Remember remember through all of November the Fledglings will flutter and fly!

[fuzzpig]

Halloween’s over, Christmas (sorry) is drawing near, but perhaps you have too much S.T.U.F.F. (Something That Undermines Family Fun) getting in the way. Or maybe you want to rid your house of C.H.A.O.S. (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome)? Have no fear, the Fledglings are here! We are all learning to get into a routine for maintaining the household, so we have more time for that thing called life.

This is where, from the first of the month (seriously, HOW is it November already?!), we follow – loosely – the rules of FlyLady. We ignore the somewhat barftastic language, and also thoroughly recommend NOT signing up to the emails… unless you want your inbox full to bursting.

Here’s some basic info on getting started – but don’t worry, all will be revealed on a daily basis (assuming I get the links right…) so just jump in.

There are 3 basic stages:

• Baby Steps – if you’re new, start here. Or if you’re coming back to us after a break (trust me, we’ve been there!) then these are good way to get back into it.

• Repeat Baby Steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current room or 'zone' - yep, just 15 mins, it makes a difference!

or

• Reinforce Baby Steps + do Daily Missions - if you have finished decluttering (one day I’ll get to that stage… one day…).

There are also detailed cleaning guides if you’re really enthusiastic.

NB
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!

Another NB
Start where you are. There is no need to worry about being perfect – perfectionism = paralysis! There is no such thing as ‘falling behind’ with FlyLady, if you miss anything, just move on and continue as normal the next day.

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

Good luck!

Oh bugger blue :(

Have you got the kids doing code academy yet Fuzzpig? free, online, different codes that they can work their way through learning AND you can sign up to it too as there is no age limit. But you will need an email address for the kids. Ds has an email address and it is a whole heap of fun trying to teach him that you can't save someone's email address in the contact book as dad'[email protected] It is something that I have every intention of returning to when the chaos has died down here a little. make that when I have sprung cleaned my room and am needing a break from crafting and diy gotta have 101 projects on the go

Ooh, code academy sounds good too. DH wants to get DS1 a raspberry pi for Christmas...

I have heard great things about it Blue. I know someone who has coded their's so they can play old snes games etc. But then their job is computing related. I am considering programerable technical lego for ds. But not sure if I can cope with yet more fecking lego.

I've found Office 365 brilliant so far. It's annoying that it's only for a year (it was £30 on the offer, seems pretty common to be able to get it cheaper when you buy it with the computer itself) but I'm really glad we have all the different programs.

Code academy sounds fab, thank you! :)

Not feeling so great today but still going to attempt a trip to work. Have put a wash on and DH has done brilliantly in the living room and on the stairs (er, tidying I mean :o)

Evening all,

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment, dealing with all the Christmas stuff for two schools rather than one is a bit of a shock to the system and loads of clashing dates, plus both DCs have a lot of extra curricular stuff going on over the next few weeks and I'm busy at work. Aaargh!

Shannara - that's a lovely video . Some of my DCs friends are in a big school thing at the Albert Hall around now, wonder if it's the same thing? We're quite close to Winchester too.

Can't - Code Academy looks good. I've never used Publisher or similar, I must have a look at all our computers and see what exactly we've got on them.

Been to tap dancing class tonight. DD and I are taking part in a nationwide tap dancing event for Children in Need at the weekend and I am feeling a little apprehensive, having only started in September.

Links for Thursday 12th November!

Baby Step No.12 Clear your emails! Which, obviously, you won’t have if you didn’t sign up in the first place… but there is some useful advice about not taking on too much, perfectionism etc.

We are in Zone 2 this week: Kitchen (November 8-14).

Declutter for 15 mins in Zone 2 if you want to.

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

Mission for Thursday: Buy cinnamon, apparently Check your spices for duplicates, expiry dates etc. NB This week’s missions are presented differently – they are in letter form, from FlyBabies who have sent in suggestions.

Thursday’s daily focus is: Errand Day.

The habit for November is: Menu Planning!

A summary of the above (which should update itself daily) can be found here in the Flightplan.

The weekend's nearly here... keep on keeping on, Fledglings!

*

That sounds like a logistical nightmare Who I always struggled with all the Christmas stuff at the DCs' school(s) - always had to cry off some things but the guilt was horrible too. Wow @ the tap dance event, sounds cool and worthwhile too! Lovely that you can do it with DD too. DS is desperate to dance, I'm getting a call about lessons tomorrow. My floppy-haired little 6 year old doing ballroom dancing...

Sorry about the lack of internet Blue that sucks.

I've done sod all Flying today, other than washing, but DH did amazing tidying. I made it into work for a bit which was nice - lovely chat with my friend who is so on my side about everything, and she listened to me rant about the frankly rubbish way I've been treated in recent conversations with management and was irate on my behalf.

I'm up late because I forgot to take my tablets again

Gym and St John tomorrow so not really expecting to do much beyond ferrying about on buses, just tend to enjoy having DH around when he's off. Really need to get back onto the proper home ed work though thankfully the Egypt day has really inspired them, so will be doing lots more crafty stuff for that which they seem to learn a lot from, but we signed up to a space mission thing and because the emails went to my social filter (WTF is that anyway) I missed the start and we're really behind!

It's rather quiet in here atm.

ta da.
finish 2 urgent craft projects
2 loads washing

not a lot ease. fell asleep at 4:30 for a nap. by accident. So bedtime night

I've got a friend with a spotless house coming for coffee in the morning

So, there will be cleaning done or chucking everything in my bedroom.

Fuzz - ballroom for a 6yo does indeed sound adorable.

Can't - sleep well.

I've done absolutely fuck all, 'scuse my language :o ended up going for dinner with lots of other home ed mums, amazing fun and not the sort of thing I did at all with school mums!

Apart from sticking the tumble dryer on and doing a very small top up shop after gymnastics with DD, I have achieved nothing but feel very happy.

Oh SHIT I just realised I said I'd order Tesco before I left and I didn't... oh well at least I am wide awake.

Links for Friday 13th November! (Try not to walk under any ladders today Fledglings!)

Baby Step No.13: Missions! Another way to add something into your routine.

We are in Zone 2 this week: Kitchen (November 8-14).

Declutter for 15 mins in Zone 2 if you want to.

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

Mission for Friday: Clean the tops of your cupboards. NB This week’s missions are presented differently – they are in letter form, from FlyBabies who have sent in suggestions.

Friday’s daily focus is: Clearing out your bag, car etc.

The habit for November is: Menu Planning!

A summary of the above (which should update itself daily) can be found here in the Flightplan.

Fingers crossed for a lucky Friday 13th, Fledglings!

Car in garage this morning. Overslept AND car looks like a mum car. eeek!

Hi all! Just dashing through!

Had a very busy early part of week with extra volunteering duties and a long but unforgettable day at Ypres on Wed (Armistice parade) with 2 cousins (one still serving, one ex forces).

Unfortunately everything gone to pot since as dd is ill again. Got called to school yesterday and found her in the infirmary with high temp, dizziness, nausea and spots of all things (a bit of a surprise because they vaccinate for everything here). So she is missing yet more school and we are off to doc appt tonight.

Still not feeling too chipper myself (also have a few 'mystery' spots and have this hot/cold thing going on) so only minimal Flying happening.

Bit of a disaster really as had lots planned for both Sat and Sun.

Must go and tidy up a bit prior to dog-walker calling (who is kindly helping me out today) but will bbl to catch up with thread properly.

Suffice to say for now is that I hope everyone is making much more Flying progress than I am atm!

PS Can't Fuzz Blue Whoknows

Pray, what does doest this tecchie language mean which thee all speaketh?

Grey hope nausea from ads is lessening and that you are feeling a bit better x

And Shannara how could I forget??!!! That video is FANTASTIC! (And your dd did really well with her solo!!) Definitely "had something in my eye" while I was watching it Congrats to all concerned!

Oh frabjous day! We have the internet back, and our first lot of Billy bookcases have arrived from Ikea!

Whey hey Blue welcome back to the virtual world and enjoy the book-stacking!!

You know those lists that I post which are scary?

Yeah, just insert one here....

Oooh Blue I'm glad you have internettage now! And I have bookcase envy :o

Oh SC your poor DD. Hope it's just a little virus. As for the techie talk, I dunno really! Although I'm going to have to get to grips with PowerPoint - have offered to do a talk at the library in the spring and usually these talks have a slide show in the background.

I have labelled today as Fuck All Friday - this week has worn me out (in a good way though) so I'm doing absolutely nothing, leaving the DCs to do whatever the hell they want and not attempting anything that looks like an activity, housework or education. No guilt, just a restful day. Back to it on Monday, mind you!

When I finally crawled wandered downstairs well after 10am the DCs were attempting to play chess together, and have since built a massive train track and lego house, and have only just stuck the TV on for a film. DD was in an utterly foul mood this morning but seems to be fine now thanks to having a long time to play. I am still in my jammies and have been doing my beloved logic puzzles and played piano. Might do some reading in a bit - I'm plodding along through the Tony Attwood's complete guide to Asperger's Syndrome and I'd like to finish that before I start one of the pile of fiction I've borrowed from the library.

Tomorrow I'm taking DS to have a go at the ballroom dance class!

Cant I'm confused (nothing new there) do you mean you've completed a massive list? Despite the fact you should really be resting..? :)

I'll post it when I get back from my 4hr round trip. You'll see....

But don't say i didn't warn you.

ta da
load in washing machine
empty car surprisingly only took 10 mins as not too bad and I was dodging rain showers
car to garage
another load of washing
fold mountain of washing
pack ds' clothes
make ds' bed, put tray covered in old towels on it
dump washed wet lego on above tray
de-boy the toilet ie deep clean it inside and out
another load of washing
empty shelves in bathroom cleaning removed items as go
clean shelves themselves
put what is going back on shelves
remove from bathroom what has been decluttered from there
Wash hair brushes and hair stuff
soak plants
another load of washing
empty upstairs bins, except ds' which I just remembered I forgot
take out recycling
clean laundry baskets
Hit attack on spare room resulting in the following:
=mountain of bin liners containing mother's spare quilts/and contents of linen cupboard
=removal of burn pile that is waiting for me to get around to it
=reorganisation of furniture + boxes of stuff which are on the to do list to sort but not got done yet
=addition of 2 coffee tables for temp storage
Empty book case one of games and move to temp location
Clean games and remove those to different storage
Move bookcase
start moving dvd collection
More washing
Make 3 varieties of cake
4hr round trip
Another load of washing
Buy wool for presents that need making fairly urgently keep the legs closed people, keep them closed (you know that phase when everyone seems to get married all at once and then go on to have babies all at once, yeah that)
move coffee tables to a new location
2 loads of hand wash
sort out mending pile and ironing pile ready for tackling
2 loads of ds' training kit
2 more loads of washing (yes I am working my way through those sodding bags of stuff from the linen closet as if you take one out you get and amazing cloud of dust pigpen style yes I am bored of washing already AND there is so so much more to do )
Help the mother clear a load of stuff so she could locate something she had lost
Sort a load of grown out of toys and books ready to go
Also managed to watch 5 programs and clear them off the recorded list
I have iced one of the cakes but just waiting for the other one to cool enough to have its icing applied.
Will probably also try to shove another load of washing in. Not even made a dent in the sodding pile AND I still have to strip my wardrobe for washing to remove the dust from that.

So whilst I wait I am going to curl up with a hot water bottle, safe in the knowledge that tomo's list is going to look about the same and start making one of those presents. Which, whilst is very relaxing, was not really on my to do list of craft projects to do before the end of the year. However, it is nice to have something to force me to sit occasionally. 2 day's per pressie. --not sure how but hey ho, let it snow!-

So yeah Fuzzpig you can see that I am doing really well i suck at resting

See you tomo for another happy smiley list

Oh and I also hoovered all the filters on the dryer cos it was throwing a strop. That is actually the most satisfying job today.

Oh Cant what are you like?! :o

I did the complete opposite of that. I think the only achievement yesterday was throwing some food at the DCs making lunch

I'm sleepy this morning but need to get ready for DS' dance class. The only thing that really bugs me about not being able to drive is that getting to all these things takes so much more time! But it does mean we have a lot of time to just gaze out of the bus window and let our minds wander, which is actually quite nice.

I've just seen a video of the event I launched - I feel happy and proud, but also really sad and resentful that I wasn't there for it (due to being off sick) and it just amplifies the fact that I feel totally forgotten about by pretty much everyone at work

Anyway, must get ready to go now. Will post links as I forgot last night.