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.

Morning all. Had a fabulous time in Germany with DP. Met his dc's which was a little scary but went well I think. He is here this week at his new barracks and is going to be meeting my dc's on Wednesday. Gently gently does it but I think this is now a serious relationship and the time seems right.

Not a lot doing today. DS is at Pizza Hut for a party later on and I am going out for dinner with the oldest best friend which should be lovely.

blue I don't know exactly where you are staying and can't remember how old your dc's are although I think they are not too far off mine. There is loads to do in York. A couple of days could be spent there. National Railway Museum is good and free. Dig is a great little museum and the Castle Museum is good as well. Boat trip on the Ouse is always lovely as well. Near Pickering there is Eden Camp which is mostly inside and the little museum in Pickering is worth a couple of hours. The steam train in Pickering is also a lovely trip. It takes you to Whitby or you can get off at Goathland if the weather is nice. Hutton le Hole on the moor is beautiful and has a Folk Museum which is cool. See you went to York Maze, we love it there and go every year, they do a special one at Halloween which is awesome.

Have a lovely day everyone

Hello everyone,

WhoKnows glad you had a good break and the leaky tent didn't spoil it for you.

Ellie your trip sounded great, and fingers crossed for the meeting with your DC

Fuzz don't be scared of the slow cooker, it's a wonderful invention, especially if you get a timer switch too, then you can have a hot meal ready on time every single day. I love mine.

I've had a massive declutter of clothing. Mostly mine (even though I did a lot already back in May) but some of DHs as well. I am trying a blend of FlyLady and KonMarie and it's working rather well.

Big wing flaps to you all!!

Hello all.

I love York Blue it is such a beautiful place have a fantastic time.

I took the dc in to school today to start setting my classroom up. They were actually quite helpful. We are popping back in tomorrow morning for another couple of hours.

When we got back I sorted washing, dusted and hoovered. Then dp came home and cooked dinner. We are now all vegging. I do need to start decluttering this week though as their is 'stuff' accumulating everywhere.

I am beginning to think that to be able to parent you need degrees in Psychology, counselling, child development, SEN specialism (as relevant), and the patience of a saint who actually has no capacity for any emotion. I think my head is about to explode!

(((Dark))) I quite agree.

I am really coming round to this slow cooking Grey - my soup came out a bit bland but that's because I put too much potato compared to the amount of leek! And now there's a chili in there. It smells utterly beautiful. I've never cooked a proper chili before so I'm really excited and frankly ravenous :o

Didn't manage any tidying today but I got loads of food done for the freezer (tomato sauce, soup, lamb burgers/meatballs, marinated chicken, and now chili) so I'm not feeling bad on that front. Parents coming up tomorrow so trying to clear my head enough to figure out what the plan is. My parents are the only people I know who procrastinate as much as/more than I do... so this could be a real challenge! But I'm very grateful of course that they've agreed to give me a hand.

Thanks Ellie. We went into York this afternoon to see some friends and went to Jorvik as well as splashing around the streets. Hoping to go to Whitby by steam train, maybe Wednesday if it stops raining... It's tomorrow I'm dubious about. DS2 wants to go to Playdale farm, but it's all the way over to Scarborough... might go swimming and find soft play hell!

I have decided this is the cure. The research sucks the happiness out of you like a dementor.

Playdale Farm is fabulous blue. My two love it and it is really reasonable price wise.

Whoknows well done for surviving the camping before the rain set in, friend has just texted from Cornwall to say her tent pole has broken in two and the camping kitchen has blown away.. I must say I am feeling very smug that dd had her lovely hot campsite in France without any effort on my part, and now we can all be cosy in the rain together

Ellie if anyone would be good with other people's dcs it would be you, hurrah for being a teacher at this moment! I'm glad it is all going well with dp.

we've spent today tidying up after incredible lazy day yesterday, and dh managed to tidy up ds1's room with him, but only by dint of throwing away all year 7 and year 8 school stuff. Visitors today, and a lot of trying to persuade ds2 to take plane on wed. He has pointblank refused so I am having to do a complicated plan of returning to London next week and then take him on the ferry..honestly..I am a sucker. dh will look after him and ds2 promised he would go go a sportscamp in the meantime so I suppose it will work out AND means I only have to look after two children for the first week away (3 weeks booked away in Eire) still..why does everything have to be triple complicated? Dh says it will be nice to see me mid break so there may be advantages to new plan.

Fuzzpig slow cooker plans sound wonderful. I have cooked nothing today I think dh fried some chicken and boiled some peas but otherwise...meals have taken back seat. we had a lot of sausage rolls and leftover cake.

Oh DEM those are so cool... are they available somewhere?! My DSD (and my 47yo DH, if I'm honest) would love that kind of thing - there's only so many Every Flavour Beans and Chocolate Frogs one can buy a Potter fan :o

Dementors are an excellent analogy. I like analogies for explaining things to people who don't have the physical/mental health conditions I do. Sometimes I do get weird looks (but then my social skills aren't exactly top notch...) but often (like when explaining Spoon Theory - genius that one is) I do get understanding. For example I used to really struggle at work on busy days due to social phobia - I described the feeling of going out through the security door into a busy foyer as feeling like opening the oven door and feeling the heat rush into your face. And the feeling I get when I get a wave of body pain is like when Wolverine is in that tank and gets the adamantium injected into his entire skeleton. Vivid, eh? :o

In other news I'm a bit sad today as DD needs a filling :( and it's in an adult tooth, DH thinks :( I feel so guilty, but the dentist is certain that it's only happened because some of her teeth came through without enamel (which is something we could not have helped or foreseen) - she has to have funny stuff painted on her teeth. She is phobic of the dentist so I am absolutely dreading the ramifications of a filling :(

Anyway. On a more positive note I damn well deserve a ta da list today:
Got up and dressed early to receive Tesco delivery
Put most of it away over the day (normally all non-chilled/frozen is unceremoniously left on the floor for DH to do)
Cooked/froze leek soup, chili con carne and tomato veggie sauce
Made/froze lamb and feta burgers/meatballs and Chinese marinated chicken
Tracked everything I ate as I'm determined to curb my weight gain and get fitter
Started my Graded Exercise Therapy and discussed plan with DH
Washed bras and hung them out
Helped DH with bath/bed for DCs
Put a wash on

Should be sleeping but I'm watching 4od instead

Most days I don't cook anything Swan! This is a huge change for me, I'm hoping that I only need a couple of days' hard graft to set us up reasonably well for the month. Here's hoping I can continue tomorrow.

I'm feeling a little 'use some energy to gain more energy' today - tired, yes, but invigorated from having achieved something.

If you want I can email you the files for printing some out to make them yourself. Or you can waste time on pinterest which is where I found them in the first place. Free downloads, it is utterly amazing what you can find. just not the fecking infographic that explains rigid thinking vs flexible thinking that I have lost

Strike that found the link scroll down and there are different sizes of labels

Cool! Thank you :o

I've been toying with the idea of reactivating my Pinterest account now that I can make use of the lovely home ed activity ideas... but I may just leave that as a reward for some mythical time in the future when my house is tidy...

sounds like a sensible plan!

I am currently doing pitched battle with anti-virus and windows 8. I am getting progressively more pissed off with something that turns itself off an won't run when it is supposed to, and the joy that is microsoft who thinks they know best. Not yet got to the point of swearing. Yet...

Now I am at the point of swearing

Hi everyone,

Fuzz, I am also a fan of analogy, I think it demonstrates creative thinking/flexibility of thought and adaptive communication.

DEM did your computer woes get sorted last night this morning ?

Swan those various travel plans sound stressful. But hope the end result is lovely.

I have realised that DS is down to his last three nappies this morning, so we're off to do the weekly shop after breakfast.

It did eventually, but was up til 7am. Have slept but an alarm as I need an early night tonight but feel utterly shocking. Twisting my knee has not helped. Trying to find the motivation to do the flying stuff that needs to be done today. I am not winning that battle atm. One more cup of coffee might help.

Swan hope you have a lovely trip

Hope your day has been ok Grey

Hope you aren't suffering for the busy day yesterday Fuzzpig

I made the mistake of standing on a set of scales today :( explains a bit why i have been feeling rubbish. I know what i need to do, and I can do it but I just have to focus and actually do it. It is in my best interests in the long run. Just lack motivation and will power

I've just joined a lovely weight loss thread, DEM (the one called 'officially my heaviest...') - really feel similar to the way about the house. The time for excuses is done. I have spent too long saying I can't do this because I'm ill, that there's no point in even trying - but while it certainly makes it harder, I really can't afford to ignore it altogether anymore. I had a treadmill test the other week and it was horrifying how difficult I found it.

I'm feeling a little achy tonight, more from today than yesterday I'd say as the cleaning I did was hard work. Mum and Dad did help quite a bit. We completely emptied and cleaned 2 kitchen cupboards, a drawer and the tops of both fridges and mum did a lot of sorting of mixed up bits and pieces in the living room too. A few binbags left the house.

And here's the most amazing thing - mum said she wants to come back and help again at the weekend! Dad didn't look too pleased. :o So I want to carry on to really make it worthwhile and make a bit of progress between now and Saturday. Although tomorrow's plan (I've now got the rest of the week off, but tomorrow's playscheme childcare can't be cancelled so making the most of it - I'm really looking forward to having a day of peace and quiet) is mainly to do the rest of the bulk cooking as I didn't have time today. In between copious rests as I really need it.

Evening all,

Just about finished getting all the camping stuff dry and put away now, it has been a real slog this time. We had to put the tent up again tonight and it was soaked, had it up for a couple of hours and DD and her friend had a great time playing hide and seek round it (it's big with several compartments) but still don't think it's 100% dry, so we've bunged it in the shed till the weekend.

Had a day at home with just DS today, which was lovely (DD was at music camp), I was supposed to be working, but what I was doing was so deathly dull I spent more time on MN. DS went back to the GP to have his collarbone checked and she was really pleased with his progress, he has regained most of the movement of his arm in the last few days. Still needs to take it easy for a few more weeks though.

Fuzz - that sounds like a really productive session with your mum, well done.

another quite pleasant day here, doing nothing in particular
dh sorted the new house out and put down an old rug - it is beginning to remind me of the Secret Seven's Club House... (I have a suspicion it will be me and dh in there hiding from the kids)

ds2 needs to go out however and we have failed to achieve this vital link in the chain of wellbeing.. as a result he has been rather tiresome and loud. No sports camps around for his age unfortunately, but there is some tennis session tomorrow I might try and take him to. I don't think dd has taken her pjs off for two days now, since her action packed return from sailing etc.

More Child Genius this evening. Gosh their learning seems pointless.

Spent most of today reading a lovely book about gardening (letters between Christopher Lloyd and Beth Chatto) which someone had given me for my birthday. Lots about cooking and preserving in there too. Pot Pourri tips no less. abandons ideas of bath bombs and collects rose petals and boils up rosehips

Off to Eire tomorrow. Trying as usual not to think about it. I did do an enormous supermarket shop by car to buy dh his umpteen tins of tomatoes and dw powder as a nod to preparation though. And I've hung out a lot of old washing so he doesn't have to do it. And bought some cheese strings for ds2.

Morning all

Have caught up on some of the thread but promptly forgot half of it dyspraxia brain moment.
Glad people ? Whoknows had a good if damp holiday.
swan trouble getting DD and Ds out here too.
fuzz well done on the mass sort out clean up.
Morning to everyone else.

To do

Washing on
Continue packing for holiday normaly it's the day before in a mass panic!
Drag kids into town. If fail however DH srts his holiday tomorrow so can drive in.
Hoover - place is a pit don't want to go on holiday with it this bad.
Try to fight this sore throat which I've had since Saturday.

Have a good day of fun and FLYing.

Thanks folks. :o at the Secret Seven Clubhouse! I always wanted one of those and my very own island with a ruined castle and secret passages :o

Right. I'm having a rest for a while since getting out bright and early to get the DCs to childcare - it's a 4 bus round trip. Then I must crack on. Lots I want to do (typing which I'm getting paid for, decluttering, cooking...) but will schedule in rests too.

Shannara when I get a sore throat I eat lots of crisps and then have hot apple juice or squash with honey. Also at night I gargle dilute corsodyl. Hope you feel better in time for your holiday!

Morning all. Little bit like shannara have read through but my brain is on holiday and all I can remember is that fuzz is completely making loads of awesome progress, swan is off on her annual sojourn to Eire and that whoknows had lots of washing.

Busy day today. Lots of flying to be done. As most of you know am currently living with dmum post separation (was supposed to be a couple of months but is now 15 months in because ex isbeing an arse about money). New DP is coming over tonight to meet dc's and mother and she will not rest unless house is spotless. In itself, DP meeting dc's is a little scary. I have no idea what I am doing and all the posts on here re stepchildren scare me witless but i figure no-one posts when it goes well. Just a quick coffee meet and greet before he takes me out for dinner and dc's are excited so fingers crossed.

Better get on!