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!

Hope you feel better greymalkin

Wardrobe sorted and loads of things that needed ironing are ironed no chance that's because I've been putting things away creased for years, filled couple more bags for charity shop too

Evening all!

fuzzpig I completely sympathise with you and having the interrupting little people. I'm a childminder and I have banned my own children from coming to the front door when parents arrive to collect. They show off, interrupt, play up and delay the whole process. It's much calmer and more professional when they stay in the sitting room.

Thanks sc for the links.

Ta da
Wrap dd's presents
Decorate house
Daily wash load done
General tidy after mindees leave
Order new bedding
Library trip

Evening all,

Tada!

Play farm, although didn't stay long as it did start raining, we have a season ticket so no loss really.
DD's uniform and PE kit sorted, school dinners paid for
Massive amount of laundry sorting and putting away
One more lot of laundry
Opened (and binned most of) holiday mail
Supermarket shop
General tidying
Packed lunch prep and dinner
Make cakes with DS
Phoned council about DS's transport to school. There is another boy living about 200m away from us who goes to the same school using council transport, his mum and I had been hoping they could share a taxi, computer says no, they have to have one each .
Sorted out calendar for next week or so.

Off to bed in a minute, might take my phone. I just need to block MN on it....

Evening all. Today was the first day back at work - and the sun was shining! Had to dash home and rush to the beach to cope, which was not conducive to a tidy house!

Ta Das
Went to work - and stayed all day!
Finished tidying hall after epic painting marathon at weekend
Had car valeted
Moved all stuff back to car
Packed work stuff for tomorrow
Organised lounge

To Dos- tomorrow
Get more into routine
Get DS1 ready for big school!
Organise other DCs for school
Organise stuff on piano
Clear beach stuff
Sort conservatory

Oh dear, it seems DH isn't as ok with the boys starting their new schools before we move as I thought he was. Now I'm getting anxious about it, and if it all goes horribly wrong, it's all my fault...

well I didn't notice it SC [ conveniently skips all housework links]

Time I would kill for a shorter term; I absolutely love the idea of term breaking up a bit earlier and starting later, but I can see with two it is less ideal. However...rubs hands...there are advantages...

dd has come back from Billy Elliott very happy. Dh said she now knows a bit more about the Miners' Strike.

My tooth is not exactly hurting, or should I say my ex-tooth, but my gums feel distinctly fragile so I will join Fuzzpig in the fluffy corner.

Managed some home ed today with ds2 - mum I KNOw all about Cromwell's head already... so we did the Plague instead. And the photos.

There are a lot of us braving new school environments this Sept aren't there and I count Fuzzpig in this, as home edding in a new year is a bit exciting too. I am really going to rein in my ambitions this year and go for casserole type support from the wings instead. I think ds1 alone is going to send me mad with worrying about his gsce revision so I need to try and just remember that the best support I can give him is consistency. I cannot actually do those gsces for him, and I don't suppose he will thank me for it if I do. blots out memories of his Lady Macbeth essay I was actually lying in bed thinking of different intepretations of ending Of Mice and Men today, poor fool that I am and realising that ds1 really doesn't want to hear my brilliant insights.

Blue You are responsible for the bulk of the schooly stuff, so you get to make the decision. I think it will be nice for them to get to know people before the move (if I have that information the right way round)

well I found one solitary possible typo SC in to rather than into...is that what you meant? Surely that would not offend anyone but the most hardened editrice ?

night night all

Good morning fledglings! Lots of activity on this thread (and in everyone's homes). Well done on lots of 'ta da' lists accomplished yesterday!

[Serves Knittingwithnettles and Greymalkin freshly squeezed oj in recuperation corner and fluffs up their blankets and pillows]

knitting when I worked for a v large publisher in London many many moons ago, he always rapped us over the knuckles for combining 'in' and 'to' and insisted they were two separate words. The typo I was referring to was 'sink' rather than 'sinks'. No matter! It will just irritate me every time I log on. I like the phrase (and philosophy) of 'casserole' support; need to join you in that. Hope after effects of dental trauma wear off soon.

Blue ditto what knitting¨says, it makes total sense for the boys to start where they are going to end up ifyswim, and to start when everyone else is 'new' too. Hope your dh gets on board.

How lovely to be able to go to the beach after work Threeislovely!! Forget the house, catch the rays while you can!! (Tis distinctly autumnal here now)

Astimegoesby congrats on such a productive day yesterday and that seems totally nuts (both economically and practically speaking) about the boys not being able to share a taxi to school.

Nicknacks as ever, I am really in awe of the fact that when the new term starts you have to be ready to organise/nurture everyone else's dc as well as your own! I find it hard enough just organising dd!! (And as for having the house ready for 'daily public viewing' every day - that would nearly kill me! Hats off to you!

Prettyincrimson top marks for wardrobe sorting and decluttering!

Fuzzpig great you have a new lovely pupil!

Hope you feel better soon Greymalkin

Toffee brill to hear that your ds1 has been going out consistently now for 9 mths!! Top marks to him (and to you and your dh) for getting to this point. I'm sure it will stand him in good stead for when he has wobbly school days because he can look back on his previous consistent success! Good luck with it all and yes about the £££££ of uniform and materials. I dare not tell you what dd's uniform cost (no uniforms here generally so when they do have them, they are always shockingly expensive. Ditto school shoes, more £££££ because they are a rarity. And we are about to go on our third trip to stationery shop this pm for a few last items. I have about 0.7 cents left in my current account right now!!)

Shannara 'ark at you and your empty washing basket !! That's amazing!! Welcome back btw and good luck to your dd today!!

And good luck to your ds today Carpe (and to you!!)

And good luck to everyone else's dc who are starting back this week!

[Hands strong brew over to Can'tsee] Hope you were able to get a bit more sleep last night and well done for getting through such a long list yesterday despite lack of shut eye!

Big encouraging mid-week wing flaps to everyone else!!

oh dear - that should have read 'large publishing company' - the publisher himself wasn't large!!

Yesterday was so busy and went so quickly that I still have loads of tasks left on my to do list:

To do/ta da:
morning routine inc shine sink, animals, dw, wm, s& s, and dining room table hot spot done
preventative nit combing for entire family!! (lovely!!) done
find uniform (esp socks which have gone missing!) done
sew on final labels done
see dd off and take photos as memento!! smile done
laundry sorting
general tidy around the ground floor (ie mission)
strip beds and carry bedding down to laundry
15 min tidy up in each main area
banking check
finish post and post letters
menu plan for week
quick supermarket run
dog walking done
first school run to new school! done
hwk supervision (if any)done
visit commune for admin reasons
supper done
early night for everyone done

In addition, did extra dog walking and brushing, clean out vegetable box in fridge, and supper took ages because oven has broken down again [sigh]

To do today:
finish things I didn't get done yesterday
track down missing parcel

Have a good anti-procrastination day everyone!

Sorry Toffee that should have read nine wks (but it must be somewhere around nine months since he started getting much better I imagine). Well done him!

Hello all I will be joining you from today. Set myself a 100 day challenge to sort myself (weight loss) and my home out - though realise both will take longer but need some sort of goal to set me off.

Gonna spend my 15 mins in the hallway today as my dining room (shock horror) is actually the tidiest cleanest space currently in the house?! I really don't know how as table is my favourite dumping place but it's currently clear and clean.

Anti procrastination task is to fill out the job application I have been putting off. Wasn't gonna look for work until youngest starts either pre-school (a year from now) or school (two years from now) but this job is, on paper, perfect so have to give it a try!

On my list is -
Load of washing in
Bin bags out (bin day today)
Spend at least 15 mins in our room straightening up a little.

Will pop by later to chat a bit more, currently trying to get the kids out to the community group for the morning.

SC at large publisher (And sympathies at typo-related irritation). Nonsense about "into" not being a word. I've also had similar with an editor who wouldn't accept "onto". Grr!

SC / nettles - thanks! I know this way will be better for the boys, so I'm focussing on that. DH is an incurable pessimist focussing on all the things that could go wrong, and worried that it's a hostage to fortune if the sale were to fall through.

I've done all the labelling. Got to go into town for plimsolls for DS1 and other last minute bits and bobs, so want to try to do something fun with the boys while we're there.

Coffee break [need caffeine to help me plough through the 16 closely typed pages of school rules in v. long-winded Frenc,that dd left with us today that need signing along with 13 other documents and questionnaires relating to health care while at school, sports information, after school hwk clubs, school management etc etc]

A warm welcome to grumpygertie Good luck with the job! 100-day plan sounds good (I need to lose weight too). [Ponders on how many days there are before Christmas - daren't look]

Blue when do you exchange contracts?

Morning.

Operation make child independent is in full swing.

Not sure how today is going to pan out, but out of the house mostly with odd 30mins back here and there today. Safe to say there will not be much flying going on.

SC 30-2+31+30+25 days left, it is currently week 36 and christmas is week 52. Apparently this is a 53 week year Meh we'll just blink and it will be here before we know it anyway clearly not had enough coffee to be cheerful and perky yet
More importantly half term is week 44 so 7 1/2 weeks away not counting, oh no, not counting at all.

Good luck with it all Can'tsee and thanks for calendar calculation!!

surveys pitiful state of post summer holiday house and regrets mentioning the C word

If it helps the only reason I am counting down to half term is that the building work is due to get finished for half term. What this means in reality is that it will finish about 3 weeks afterwards leaving a huge massive spring clean to be achieved before C*** The Spring clean bit I am dreading but I can't wait until the building work is done!

Can'tsee Crikey the building work is certainly dragging on a bit - poor you - must be v. wearing. But good to have the house finished and ship shape in time for Christmas! (I don't think I can face the thought of putting up decorations over shabby paintwork and crumbling plaster but I've said that every year for the past 5 yrs now)

Morning all!

Finally made it on to laptop but do still have Meerkitten on me and she is now pushing herself up on her hands so that she can wave her head around in front of the computer screen to make it even harder for me to type, just what I need

Before logging on this morning I was wondering if it was at all acceptable to mention Christmas as I'm already excited at the thought of our first Christmas as a family, so I was thrilled to see that SC and Can'tSee have already used the C word.

We don't normally do any decorations or anything but this year I can't wait for the shops to start selling Xmas stuff so that I can buy our family Xmas tree. Normally I'm cursing the early Xmas stuff in shops but this year I am ridiculously over excited

Meerkitten appears to have detected that she is not the full focus of my attention and is hence ramping up the head waving and random noises so may have to post this and attempt to manage the Meerkitten and return later...

Meerkitten now occupied on boob so will attempt a little one handed typing.

No real flying apart from the odd bit of fire fighting at weekend when DP takes Meerkitten out for a walk.

I'm thinking of trying to instigate a daily 15 or 30 mins cleaning per day in evening when DP can manage the Meerkitten and then if I can get an hour or so at weekend it wont be so frenzied, maybe I can even do something for me!

I had my first night out without Meerkitten last night. Just met a friend in local pub for a few hours and we're both breastfeeding so it was a very sober evening, it was really nice though. I love being with Meerkitten but being 'off duty' so to speak was very relaxing

Someone, I think it might have been Toffee mentioned inappropriate outfits that you receive. Meerkitten has one fancy dress outfit, 3 romper suits, 1 designer dress, 3 formal dresses, including one with a skirt so full it's like a Deborah Kerr dress in the King and I and 3 or 4 Disney outfits and a knitted dress, etc.......bonkers!

I'm doing brief posts to avoid losing what I've typed due to Meerkitten activities, so apologies for style of posting

Plan today is to go to Debenhams and replace all the plates we've chipped since we got the granite work surfaces in the new kitchen a couple of years ago

If I achieve that and a supermarket shop and one load of washing today then I will chalk that up as a productive and successful day!

okay I've rung the LA and already my blood is boiling..The deceit and prevarication is just so....especially after reading some high and mighty pronouncements on SEN strategy which obviously means very little the nearer you get to the ground. I may be wrong..I may be right. I hope I'm wrong.
however also rang related body that oversees stuff and they were helpful

still lying in bed, everytime I get up my gums feel ominous