August Birthdays and the Fledglings are a nattering

[DarkEvilMoon]

Ok so here is the August thread.

Another chat thread.

Going to be completely half arsed with this.

launch pad from here is all the linky poos which few of us look at anyway
But we are following Fly lady principles. sort of 15 mins decluttering, babysteps and all that.

Oh we are a long running thread, we may seem clicky but we have been around the wrong side of half a decade. We do welcome newbies, and some of the flock joined us only recently.

If you have any questions on the fly lady system do ask and we will try to answer them. Hopefully back to normal service and regular linkies in September after the hols.

So nerh...

Just flapping by, we're away for a few days and this is the first time 3G has kicked in on my phone. Feeling lovely and relaxed possibly due to Pimms consumption

Toffee, one of our cats made herself ill licking the other's flea treatment once, we try and do it when they are active in the middle of the day now instead of the evening when they like to snuggle up.

Fuzz, sorry to hear about work, it must be hard balancing it with HE and looking after yourself, amazing that HE has been so beneficial for your DS.

Welcome to the thread Fish.

WhoKnows - we get the cats done in the morning, but they still like to groom each other. We seem to have got through the day without too much wailing though. What a worry that your cat made him/herself ill.

I have just had a couple of glasses of Pimms too .

ta da

Washing up
Tidied kitchen
Cleaned out litter trays
Fed cats
Quick nap whilst DH watched telly with DS2
Dinner
Phoned MIL
Phoned Mum
Pimms time
Evening stroll with DS2
'Good Wife'

Evening. Yowling cats made me smile. Ours are very cute with each other at the moment, very together and snuggly.

We've had a lovely family day at the beach. Managed to get everything washed and on the line, dinner cooked, gym done and hoovered through. The joysof everyone pitching in!

Need to sort out new shoe labels tomorrow and hoping neighbours want a bag of old clothes... Desperate to reclaim my hallway!!

Sounds like a lovely family day out, three .

You have reminded me about shoe labels. Thank you .

Cats have finally stopped yowling. They are back together now, so a bit happier.

Have set my computer to switch off at 11.30 now, so that I don't stay up till silly hours surfing. That gives me 15 minutes now to browse on the active threads .

Morning everyone,

My sanity has been restored by the fortnightly cleaning lady, I luffs her soooooo much.

I'm not sure if I will get kicked out of the thread for this, but I am dabbling in the Marie Kondo method. I am finding it really helpful for clothes. Haven't got any further at the moment, but I'm already thinking that KonMari for declutter and then FlyLady for maintenance. Especially as KonMari is more about tidying, and doesn't really talk about cleaning/housework.

The Grey-family has discovered geocaching; does anyone here partake? I was thinking how much fun it would be for the home-edders in particular.

Grey - yes, we had quite a lot of chat about how Kondo and Flying complement each other about a year ago, I have dabbled with Kondo but not for clothes. Also, yes to Geocaching, we dabble, the DCs are only moderately interested though, it is mainly me that does it.

Grey I love the Marie Kondo book! The only reason I haven't managed to carry it out properly is because my health doesn't really allow for a massive, intense, quick declutter. But I certainly do apply her rules about choosing what to keep/ditch. :)

We have tried a little geocaching, yes - unfortunately we don't have the GPS thingy working on our phones though so can't do it at the moment, which is a shame, as it's right up our street!

In other news, I worked out that now we have childcare sorted properly for the new term I will only have a maximum of £110 a month after it's paid for. Ouch. Thankfully we have £400 in unused childcare vouchers to get through first. TBH I've got to the point where work is exhausting me so much (generally it honestly is work, not the home ed - despite what my manager thinks - that puts a massive strain on me physically and mentally; it's a physical job in a busy environment which exacerbates my anxiety) that while I'm certainly not going to quit, I've gone a bit 'meh - whatever happens, happens' about it :( I still feel sad though. I nearly got to the point of losing my job a couple of years ago through medical retirement, but got around it by adding in some reasonable adjustments and reducing my hours to the bare minimum - but there's nowhere else to go with it now. ARGH (sorry for ranting yet again, didn't mean to turn the thread into Groundhog Day! )

DH is applying for more jobs, I even asked him if he'd be happy supporting us fully again if it came down to it, and he looked at me like I had 3 heads and said 'obviously' :) he's so stressed in his job, I really hope he gets something else soon.

We are all settling down to the new stricter routine. It is taking some adjustment and a few tears and tempers. It is really going to be a huge improvement when fully implemented though. Ds has even said he wants to try fish and more veg he is not a fan of fish or lots of veg

Tidy and flying are taking a bit of a back burner to therapy work and family fun.

Hellooooo! Can I come back in?

The hell that was my dissertation is finished! Good grief, it nearly killed me, and every time I thought I only had an hour or two's work to do to finish it, it would turn into another 4 days of agony! It's not handed in yet - haven't had time to do that, but my deadline isn't till 27/8 so I should be OK.

I've been reading the Kondo book and am itching to get to it - I think they will work together very nicely. Just haven't had time yet. I'm away for a week from tomorrow and it's going to be bliss. Get this - I am delivering DD2 to a music camp for the week and then going to spend the rest of the week on my own in a pretty little self-catering log cabin! I have been so over-stressed that I just can't wait to get some real, genuine down-time and remember who I am again!

Wow well done Bless! And that trip sounds like the ideal reward for finishing it :)

I have done bugger all today other than put a wash on, think I've burned out now...

Bless that is fantastic, well done. A well deserved break too, hope you have a wonderful time :)

I feel like Alice - running as fast as I can just to stay still! I had hoped I would get my act together once the summer holidays had started but it seems not . However if I can only manage to stick to the routines life is bearable. I have not managed nearly as much Kondoing as this house needs and I had hoped to do,

Like Toffee I have recently acquired my first smartphone (android) and been learning how to use it. I went looking for the oft-mentioned Home Routines app and couldn't find it, but did find Fly Helper which seems good so far, and very familiar! Also Out of Milk stops me aimlessly wandering up Tesco's aisles. And I have made my first ever journey to a place I didn't know using its satnav and Skyped my granddaughter.

But I haven't yet put my sim in it and used it for any telephone calls!

I haven't yet put my sim in it and used it for any telephone calls!

Honu - Neither have I! Love the apps, but am still very much attached to my old phone.

Good to see you back. Wish you could come and give my DS2 some Maths lessons. We booked him a student tutor who has since gone AWOL (maybe it was the stress of trying to teach such a reluctant student). So it's back to me trying to teach him, with DH taking his turn too (as my patience with DS's reluctance to try any calculations at all is now running out).

Ah well, he's back at school in Sept, so it'll be their problem then .

Ta da
Batch cooking 1 - done and cooling to go in freezer
Batch cooking 2 - doing second rise
Batch cooking 3 - in pot simmering to finish off
Bread dough in bread machine
Check all sizes of ds' uniform and make list of needed stuff
folding
check contents of freezer
Sort a pile of paperwork.

To do
Nip up to local big supermarket
write shopping list for huge supermarket in next city for wed
check wed babysitter still ok
Make cake
finish of Batch 2, batch 3 and bread
get clothes put away
hoover lounge
get ds to do physio!
Yet more paperwork

Happy Sunday everyone. We have had a lovely weekend - long day at the beach yesterday followed by a lazy day today tidying, sorting and generally re-organising our lives!

We geocache on and off - were going to go today but washing and cleaning took over! Kids love it - DS2 is particularly good at spotting suitable cache areas!

We have:
mowed lawn
sorted the garden
done 7 loads of washing
hoovered
cleaned lounge
cleaned kitchen
cleaned utility and reorganised all the cupboards took much longer than anticipated!

Totally bored with cleaning now so off to the cinema as a treat for the DCs helping with the epic clean!!

Bless - congratulations on finishing your dissertation and enjoy your down time.

DEM and three - goodness, you've both been very busy! (How on earth can you manage seven loads of washing in one day, three? ).

DH took DS2 out for several hours today and I blitzed the house. Did the first proper clean up I've done since the start of the holidays . It all looks a lot better now.

There is currently too much fucking dust in the air and it hurts to breathe :( This is the joys of having tiling, wall demolishing, and wall paper stripping going on. We have yet the joys of wood sanding for all the door frames and skirting boards. Before carpet ripping up and painting going on. It is just a non stop hellish cycle of dust between now and November.

But as it is making us all sick the plan for today is:
Therapy work with a poorly ds
hoover as much possible carpet as possible
hoover dinning room, kitchen and bathroom
Bleach shower
put a load of normal washing on
wash a sofa throw
hoover down cupboards, walls and door frames
wash carpets
sink into a hot bath tub and recover from the exertion and sore muscles complaining at me.

This is a list I hate, this is a list that is going to do no favours in the short term. Hopefully tomo my lungs will feel better and ds will be suffering less from the dust.

Sounds very stressful DEM :( I hope it will feel worth it when the work is finished?

DH blitzed the bedroom yesterday so we are gradually making progress although the living room is a tip again!

Sounds awful, DEM. Not what you need in the holidays.

We have unexpected building works going on opposite us (not as bad as in our house, like you, DEM). It is waking us up first thing every morning and the noise is horrendous. The builders look straight into our bedroom window and sitting room, so we are having to keep the blinds half down. I'm really stressed and angry about it. It would have been nice if the owner, who we see regularly, had just let us know about it, so we could have made plans to go out or away this week .

I think I am slightly high on bleach fumes

ta da
therapy work with ds
cover shower in bleach/bicarb paste (and i literally mean cover. Floor to ceiling tiles, grout and tray)
Dodge rain showers opening and closing windows.
Throw sofa cover in wash
Stick cleaner in loo i will have a bathroom that sparkles later

Just had lunch. next few jobs are fairly easy in comparison. Shower will stand until around 8pm tonight to allow it to do its thing About to shove some towels in washing machine

Just seen this on FB, for some reason I thought of you DEM

Grumpy Fuckers Coffee Shop

I think that sums it up nicely Whoknows can we train the slam the door out of ds hitting the ceiling as you wake up does not improve one's mood first thing

We have horizontal rain. I refuse to shut the bathroom window so will be clearing up a flood in there later. It is torrential

Stick cleaner in loo - your poor cleaner, DEM .

Just back from doing the weekly shop. A bit quieter here now. Phew.

Afternoon ladies, do you mind if I join you? My house suffers from CHAOS for the last few years and it's about time I did something about it. I work full time but instead of sitting on my considerable behind stuffing my face while watching telly in the evening I reckon I could spend some of those minutes/hours putting some order on my house.

So am going to jump straight in if that's ok. Tonight I am going to empty my sink of dishes and then shine my sink. I also plan on giving the kitchen floor a thorough cleaning.

Welcome obrigada

If I had a cleaner toffee they would have had a nervous breakdown over the state of this house already. I am spring cleaning in the middle of building work. Imo this is surely the definition of madness!!!!

Also ta da
wash down kitchen window sil and ornaments
Take out recycling and put containers to soak
wash kitchen floor
hoover lounge, dining room floor which is accessible
put pots to soak.
wash towels
put on a load of dark washing

And next step is to clear tools and wood from hall/landing/stairs and hoover this before plugging in the vax and washing the carpet. But might just walk through with a cloth and do the tops of doors.... AFTER I put cake in the oven!