Flying Fakers come what May! Come and join the half-arsed Fledglings as we post our To Do and Ta Da lists and get our houses just a tiny bit tidier...

[Cagliostro]

Or try to anyway!

All welcome! I am struggling to stay awake so I’ll do the proper thread stuff tomorrow, but if you’d like some encouragement and chat while you get your house sorted then this is the place for you. We follow flylady in a delightfully lax sort of fashion.

Special thanks to zoo for the title idea 💐 😘

Strawberry we've been counting the days down to the weekend here.

Had a very upset 13 yo after school last night. She says she's not being bullied but I know most of her friends aren't in her class and we have added hormones in the mix.

Got her in a better mood eventually, I find keeping her busy works best so she doesn't sit feeling sorry for herself. As a bonus got a bin bag of rubbish out of her room plus a couple of carriers for the charity shop.

I wouldn't be a teenager again for all the money in the world.

Ta-dahs
Fed cat
Breakfasts
Washing up
DD to school
Beds
Swish & swipe
Rubbish out
Laundry
Tumble dryer
Orders packed
Quick coffee with friend

To do
Ironing
Collect DD
Posting
Run DH to wholesaler
Dinner
Washing up
Prep for crochet class tomorrow

Have s&s'd bathroom
Wiped door handles with Dettol
Tidied and cleaned kitchen surfaces with anti - bac stuff
Done 15 mins tidying in sitting room - it needs more

Starting to clear a small patch of spare bed in boudoir

Goth Fantasic lists!
Sympathies on the teenage upset front . Hope your DD is ok. Pre-teens/ teens are so much easier physically than young 'uns and in terms of sleep etc, but ye gads the emotional angst is draining ... .

Thanks Foxes and dont apologise, it did make sense! I would be feeling the same if I had to entertain tonight and had little 'uns. Don't want to sound rude about your replies; but who calls at that time when there are infants in the house? I used to get cross when people rang the doorbell during dd's bed time, never mind calling around! You are far too kind and accommodating .

Blueyeshadow ha! re: procrasti-gardening! I have been doing that all spring! .

Strawberry sunny Belgium!

No trampolining Badgers sadly, but was telling off the dog for barking unnecessarily just now, and what should I see but a ruddy great magpie, bold as brass, in my kitchen eating dog food from the furry's bowl! .

Foxes ruddy auotcorrect, that was meant to say "rellies" not replies!!!

sc don't worry we are rude about them all the time! .They do this quite often, sometimes they just phone when they're five minutes away so we have no choice! At least we have had a bit more warning this time. They always pop round either just when we want the dc to be going to bed or just when I'm about to dish up dinner so they end up sitting watching us eat I do offer them some but usually I don't actually have enough so it's all a bit awkward. I do try and be a relaxed easy going parent who says it's ok once in a while to have a late bedtime etc etc but when it comes down to it I want the kids in bed early so I can finally relax!!

Phew. Glad I got that off my chest.

I just did a power hour!! It worked pretty well but I seem to have just uncovered more stuff that needs doing.

Ta da
Daily routine
15 minutes dining area - polished table legs and chairs, wiped chairs, cleaned highchair properly, cleaned mat under highchair, polished mirror
Wiped kitchen sides, washed up
Put away lots of drinks bottles and made shelves in kitchen look a bit tidier
Swish and swipe both bathrooms
Decluttered bag and purse
Tidied porch up

To do
Make cake
Make dinner
Declutter / hoover car
Hang washing out, put more on
Hoover living room

I’ve done fuck all housework but we’ve got a decent bit of home ed done, goes to show we can fit in a decent amount in a short time so no reason we can’t do that daily and leave more time for projects. I’ll come up with a list of things as a sort of power hour to start each day or something (but yes when I see the word power I also think nap).

Decided that it’s really not worth going to the second baby rhyme session (there’s one at 10 and another at 11) as we still didn’t get anything done beforehand, and then baby was a bit tired, we were all hungry after and by the time everyone was fed we didn’t get home till gone half one! So basically if I want to go in future, it’ll have to be 10am or bust. I don’t think it’s that necessary really and it’s not something I feel the need to do weekly or anything (mostly it will clash with sports club anyway) but it’s nice to go sometimes and see old colleagues.

I may think about housework when the Caglets are happily on their screens after 3. Maybe. Meh.

Thank you all for the praise

Ta da

Uniforms ironed
Packed lunches made
1 load washed
1 load dry
Dc all up fed dressed out 840
School run there and back
Top up shop
2 x parcels dropped at different places
Shopping ordered
Picked up some house bits from b&m
Dry washing all away
Replied to a party invite

Dcs tea is in. Need to sort washing.

Ta da
New storage arrived so sorted toys into it and put board games in a cupboard
Cake is in the oven
Dh has mowed the lawn
Washing is hung out
Danced with the dc again until I was sweating and out of breath so not that long then

Haven't hoovered the car or the living room as I'm feeling a bit warm now! Might try and at least run the hoover round the living room but just having a first then I need to get my cottage pie started as we want a nice early dinner before in laws arrive! And they won't be getting any cake because it won't be cooled and iced until later tonight so there!

Much deserved I'vegotfamily!
(Just seeing the phrase "4 DC up fed dressed out 8.40" floors me every time!)

Foxes crikey, poor you, they sound like our parish priest whose visits happily coincide with supper time (usually on his housekeeper's day off)!! (Proffers fortifying for later! )

Cag I guiltily think of "walk" when I see the word "power" for the sole reason I am not doing any! . Very good going on the home ed front btw!

I have cleared a bit more of boudoir junk heap spare bed and put some washing on.

Now I am sitting in the garden with the furry under a blanket , breathing in lilac fumes, reading the latest Val McDermid, whilst quaffing a brew.

Pours for everyone from ginormous teapot ... .

Fish fingers, oven chips and frozen peas for supper.

< takes a bow >

I've

SC sounds like you ignored advice take it easy

Foxes would be a classic MN phrase f off to the other side of f off n f off some more to in laws....

In my day kids wouldn't DREAM talking parents like that

I will not be sworn at and treated to such disrespectful tone and language by an obnoxious teen in my own home

She sounds a handful zoo The cellar is availble....

I dont remember being that age and being so in to a tv show tbh. Although it may be better than what i was up to....

Oh that sounds tough going Zoo... that's why the teen emotional stuff is so hard I think ...it only takes 10 seconds for a "situation" to develop completely out of the blue ...and before we know it, we have full scale war on our hands and it's so frustrating when they won't listen to reason. (And that's not to mention the slow brewing situations when you can see the outcome and they can't, or just won't, and then it all blows up in the way you predicted, sigh.). Well done for cracking down on disrespectful behaviour, although I know it feels horrible having to do it.

Care to elaborate I've ?

[Thoroughly nosey emoticon]

At 14 I remember being a bit surly but I knew how far I could push it

BTW Zoo (and sorry to harp on) but I wouldn't have dreamt of speaking to my parents in the way dd speaks to us sometimes either (she doesn't swear but her attitude can be really off sometimes) - I would have been too scared to do so - and obviously there is a balance to be struck, but equally I didn't have the close honest conversations/relationship with my parents (who were good parents but from a totally different era in terms of strictness) that DD is able to have with us, so in a way it is the price one pays/a bit off a trade off nowadays if that makes sense. That's how I rationilise it anyway!

X posts there!

You go zoo! 👊 (howcome I can find a fencing emoji 🤺 and not a cheerleading one?!)

I want a trampolining badger :(

I have still done fuck all and informed DH I will remain that way. He is in agreement and will sort stuff out when he gets in, he met DD at the station for ballet after we saw her onto the bus here.

In answer to your earlier question ive yes DD sometimes thinks about trying secondary and because she really struggles with decision making anyway, it’s a very emotive topic. We had actually had a massive discussion about this several months back, in which we weighed everything up and she decided not to at this time - so I didn’t apply. However occasionally the subject comes up particularly at the moment as of course all her local non-HE friends are excited about moving on. There are things she is yearning for like walking to school with friends, but then when we got to the actual school bit she got really upset and even more stuff came out about her old school and how she felt there. Big discussion about how it’s totally natural to feel left out (even if she doesn’t actually want the thing she is left out of - it’s natural to want to fit in) and conflicted, and we really got to the nitty gritty of what elements she does and doesn’t miss. In any case, we will not be living here in September (unless something goes massively wrong with the housing list) and so the secondary school would be a different one anyway. So basically she says she doesn’t want to start yet, and we will think about it when we move, and in the meantime there are a few things we will prioritise like the going out independently etc. TBH the subject is generally not something she thinks about - she is very happy in home ed, heaps of friends and activities etc, and when it comes down to it she doesn’t want to give all that up and 99% of the time is still very “ugh school no way” 😳😂. It’s just at the moment all her school friends keep asking her, as do their parents, TBH it is a lot of pressure for a 10yo to be made to justify her very different lifestyle to everyone asking. I feel pressure too as it is generally assumed that home ed can’t possibly work above primary age.

I’m waffling! But it’s such a highly strung topic because of everything that went on in school, that was then compounded by the home ed friend who bullied her (most of the bullying was related to her “lack of” academic ability) - who thankfully is no longer around BTW which has helped a lot. One really good thing about the discussion though is how much she is enjoying our new more structured approach. I couldn’t do this kind of thing for so long because of aforementioned bullying - for a while she was scared to do anything at all in case somebody laughed at her yet again 😡😰 but she never lost the love of actually learning stuff and is now ready and willing to put it all on paper, in fact mere moments after tearfully telling me various frankly shocking things about how school made her feel she was telling me she’s going to write a script for a Shakespeare mashup in which Macbeth has a showdown with Bottom 🙄😂

I dunno. How the hell do I know if I’m doing the right thing 😫

Hmmm. I had a colourful youth. Started going off the rails at 14. You couldnt ground me because as soon as opportunity was there id be out of the house and not seen for days....i had much more entertaining things to do than watch tv!

foxes, good luck tonight. Such a terrible time to come round with young children . at trampolining badgers.

I would definitely have been into a tv show at that age zoo but did lead a very sheltered childhood! Part of the reason I struggle with DD2 is that I just found it so much easier to be good than to break the rules. I’m much more of a rule breaker as an adult than I ever was as a child.

SC, hope your DH feels better.

I have no real knowledge Cag but I think there are online learning and virtual schools at secondary? I’m sure you know all about these already of course, would they be an option for DD if she is wanting more structure but not school? As I say though, I know nothing about HE.

Glad I am inspiring people via Happily a Housewife with the power hour .

Ta da:-
Kids in bed
Wasted less time on MN than usual but still far too much
Some reading done with DDs
Tidied DD1’s room. Still some BRCs but that is ok as stuff had to be moved around to get the desk in so we will get it sorted.

Need to get on and sort tea. Living the dream with a microwave meal.

Gosh afresh if that's colourful my teens are in sepia

Enjoyed drawing with lil zoo whilst they at choir.dd2 ate her 2 crackers n skulked upstairs whilst we watch H20 on Netflix(about girls turning into mermaids with special powers) they've also gone up now.first time I've watch TV alone at night in a very very long time!!

H2O is a favourite here too zoo