved quite a lot in DCs' room all things considered. I'm hoping DH will be happy to do the bits I can't manage - moving furniture and vacuuming properly. I really want the DCs to have a fresh start in their room (even if it means a few things - like the magic porridge pot dressing up box - get moved into our room for a while) because we've built 'make sure your room is tidy' into the 'what must be done before playing out in the mornings' routine but they can't tidy it if it's a horrific mess to begin with!

ta da
made ds lunch and sent to school
called in sick.
slept

ONly just woken up and still fell shocking. But need to move a few things so shower is accessible. Tbh ideally i'd be moving a whole heap more and getting stuff straight but i don' think that is going to be possible.