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.

[DarkEvilMoon]

Morning.

I suppose as we need to leave in 10 mins I should go pour ds out of bed. Poor kid is knackered.

[droitwichmummy]

Morning! Thanks for the welcome everyone. I spent yesterday pottering about enjoying my last day before going back to work . I've been off for 6 weeks so this morning was a shock to the system.
No list today as I anticipate being exhausted by the time I get home and I am out tonight at our local little theatre to see my niece in Half a Sixpence
I have given instructions to DH to hang washing out and load the dishwasher though so I am flying delegation!
Have a great day

[droitwichmummy]

No idea how I posted that twice!

[DarkEvilMoon]

Mn has had a few problems with double posting and all sorts atm. I even have a thread about it in site stuff. Blame it on mn technical problems DWMummy

[Steadycampaign]

Morning!

Hope your cat is none the worse today for his 'escapade' Toffee!!

Glad you are feeling a bit better Shannara!

Hope return to work not too onerous Droitwich

and ds gets through today ok DEM

Enjoy your weekend away Ellie!

Big wing flaps to Blue Zapp Swan Whoknows Engels Castle Honu Feetheart Pushme Mercury and everyone else I've inevitably missed

DD delivered to last morning of art workshop, dog to vet's (to have teeth operation and possibly be castrated too depending on how complicated the teeth op is) and report from primary school in which end-of-term marks have been averaged out over year) delivered to dd's new secondary school (which we forgot yesterday when taking in exam certificates).

Have managed to clear up ground floor over the past two days (despite dd declaring herself "bored" every afternoon and needing lots of diverting activities other than Star Stable) and sorted all ex-school carrier bags of doom and sprouting things [ergh].

Have gone through all my sewing and haberdashery materials (which are legion!) and cleaned and tidied and sorted them all out in to orderly categories (instead of being a terrible tangle of zips, ribbons, petersham, bias binding, buttons, pins and elastic etc etc). DD said she quite missed the old tangle though and saved a bit of it in a small plastic bag I do hope this doesn't mean she is picking up my hoardeing tendencies!! (Oh dear, I can't spell in English any more, how do you spell hoarding? Hordeing? Hoardeing!! Will look up in dictionary!!)

Only two more ex-school boxes to go and a small shoe-box of art materials to sort and we are through the worst.

Have also (finally) sorted out a huge stack of free sewing tutorials I have printed out from the Internet and kept and filed the ones I use often and chucked the ones I don't.

Have also washed and ironed all ballet kit for traditioanl annual week-long dance workshop next week.

And am taking advantage of this sunny weather to wash yet more winter woollies, throws, blankets, sofa covers etc etc.

Next have to start sorting dd's list of books for secondary school and the humungous list of materials and start acquiring/ordering bits of uniform for Sept + a new swim bag. (In a fit of enthusiasm dd has already chosen her new school bag.)

And buy her a few more t-shirts for the summer (she is growing so fast atm)

Once those things are done I can start focusing on imminent travel and getting house straight for rabbit sitters. (Dog is going on holiday to lovely pet-sitter's home.)

In the meantime, need to do a healthy shop and keep up with the 'diet' recipes for dh and myself and 'fattening up' recipes for dd!

Sorry for the usual boring verbiage!!! Can you tell I am trying to distract myself from dog's op this morning? [Chews knuckles]

Have a good day everyone!

[Steadycampaign]

OK so it is H O A R D I N G

C19: from C15 hoard fence, from Old French hourd palisade, of Germanic origin, related to Gothic haurds, Old Norse hurth door

[bet you always wanted to know that ]

[DarkEvilMoon]

It is all madness.

ta da
Fix ds' shorts
remove inprogress sorting stuff from lounge
empty cupboard from under stairs into lounge - it is tidy but access is needed so it has to happen
1st load of washing is on.
sort out chart for scheduling August into
Buy coke and drink yes i know it is work of the devil but full sugar is better than diet and I need the caffeine

Having now drunk nearly 2 pints, I am able to just plod on and get going. Decided also to half the dose tonight of the new pain meds. They are a little too effective

[Steadycampaign]

Didn't mean to be that scary DEM honest!

[SC rocks slowly in dark corner]

[DarkEvilMoon]

i think we need cake

[ToffeeWhirl]

DS1 wobbling about school again . Absolutely refused to go in this morning, in spite of the fact that it's his last day of term and he was having all his favourite lessons. Eventually managed to persuade him to go in for a shorter day, so at least we are ending on a (sort of) positive note. Am not sure if it's more tiring having him at home or trying to send him to school .

Made buttermilk pancakes for DS2. Washed up. Put washing on. Checked no cats on roof .

Now going to do some home ed stuff in the garden with DS2. Lovely sunshine again today.

[DarkEvilMoon]

Sorry you had another difficult morning toffee

also ta da
2nd load washing
important phone call
schedule august
print up chart of where and when for ds
hunt out paperwork for hobby
upset printer printing what is needed
Sort out dividers for ds' mini folder

Time for lunch I think.

[ToffeeWhirl]

Thanks, DEM. It ended well, as DS1 had a good morning at school and really enjoyed his lessons again. Then his teacher gave him a lovely card and present before he left, so he had the positive ending that I wanted him to experience. But it could so nearly have gone the other way.

Have cooked lunch for both boys and DH is now making ice cream with DS2. Should do some paperwork now .

[Dogsbumhair]

Just popping in to say hi, getting on a computer has felt near impossible due to never having two free hands for the last month but Wed evening we got a lesson in using a sling with Meerkitten and so I now have Meerkitten snoozing on my chest in a sling and I finally have two hands free to post!

Feels very freeing having my hands back, although I still think I need to practice a bit before the sling becomes second nature, definitely think it's going to be very useful though and DP is very up for using it too. In fact I think he's going to be fighting to be the one using it once he gets the hang of it, he definitely looked jealous when he got in from work yesterday and I was doing the washing up with Meerkitten snoozing in the sling. I think he's also excited about how much easier the sling will make it for us to pop out for a meal, etc.

Meerkitten is putting on weight nicely now but she did struggle initially and we got to the point where the midwife gave us 48 hours to get her weight to start going up or we would have to go back into hospital, which we really didn't want. So we were put on a rather punishing regime of waking her 3 hourly for feeds which involved breast feeding, then DP feeding her expressed breast milk from previous pumping session whilst I had to pump again for next feed and then top up with formula if we ran out of expressed milk and she would take any more milk.

As you can imagine that doesn't really allow any time for sleep so it has been exhausting. There were a few times when I was breast pumping literally trying to not to fall asleep on to the table in front of me.

Anyway, when she was weighed last Monday she was up to 6lb 3oz so we were thrilled for her to be over 6lb, although we already knew she was putting on weight as she had developed a lovely tubby little belly (after a feed at least) and chubby cheeks, we're just waiting for the weight to spread to her little stick arms and legs, bless her! She will be weighed again on Monday and then hopefully we'll be allowed less frequent weigh ins.

Anyway, we're still knackered but I do now feel like there are small gaps in between feeds, even though we are still on the 3 hourly schedule and I definitely don't feel like it's all totally out of control and that I'm constantly running to catch up like I did constantly for the first few weeks.

Needless to say there isn't any official flying going on and things are a bit chaotic but what can you do?! I still can't believe the quantity of stuff that such a small person can need and I also can't believe the level of laundry, it's ridiculous!

I'm still finding my way with the breast feeding and I'm knackered but we are both really enjoying her. DP is besotted with her, which is really sweet to see, he's been having to work but mostly from home and found he really missed her when he had to go into the office yesterday so I think he'll find it tough when he is properly back in the office. He's supposed to have another two weeks paternity but due to the absence of other staff members he's really struggling to take the time.

Anyway, I will try and attach a couple more photos and then sign off as it's about time for another feed. Maybe now I've got my arms back I might be able to check in a little more often! Fingers crossed!

[ToffeeWhirl]

Lovely to hear your update, Dogs. Huge sympathies on the feeding and sleep issues - it sounds exhausting - but well done on getting your DD's weight up. Love the photos - she looks such a sweet little thing.

Didn't get any paperwork done as I fell asleep. Several nights of sitting up with DS1 finally got to me.

Can't add anymore as my rather large baby (DS2, 9) is pestering me for the computer and DH has mentioned Pimms .

[Steadycampaign]

Oh Dogsbum she is so lovely!!! What beautiful photos. And well done re: the weight gain - although the 3 hrly feeds sound absolutely knackering - as does all the attendant stress - happy to hear that Flying is taking a back seat! Here's hoping that the sling will give you a bit more freedom! Look after yourself and take it steady (well, as much as humanly poss in circs) xxxxx

Great that your ds1's morning ended better than it started Toffee - his teacher sounds lovely too! Hats off to him for going in when he was so anxious/tired.

Well done re: the paperwork DEM!

Well dog is back and op went well His teeth were in such a poor condition that vetspent all the time on that and didn't castrate him. He now has a glowing smile

About to give him a little food (tentatively). Vet says he might puke. On standby with special animal odour pet spray and clumping cat litter and old towels. (This is the bit of dog-ownership I'm not good at, but needs must.)

[DarkEvilMoon]

Congrats on surviving and here's to meerkitten putting on more weight!

I am about to go fetch the laminator and laminate stuff...

[BlueEyeshadow]

Ah, glad to hear you're getting through, Dogs. I remember those anxieties only too well, but DS1 is thoroughly bright, active and thriving these days. :)

[AliceAnneB]

Marking my place

[MercuryRising]

Hi all.
Survived the data deadline - woohoo!
I went and had my eyebrows waxed, caught up with an old friend and did a big pile of ironing this evening - pretty productive I think!
Glad your DS had a good end to term Toffee and that your dog now has a beautiful smile SC
All the lovely talk of meerkitten made me smile. It is nice to hear all of this positivity

[DarkEvilMoon]

Place marking is frowned on, pfft no mess Join in the chatter. do introduce yourself/ask questions. We don't bite well the others don't, it's just me and the dragon you need to worry about



Well done mercury!

[Steadycampaign]

Morning!

Still not cured of my laminator envy DEM [pats and chucks a few custard creams in his direction]

Well done re deadline Mercury and (just as, if not more, important) squeezing in some time for yourself

A warm welcome to AliceAnneB!

Furry one seems back to full health this morning. Probably a bit over the top but dh and I took turns to get out of bed throughout the night and go and sleep alongside him on a camp bed. Furry one was oblivious throughout

In consequence we've had a bit of a slow start to the day ...

I am packing up parcels for the post and doing hand washing [hate hand washing, it's such a waste of time, but supposed 'hand washing' programme in wm puts holes in my clothes]

Waves to Blue and everyone else

[DarkEvilMoon]

ds went to bed at 2am, I was woken by a huge thunder storm at some point in the night at this morning arrived with yelling and screaming at 8am. [exhausted]

ta da
calm ds down
put on washing I thought had washed yesterday but hadn't as there was still powder and softener in the drawer and the clothes were dry
put bread dough in bread machine
set ds to tidy his room

It is going to be a long day

[MercuryRising]

We have had a productive morning:

Ta da
Meal plan
Food shop
Washing up
Bedding stripped and washed
Dogs blankets washed
Downstairs dusted and hoovered
Dog walked

Dp has had to pull up the floorboards in dcs room as we have a leak. We think we have found the cause - fingers crossed.

The plan this afternoon is:
depoo the garden
More washing
Clean out the car
Cook a lasagna to freeze
Clean the bathroom

[MercuryRising]

DEM fingers crossed your ds feels a bit calmer soon.

[BlueEyeshadow]

We had a massive storm last night too, seemed to go on for hours. It's been gorgeous here today though and we were out at the fun fair a lot of the time and then home for a BBQ. Next door are having a very noisy party so I hope it won't be going on too late.

Currently sitting outside because it's cooler than indoors.