September fledgling roll call: Ready, Set, FLY....

[HillsBesideTheSea]

Yes this is the bonkers back to school thread. We welcome you to jump aboard for the ride. We are following the Fly lady system for taming the chaos (can't have anyone over syndrome). We are at various levels and there is NO obligation to follow it to the letter (we've installed a bar in the naughty corner for hanging out and relaxing when needed)

4 levels for flying:
Baby steps - good for finding a routine in the tasks and getting over the perfection crippling effect
Baby steps and missions - yep basic routine and more in depth tasks
Baby steps, missions, and deep cleaning - can't clean clutter so don't consider this one if you need the next level
Flying combined with a decluttering system (kondo/unfuck etc etc) lets be honest fly lady is good for routine but not so quick with the decluttering results sometimes.

So ground rules, yes ground rules it is September:

1. Newbies - we are a long running but friendly bunch. We try not to seem clicky but it doesn't always come across as some of us have known each other on here for a long time, just join the chatter and you'll soon be a fledgling
2. There is NO wrong or right way of doing this, it is about adapting the system to suit your life circumstances, which will be different from someone else's.

Linkies will be posted daily and will appear shortly. Until then, jump on board, enjoy the ride and there are still hammocks, sand, comfy seats, cushions, blankies and a full English on the naughty corner bar it is a Saturday morning, breakfast is earnt

Thanks toostressy I decided I'd better make a bit more effort for dd first term and took your advice and ordered from that website- good price! Thanks! Hopefully they will arrive quickly so I can start labelling everything next week. Nothing like leaving it until the last minute

Ta da
Ordered uniform labels
Did some work (only a bit, was meant to do much more but just couldn't get on with it today).
Dh gone to the tip

Time for and then I need to do something useful before today turns into one of thise unmotivated meh days. Which I do feel is a possibility.

I walked a lot this morning Cag. Goodness, I'm unfit. Taking Floridex too and eating better.

House in reasonable shape today.

ta da
dishwasher on
more washing on
laundry put away
quick toy tidy up

off to a bbq in a bit, once ds wakes up so need to make myself presentable soon. Weather is confusing at this time of year in regards to what to wear, feel like I've started wearing my more autumn y clothes but now today I need something summery again.

Also to do
Buy milk

My mum used to make me drink floradix 🤢 I hate it! I take ferroglobin capsules which are easier on my tummy than the iron tablets I was prescribed. £££ though 😱

Had a nice lunch with friend and DSD. Just got back. Tired and full 😂

Mustn’t forget to get the Caglets to do their iPad apps too! And also want to start getting them to bed at a halfway decent time. Thinking for the next week or so, bed at 9 and alarm set for 8am. Maybe make an exception for Saturday night and Sunday morning respectively. When we are properly into term time it’ll be up at 7.30, not sure how much earlier we can reasonably get them to bed though when we have clubs on in the evenings.

Also I’m not sure how to manage it with the two of them, obviously DD should be able to stay up later than DS, but I also don’t want him to miss out on one-to-one time. And four nights a week we can’t divide and conquer because DH works late. What do you all do at bedtimes?

Mine are young still and both boys so it might not be relevant for you but we have similar bedtimes and get up times. We get them both ready together and then the older one can have stories and play upstairs, usually with DH although it could be me if he isn't there, so after dinner is:
Milk and meds with a bit of television
Potty
Bath
Pyjamas
Clean teeth
DS1 breastfeed then plays on our bed quietly
DS2 feed to sleep
DS1 to own bedroom or spare room to play read for half an hour before going to sleep.

DH usually clears up after dinner while I do potty, bath and pyjama duty. If I'm on my own I do it while they are still sat at the table.

My two are slightly older than yours Cag, with a two year age gap. We've never done different bed times, in fact we've never had very strict bedtimes, we also do a lot of clubs, so its generally chivvying both around for baths, reading, tidying etc. We all read together in my bed for a long time, we also used to play card games there, sort laundry etc. I still go up with them most nights but we don't always read now.

Did flying type stuff, but not enough. Needed to get the laundry finished today and failed.

Motivation is hard sometimes.

Linkies, linkies linkies.

launch pad

babystep 3 - do what you have been doing.

missions are here
zones here

flight plan for monday will be here

Monday is home bleurgh day

for the kids

Welcome back to Yummyeclair, Cineraria and Welcome to Catmatrat! Welcome aboard the madness...

Thanks meet and cin

Problem is I just end up sending them to bed at a random time. And usually I am stuck under baby so I don’t tuck them in or read to them or anything. We’d got into good habits with reading at least while DD was off tablets but have lapsed already. I just get so tired.

And sending them up earlier means I don’t have anyone to hold the baby while I clean up. Place is a tip. DH is trying to move stores and do morning shifts which would be brilliant as it just completely sucks for all of us when he’s not here (1.30-10pm shift). But that also means he will be around less for the home ed stuff in the mornings if he changes. Argh.

We have pretty much always sent them to bed at the same time. Until we moved they were sharing a room anyway so no point doing otherwise. But we promised that they would get some alone time once we moved. I think they would benefit from something more predictable. But fuck knows how that is going to work.

Didn’t really work at all today, I am just knackered and sent them shortly after 9 (we were watching a film so a bit later than hoped) but DD was up and down like a damn yo-yo and I was getting seriously annoyed and grumpy. They deserve better than that but I’ve no idea how to manage that.

And the baby is asleep on me but not in jammies and needs a nappy change. FFS.

And I just realised I need to check the slow cooker.

Right. DH is home and changed the baby while I did other stuff
ta da (from full day not just now)
✅got DD to put her washing on
✅wash in dryer (DD did that for me too... delegating)
✅made sausage stew in slow cooker, bagged it up, got some of the tomatoey goop left over for pasta sauce tomorrow
✅slightly cleared away kitchen of the horrific mess I caused when cooking
✅uploaded barcodes and receipt pics
✅was sensible re dinner and used up stuff
✅kept track of food again
✅Caglets did two maths apps
✅sent them to bed at almost planned time and set alarm for tomorrow
✅ordered play pen... then cancelled it as I realised I had chosen the wrong day for delivery. Reordered for Tuesday.

Feeling really quite demotivated tonight. Hmmph.

I am confused !

Oh Hell I have written on August thread no wonder no one was on it. I had clicked on email link didn't read or realise it was August.Loon!

I think that was my fault bower

Glad that you found the iPad Bower, fingers crossed for your first day back at work!

Ta da
Fed 🐱 and 🐕🐕
Put dishwasher on as forgot last night! Argh!
Swish and swipe

To do
Polish and vacuum downstairs as have a visitor this morning.
Take relative to hospital for an Endoscopy.

The hospital visit will take most of the afternoon and then I will have to stay with them until Dd or someone can help as they're having anaesthetic and shouldn't be left alone for 24 hours. At the moment they're insisting they'll be fine and don't want anyone staying with them. Argh! Just see how it goes, I suppose.

Morning! Back to school tomorrow for us, with DD1 starting secondary school on Wednesday. I totally dropped off the threads over the summer!

DP and I are mid-DIY, sprucing up the kitchen and fitting our new oven and hob. So today's main task is the painting! We also have a birthday party to drop the children at and a present for DP's Mum's birthday to buy.

:o

Glad the iPad turned up bower!

Caglets got up at 8 as planned. Plan is to start ‘school’ at half past in future, so when I move the alarm back they’ll have an hour. With a few bits that need to be done by then (teeth dressed clear up breakfast etc).

Only a couple more days of being allowed to put the telly on for hours in the morning... this will be the hardest thing to change, it always is after a holiday, but once they’re used to it they’ll be fine.

Welcome back steg :)

Right. Today we are going to work with DH as meeting someone there. Need to get stuff done in the morning. Laundry needs putting away, kitchen needs clearing etc. Plus iPad apps, in the morning this time rather than at bedtime when they’re tired and grumpy!

I must say I am starting to struggle with keeping on top of things in this house.

ta da so far
✅switched drying on
✅realised other washing was still a bit damp but decluttered it anyway (dressing up stuff) and will dry it later
✅posted about sports club
✅got Cagletini’s part of the bedroom (that she isn’t in yet so it’s spare) cleared and then DH filled it with the remaining BRCs. We now have a clear living room floor!
✅showers all round
✅left message with child health people to rearrange check

Off out now but thinking later I’d like to do a stash and dash from the stuff lurking in the living room. Windowsills piano and top of kallaxes. As they all had stuff shoved on them in the move. If we move the resulting BRCs up to join the others then it will all be in one place. And we will have a blank canvas to get the living room fully organised which should (in theory 🤔) mean it is then easier to sort the BRCs.

Also really need to get the long cupboard sorted as it’s turning into a giant CRC! And it needs to be the hub for all their club stuff along with shoes and coats, when activities start again we need it to be easily accessible.

I'm having one of those dithering can't make a decision type days today

Welcome back steg

Cag it's ok you're still in the "just moved house" category, it takes ages to get settled.

Ta da
Struggled through a amount of work but my concentration doesn't seem there today
Hoovered
Mopped bathroom
Emptied bins
Swish and swipe both bathrooms
Folded and put away laundry
Washing on
Dishwasher emptied and reloaded
Peeled and sliced a load of pears to put in freezer for puddings
Tidied toys
Dusted
Moved some photo frames around and put some aside for putting on the wall. Found a nice photo of ds for a new frame I had.
Mopped bathroom

To do
Change ds bed sheets
Some decluttering not sure what yet
Pick up dd school uniform
Possibly drop some toys at the nursery school depending what time I end up driving past it
Go to supermarket for few bits while my mum still has the dc!
Mop kitchen
Cook dinner - roast chicken, potatoes , veg , stuffing

A couple of days late but reporting for action. I have spent the morning carrying out the home blessing ready for our gradual return to school over the next few days.

Ta da
Hoovered throughout
Dusted throughout
Emptied bins
Got dc to tidy their rooms
Stripped beds, washed sheets, hung them out
Washed up a gazillion times

I work wed - fri so I am going to aim to do missions Monday and Tuesday and keep up with routines the rest of the week.

I need to pop in to school shortly but will catch up with the thread when I'm back.

Ta da
Mopped kitchen
Been to shop
Picked up dd uniform
Put chicken in oven

To do
Hang more washing up
Empty dishwasher
Decluttering
Change ds bedsheets

Got back from town a little while ago. Feeding baby and resting... then out to tae kwon do. Really glad I kept some of the sauce aside for pasta.

I also bought a printer. Really can’t get away without one now.

Oh and I lost my bus pass 😡😭 got a family day pass instead. Need to ring the bus company and the restaurant we went to yesterday.

Oh, epic fail. So tired when we got in that I’ve been sitting zombified and didn’t realise the time. No chance of getting to TKD now due to bus times (I’m used to just walking down the road as it was the one club in walking distance to our old house - hoping to change location/day so it’s at the nearer venue but that also means changing gym). Such a muppet. They’ve missed loads this summer what with moving house and DD hurting her foot etc. She’s also missed a fair bit of gym (they are the only two clubs that run all through the summer) and will miss this week as we are going to London. Will try and make the most of having the time off before the mayhem really sets in and I try to get our attendance up again. Need to look up when tap, St. John and trampolining start, I know ballet isn’t till next week.

FML. I miss summer already

Welcome back steg. Glad you got iPad back Bower.

Oh no re bus pass Cag