Fledglings go on summer mode, Welcome to July.

[YesEinsteinsMumDid]

Ok, so as there is no thread, and I can't remember or find a volunter for this month I declare summer mode operational.

This means:

1. You are still welcome to join and post

1. If you want there to be links and no one has posted them, feel free to post them.
2. As technical thread leader I shall be hanging out in the naughty corner bar
3. We'll still answer questions for anyone wanting information on the fly lady system and support each other. It's just a little more relaxed.

And with that, bring on July and crazy pants school holiday stuff...

Ahoy there fellow Fledglings! Thank you Who for the previous thread and Einstein for stepping in with this one! :)

I'm back after a few days without the internet AGAIN. Turned out the fault in our street had been fixed (a few weeks back) but they hadn't put a cover over the wiring, so it kept shorting every time it hit other wires. All ok now anyway. Not the best time to have a complete lack of technology though, what with various things to sort out. Argh.

We have actually managed a reasonably productive time though - we're making headway on replacing a laptop part (proof of purchase etc needed), I've made an enquiry about DS' birthday party and about various home ed activities, the diary is reasonably up to date, I've also sorted out two maths classes properly now (both alternate weeks so spaced out fairly well) and have been lesson planning! So exciting! I also adjusted DD's dress myself using her new sewing machine, which as a non-crafty person I am very proud of. And we (when looking unsuccessfully for aforementioned proof of purchase) ditched a load of paperwork. Picking up a shredder next week and then we'll go through the huge box of old financial stuff upstairs.

Worst of the cold is over now thankfully, still got a really horrible cough though so once again I'm trying to find the balance between doing stuff and not overdoing it!

Thank you for shiny new thread Einstein

Good on you for being assertive SC

Happy Birthday for Monday MadSprocker

I've been totally on top of stuff recently (other than this thread, sorry)

Downstairs is all pretty much Spring cleaned but still a fair bit to do upstairs. Also, OH finally proposed agreed to marry me so I'm planning a November/December wedding.

Ta da list for today,
Washed bedding
Vacuumed under sofas
Dishes
Grocery shop
Cleaned outhouse thing
Cleaned skirting boards

Just catching up, SC WELL DONE for being assertive! Please banish that guilt!

Mad happy birthday for Monday and Kruck congratulations on your engagement.

Welcome to lovely newbies and returnees :) :)

Good morning!

Kruck what lovely news! Many, many congratulations on your engagement!! I do love a winter wedding too! I always think they are incredibly romantic!
You sound v on top of things Flying-wise too!

Glad you are connected again Cag! Good luck with all your various projects! Good luck with all the maths class prep!

Thanks for supportive words both! Definitely feel the need to clear a space to allow ourselves to get on with our priorities this summer; instead of having our actions dictated by the plans of others (which is what usually happens)!

As for child-free plans for dh and myself this week - they are steadily going to pot - dh has unfortunately woken up with terrible flu! He feels rotten poor thing. Half the people I know have some bronchial issue atm; I think it is this awful weather!

Big wing flaps to everyone else! Hope the sun shines for a while today wherever you are!

Kruck big congratulations on your engagement, your life is going to get loads busier!

We had a big work family day where my husband works yesterday, so very little flying, but we all had a great day seeing how everybody's children are growing up. My DH and ds's camped, so now have a very grumpy DH who didn't sleep nothing to do with drinking all day but he's not allowed to moan and spoil my birthday celebrations.

Ta da
Load of washing put on

To do
Hang said washing on the line as it is sunny, yay.
Pick flowers.

My brother and sister are back (my dm and df live round the corner) and we are meeting my dmil for lunch, so really looking forward to that.

Happy Sunday everyone.

Thank you we are having a very small do, about 7 guests, registry office and afternoon tea at a local Manor House after. So nothing too stressful at all.

Ta da,
Put washing on and then on the line
Trip to the park with DS and OH

To do,
Put washing away
Tidy master bedroom
Polish bedroom
Vacuum upstairs
Shine sink
Sweep and mop hard surfaces

Ah, sounds lovely Kruck :)

Feeling really motivated in spirit today but can't say the same of my body - killer headache (thanks to the fact I keep forgetting my medication I think - won't have a steady supply again until 11th when I see GP) and still coughing a lot.

Need to get the DCs to put their clothes away (not much) then do some laundry later, I've decided on jacket spuds for dinner as I'm not up to much (thankfully we have microwave sachets of veg which will accompany it). Will have to bite the bullet and order a food delivery soon, but need to do a thorough inventory of the freezer first as we have loads of meat in there.

DH is off tomorrow and the meetup I thought might happen isn't, so we should have most of the day free for getting some bits in the house sorted. Tuesday we're off to some museum workshops in a neighbouring town with some friends. Paleontology and Ancient Rome. :) Might swing by the park there too, it's huge and really nice.

DD is currently working away at her sewing machine. I nearly left it for Christmas instead of her birthday but I'm glad I didn't, she's totally in love with it, and we're both learning a lot. Mum has asked what to get DS for his birthday (next month) so I need to put some thought into that soon. It was easier with DD as they paid for her stupidly expensive dance shoes.

Also thought I had to sort out childcare for my GP appt but just realised I don't as DH is off in the morning, so he can take DD to book club. Hurrah.

I should get on with stuff, I appear to be glued to the sofa.

Hi guys how's your weekend been? Mine has been very relaxed ran round like a loony this morning tidying hoovering managed to get carpets washed and skirting boards cleaned not much left to do few washings and gonna give the doors a wipe down , even manage to give some of DDs old clothes away to a friend last night

Hi Tonis :) weekend's been rather dull. I prefer the week really, as there's more stuff going on (for any newbies, my DCs are home educated). Weekends we just tend to doss at home and DD plays out with the neighbours.

Right. Seriously need to tidy up now, with DCs' helping. Done sod all today!

Evening all,

A fairly busy but enjoyable weekend here. I see I haven't posted since Thursday morning. Friday afternoon was DD''s school summer fair after school, followed by her drama group production in the evening, which was brilliant. So a lie-in yesterday, followed by fruit picking at the PYO farm and jam making, plus a bit of shopping in the afternoon. SC - we were shopping for Guide camp, I feel your pain, but at least we don't need rosary beads! When DS went to Scout camp a few months ago I delegated the kit list in it's entirety to DH and it's fair to say he didn't know what had hit him, I think it was quite an eye-opener for him as I've always done them in the past.

Today DS has been out with friends and I have been visiting family with DD, then we had a BBQ this evening at home. Flying wise - not too bad, downstairs is passable, upstairs not great.

Stillliving/SC - the playmobile was the school, it didn't take too long as we had put it away in chunks which just needed reassembling, unlike the first time when it was a Christmas present and I had to do it by stealth over several days while DD was at school, hiding it in between, reckon it took about 6 hours in total.

Kruck - lovely news . We haven't had a thread wedding for a while, Shannara - did you get married in the last year or so or am I remembering wrongly? Hope your DH is OK by the way.

Tonis - wow, you are doing well!

Congratulations, kruck :)

Had a choir performance yesterday which meant DH had to do the swimming run and grocery shopping. Have also done a bit of tidying in the house and garden this weekend. Lots of aggro between the boys at the moment, which is rather wearing. Lots to organise this week, so will have to shake off my lethargy somehow...

Waves to all. Night.

Good morning campers!

All craziness around here this morning.

Ta da
returned a mountain of letters to school
discover ds needed to bring stuff into school today
frantically hunt around for required items and send into school
crawl onto roof and rescue item that fell out of window when I opened it to air the house out.
Clear half of the top gutter and make a note the roof needs sweeping
survey ds' room that I trashed looking for said item and know that the child is going to be unhappy with the task of tidying his room when he gets home from school
Sulk about the amount of clothes stuffed into the wardrobe rather than hung up
Put a load of old towels on to wash.
COnsider plan of action for today.

Morning guys we are up and at it today ! It was so nice to walk into a tidy living room this morning I actually don't feel like a zombie today (think I've not been sleeping to well due to the stress of the house!) only thing that needs don't today are the kitchen and some hoovering which won't take very long so get that out the way and then we're off to the park hope you's are all having a good morning

Ah well done folks. Wish I could say the same :o

Morning everyone.

Tonis it makes such a difference coming down to a tidy house doesn't it? I think that's where the sink shining makes such a big difference too. Have a good time at the park.

Einstein I didn't realise that sweeping roofs was even a thing . Is that something I should be doing?

Ta da list for so far,
Vacuumed downstairs
Washed up
Made a picnic for the park
Put laundry away
Load of laundry washed and now on line
Took the boys for a walk to pick leaves
Cut back plants overgrown from next door

To do,
Trip to park
Polish DS room
Generally run around after two young children
Leaf printing (wish me luck)
Cook tea
Bathe DS and DNephew (is there a short version of that?)

Hello, I need to come back! I need some structure to get the house sorted out so I have more time for nice, fun stuff :)
I now have a life-saver cleaner once a week who does the house bleurgh but I have realised that I still need to do all the other stuff - Friday has become a mad, stressful dash round to tidy before the cleaner comes! Need to carry on doing all the baby steps to make it all work calmly
So today I am trying to remember my morning routine, declutter something and do a mission!
Ta Da:

• All up and out though uniforms were ironed this morning!
• Washing up
• Washing x 1done, washing x 2 in machine
• Some work
• Added to a list of 'things that I need to do' but don't seem to have ticked any off yet!

To do:

• Hang washing out x 2
• S&S x 2
• Declutter something in kitchen - make a start on cookery magazines possibly!
• Tackle oven (cooker top is clean thanks to cleaner :))
• Ring people re getting jobs done
• Order DS's parkrun 50 t-shirt
• Go and talk to carpenter about making some things for us (which will help get a move on with finally sorting out the hall, stairs and landing 3 years after extension )

HUGE waves to everyone new and old, hopefully I'll catch up as i go along :)

So I decided to do an inventory of all our board/card games. I'm just writing them down at the moment. I'm over 150 already. I have a problem don't I? Is there such thing as Board Gamers Anonymous?

Welcome back feetheart! :)

Kruck it's odd isn't it because DN can be niece or nephew, but I think generally people just put DN. Maybe DNw or DNph? (Just looks like chemistry symbols to me :o)

I finished my list at 166.

Cagliostro - thanks for the welcome back. You don't have a problem at all What are the favourites at the moment? Mine is Quirkle, DC's is probably Lord of the Rings Risk.

Oh yay a fellow board game fan :o and someone who can justify my hoard.

Favourites? Eesh that's a toughie. We don't get to play the more grown up games often lately (DH is on late shifts most of the time) but for family ones, I'd say Dragonwood, which is a card game that DH chose at the UK Games Expo last month (at the NEC - we stayed up there for a few days and met up with friends as well, it was fab). Also I got DD Banana Split for her birthday which she loves. I've recently got Haru Ichiban which I'm really excited about as I have a weakness for all things Japan-related. It's sooo pretty. In terms of regular favourites, probably Ticket to Ride Europe. :) Oh and Steam Park, Takenoko... the list goes on.

It's my choice of Christmas Board Game this year too (which won't be the only game as I've already got Across Africa and Monster Cafe for the DCs) but not sure what to get yet, though I'm coveting Flash Point which I've played a few times. Last year it was DH's turn and he chose Castle Panic which is great. We got to play a giant version of it at the Expo! We're getting the Thunderbirds co-op game for DS' birthday next month as he loves games as much as I do and is Thunderbirds crazy.

In all honesty (and I think I end up saying this on every thread at some point) this family love of games is the main incentive for tidying the house up properly. We do play a lot but not nearly as much as we would if we had a nice clear table and had all the games organised in a more sensible way.

Cag I had it in my head that DN was Dear Nan. I'll just use DN from now on, doesn't really matter that gender he is. Just didn't want people to think I was giving my nan and son a bath together.

Re roof sweeping. We have a lot of tree debris lose on the roof and if I sweep it, it is less likely to block the drains/guttering in the next rain storm. And it is easily accessible out of an upstairs window. The main roof does not get this treatment but also have a steeper Apex so doesn't collect the debris in the same way. iyswim.

FYI Wooden stair case really hurt when you fall down them.

Oh no Einstein [ibuprofen] [ice pack] :(

Ha Kruck no I think DN is used as niece/nephew, nan would generally be DGM for grandmother :)

What ho fledglings ..

Bit grim here atm as I have gone down with the flu today as well as dh. DD is well off out of it and hopefully (because we have had no contact with her so far as she wasn't allowed to take her phone - thinking of texting her monitrice on Wed) is having a whale of a time at camp!

Dh and I forced ourselves to do practical things this morning. He went to the office while I sorted animals, arranged for dog-walker to help us out, nipped to supermarket and chemist, took my car in for a service and sorted the water softener people who were here for annual service, and cancelled our plans to go out with friends tomorrow tonight.

Then, after lunch, we both collapsed in to bed and tried to sleep but we were both coughing/sneezing/shivering (v romantic, not!). We both feel a bit wretched tbh and are now shuffling about like 90 yr olds in our dressing gowns grunting at one another in a very grumpy fashion And I am a bit cross with him because he sent me some urgent proof-reading via e-mail but didn't actually tell me about it even though he was in the same room and then complained that I hadn't done it. Men, honestly!

Anyway, enough of our grumps, hope everyone else is ok?

Although Einstein see you are not ok, ouch! Pls do not fall off roof too!! Congrats on ace list!

Cag at 166 board games!! Can see why storage is an issue!!
Have same probs with books here though most of which are still in cardboard boxes. We store our (much smaller) stack of board games on a couple of shelves in a basic Ikea book-case. I wonder if a couple of those would work for you? (Using height of wall to stack 'em I mean.)

Yay! Welcome back Feetheart! Good news about the cleaner! Can't believe it is 3 yrs since you did the work on your extension! Good luck with your list!

Kruck your wedding tea sounds lovely! And your post about picking leaves in the park and making prints gave me a huge whoosh of nostalgia - oh for the simple pleasures - [dabs eye with corner of handkerchief] - would love to go leaf- picking with a small person again Arf at the image of communal family bathing Don't worry we are very liberal on this thread Only just managed to stop dd bathing with the dog the other day!

You sound v on top of things Tonis!

Congrats on choir performance Blue!

Big waves to everyone else!

Whoknows grateful for your post and to find that it's not just me that finds packing for camp challenging! Just love that Playmobil school btw! [Seem to recall dd had a small dispute with her mother as to where to site the snack stand ... er, think I got a bit um, "over-involved" with that one ]