New Start November - in which the Friendly Fledglings Flutter and Fly!

[Cagliostro]

Hi all!

Welcome to a brand new month in which we (in a very casual way) follow the FlyLady method to try and banish CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome), and to declutter in order to remove an excess of STUFF (Something That Undermines Family Fun).

A daily BabyStep, plus missions, daily focuses and weekly zones break our time into manageable chunks - all helped by lots of supportive chat and a Naughty Corner stocked with goodies.

All welcome!

Christmas is about all that's keeping me going at the mo :o ho ho ho

Ta das -

Sink shined
Kitchen floor swept
5 mins hotspots
Dining room hoovered
Summer duvet retrieved from drycleaners
15 mins dusting in sitting room
10 mins bathrooms
Laundry? ahem nothing done on that score

I've had a better day today although I'm mainly running on caffeine.

Ta da's
Food shop
Cooked proper tea with actual vegetables
Tidied guest room ready for visitors on Friday (inc changing bedlinen, moving painting equipment, sorting bathroom)
Did some email admin
5 min tidy in the bedroom

I love Christmas but it really seems to be coming quickly this year. Feel as if I never have time to do anything as have so much studying to do at the moment. Hoping to get half an hour done later.

Not the most productive evening so far. Got stuck in work car park (they are redoing it so very tight temporary spaces) and scratched car on pillar and was late back.

•purpledaisies* 'actual vegetables' made me grin, thank you!

Thanks new.
I've been feeling rotten with cold and tiredness and we've mainly been eating beige freezer food. It was really nice to have something colourful.

Links for Thursday while t'internet is working and not being 'improved'

The daily summary for Thursday (also available on the Flylady website at flight plan which should update automatically each day.

**

Baby-step no 24 - swish and swipe in the morning

We are in Zone 4 this week: the master bedroom

Spend 15 mins decluttering in Zone 4.

When you have finished decluttering, the detailed cleaning list (if you are at that stage) for Zone 4 is here

Mission for Thursday declutter the top of the dressing table, chest of drawers or other flat surface in the bedroom

The daily focus for Thursday is: errand day

The monthly habit for November is menu planning!

extra Christmas mission

Foxes ds2 and 3 are talkers, they talk just for the sake of talking, ds2 will generally repeat the funny moment in school/joke/that the pets/ds3 did to each member of the household in turn, he also talks non stop about football, he is the only one who follows it. ds3 will ask stupid questions like "what are you doing" when cooking or loading dishwasher. He's also a repeater, repeats the questions but clearly doesn't listen to the answer, he tells everyone in the household that he loves them, which is lovely, but its now become a habit which he does whenever its quiet and will also tell everyone in turn, and will get upset if you dont reply with love you too. Ds1 despite having adhd, is the quietest. However he did start the love you trend, and the repeating trend, he just grew out of it.

stressy yes he does work nights, which is why i feel a bit of a cow, told him tonight that i was feeling overwhelmed, he said all i need to worry about is work everything else is sorted. best friend told me today that she absolutely loves wrapping presents, she doesnt have kids (bless her) pretty sure the novelty will wear off this year .

I saw an absolutely adorable charlie bear today, one of 300 and he was gorgeous, £132 though. Dp looked at the price and was like . We most definitely don't have the money to spend on such a beauty. So that will be on my never going to get wish list. He also told me how heart broken i would be if the dog got hold of it, (I'm sure i could find a glass case for it). I guess I'm just going to have to keep loving it in the shop.

Cotswold really good of you to volunteer for busy month of December! And yes posting links definitely gives you a Flying free pass . Don't worry; I can easily do links here Fri night for Sat, hope you have a good trip.

And re: "marvellous things in boudoir" the chance would be a fine thing atm frankly barely (no pun intended) see dh as he is on the road so much... .

Got slightly back on track today (bright sunshine makes such a difference) but still loads to do:

Ta da:
animals
laundry loads x 2
empty dw
filled dw
cleaned kitchen surfaces and bin lid
one dining room table hot spot
dog walks x 2
quick supermarket run
made 24 mini carrot cakes
helped dd make flapjacks and sultana bake thing
emptied dw again
hwk supervision (maths equations which I can't do )
made fishcakes for supper
tidied up supper
deleted Paddington Bear images from dry-as-dust business Powerpoint presentation dh will be delivering tomorrow (placed there by new intern for some reason known only to themselves )
animals again

To do:
sew on button on school skirt
pack up cakes for transport
lock up
clothes out for tomorrow

To do tomorrow:
usual routines
put away laundered clothes
sort and clean bathroom
make banana loaf cake
sort laundry for weekend bed change
strip sofa covers and wash
dust and re-arrange sideboard
tidy up play room which is a disgusting pit of doom
more laundry
make veg soup
wrap present and send parcel
on-line supermarket order
a few on-line Christmas purchases
carry all the things that should be upstairs, downstairs and vice versa
sort dd clothes and empty her suitcase from weeks ago
sort out nearly new toys for St Nicolas charity box

Toostressy oh no about car scratch!! Totally agree with you about Christmas coming quicker this year!! Hope your dd1 was feeling more cheerful today

Purple meant to say earlier, v good news about your gp!

Scuttl agree others that you are totally entitled to feel thoroughly miffed. Whinge away!

Must stop there and go and sew on a button before bed! Big waves to everyone I have missed! Sleep well one and all!

x post Scuttl

aw to bear

hats off to you all with 3/3+ dc - just don't know how you do it - funnily enough would love dd to chatter a bit more now but teenagers are strangely reticent creatures ... .

Sorry you are feeling overwhelmed though Scuttl

No boudoir action here either tonight as have stayed up late writing presentation for course. Really had to get it done and have made a real start with it now so feel much better.

Shattered and still annoyed about car scratch. TBH it just seals the deal that work is rubbish and I have to make plans to get out (hence doing things like this course).

Cotswold that's very generous to offer to do the December busy thread! Have been thinking I should offer to do one next year if someone can talk me though how to put links on at some stage? Have no idea although did placemark on a thread about it a while back so could dig that up.

DD1 seems a bit happier today, thanks. Just feel I am juggling everything at the moment and it's hard work.

Scuttl, I don't do them any more but have worked many nights in my time. I guess it depends how many hours sleep he got. Probably a 50:50 split of unreasonableness ?! If he only had a few hours then he may have been in that mind numbed despairing state - I remember it well . If he got a proper sleep you have more grounds for complaint.

SC now I want to put Paddington images in my presentation!

Toostressy!

I have instructions on how to do links in my inbox somewhere (which I sent to another fledgling who had kindly offered to lead for first time). Will seek them out at some point and send to you. Very good of you to generously offer to do links in NY but you must only do them when things have calmed down for you significantly and your nn changes to Notoostressyanymore or similar

Thanks! My course finishes in February. Could do March thread if someone reminds me?! Sadly I don't think I'll ever not be stressy.

Had strange caffeine burst of energy after presentation so have just filed away some course bits. Must go to bed now!

Toostressy well done on the filing

I was full of good intentions today Flying-wise but I am feeling odd. Can't seem to control my temperature, and keep having these episodes where I feel dizzy and a bit clammy. I'm carrying on because there is so much to do but going very, very, very slowly. Just praying I am not going down with the flu!

Hope everyone else ok!

Today's plans have taken an unexpected nose dive. Our poorly guinea pig has hurt her leg doing goodness knows what so we've got an emergency trip to the vet this afternoon. I'm quite worried that this might be the final straw for poor GP. I'm trying to take my mind off it with cleaning but it isn't working.

Oh no Purple the poor wee thing - fingers crossed for you both.

Urrggg feels like nothing is going right this week, had a huge order, over £600 quids worth come this week, and as I'm sorting through it, I notice bits are missing...generally more expensive items, watches, slippers, pjs, rang up hq and they're asking me about the brochures, I got frustrated because its products missing not brochure, they say they'll investigate. They did and emailed me to tell me I had the right amount of brochures!! they are going to get a hell of a shock when I get replacements for items not received grrr. I hate Christmas with this company I always hear or have a problem at some point.

omg purple i'm so sorry for your guinea pig, I hope its going to be alright, fingers crossed for you both.

We're back from the vets with dodgy kidney safe pain killers and we'all see how she goes. It just so horrible when your pets are unwell-I'm a total softie when it comes to our small and furries.

I've done a small amount of tidying, cooked some more vegetables for tea (the dregs of the veg box pasta which was surprisingly nice) and cleaned the guinea pigs out. Better than I thought given it's been a bit of a rotten day.

sweeping I hope you avoid the lurgy and scuttl your order sounds a nightmare-why can't people just be competent at what they do?

purple hope your guinea pig is ok, how many do you have? We used to have two but lost them both a couple of years ago , I do love guinea pigs!

SC hope you're ok and it turns out to be nothing too serious.

Ta das
Dishwasher on
Washing on
Washing hung up
Bit of tidying
Dinner cooked (with vegetables as well! I also feel good when a dinner includes some veg rather than beans and chips of course doesn't mean dd eats the veg...)

Not much achieved today, bad night with ds last night so felt a bit sluggish.

Hi all, purple, hope your GP is ok. SC, hope you feel better soon.

Ta das:-
DH has done a quick version of home bleugh - I need to change sheets tomorrow
Made to do list for tomorrow morning
DD1 asleep
Bit of studying

To do:-
Wait for DD2 to go to sleep
Tea - DH has suggested takeaway and of course now I want one but should see what is in the freezer first
DD1 thank you cards - really have had enough now, have one left and am going to write the whole thing and make her sign it in the morning
Before bed routine
5 min declutter in bedroom
If I have the time, 15 mins on presentation

toostressy you have reminded me I have one last thank you card to do as well! I've been waiting to find out the ladies name (that sounds ridiculous but she is my parents friend and I've only met her once but she knitted ds a little jumper !). Also if the takeaway option was Chinese or fish and chips I'd be going for that and forget what's in the freezer but I'm very easily swayed when dh suggests these things! Perhaps don't listen to me

Thanks everyone.

We've got four guinea pigs foxes. We originally had two boys but one died and we didn't want the remaining one to be lonely. He was supposed to be getting one girlfriend but ended up with more when the lady who was sending them to the RSPCA just said take as many of these as you want-I don't want them so we took all three. They're all sisters and they're really lovely. Having an extra couple in the cage doesn't make much difference really and I'm a sucker for a sob story.

Aah purple we did the exact same thing, we had two females and one died quite young so we wanted another one to keep her company and ended up taking two females so had 3 for a while but unfortunately the eldest one died not long after (I expect stress related as her mate had died). Anyway I hope your piggie pulls through, they make dear little pets.