January Fledglings - Resolve to Fly!

[WhoKn0wsWhereTheMistletoes]

So, here we are at the start of 2016, poised with our control journals and ready to Fly for another year. New and old, all are welcome here, we loosely follow the principles of Flylady to manage our homes and lives, we also chat and lend an ear to whatever life throws at us.

We post links to the Flylady site each day throughout the month, with daily babysteps and missions inside that weeks zone. We also declutter. No links in this post, I'm on my phone and will do some separately, but it's time to get ready for 2016. A big thank you to everyone who has run the thread in 2015 and everyone who has contributed .

Good morning all!

[Disclaimer: mahoosive wobbly lipped vent follows. Feel free to ignore!!]

Actually, it's not a terribly good one here. Wet, dark and raining.

Dh in a foul mood because he still has the flu.

Furry one has got the hump because he hates the rain.

DD in tears over breakfast at the prospect of rtning to school . There were more tears on the same subject last night at supper: how she hates it, doesn't fit in, her level of Fr isn't good enough etc etc. Cue more angst about whether we are doing the right thing or not. And then a strop over the fact that I had "lost" her school boots, and her school report which she subsequently found put away where they should have been. [sigh]

I'm hoping this is just a normal reaction following a lovely Christmas fortnight of family time, presents, travel, being spoilt by aunts, friends, horse-riding, games etc etc but tbh it sounds a bit more serious than that. We'll see how the term goes ... .

Not helped by the fact that, in a distracted moment, I have put the iron through the lining of one of her school skirts.

And I was nearly in tears yesterday myself when trying to do some baking and finding that mice had got in to my baking ingreds in the kitchen while we were away. Cue horrified reaction, much chucking out of expensive ingreds, mahoosive amount of time spent washing and sterlising with Dettol solution and having to go out in the rain and buy replacements (despite having visited the shops 2 hrs earlier.) I'm afraid dh got the sharp end of my tongue again with words to the effect of "this is why normal people have cupboards that hang up on the wall".

Oh and entire house is a pit and have a mountain of washing to plough through. (New small wm is great but capacity is woeful; cue more constant running up and down stairs.)

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest Well it wouldn't be January without me whinging would it ?

Hope you all have a good week!!!

Ta da:
prep dd's lunch
fill dw
tidy up downstairs

To do:
animals
dog walk 1 (if he doesn't refuse to go out in the rain)
clear up kitchen
dining room table hot spot
shop for more baking ingreds which couldn't find on second sortie yesterday afternoon
hang up ballet kit to dry
sort laundry
more laundry on
baking
make soup
make sauce for spag bol
s&s
ironing
general tidy up
quick hoover downstairs
sort rubbish and recycling
one hour sorting boudoir

That'll do for now ... .

Before I start, and while I'm supping , how is everyone else?

Good luck to everyone returning to work, school, nursery etc etc!!

Good morning to Whoknows and thanks for links! Glad you made it back safely yesterday despite foul weather! Good luck being back at work and with your busy week and congrats on the meal planning!

Fuzz good to hear you had a lie-in yesterday and good luck with "proper tidy", home edding and all the admin you have to do to become self-employed!

Grey hope appreciates the castle! Oh no - just realised dragon emoticon is missing -

Georgeof thejungle congrats on sorting kitchen and good luck with bedroom! You definitely have an excuse though - take it steady - small steps and all of that [stern looks over pince nez] [proffers footstool]

And another one who should be taking it steady: good luck with returning to school today Mercury!

Good luck with the teaching today Honu hope it is not as onerous as feared!

Nicknacks your friend is lucky to have you as a support! And hope you managed to sleep last night. It is v. understandable that you find returning to work so stressful; think looking after other people's dc must be one of the most responsible jobs around. Good luck with your week! And congrats on getting to the bottom of laundry pile!

A very warm welcome back to Strumpers (great nn btw!) I remember you too! Lovely to "see" you!!

Lisawantsacat congrats on finishing work proj and good luck with today's list!

Waves to Allgunsblazing all newcomers, returnees, lurkers, regulars, everyone else and anyone I have missed!

OOps, just posted that and has reappeared! Yay! Could do with some cheering flames this morning ...

[Leaves strong coffee and choc croissants on chalet cabin naughty corner bar for everyone to help themselves]

Right, there is no delaying it any longer, had better get on ...

PA sorry, managed to miss your post yesterday. Just wanted to send . Having gone through it ourselves (albeit second-hand) have tiniest inkling of what you must be going through with your mum and dad. Incredibly stressful and upsetting for you xx

lol SC - is always lurking! He has been hibernating, but due to wake up soon ....

20mins before we need to leave and ds is still asleep. Yep today is going to hurt. And I have forgoten to wash PE kit.

I have done the mission for the first time in months! Also done bike riding with the boys and DS2 has come on massively over the holidays. Now in garden centre cafe for a last day before school treat.

Morning everyone! Well, it's still morning for a little while.

I was wrong about 'term' starting today - neighbour doesn't return to school until tomorrow! Oops. DCs both read to me this morning anyway though and not a whiff of grumbling so I'm pleased. Now they're playing with said neighbour for a while - I'm not going to make them sit in and do work when it's the last chance they have to play with her - we might do some crafty bits later anyway though.

Dinner stuff is defrosting, DCs put their clothes away, I've done my online banking and started packing for yet another visit to mum's tomorrow and found a couple of library books. Seems like barely a dent in the to do list but I'm feeling quite productive and (for me) energetic. I'm now going to try and get half an hour editing done before I get the DCs in for lunch.

Thank you so much for letting me back into the fold
SLIMMING not sure about all of your story but I certainly know about 80% of children round here have had vile meltdowns about going back to school most of it using all the things they know will be hurtful to their parents for greatest effect. I hope things calm for you as term continues,

So just going to jump in,
To do
Dishwasher
Washing machine
Ironing
School bags ready for Wednesday

Ta da's
Sainsburys

Not great achievement so far but will be on it now.

Half an hour editing done. Done about 10% by page numbers but probably more like 5% in practical terms, either way it's not a bad rate. Horrendous headache now, time for lunch and my medication methinks. Suggesting a quiet couple of hours with the DCs.

SC I forgot to say I think that kind of back-to-school meltdown sounds pretty normal to some extent especially after the lovely snuggliness of Christmas. I'd certainly keep a closer eye but she might be fine after a week or so?

Good afternoon everyone

Fuzz what a lovely surprise to have an extra day of holiday. And home ed seems to be agreeing with you and your brood.

Same to you Blue, glad you are making the most of your last family day

Strumpers all flying is progress! Don't be hard on yourself!

My Ta das
Fed cats
Fed me and DS
Dealt with cat litter trays
Swept downstairs hall
Tidied all shoes away
Emptied dishwasher
Dishwasher maintenance: topped up salt, rinse aid and ran a cleaner through
Bleach wash through the washing machine
Made two beds
Sorted out a bag of random paper rubbish that was lurking in the hall cupboard
Dragged everything out of the hall cupboard to hoover inside
Rearranged contents of cupboard for better fit
Sold our old uncomfortable exercise bike which was collected this morning
Lunch for DS and me.

DS and I have also had fun with one of his Christmas presents - a paint your own ceramic piggy bank. I had to sit on my hands so that I didn't interfere whilst he slapped random paint all over it, colours all mixing up. I was muttering to myself "perfection is not allowed" the whole time!

That's a skill I've struggled to learn myself Grey! :o Have to remind myself that it's not my project.

I was actually a tiny bit disappointed that neighbour was still off school, I was looking forward to just being us 3. But that might just be insane optimism talking. Anyway I guess it's allowed us a gentle start. Friend's gone home now, lunch in front of a movie then I'm getting my glue gun out - need to fix a couple of things but that'll lead quite nicely into consolidating a bit of learning the DCs did ages ago (we made blood components out of clay, but need to stick the different parts of a blood clot together and then label it!).

Need to get more housework done but looking around thinking where the actual hell do I start?!

Thanks for the wise words everyone about dd rtning to school (and for and waft of sunshine Blue). Much appreciated!

Just had a talk with dh about it over quick lunch and he reckons much the same, that it is a normal reaction and will all settle down soon (or if it doesn't, we will find out towards the middle to end of this term). Here's hoping!

Wow Grey that is a fab ta da list!

Finding it quite hard to get motivated to get through my list but soldiering on! It would be home bleugh day wouldn't it?!!

Strumpers much better to have small realistic list than one that is hard to finish!!

Fuzzpig good that you are feeling more energetic today! (Although meds do not sound nice).

Waves to Einstein and everyone else! Must go and stir bol sauce ... (to have with spag later).

Enjoy your last day of holiday Blue!!

Hi folks,
am back to say no more housework done but have done an hour of course work.
An hour of health and safety legislation has been indeed fun...NOT
now for lunch.

Grey your list was impressive, but not interfering when a child is painting a pottery pig? That's some skillz lady! I cannot help but 'advise'. That said, I managed to let the girls decorate the Xmas tree entirely unaided. It looked like the ghost of Christmas present had vomited up a load of festive cheer in the corner of our lounge.

Speaking of which, my main Ta Da today is the removal of all decs. We are de-festivised. Thank goodness we booked our summer holiday last week, so we have light at the end of the gloomy winter tunnel.
I've also scrubbed (half of) the kitchen floor on my hands and knees with bleach and a cloth. The goal was to just clean the bin but grew a little!
And lots of admin stuff sorted.

To Do...
Take loads of stuff to the charity shop, not let DDs see what's in the bags!

Quite enjoying the fact that life back to normal a bit today in terms of returning to a baby group this morning and a great added benefit is that it appears to have worn Meerkitten out and she is asleep in the sling and hence I can catch up here, yay!

Thank you SC for giving me permission to not be ready to lead the thread or fly at the moment due to Meerkitten but the thought of it being for a couple of years feels me with horror!

My Christmas decs are still up but I follow the twelfth night rule so realise they are about to come down, I'm gutted and Meerkitten loves the tree, especially feeling the needles and a couple of tree decs that she likes to pull off and play with. I may have to keep her favourite tree dec which is a little white bell on a ribbon out as she enjoys playing with it so much.

Weather is horrible here, really wet, dark, miserable. Still at least it is cosy indoors. I'm going to use keeping Meerkitten warm as an excuse to hibernate for the rest of the day I think.

Blind has been broken and bulb very dim in Meerkitten's room or rather the room that would be hers if it wasn't so full of crap and if she would sleep in her cot for ages so I haven't been able to do anything other than keep throwing more of her clothes in it and other crap.

DP sorted blind at the weekend and now there is light! He then took Meerkitten out for an hour and I've finally been able to start chipping away at the crap, hoorah!

So I was able to actually take Meerkitten in there today and let her play with some toys while I got dressed and then dressed her in there. She was looking around in wonder like she'd never seen the room before

I must keep the part of the room that is now useable like that and keep on chipping away at reclaiming the room.

I found numerous items such as paperwork from my hospital discharge (from when I had Meerkitten at the end of May) which shows just how long it is since I've done any real cleaning and tidying in the room

I am still keeping on top of washing up and washing, so that is good. I did suddenly realise that I needed to change my bedding yesterday though because I couldn't remember when I last did I used to be so good at weekly changes before Meerkitten, big sigh!!

Meerkitten appears to be waking up so will just post a couple of quick pictures of Meerkitten at seven months in case anyone needs a cute baby picture to give them a lift! (Any excuse to bore people with pictures of my baby! Shameless!)

I do love a good baby picture dogsbum

Sounds like good progress Dogs. Cute pics too! Aww. Decs still up till 12th Night here too, and feel slightly less freakish for it here than where we used to live where most people had them down by New Year at the latest.

Family day deteriorated rapidly, with ructions in the supermarket culminating in being ticked off in public by a random stranger. Always nice. Both boys are occupied with mysterious craft projects at the moment, which seem to be using most of the roll of sellotape they each had in their stockings!

Been feeling rather down today in a general anticlimactic kind of way, but starting a new choir this evening so hope it will provide a lift.

Lovely Pics, Dog.

Failed at my list yesterday due to an unexpected meeting being held at the nursing home, so didnt get the shopping done.

SO today I had to squeeze a weekly shop into an already manic schedule as I had not done any shopping really since before Christmas and the fridge was looking a little pathetic.
I have survived the dentist!!
Popped into work to make sure the place had not imploded without me over the past few weeks. Met with a colleague who had promised that he would organise our staff day tomorrow - surprise surprise!!! He has done bugger all!!!! He has not even organised a venue, so it now looks as if our staff day could be taking place at my house, me catering for the team and so far nothing organised to do!
I did 2 hours of work on a project for my course. After these 2 hours I realised I was about 25% through the project (loads done before CHristmas) , but I had already used up 87% of my wordcount for the entire thing. So I have had to have a rethink and I need to narrow down my subject matter. Came back to it this afternoon and just cannot get into it at all, so I have decided to come on here instead.

You all seem really busy and organised. I have done absolutely no housework today, although the kitchen is not looking too bad due to keeping on top of it over the Christmas period. (this was so that DH did not moan about the new gadget that I bought that I told him would fit nicely on the worktop and he gave me a face as if to say "what work top?" - its a massive actifryer thingamy. Only used it a few times, but DD3 has one and uses hers all the time and loves it, so I am hopeful that I will get use out of it and it wont just collect dust!)

Sorry for the lack of personal messages. I need to get my head around all your names and who you are etc..... really sorry, but big waves to you all.

Happy New Year one and all, both old friends and new.

Back to earth with a big fat bump today. Had an awesome new year in Germany and have just returned from DP's this morning straight into work. Boooo.

I am determined to at least post regularly...with a bit of flying into the bargain. My main mission at the moment js to restore the blood alcohol levels to some kind of normal. Then will i think about flying.

No big declarations but I shall do my best and will catch up with thread later tonight when I have restored order to a situation where I have only soent 2 nights at home over festive period and boy can you tell!

Good luck with the staff day and assignment.

Recovering from a 5hr round trip becoming a 7hr round trip due to weather and road works. Hoping that because I am exhausted and could fall asleep that I will be able to sleep at a reasonable time tonight. But because state of energy there has been no physical flying and I made today tuesday and did planning day stuff instead of the home bleurgh.

Thanks Einstein Blue and PA regarding pics. I think she is very cute but then I am massively biased

Blue that sounds grim in the supermarket, how cheeky of stranger to chip in! Glad to hear that I'm not the only one hanging on to my decorations until the last minute

PA in terms of learning who people are, how long on, etc. I joined last January knowing that I was pregnant with Meerkitten and wanting to de-clutter as much as possible before she arrived and also to have some systems in place and the house in as good condition as possible before the inevitable slide into chaos caused by having a baby I was a regular poster before Meerkitten, now much less frequent but I'm hoping to change that in the new year. We'll see what happens

Sounds like you've had a wonderful Christmas and New Year Ellie I feel quite jealous

Dogsbum meerkitten is adorable
SC how was dds first day back at school go?

I had a good day at school but am exhauated. There has been very limited flying here today. Beds were made, washing up done and some laundry dried and a quick trip to the supermarket was about the extent of it. Dc are going to bed early tonight and then I think I will be crawling in to bed. My children are back tomorrow so I will need to be full of energy.

Hope everybody had a good and productive day.