Autumn leaves flutter as October Fledglings Fly!

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Welcome to the October 2015 Fledgling Flying thread!

Park your broomsticks and cauldrons here!! Or is that just me ?

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.

As usual we will be following a three-pronged approach - and don't worry - we are all at different stages. (Some of us are still stuck at the decluttering stage after quite a few 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!

The idea is that we focus on short, ring-fenced, daily steps and routines that will help our homes run (more or less!) on "automatic pilot" allowing us to do far more interesting things instead!

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!

Helpful pointers: No perfectionism allowed! If it took a while to create the current C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome) in your home, then it will probably take a while to reverse the situation (you can't clean clutter!). Small steps are the key! And you are never behind: just jump in where you are at!

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Good luck!

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Baby-step no. 3 for tomorrow, Saturday 3rd Oct , is here. Continue first two steps (shining sink and lace-up shoes) and have a look around the Flylady website (if you are so inclined).

We will soon be starting in Zone 2: Kitchen/ back porch/laundry room/pantry – first full week of the month. Here! Declutter for 15 mins in this zone. (But zone work not obligatory at the w/e!)

If you are at that stage, the detailed cleaning list for Zone 2 is here.

No missions because it is the weekend!

Saturday's daily focus is : family fun! Newcomers: the Flylady theory is that, having kept up with basic routines during the week, it won't be necessary to play "catch up" on Saturdays, and you can have fun with the dc instead! (That's the theory anyway; I'm sure the reality of working full or part-time with a family is v different.)

The habit for October is: //www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/october/ decluttering paper clutter!

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

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

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Blue should have said below

Hope you've had some good news today!!!

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Oh dear, dd is now saying she feels sick ....

[CantSee4Looking]

Oh dear SC :( hope dd feels better soon. Sorry that DH can't see past the historic arrangement of the house.

Ds has been safely delivered although the predicted temper over copying up his homework was spectatular and not helped by his father saying the whole thing was pointless as far as he was concerned

My to do list for tomo includes knitting and paper filing. The plan is to do this from my bed. I doubt the day will go to plan but that is the plan

[feetheart]

SC - this is the photo of DS at the Paralympics. It just sums him up COMPLETELY

Can't really catch up tonight as need to be in bed, hopefully have a chance tomorrow.
Night night everyone :)

[fuzzpig]

Fab photo :o

[CantSee4Looking]

That is a very fab picture feet

[Dogsbumhair]

Hi Scatty sorry to hear that your little one is poorly too. Meerkitten is 18 weeks, how old are yours?

Sorry about your PND diagnosis and I hope you are getting some support even if your Health Visitor isn't up to it.

For what it's worth I find it hard to get dressed and do things with a small baby and I don't have pnd so don't be too hard on yourself!

I take the approach that if we are both up and dressed by the end of the day then I've done well, if I've managed to buy tea as well then the day is a rip roaring success. Anything else achieved and frankly I'm wonder woman!

[Dogsbumhair]

SC sorry to hear that DD is poorly again, she does seem to have a rough time of it health wise the poor thing.

Great photo feetheart!

I'm currently struggling to keep up with the thread even when I read it I can't remember two seconds later but from what I can retain Blue good luck with sale, Toffee good luck with job and decision about whether to take it. Can'tsee that is so bad about the service being cancelled, I feel like I have a memory of you mentioning this back in January so it's really bad that still nothing has been sorted.

Mind has gone blank now so I'll post this before I lose it

[Dogsbumhair]

SC bless you doing another month. I'm trying to think when I might next be capable of leading, hard to see when I'm going to get to the point of being able to reliably get on the computer daily.

It might be madness, so please don't hold me to it, but I'm thinking December as in theory I should be less busy than everyone else as I don't have all the school craziness to cope with and I won't be travelling anywhere due to Meerkitten.

We'll see shall we

[Dogsbumhair]

Fuzzpig I now officially have diary envy....

[elliepac]

Better late than never I say. Signing in for October here with a determination to keep up and possibly do some flying. Pinky promise. Had a crazy week last week which involved a 13 hour day, a scouts marathon night, a very very drunk evening with DP and a friend of his on thursday and a teaching with a mahoosive hangover day on Friday. (Never recommend that). This then culminated in babysitting dN overnight last night and he got up stupid early this morning.

Today involves hopefully some flying this morning. Am not confident enough to post a list but am going to give it a whirl. For old times sake. Then dc and I are heading off at lunchtime to DP's for the rest of the weekend. Back later with a list. Hope everyone is ok. I have a skim read thread and send big luffs to you all.

[standclear]

Good morning all!

Feetheart what an utterly, fab brilliant photo [grin

Fortunately, dd wasn't sick, but went through a "bad" hour or so. The virus definitely gets worse at night.

We must eradicate it this weekend as dd has already missed so much work. She does seem to get everything going Dogsbum, I don't know if being an 'only' is something to do with it. She's had numerous blood tests and everything comes back clear. She usually succumbs when she is in the midst of a growth spurt, and she is growing like a weed at the moment.

Dogsbum It is very kind of you to even contemplate thread leading and much appreciated, but pls don't worry about it if not possible, you have so much on your plate atm.

[standclear]

Argh, messages below just posted themselves

Was trying to write Feetheart that photo is utterly fab !!

[Does double take] Eh up, is that Ellie I see among us? Yay! [Passes over official dispensation for late-comers on the grounds that having a life is hugely recommended over Flying ] Great to see events are keeping you busy and happy! Good luck with your list and have a great w/e!

Dogsbum can't believe it's been 18 wks!!

Oh no at the pointless comment Can'tsee talk about undermining all your efforts [anger] I'd be seething!! Enjoy your child-free time (and the knitting!!)

Waves to Fuzzpig and everyone else!


Ok, I have half an hour before the morning line to feed the animals and put on a load of washing.

Need to do more in home office and boudoir today. [They are both looking awful.]

Have a good day everyone!!

[BlueEyeshadow]

Morning Fledglings

Yesterday's conference was good, and the seminar for which I was on the panel seemed to go well. Less enthused about today's workshop but still. Am doing a translation slam this afternoon which should be fun and terrifying!

No news otherwise. No idea what anyone is playing at, and not sure we're being told the whole story even now.

[standclear]

Oh no Blue that must be so so so disappointing . Especially grim when trust starts to go out of the process.

Very glad to hear seminar went well and good luck for slam!!!

Proffers sustaining in return!

[fuzzpig]

Sorry Dogs it's flipping gorgeous isn't it :o DH and I are supposed to take turns choosing the diary for the year, last year was technically DH's turn but he never chose one and I ended up getting a rubbish calendar. So I've told him he wasted his chance and as the Alice diary is a one-off (being a centenary thing) and was on sale I went for it. Anyway, it's his turn to choose the Christmas Board game, so if we have one choice each that's fair right? We will swap next year :on

SC thank you so much for your kindness I hesitate to say 'I'm over it' exactly, but I have had a lot of therapy to deal with what happened, and the fall-out from it - in some ways it's more about the fact I wasn't protected than what actually happened IYSWIM - and it's not something that really enters my thoughts much nowadays. It's just that because of it, my psychological history is not straightforward, and the psychiatrist I mentioned earlier was absolutely convinced that all my issues stem from that, despite me telling him that the issues predate the abuse (and that the issues are present in other family members, most notably my dad who is blatantly on the spectrum but was told by his GP that he's too old to bother diagnosing! ). But I'm hoping that as an expert, this specialist will help me untangle what relates to the abuse from what I was born with, and most crucially understand that autistic people can actually be abused as well so it's perfectly possible to have issues from both! And as I said, if she tells me that I'm not diagnosable, then fair enough - I'll believe her because she works entirely with adults on the spectrum and I will trust her judgement, because she will actually assess me properly and not just sit there ignoring me reading notes from an utterly awful psychiatric hospital a decade earlier when I was in crisis and trying to deal with the abuse. The only thing I'm worried about is that to diagnose an adult, usually they need to speak to the parents to see what the person was like as a young child. That does concern me as my parents weren't exactly on the ball, but at least I know the specialist will talk through these concerns with me.

Sorry I'll stop waffling now :o I'm trying to keep awake, we all got very little sleep as DD had a friend round who got homesick. Then as we opened the door when her mum arrived, the door handle/lock thing broke! :( Argh! I can't imagine I'll do much flying today somehow.

[fuzzpig]

Oh Blue how frustrating I'm intrigued by the translation slam! Is that like a poetry slam, but where you, erm, translate stuff instead?

[knittingwithnettles]

not having a very good morning,

but it COULD be worse

Dogsbum lovely to hear your news about Meerkitten. There was a lady over on Multiples I posted to, who seemed to be finding 18 weeks quite difficult, if you wanted to give her a reassuring comment. Of course not if you don't feel ike it.

ellie shudder at your schedule

in fact I'm shuddering at everyone's schedule because I don't seem to have one at the moment.. feeling really cast down by too much stuff to process. No sooner have I solved one problem when someone else accuses of me of not done something else...no-one is to mention the hairdresser OR the carpet. Dd wants a new carpet. She says hers has chewing gum stains on it. It is very very old, like 20 years (maybe that is quite new in the scheme of things) but the thought of now dealing with that is...NON.

hiding in bed again after dropping one at drama. And forcing one to have a bath and get dressed himself and literally having to force dh to go for a walk and have some leisure acitivity instead of staying at home moaning about how there was no lunch. THERE IS LUNCH you mad person. THERE IS ALWAYS LUNCH.

[Toffeewhirl]

Oh, fuzz - I'm so sorry for what you went through. And I hope you get the support you need from the psychiatrist.

Have only had time to speed read the thread, so forgive my lack of personals. Spent yesterday traipsing round a local town, viewing houses with DM. She loved the final house and has made an offer, which has been accepted. So it looks as if the move will be happening in the next few months, all being well (and bearing in mind the ups and downs of moving, Blue).

Had a meeting with DS1's teachers yesterday afternoon and was startled when they informed me that he's been put in the top group for English and they expect him to get an A or B grade. And this is a boy who refuses to read books anymore! What is holding him back, is his OCD perfectionism, which is causing him to delete everything he's writing over and over again. But, having had the meeting, I now trust the teachers to handle it. Such a relief to know they are on the ball and it's not my job now.

Came home to find an email inviting me for a second interview next week. Am still in a quandary over the job, but the interview will be a good chance to explore that.

Was so exhausted by all that that I had to go to bed early and slept through for nine hours!

Off to get some shopping done ALONE now . Bliss.

[Toffeewhirl]

Sorry you're having a tough day, knitting. If it helps, my DC always complain there is no food in the cupboards or fridge (usually bursting with food). They mean: no sweet stuff and no ready-made meal.

[standclear]

Evening all!

Absolutely glorious weather here but dd still having to take it steady, so had to suppress any desperate urges to drive in to the country and visit a horse in a green field!!

Did have nice dog walk in park though. Everyone very cheery in the sunshine! Even the dogs were smiling

Ta da:
Morning routine inc animals, s&s, wm, dw, dining room table hot spot, tidied play room
Went out on an emergency pet food run
Went to butcher's and bought pork for roasting tomorrow
Helped dh mow lawn (his back is still awful)
Stroked rabbits
Dog walk
Tangle-teased dd's hair (under protest) and made a long plait down her back! (I'm hopeless at this - despite having mastered ballet buns - so this was quite an achievement!)
"Persuaded" dh and dd to go through carrier bag of 'stuff' that I took out of cars yesterday and chuck/sort/put away etc - which they did - result!
Served and ate lunch (leftovers but good!)
Tidied kitchen and put on dw again
Hoovered and wiped down hideous corner of hall where boxes are tucked away out of sight and sorted etc
On-line pet supplies order (to avoid having to do any more emergency pet food runs)
Banking

To do (left it all a bit late as usual!):
1 hr boudoir whilst watching C4 racing
45 mins French
30 mins home office
Pick up something fun to eat (not too calorific take-out-ish) for "rugby supper" + beer for dh
dog walk/training
buy fruit and veg for tomorrow

Toffee huge congrats on getting a second interview!! That's brilliantly done! And hope it proves helpful when it comes to the big decision!!

And whey hey about your ds1 and being in the top grade for English! (A fitting testament to all your past labours!! ) What a bright boy though and well done him!!

Had to smile at your explanation of "no food" protests!!

Yes Fuzzpig how horrible that this has happened to you. You sound very strong though and I hope the psychiatrist treats you like a person this time rather than a "category" xxx

Sorry you are feeling so cast down Knitting! And you have my true sympathies over tetchy husbands and food issues!! It must be very draining sometimes to be the central cog that keeps the whole wheel turning. And if I may, suggest you take Flylady's advice tomorrow and go out and do something totally for yourself and leave everyone to their own devices for a bit!! x

Just off to buy some fruit now. Thought we had some but plums are utterly tasteless and we had those flat type of peaches (that are shaped a bit like doughnuts) but they just shrivelled in the bowl and never ripened. At the risk of sounding like my late mother, what has happened to fruit nowadays [harrumph]??

[standclear]

Evening all??? [Promise I haven't been on the gin ... sadly]

[standclear]

Managed dog walking and food shop but not the rest! V. frustrating but did also have fab dog training session where furry one almost walked to heel!

Just posting links for tomorrow prior to rugby/Dr Who/Strictly evening - talk about conflicts of interest. (Somehow I suspect that rugby will win out!)



Baby-step no. 4 for tomorrow, Sunday 4th Oct , is here. It's the sticky note one we tend to ignore! Newcomers: if you are interested, this is about the beginnings of making a control journal. See more here.

We will soon be starting in Zone 2: Kitchen/ back porch/laundry room/pantry – first full week of the month. Here! Declutter for 15 mins in this zone. (But zone work not obligatory at the w/e!)

NB: Flylady website still lagging behind it's own system!!

If you are at that stage, the detailed cleaning list for Zone 2 is here.

No missions because it is the weekend!

Sunday's daily focus is renewing your spirit ie doing something for yourself to make yourself feel refreshed]]. NB Knitting!!

The habit for October is: //www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/october/ decluttering paper clutter!

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

Hope you have a relaxing Sunday everyone!



G'night all!

[Greymalkin]

for SC for doing the double whammy!

We've been on holiday in Dorset and a bit in the New Forest which was amazing, had such a lovely time. We rented a cottage which was very cosy and was like a home from home which made things so much easier than all living/sleeping in one room in a hotel.

One thing I have been forced to admit though is holidays with young children are not 'relaxing'; they are childcare and housework in a different place. DH did not realise this however, and sat on his arse whenever we were in the cottage whilst a I did all the cooking, cleaning up, bed making, etc etc etc... At one point I was in real danger at completely flipping my lid at him but didn't as it would have caused a terrible atmosphere. Now we are home, we may have to have conversations about the division of labour at home.

So I've missed most of the September thread and will skim read over this one. Will jump back in properly tomorrow.