September 2015 fledglings shine their sink and their lace up shoes and prepare for the new academic year ahead

[standclear]

Welcome to the September 2015 Fledgling Flying thread! Hang up your microfibre cloths and park your buckets here!!

[Sorry - I've namechanged again - but remain SC]

This is where from the 1st of the month, we attempt to declutter and follow the 30-step wisdom of Flylady (minus cutesy language and a surfeit of e-mails) with lots of chat and support and mutual motivation (and of course) along the way. (More info available here and here ) and here.

Humungous thanks to our previous thread leaders (nns relating to a planet and to a colour) for guiding us through the summer and keeping us sane throughout the holidays!

As usual we will be following a three-pronged approach - and don't worry - we are all at different stages. Some of us (SC stares at feet) -are stuck at the decluttering stage after an embarrassingly long number of years :

• repeat or start baby steps (again!)

• repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

or

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.

And those of you who have decluttered and are really enthusiastic can throw some detailed cleaning in to the mix as well!

This is a very long-running thread so we may appear cliquey but we really aren't! All newcomers, long-termers, lurkers and intermittent returnees not only welcome to join in but positively encouraged to do so!

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Good luck!

sorry - e acute came out as question mark there

Good luck with the washing Fuzzpig and hope aches and pains diminish as day goes on and you can enjoy your parents' visit

Combined dog walking with school run this morning and had a bit of a 'tear in the eye' moment when saw dd meet up with lovely blonde girl her age outside gates and they casually gave one another a kiss on each cheek (as they do here) and proceeded indoors. Don't know why it affected me like that but felt happy and sad at same time!

I know it's early days but was really really worried about dd starting secondary and everything seems to be going fairly well so far. It's such a huge transition from being biggest in small pond (where you know everyone and everyone knows you) to smallest minnow in large sea.

Some of you may know she had some stress/anxiety issues when she was about 9 yrs, and she had to see an ed psych. But after that things gradually improved and she got more and more confident and happy until she was really thriving in last year and withstood exam pressure really well. Just hoping that things won't get too much for her again but all seems ok so far!! (But apparently it's a couple of months in when things start to get tough.) Fingers crossed ... .

Went volunteering after that (don't usually go this many times during the week, but space had been used by others over summer and it was in a dreadful state, so me and my fellow crones have had a huge clean up). Now is all ship shape.

Didn't have time to do morning routine this morning (save for animals) and have come home to a veritable pit of a house and going out tonight. So before then need to:

To do:
dw and wm
s&s
big general tidy up
make tuna burgers and leave in fridge for tonight
make gammon and split pea soup for weekend
final check of pointe shoes
at least 30 mins in boudoir
sort laundry and do more

That should be enough to get me going again anyway!

Encouraging wing flaps to all!

Thanks SC. Failed to be assertive with the solicitor because I'm getting so confused about what's actually going on. Nothing makes any sense. Maybe partly to do with muzzy-headedness.

We ordered this cookbook for DS2 in the end. It looks like he should be able to grow into it, even if he starts with the baking section!

And no, on checking Larousse, it doesn't give any inkling of that sense of "sanctuary". So perhaps it is a difference more in ways of looking at things than of vocabulary.

no letter from school yet, darn our postal service. We received no post today at all apart from one parcel. Not even junk mail which is decidedly odd..

Ds2 did home ed football and stayed afterwards to finish filming some scenes from a film some of the children are making (not a football film) Ds2 got very agitated because he could see his tiny scene ending up not being filmed, (they did film it in the end) as they were running out of time, but luckily managed to control his emotions till we were safely in the car. It is hard for me to see how angry he gets when things don't go his way but at least he had the grace this time not to rant at the group he was with, which is progress I explained that it wasn't his film and the "director" (13 year old) had the right to decide how the film needed to go as it was his idea in the first place. Still, all a bit stressful wondering whether ds2 was going to explode and make himself unpopular (the other actors were being very patient)

Last night went well, but today I'm tired.

SC I so agree that the evening is very very full..even if it is just worrying that one should be doing more..Your dd sounds as if she is [sniff] growing up..into that new version of herself that teenagerdom brings...and one is constantly amazed how they have this secret life. Haven't put that well, I mean it is partly their relationships with friends and partly a sort of poise.

sanctuary who could forget Michael York in Logan's Run seeking sanctuary. I am surprised that the French didn't have the same medieval interpretation of sanctuary - the church you could hide out for 40 days was it from the strong arm of the law? Or do you think they interpreted so literally that it was a church rather than a concept of safety.

might go to sleep now am lying down....zzzzz

That cookery book looks excellent Blue and so sorry to hear about solicitor. The whole process of house buying and selling is so tortuous and stressful. Notaire system here not a lot better. I hope you can find your way through the maze.

Just had a bit of our own (minor) torture here. I stupidly got the time completely wrong for dd's first pointe lesson . We thought it was an hour later than it was, and realised at 5 to the hour . Cue hysterical crying from dd (understandable because she was so looking forward to it) and mad rush of changing/bun modelling/rally driving. The usually rather terrifying Madame X was very forgiving when she saw how upset dd was, but really really need to pull my socks up!!

And I shall never sneer at Flylady again for teaching us how to read a calendar!!

Going to start by drawing myself out a weekly timetable (usually do this for cj but am late this year).

At least have meal plan sorted now, but need to sort out weekly hours for work/volunteering/school and ring-fence Flying hours too!

x post Knitting oh how frustrating about the post and the lack of the all-important letter. Here's hoping for Monday.

Glad yesterday evening went well and well done to your ds2 for keeping his exasperation on hold bless him (although can appreciate v stressful situation for you).

And yy to the teenage poise thing - dd continually surprising me atm with new things she has learnt and a new confidence in her own opinions - and original opinions at that!

And yes, if my memory serves me correctly, it was William the Conqueror who established the right of sanctuary wasn't it?

Hope you are able to have some well-deserved rest and repose tonight

Really glad to hear your DD is coping so well with the new school, SC. Long may it continue.

knitting - And well done to your DS2 on controlling his emotions so well during the filming. That's really good. Sorry you haven't heard about the school yet though. It must be nail biting.

Am so, so relieved it's the end of the week! It has been utterly exhausting. We've worked out that we are doing about 2 1/2 hours' driving a day between both schools, as well as working. There have also been meetings to fit in at the schools, plus all the organisation of PE kits, paperwork, packed lunches and so on. I know this is all normal life to a lot of people, but it's been so long since I've had to do any of this that it's come as quite a shock. I spent this week, poring over lists and worrying about what I'd forgotten, or looking at the clock to see how long I had till the next deadline.

However, the good news is that both boys seem to really enjoy their new schools . DS1 hasn't wobbled once about going in and has completed his first week on a full timetable without any complaints. He even did his homework last night without prompting. He enjoys the lessons, especially the computer stuff, and has even made some casual friends, although he is being very reticent about calling them friends yet.

DS2 is very happy and comes out every day with a big smile, full of stories about what they did at school. There's a lot of art and hands-on stuff (weaving one day, cooking today), which he loves. It was certainly worth waiting for a place there.

Off out to celebrate a friend's birthday tonight, then aiming to have a LIE IN tomorrow .

(Confession: not a lot of Flying has happened this week ).

Hmm, apologies for that rogue comma ('I spent this week, poring'). No idea why that crept in .

Toffee that is so brilliant that both of your boys are enjoying their new schools!! It's great that your ds1 is enjoying the computer lessons and making friends and am very of your ds2 learning to weave!! I'm so happy that it is working out for you all! You are another of the valiant mothers on here who have battled so patiently on behalf of your lovely lads!! It's so good that it is going well! Cheers for this evening . Hope you can relax after your v busy week!

[Another one here who has done very little Flying.]

Well done for getting through this week fledglings!

We are off out tonight so posting links for tomorrow now.

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

*
The baby-step for tomorrow, Sat 12th Sept is here continue to do what we have been doing and start missions!

[Except you really can't pick out a mission today because it's Saturday - no zone work at weekends - but heigh ho ] but guess any mission from previous weeks will do!

Tomorrow is our last day in Zone 2: the kitchen here.

If you fancy it: here is the detailed cleaning list for Zone Two.

No official mission because it is the weekend!

The daily focus for Sat is family fun the whole point of Flylady is that you don't spend your weekends cleaning (in an ideal world anyway!).

The habit for September is developing a before-bed routine here: www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/september/ .

A summary of the above (which should update itself daily) can be found here: www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-120.

Hope you can all have a lie in and or a bit of r & r this weekend!

*

And another. No flying done since monday's insanity.

Ds has decided he'd like to go training tonight so we are off out for that, It's a late one so hopefully means that I can pass out. Otherwise I am bribing/threatening him tomo morning and I am having a lie in! Although once up I have a whole heap of stuff that needs to be done. Like un-name jumpers and rename new ones. My favourite kinda jobs

Blue what a complete pain re solicitors. Do you rate your estate agent? I have found that they are often good at unbunging log jams.

Would like to apologise for the general shortness of my posts. I tend to only mn on my iPad and, at the moment, am only typing with left index finger due to baby being asleep on other arm.

I have done a load of washing today and rehung DHs washing that he did this morning. He doesn't seem to realise that hanging things up all scrunched up is not helpful.

Have walked dogs, fed baby on schedule, shopped and got baby to nap properly once. Also ordered fabby juicer which means I need to de clutter larder and worktops to make room. And - drum roll - have finally disposed of the leg of Serrano ham that has been festering in larder (v poor value Lidl purchase!).

Loving the Latin chat. Although I studied a couple of classics papers at uni I can only remember phrases from the pre GCSE Caecilius series:
Caecilius est in forum
Canis est in horto
Metella est in culina
Can't remember where filius was!

brilliant news on the schools |Toffee ds2's school in particular sounds like home ed should be lots of creative thinking

now we've just had another setback...ds1 has refused to go back to drama/singing/dance Saturday session partly because there are 7 13-15 year old girls and just one him and he said "no-one likes me". I suspect they like him very much but chatting to the one boy in the class might be considered a bit suspect He has also decided he cannot act (which is true..but I thought he might like to improve ) Dh and I are hoping he'll change his mind next week, praise makes it worse (but I know that from my own experience, praise when you have low esteem can often make you resist violently and feel even more frightened of botching things up) grinds teeth at ds1 refusing to do the one thing that he really enjoyed and was "sociable" outside school.

Cooked paella for supper which met with a very mixed reception; I didn't even bother offering it to ds2 (sausages for him) dd came in and immediately put her feet on her chair and her head on the table which made me irrationally irritated, moaning about how tired she was and how she hated paella. Then she went off and played an extremely loud composition on the piano so she cannot have been tired at all

so, a pretty gruelling week really for the schooled ones and a less gruelling week for the unschooled.

Cleaning lady came today though so she cleaned ds1's room and the kitchen so that is something. And garden lovely, hydrangeas now have turned a dusty pink from starting out lime green, then vanilla coloured. Bright red crocosmia everywhere.

oh yes, ds2 has told me that Dr Who starts this Sat. He has found some repeats on BB3 to watch now.

That's a shame about the drama group, knitting. I hope DS1 changes his mind when he's had a chance to think it over. How lovely that your garden is looking so colourful.

Useful reminder about Dr Who: DH and DS2 will be glued to it.

Bohem - sounds like you are doing wonderfully well considering you are looking after a baby as well. I found it so difficult to get anything done when either of mine were that age.

CantSee - hope you get your lie in tomorrow. Hopefully training tonight will have tired your DS out .

Thank you, SC, for your kind words. It's lovely sharing good news with you all, as you oldies (if you'll excuse the term) know what a long and difficult journey it's been to get here.

Although, sorry to say, DS1 apparently fell apart this evening, which just shows what a strain this week has been for him and how well he's been masking his anxieties. Whilst I was out, he lost his temper over something trivial and stormed out of the house. A very worried DH spent five to ten minutes looking out into the night, hoping to see DS1 coming home. He couldn't follow him because he was alone with DS2. However, DS1 did come back shortly after and then went up to his room without speaking. When I came home, I took him up a hot chocolate and sat with him quietly whilst he drank it. He still didn't want to speak, but he wanted me to stay. I think he's just absolutely exhausted. I pointed out that he can sleep in as long as he wants tomorrow morning.

Am rather hoping the same for me too.

Hope you got a good sleep Toffee and knitting I would love to have some of your paella. Ordinarily I love cooking but that is another thing that has gone out of the window recently. I should buy shares in Cook the amount of time I spend in there.

Bohemond I never seemed to do any "grownup" cooking when my children were small - I cooked exquisite nursery food but that was about it..

Well, Ds1 announced at about 9.30 that he did want to do the drama course so we'll see how he gets on today. Anyway I am very glad we backed off because he obviously needs to think these things over for himself! Dd is in the same group and she reminded him that he was welcome and not the pariah he imagines himself, which was nice of her, as I distinctly remember her last term telling him in a fit of jealousy (he is a very good singer) that he "was Rubbish" honestly the delights of sibings

Toffee yes, they are all tinder dry after school alas. All three of mine are like that to some extent, certainly no demands can be made of them after school at all.

I have been away for the week at Centre Parcs with DH and DS and it was a lovely relaxing time where we did very little and took life in the slow lane. had fun riding the flumes in the pool and had to be told off for chasing the squirrels in the woods.

Consequently it has taken me quite a while to catch up on the busy thread, what with all the school stuff going on. Hope everyone's DCs have relaxing weekends planned.
Toffee you must be so so proud of your DS1, I know I haven't been on the thread as long as a lot of you, but I know what a worry everything has been for you, so this last week must rank as an incredible achievement for you as a family.
SC your DD sounds like she is doing a cracking job and turning into a proper little lady
Knitting your brood keeping you as busy as always then!?

Welcome to Bohemond - I am also a resigned perfectionist and so feel very at home on this thread. Just want to echo what SC has already said, and start off slowly, building up to big stuff. I would also add, take pride in the things you have managed to do, rather than berate yourself for the stuff that you didn't get round to.

Fuzz hope your work colleagues continue to be understanding and that you are managing ok.

Blue how infuriating re those solicitors

CS4L hope your DS has fun at his training this morning and that you are pacing yourself not composing scary sized lists

Carpe any progress with the floor/leak? Sounds like hell...

Whilst I was away I got a letter from someone I've never heard of before telling me a very old family friend had passed away at the end of August. They had tried to let me know sooner but had the wrong phone number for me, so they had to write instead. It gave me a real shock and I stood sobbing in the kitchen surrounded by post holiday chaos that still needs sorting. I need to ring this lady back to find out more details. Fortunately, I haven't missed the funeral, that would have been terrible.

Afternoon!

Welcome back Greymalkin (was wondering where you had gone!). Glad you and your family and had a relaxing time!

I'm so very sorry to hear about the loss of close your family friend however and that it came as such a shock for you. Hope your phone conversation can provide you with some comfort.

Great that your ds1 had a change of heart overnight Knitting I hope he enjoyed his drama session today.

(I play the same 'dance' with dd and ballet every year. After summer workshop she loves it. During holidays her heart has been lost to horses and she is not that keen. When she finally decides to re-start (which she always does) she is in love with it again and (like today) can be found dressing up in leg warmers and doing pli??s in the kitchen!! ) Woe betide anyone who interferes with this 'process' however! I have learnt to back off and let the inevitable take its course ... .)

Your garden sounds absolutely wonderful btw

Toffee and Knitting Btw - just for info - the new series of Dr Who starts on Beeb One on the 19th - I only happen to know this because dd is gabbling on endlessly about it!

Toffee totally understandable that your ds1 lost it after what must have been such a stressful week for him - he is doing so well - and despite everything, rather encouraging that he chose to go 'out' when he was feeling stressed. Agree with Knitting's description of 'tinder box' dc post-school. Dd is exactly the same. Say the wrong thing and she explodes!

Bohemond no need to apologise about short posts - a baby is all consuming - and some of us mentioning no names -chatter on -here far too much rather than 'do'--.

Oh and I have fond memories of Caecilius in his forum!

Another one who's dh (rather conveniently) cannot hang up clothes straight for toffee!

Can'tsee hope training went well and glad I am not the only one who has been doing very little Flying!

We all had good intentions and lists this morning but did absolutely nothing in reality and stayed in our pjs until lunch time . We all felt so tired. Very rarely we get to rest on a Sat morning but, for once, all dd's ballet classes take place during the week this academic year. The dog forced us out to the countryside eventually where we had a nice long walk, dd tried out a new skateboard and the wind blew the cobwebs off. Back to watch a controversial St Ledger on Channel 4. That's it! Not one jot of Flying done. Oh dear!

Am rather enjoying it though

Enjoy the rest of your weekends everyone!

Big wings flaps to one and all!

Aw SC I just read about your DD meeting her friend, I think I have something in my eye! So sweet but I totally understand why you feel both happy and sad.

Thanks grey glad you had a lovely holiday!

Thanks greymalkin. I was very good for the first 4 months after the baby was born and properly put my feet up and then as soon as I felt I had got the hang of it I fell back into old ways with super high expectations of what I could achieve. You are right - I need to give myself a break.

I think being a little more organised will help though as will ticking something off my long list every day. Have done some gardening today for example.

knitting I will admit that I have let myself off the hook on the weaning thing. I would love to be cooking fab food for DS but I am not - he seems to be getting on well with Hipp and Ella pur??es!

This doesn't seem to like pli?? or pur??e!

??

Busy kind of day today. Trip to town this morning to post MIL's birthday present and card, go to the library, watch the Tour of Britain pass through and do the grocery shopping. Then this afternoon, DH took DS2 to a party while I made DS's party cake (going bowling with his friends from his old school tomorrow afternoon).

Much flapping and swearing involved. Lost yellow food dye - indispensable for required Minion cake! - and found it again. Made gallons more chocolate filling than required and had to work out what to do with it all. Then got in a panic that it didn't look how I wanted. All resolved in the end though.

Bohemond - the estate agent for our sellers seems to be the most on the ball and is now chasing frantically on our sale too. Still not sure how far it's set us back though.

Glad you had a good holiday, Grey but sorry to hear about your friend.

Having a weird day - fine one minute and then all moody and glum the next.

The fecking cat pissed on my virtually new converse sneakers, I turned the air blue swearing at him.

DS got hold of a biro and scribbled on a massive section of our cream coloured sofa. I turned the air blue swearing again.

It turns out that there is a very strong possibility that clinical negligence was a big contributory factor in the death of my friend. Shit has hit the fan.

AF is rather late, again. It was last month and I was terrified of pregnancy, but now I'm wondering if there is a health reason behind all this nonsense with it.

We all went out for a family walk and found three geocaches, but then DS had an epic screaming fit and had to be dragged, bribed, herded all the way home which took twice as long as if he had just walked normally.

Roll on tomorrow. I have a whole day of archery stuff to look forward too.

oh, I want to go to Centerparcs now! Or that one with the forest lodges... September is such a beautiful time of year.

Greymalkin hope it is not the same family member as me - mine was in his mid forties and married Funeral in a few days.

So, all three kids to drama, ds2's teacher said he had been no trouble which I'm very relieved to hear. Some more boys have turned up in ds1's class thank goodness.

Dd has gone to a sleepover; unfortunately despite the calm and purposeful day, and tidy kitchen and delicious supper (boys' fave) cooked by dh, they managed to have a row over supper. I had to send ds2 out in the end - he just does not have a conversational "off" button when he gets fixated on some topic (in this case he was criticising ds1)

Heard from school placement for ds2. We are very high up the waiting list so I assume we will get a place in a couple of weeks but I have no idea how fast the Year 9 admissions moves, and what amount of chopping and changing goes on. No-one has to actually want to leave, it just might be that other Year 9s in that school are waiting for their place to come up on some waiting list elsewhere. Random or what!!!! At the moment though, school is full, so even getting a EHCP plan wouldn't change that - we would just be higher up the list.