Fledglings Fly back to school & work, September 2017, decluttering along the way ...

[Sandycarrots]

Hello, it's time to brush the sand off our feet, empty out the suitcases, sharpen our pencils, polish our lace-up shoes, and get stuck in to the September 2017 fledgling Fly thread!

This is where we attempt to declutter our homes and follow the 30-step wisdom of Flylady (minus cutesy barftastic language and a surfeit of e-mails) with lots of chat and support and mutual motivation (and of course) along the way.

Fly stands for Finally Loving Yourself (cheesy but there is merit to it). The general idea is that short bursts of tidying / organisation are more achievable than marathon efforts. Flylady advises 15 minute bursts of effort but you can tweak this to fit your own circumstances.

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 ):

1 - repeat or start baby steps (again!)

2 - repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

or

3 - reinforce babysteps and/or do daily missions

And those of you who have decluttered and are really enthusiastic can throw some detailed cleaning in to the mix as well!

More info available here, here and here.

Your choice whether or not you sign up to the Flylady e-mails, but we advise caution as there are lots of them!

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!

ta da
✅cooked a decent dinner
✅cleared up several hours after
✅opened up to friends about how bad I'm feeling (may have cried a bit but at least Caglets are in bed)

Had the most beautiful moment with DD though. She felt baby turning and her face was just a picture of absolute joy. Snapped a quick photo on my phone and can't stop staring at it!

cag thats lovely, bless her

I appear to have bent my contraceptive implant so now i shall have to drag myself to the bloody clinic and get it fished out 🤢

cag thats fabulous.i remember dd1 be fascinated by my belly lurching from sife to side with dd2.she loved feeling kicks
afresh ouch? I wont ask how you did that....
einstein hope tidays a little slower paced

I have super busy morning.i have not been inspired leap out bed by fact uts dark and its pissing down with rain😞

Best get bum in gear.
TTFN

Good morning fledglings!
(Hands Zoo a and rye toast with honey.). Good luck with yr busy morning.

Cag aw that's lovely about your dd and Cagletini! Go steady today!

Bummer about implant Afreshstart hope can be sorted without too much hassle.

Einstein we all need a non-Flying day from time to time! Hope your ds feels better soon.

Dd upset this morning as she is too ill for school and is going to miss her favourite chem class. (We got up at the usual time in the hope she'd be fit enough but she's wobbly and weak.) Bit of a turn around from the days when she cried because she had to go to school!

Feels very odd that there's no furry to walk this morning but wms are on and I'm just about to tackle dw. Then it's back to Zone 4 for me (my Zone 5 is fairly ok apart from playroom/tv rm.) Determined to thoroughly sort boudoir today and you have my permission to shoot me if I come back on here without it having been done!

Have a productive start to the week everyone!

Sitting in the dark as everyone will be grumpy if they wake up now. Might try and get back to sleep for a bit though.

Today I need to:
Book flu jab
See if I can see midwife tomorrow to discuss epic anxiety
Put laundry in dryer then get it put away
Order Tesco
Baths all round
Cook some dahl for the freezer (really don't know if I can manage this one, energy has just gone)
Pick up parcels and decide what to do with them (ordered wrong things for DS, this is one of the things that sent me spiralling into meltdown yesterday)
Maths and spellings with Caglets as a bare minimum
Possibly get hangers for Caglets' trousers/skirts
Get cheap storage boxes if we need them today

And the big one... make some kind of dent in the decluttering. Really have no idea what's best to work on though. There's a lot of general mess in our room, but no amount of general decluttering sessions seem to make much of a dent these days, although of course I know it must be making a difference gradually. So I think possibly the main aim should be focused on the Caglets' toys (mostly stored in our room but in a right mess, and some things need to be put away for the baby when she's older) and the Caglets' books (all over the house in various boxes and shelves and piles - I do think we need to gather them all together and sort through them all, there's loads of charity shop bargains that never get used etc).

Will need severe pointy stickage.

----> cag

The implant is placed in a non bending part of the arm so that this kind of thing doesnt happen. I have no idea how it has happened.

Overslept this morning as the alarm clock aka dc4 did go off til 715. Good on the sleep front bad on the chaos!

Ta da

Me n four dc up fed dressed and out by 840
Two packed lunches made
Three uniforms ironed
3 dc dropped at school
Bought new iron

I am only just sitting down with #1

ds off school ill. Need to track down inhalers and multivitamins for him.
I have a trapped nerve in my shoulder that is affecting the rest of my arm so that is a fun way to start the day after the calendar decided it needed more attention and landed on my during the night. So taking a nice slooooow start to the day.

To do:
Shoulder physio exercises after applying a heat pack.

ta da
✅sobbed pathetically on DH and explained (or tried to) why
✅made midwife appt for tomorrow to discuss aforementioned sobbing
✅got DD to put drying on
✅decluttered some BRCs with DH

He just wanted to get on with it this may have triggered the sobbing but I have also told him the plan which we will hopefully get on with later. I've started to pile up kids' books as we discover them among the BRCs and we are keeping an eye out for bigger storage boxes for the toys. DH is pretty horrified at the idea of gathering all the kids' books together (a la Kondo) though. I can see his point but I really really think it's necessary. Otherwise we just keep moving them around and never storing or sorting them properly.

Oh cag im sorry your feeling so low, hormones are a bitch. What is your anxiety surrounding? Is it just baby prep or more? (Please ignore me if you do not wish to discuss!)

Thank you I think it's mostly hormones yes. But I also have a long history of MH issues, and also being autistic I am finding all the change really difficult. Partly the baby of course especially after 8 years of just us four. And unlike the other two this baby was errrrm a surprise! A happy one but still.

I think adjusting to the whole diabetic diet thing has been tough as well and with the impending house move - having so much to sort out but not actually knowing WHEN it will happen - is just all piling on top of me. So really not sure if going back on ADs are the answer.

Another hourish of decluttering before lunch - not the plan I had in mind but TBF we have got more done than I imagined, loads of recycling a big bag for charity and two bin bags. We are just at that everything-else-left-on-the-bed-and-no-clue-what-to-do-with-it stage which is one of the things I get stressed about. So we've agreed to stop and sort that out fully, then sort out the storage for two types of toddler toy, then have a break. Off I go!

Cag . Hope you get the implant sorted Afresh. What a hassle. Hope you and your DD feeling better soon SC.

Ta da:-
Kids at school
Bought spare car seats
Took recycling- had to go to two different places. How anyone recycles around here without a car is beyond me.
Quick food shop.

Well that didn't go entirely as planned. There are still a few bits on the bed but mostly all sorted. But Caglets wandered in to help put a few bits away and we ended up doing more of the toy sorting than thought, even talking the Caglets and ourselves into getting rid of various figures, old cars from childhood etc. So actually that worked out brilliantly.

I have exercised this morning. I can feel it in my arms already so this may not end well!

I had a nice weekend even though DD had a bad cold - again - and as it's look-round-the-secondary-schools-month I'm out of the house in the morning and evenings a few times this week too. Not helping the declutter vibe at all.

Also need to focus on just a few threads on MN I think, spend far too much reading time on here (and finding it a bit frustrating ATM too).

Hello everyone! Sorry went awol over the weekend but I was lurking and did a tiny bit of flying too so all good.

Ds is currently making me want to scream into a pillow because he is refusing to nap today and he is running out of time now so he'll be an over tried grump for the rest of the day.

That sounds painful afresh hope you get it sorted.

cag sorry you're feeling so down

Right off to rock ds some more hopefully be back shortly !

I enjoy MN much more (while losing less time on it) now that I mostly stick to three support threads (including this one) and for the most part just lurk on others

Thank you foxes feeling slightly more human having left the house for a bit, we have had a quick lunch out and then back to it when we get home hopefully

Ta das
Daily routine almost finished
Hoovered downstairs
Mopped downstairs
Dusted
Swish and swipe upstairs bathroom
Stripped all beds
Changed all towels and tea towels
Cleared surfaces living room
Food shopping
Rang opticians
Spoke to friend
Sorted out dd thank you card to her friend at nursery
Made dd packed lunch / dropped her at nursery
Polished mirrors and kitchen doors

The to do list will have to wait as need to pick dd up now!

cagchange is hard all if us so i guess for you doubly so(hope that dont sound patronsing)
afresh if thealarm clock member doesnt wake soon goes tits up here too
foxes i have no answers just sympathy and
Sorry so many poorlies on thread today
Tada
Fed cats.littertray
Wash in
Bleach kav
Clean kitchen floor
Bins empty
Recycling out
Clear n clean dinibg tsbke
Breakfadt n n pack ups
Wipe bath n sink
Drop lil zoo
Head into town for appointment
Back home
Wash in dryer
More on
Lunch
Wash liv room windows(kit keeps sneeze snot trail on them.shudders)
Wash liv room floor
Menu olan for the week

To do
Ribg gp see areblood results areback
Ring council to get stsir light fixed
Collect
Snack
Wash in dryer
Collect dd2 from afterschool club (multigym) then tea
Easy one tonight-fish fingers mash n beans

My to do made sense when i sent it

Not patronising at all zoo that's exactly what I meant. Am just really glad I know about the ASD now because at least I understand why I find it extra difficult IYSWIM. Years and years spent wondering why I can't cope as well as everyone else. Not anymore though, I still get frustrated with myself but at least I can treat myself with some compassion too (or try to at least).

Picked up lil zoo
Try gp for ds blood results 4x...its ringing and says first in q but no ones answering.grrrr
4th attemp at housing office try sort s repair.so far ive wasted near hour my existence today on hold to them on a 0300 number.i am not happy bunny.....all i want is someone to answer and take my repair...landing light bulb went bang and as retrueved remnants of the bulb the fixture snap so cant secure new bulb in

ta da
Physio exercises
Rest
Parent poorly ds
work on a christmas present I am making (part 1 of a 4 part present)
Plot and scheme based on events yesterday - need to pick up a note book from the works during my lunch break tomo.

< puts out a vat of and hot chocolate for those who wish/need >

Ta das
Mop bathroom
Hoovered upstairs
Emptied bins
Played train set with dd
Finished daily routine

To do
Declutter one toy box in living room
Make dinner - tuna steaks veg and sweet potato chips (but kids are having same but with fish fingers snap zoo!)

I finally get thru to council..explain bulb pop n damage the bit new bulb would screw into.explain bathroom light is weird flat one with screws.this also not working as i dont have enough buy replacement this week (not cheap)i point out this renders landing dark and therefore a danger to kids.her reply-move a lamp.oh gee.why didnt i think such a splendid idea. because we dont own a bloody lamp i politely tell her this and am told without sense irony to get a cheap one from argos.erm i cant afford replsce a bulb in bathroom.do argos take shirtbuttons as payment.maybe i just being thick.or a diva.or both....

zoo

And that doesn't even take into account that a lamp on the landing would require a wire and this is a trip risk and thus dangerous.

ffs. it is frightening to think that there are actually people who have never changed a light bulb and have no clue but still, common. sense. people.-