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.

I am having a similar kinda day fuzzpig currently lurking in pinterest and finding ideas for home made presents and projects. Spa type stuff - bath bombs, scrubs, scrappy fabric bits etc.

ooh cool! I would love to do that kind of thing. One of the many things I'm sure I'd be able to manage if our house was more organised and tidy!

well, we are looking out the window at a finished garden...(apart from one bed near the house) It does look very nice in the rain And lots of room left for our horticultural fancies such as they may be in days to come..

Feeling so tired now that I've gone back to bed after a hot shower. we are having a very peaceful rainy day now - should be tidying up but cannot bring myself to waste this quiet feeling. Except it is not quiet because ds2 is playing Judy Garland very loudly next through the wall.

DEM I was thinking of bath bombs yesterday as luck would have it. as a nice holiday activity for boys. possibly in same category as making boxes with shells on them or writing holiday diaries... doomed

maybe this will be more up their ally swan

book of monsters

Evening everyone, I've just managed to catch up on the thread.

Hope SC Ellie Linzer and whoKnows are enjoying holiday time

Swan - you must be thrilled your garden is done now, and still a decent amount of summer left to enjoy it

Toffee at your DHs bedroom comment! What are you able to do for yourself to give you some mental and/or physical space from your DCs needs? It sounds a bit like you are burning out?

DEM and Fuzz I hope you are both on the mend

I hope you are all having long lie ins! worries I've killed the thread

I did indeed have a lie-in today! I'm sure this thread could never be killed anyway :o hope your DS is feeling better today.

DCs have become ever so good at letting me sleep when I need to. They just play. Although actually as I finally woke up I heard DD telling her little brother that they needed to tidy their room so that I could see it and be happy :)

Thanks to the lie-in I do feel a bit more human today. Not enough to change my hermit plans for the weekend, as that would be a bad idea, but I think I may manage a teeny bit of Flying. Laundry piles up so quickly otherwise! And we are going to start shelving the non-fiction books on the nice clean bookcase that is now in the DCs' room. My best friend is a reception teacher and I've promised she can come and browse/borrow when it's done :o

I also need to decide what other things are going to be put in their room - they don't have space for much, and lots of their toys live downstairs in the Trofast unit (and huge Really Useful boxes of Lego/train set etc) but I'd like to have a few little things that can live in there that they can learn to manage themselves.

It's playmobil that we really struggle to house - there's not enough space to leave it all built, but it doesn't fit easily in boxes either! Am now wondering if the boxes my mum offered to get for us could be used for that?!

They are very lucky children, they have a lot of toys. But they love and play with all of it. There isn't anything languishing/ignored that I can get rid of!

fuzz - so happy you had a lie in! It makes all the difference to the day ahead. Re: Playmobil - I put large models, like the castle and the pyramid, in our loft cupboards (dismantled, mostly) and just bring them out when they're requested. DS2, who plays with them very occasionally these days, is more excited by them when he's forgotten all about them for several months and then has the chance to rediscover them.

Grey - hope your DS is on the mend today. Thanks for your concern about me . I'm not burning out and I do get out with friends, leaving DH at home to babysit, so that is my breaktime. And I'm lucky that I have DH with me a lot these days because he's self-employed and fits work round the family's needs. I think my worries are just unavoidable at the moment because Ds1, especially, needs so much care and I'm terrified of him backsliding into staying in his room all day.

I think the hardest thing is that, being on the spectrum, DS1 has no social motivation to go out - the very thing that gets teenagers out of their front door, mostly. We have to try to motivate him with other things. He has started to accept that he needs to get out for health reasons, though, so that's an improvement.

Swan - hope you get to enjoy your brand new garden in the sunshine today .

Have had a very productive morning. Maybe it's all the smoothies I'm making with our new blender? Anyway, was up at 6.30 this morning and have spent ages washing, hoovering and mopping. We now have a very tidy kitchen with a sparkly sink and there is washing drying on the line.

About to take the boys out for a long walk in the sunshine.

Ds went to bed after midnight and got up at 6am. he currently feels like rubbish and is wondering why he is getting little sympathy. I actually think he might have fallen asleep at the top of the stairs
I on the other hand have had a lie in, still feel pretty rubbish but each lie in helps.

I'm trying to learn that lesson again myself DEM I found myself nodding off in front of the laptop at midnight, I mean why?!

For the first time I'm giving 'obsessive compulsive cleaners' a try on 4od while the DCs have their screen time. Quite the wake up call - one featured home is not vastly worse than mine! :(

Must actually stick a wash on and afterwards I'm getting the DCs to help me with their bookcase. Otherwise the books will end up on the stairs for months!

Thanks for the playmobil idea Toffee - sadly we don't have an accessible attic, but I like the idea of storing them out of reach. We do have a lot of space in our wardrobe (it's a wall to wall sliding door thing, so the whole floor of it could house boxes of playmobil easily) - they ask to play with the different models fairly often, but at least then they'd be under our control most of the time!

We managed another family outing! We had a really long walk past the Long Man of Wilmington, then had a pub lunch. Am so excited that we actually did something so normal as a family. And have ticked the boxes for exercise, vitamin D and high-calorie food all in one go.

Having a glass of Pimms as a reward now .

Waves from holiday in Yorkshire. We had a great day out at York Maze today. And good news about the house from the agents - had a new higher offer!

Consequently had Aldi fake Pimms followed by

Glad you had a good day, Toffee

Sounds like a great day for the family Toffee, glad it's cheered you up.

DEM does your DS leave you in peace for a lie in? Or is that wishful thinking?!

Fuzz well done re book sorting. I really struggle to let go of books, and get quite twitchy about lending them people. I luffs a beautiful bookshelf!

We've had a lovely family day out as DS perked up a bit by mid morning. We went to a fabulous castle which had lots of medieval reenactments going on and some of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen.

Home now, DS fast asleep and dinner cooking. Night all.

It's a bit hit and miss grey sometimes he totally ignores me to lie in, other times he is in and out every 5 mins which defeats a lie in. Got to the bottom of last night. Very not impressed, and he might be learning that lesson the hard way.

Blue that is fabulous news

Toffee sounds like a good day.

I was given a SURPRISE PARTY yesterday evening. It really was a surprise even to my husband. We had both been invited out to supper with friends a deux or quatre, basically quiet supper. I was feeling tired dressed like bag lady and looking forward to a cosy evening. And bloody hell it was a big family surprise party for 20 people including old friends. I was not best pleased to put it mildly. this is when it hits me that I am curmudgeonly old bag as my cousin had gone to lots of trouble...but I just hate parties...Anyway had to pull myself together after a few minutes hiding in the loo and walking round block (really weird behaviour on my part) and in the end it was very nice.

Still - warning...never surprise shy people with birthday parties

Today I had MY desired format party, the one I organised with exactly 6 people. Bliss. Long country walk. Posh restaurant. 3 of guests had also been invited to surprise party so it was a bit odd really...felt vaguely cheated of my own plans but revived by being outside and seeing beautiful gardens.

Enough of birthdays.

Kids were babysat by my nephew so that was a nice change for them. Dd rang up from France to tell us she had dropped her camera with all the photos at the bottom of the lake - this may be an invention to fill the idle hours on the coach and she did seems suspiciously keen to chat to ds2 - back so soon and I still haven't tidied her room. It has been a busy but somehow rather frustrating week.

Grey Blue and Fuzzpig all sounds v encouraging..in different ways.
Toffee bravo.
DEM now is that the book that growls and bites your ankle?

Yep

Oh yikes Swan that would seriously freak me out! Surprises AND parties you are not curmudgeonly at all my dear. Not everyone enjoys the same stuff, and the people who arranged it, while obviously with good intentions, were perhaps a little silly in not really questioning if that was best for YOU.

I am pleased I managed a little today. As well as sorting lots of books I cleared a section of the big unit which some of our many games will be shelved on tomorrow (as I washed the shelf I want it to dry fully). AND I rehomed random bits and pieces when I saw them and thought 'that actually has a place now' rather than just leaving them for some non-existent future point. Ooh just remembered I was supposed to put a towel wash on. But yes, actually a reasonable day considering how ill I've been - hopefully I've managed to walk the fine line between too much and too little :)

ta da
ds up, dressed and breakfasted.
Ds collecting together the clothes he needs for his holiday

I have a small to do list before we head out today. but right now I am going to enjoy a cup of coffee. You know you have burnout when you are sleeping 10 hrs plus for a few nights and feel worse not better. All those nights of not sleeping are catching up with me.

Oh. Lost my post. Why does that happen?

Can't bear to write it all again, so will just say:

Blue - fab news!
Grey - family day out to a castle/beautiful garden sounds lovely.
Swan - a belated happy birthday - and well done on handling the surprise party so well (am going to one myself soon and happen to know the person who the party is for hates parties, let alone surprise ones ).
fuzz - well done on all you're achieving in spite of your illness.
DEM - and you too. I hope you get a chance to recuperate whilst DS is away.

Anyone know any good organisational apps for smartphones? And whether the Flylady app is worth having? Have just upgraded my old phone and am planning to get organised if I ever learn how to use the bloody thing, that is.

I have, for now, given up on the idea of a to do list. They always seem to result in me wanting to rebel so I end up feeling like a failure! I'm going to stick with 'think of any job and do it' as it seems to suit me at the moment.

I can't really afford to do that with food though, I really need to plan it all out today with DH helping. I've got a word document and everything...

Good luck with food planning, fuzz. I think I use your 'think of any job and do it' style all the time .

Have been to Asda and stocked up on loads of high-calorie food and cheap fruit/veg for the boys. It was about half the price of Ocado, which I can't justify using any more, much as I love it (First World problem, obviously).

DH has taken DS2 out to MIL's, so I'm now free to tackle the huge pile of ironing although I do seem to have inadvertently stumbled onto MN.

I'm MNing as DH does the ironing :o it does mean it's his choice of movie, though.

Food planning going pretty well thank you :) it does mean that I'll have to be very strict with myself in order to actually do all the cooking, but the payoff will be the rest of the month without needing very much effort to cook. I am quite nervous about using the slow cooker

Am I right in thinking some lovely Fledglings are in and around N Yorkshire? Going to need some recommendations for wet weather activities in the Pickering/York area at this rate!

Swan, glad you got the party you wanted in the end!

Just skimmed through, got back from camping a bit soggy this morning, but we had a good weekend. Stayed fairly local, about 10 miles away, but in a lovely rural basic campsite where they encourage campfires. Friday was a bit grim, we took ourselves off to the nearest big town for a day of lunch, cinema, shopping and pub then found the tent had leaked a bit when we got back, but the bedding was all fine and we managed to get all dried out yesterday, when the weather was glorious. Damp again today though, we have a house and shed full of laundry and bedmats, chairs etc airing.

Swan - I would have reacted in EXACTLY the same way as you to the party, glad you enjoyed it once the shock had worn off. We're off to the IOW in a couple of weeks.

Toffee - we did have a look at the place you told me about, it wasn't available for the dates we wanted it but have bookmarked it for future reference.

Fuzz - I pay £25 an hour for a qualified primary school teacher to tutor DD (DD does English, tutor can cover any part of primary curriculum). We are lucky to have a slot, she has a permanent waiting list and a lot of DD's class as pupils. Which makes me a bit cross really, as the school take all the credit for the improvement. But the main thing is that the children progress.

Thanks Who that's useful info :) glad you enjoyed camping!

Well I was resting and watching O.C.Cleaners but I think it's trying to tell me something as it keeps buffering! So I'm now going to get off my arse and put the shopping away and start cooking.