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Festive fledglings flying through December - the Flylady thread

889 replies

TooStressyTooMessy · 30/11/2019 15:03

Welcome to the December (dare I say the Christmas?!) Flylady thread. This is a really lovely thread where we loosely follow the Flylady system (see the Flylady website ) in the hope of having organised homes and lives.

Every day I will post a link to the launchpad which has everything you need for that day if you do want to follow the system strictly. Plenty of options to follow the system more loosely as well :).

Please do familiarise yourself with the Flylady website, especially if you are new. The Flylady is (understandably) keen that people do look at the website.

On the website there is information for beginners. You can also sign up to the Flylady emails but we would advise not to as there are hundreds of them.

We post our achievements (ta das) and our to do lists and any other general chatter about life / flying.

Information on getting started: www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/

The launch pad is also a good starting place:www.flylady.net/c/lp.php

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

Be kind to yourselves, jump in where you are and be careful not to crash and burn!

Any newbies are very welcome Smile.

**
Flylady also does Christmas missions which I will link to each day. They are really useful and nearer the time she does super missions which help you if you have not managed the regular missions. They are just there to help and as Flylady says... do not worry as you do not need to catch up, just jump in where you are Smile.

Link to the holiday cruising is

here

December’s habit is usually [[http://www.flylady.net/d/habits-of-the-month/december/
pampering yourself]] which is much needed this busy time of year. This can be as simple as taking two minutes to have a cup of tea, if long pampering sessions are unachievable.

The website will update to the December missions etc in the next few days so I will link it again if it is different.

*
A daily summary (which should update automatically every day) is available on the Flylady website at flight plan here.

The link to the current zone and missions is [[http://www.flylady.net/c/sp.php#missions here].

Re. zones, do what works for you. I don’t always stick to the zones myself and do what works best at the time!

daily focus

missions for the week

Flykids mission

beginner babysteps.

The best place to look for an overall summary is the launch pad.

Happy flying everyone.

Please note that while there is lots of information on the website, from a security point of view we would advise caution with putting any personal details in or downloading anything.

Also a huge thank you to Ghoulette for the November thread.

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Bowerbird5 · 24/12/2019 15:20

Don ‘t forget to eat something I nearly did. Two small sausages rolls found in the fridge and half a cup of tea because I forgot where I left it.

We can do this!

ExpletiveFairylighted · 24/12/2019 15:20

Great progress everyone

Tada!

Bathroom cleaned (never did finish it properly last week)
DW rebooted
Washing x 2
Christmas tablecloth ironed
DCs despatched to deliver local cards
Coffee with a friend
Kitchen counters cleared and wiped
Veg and stuffing prepped
Fridge rearranged
Bins emptied
Advent calendars put away
Norad Tracks Santa put on

Just need to clear table, prep turkey, prep cinnamon buns for breakfast and wrap presents now. We get there in the end.

IWillWearTheGreenWillow · 24/12/2019 16:07

Bloody hell! I thought I was done by 2pm.

Ta Das at that point

  • cake iced
  • grain-free cinnamon buns for me in the freezer
  • my window and bathroom window scrubbed
-all bathrooms shiny -all beds changed in the last 24 hours
  • our bedlinen washed
  • DH made turkey giblet stock
  • everything wrapped and labelled
  • food moved from freezer to fridge.

Time for a nice glass of mull? No.

at 2.15 DD announced she needed help cleaning and tidying her bedroom for Christmas. So we did that.

I was going for a sit down and bum had almost hit chair when DS2 announced he'd never actually bought a Christmas present for DH and couldn't exactly remember what I recommended anyway. And DH said he wasn't happy with the volume of stock, so could I please go to Waitrose for some.

We walked to town. We bought a gift, turkey gravy and some spring onions (obvs). We are home again. I have two beds to make and our traditional festivities begin in 40 minutes.

Merry Christmas, one and all, see you on the other side! Thank you so much for the support and encouragement.

We get there in the end

TooStressyTooMessy · 24/12/2019 16:46

Sorry all, desperately trying to get everything done and now cooking tea.

Lovely to see such supportive messages.

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TooStressyTooMessy · 24/12/2019 18:28

Hello everyone!

Hope everyone is managing to enjoy this festive season but of course it can also be a very difficult time for lots of reasons. BrewCakeFlowersWine for anyone finding it difficult.

Willow, I’m sure many of us can sympathise with bum almost hitting chair. So near and yet so far!

Mmmmm Bower I love pavlova!

Laputa, great that your DSD is out of hospital. Your plan with the school makes sense.

foxes YY such an exciting day for DC but at the same time so painful for them to wait.

Great knitting zoo.

Festive Christmas Eve wing flaps and cheeey waves to Expletive, Ive, SC, Hills and everyone else.

As you say KT, it is the final push now!

Glad people liked the song. I had meant to share it earlier as it is best enjoyed while in the midst of the end of term but still very relevant now Xmas Grin.

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foxessocks · 24/12/2019 18:40

bower it was okay I didn't have any major deadlines so I hard a fairly easy day (and I stopped early while keeping half an eye on my email Grin)

Toostressy yep, dd has coped okay today she is just happy and bouncing off the walls. Ds on the other hand is just having constant tantrums, I don't think he knows what's going on really, he can't really remember last Christmas so he's just completely overwhelmed!

We have not had a good evening so far Sad ds refused to eat his dinner, me and dh didn't manage the situation at all well and both ended up losing our tempers with him, with each other, with dd who was blameless! So now everyone is cross (well dd isn't anymore!) and their nice Xmas Eve hot chocolates have kind of been forgotten.

Hope we can salvage things...

Send me some festive feelings please!? 🎄🎄

TooStressyTooMessy · 24/12/2019 19:01

Sounds like a normal Christmas with a young family foxes Flowers. Can you get them in the bath and either to bed or settled in front of the telly?

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IWillWearTheGreenWillow · 24/12/2019 19:04

Is it too late for a brief walk to play Spot The Christmas Tree, foxes? We started doing that when DD was one because it got us out and blew some cobwebs away!

foxessocks · 24/12/2019 19:19

Thanks toostressy and willow Flowers that would have been a great idea actually we should have got outside earlier. They've had a bath and have just gone to bed, everyone fairly happy and calm for now!!

Have apologised to dh and vice versa, we are all just very quick to anger at the moment, the dc behaviour has not been good recently and I think it takes its toll!

Anyway hope everyone is enjoying their Xmas eves and I'm going to have a glass of 🍷now I think!

ExpletiveFairylighted · 24/12/2019 19:39

Tada!

All presents wrapped and under the tree. Stocking presents stashed upstairs. DCs playing together. Just got to make cinnamon bun dough for the morning and I'm done.

TooStressyTooMessy · 24/12/2019 20:00

Well done Expletive! Glad bedtime went ok in the end foxes.

Ta da:-
Tea eaten
One load of dishwasher just finished
DH prepping turkey
DD1 showered and ready for bed (except teeth but will do milk and snack in a bit)
Nearly all presents wrapped.

DD2 in bath

To do:-
Get DD2 out of bath
Open Wine
Reassess what is left to do

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TooStressyTooMessy · 24/12/2019 20:29

Our spare room looks like an abandoned Christmas wrapping HQ!

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ExpletiveFairylighted · 24/12/2019 21:09

We don't have a spare room, it all had to be done in our room on the ironing board. Greatly speeded up by reusing old gift bags and tags though. Cinnamon bun dough rising, nearly there.

LivingInLaputa · 24/12/2019 21:37

I think DD1 is a broody over thinker like me. “Why doesn’t it feel like Christmas Eve anymore? Is it because I found out about Santa?” Yes probably! But we’ve had a nice evening anyway playing Harry Potter Dobble and watching movies. She’s excited about helping with Santa stuff next year as Cagletini should understand it by then!

Unfortunately the snotfaced toddler is in a vile mood. But oh well.

Need to wrap the main family present but otherwise all good! It’s very very low key here. No guests.

TooStressyTooMessy · 24/12/2019 21:56

You are so nearly there Expletive

Aww it is hard when they first find out about Santa Laputa. Lovely that she wants to help with Cagletini though.

We have no guests either (unless you count an inconvenient play date on the 27th Dec). Both DDs are not impressed with this but it is just the way it has worked out.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Brew, Wine, Gin, Cake for everyone depending on what you are on!

I need to check now what needs to be done as DD2 finally fell asleep.

Had planned to wrap some December birthday stuff but think I am going to leave that. You can only do so much.

To do:-
Find card DD2 did for DD1
Try to clear a path in one room
One other thing
Laundry
Dishwasher
Sleeeeeeep at some point.

I will post the links next but I’m sure none of you will feel obliged to look at them unless you want to. I’ll be on here tomorrow but if it is quiet on here that is no problem.

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ExpletiveFairylighted · 24/12/2019 21:57

My two (13 and 15) are obviously past believing (indeed one of them discovered the stocking stash about half an hour ago). However they have just had a totally serious discussion about how many carrots to leave out for the reindeer. DS has bought DD the Harry Potter Dobble Laputa.

TooStressyTooMessy · 24/12/2019 21:58

Xmas SmileHaloXmas ConfusedGinStar

Launch pad

Christmas missions

‘We get there in the end Gin

Xmas SmileHaloXmas ConfusedGinStar

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ExpletiveFairylighted · 24/12/2019 22:13

Stressy thank you so much for running the thread this month, it's no mean feat keeping us lot on track at this time of year.

Tinselette1940 · 24/12/2019 22:18

I'm afraid Mumsnet is not loading at all on my phone. I've even done a reset and a clean etc but to no avail. I've not managed to keep up at all with the thread because I usually use the phone to do so on the move. I'll have to sort it out.

Thanks stressy for running the thread. My house is cleanish! Wishing you all a lovely Christmas day tomorrow!

ExpletiveFairylighted · 24/12/2019 22:33

Finally everything is done (except stockings as one DC is still up). I'm sitting in the kitchen with a little glass of Gin and listening to Jethro Tull's Christmas album. If you don't know it, well worth finding if you've got spotify or similar.

I haven't posted as regularly as some of you this year, but I love this thread and think of you all as friends. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas Xmas SmileXmas SmileXmas Smile

TooStressyTooMessy · 24/12/2019 22:48

How annoying about your phone Tinselette Xmas Angry. I wish I had some suggestions but I don’t know why it wouldn’t work. Is it worth posting in site support? I pretty much always use my phone for MN and would really struggle to keep up without it.

Expletive, and everyone else, I also think of you lot as friends and this is such a lovely cosy corner of MN Xmas Smile.

Hope you are ok if you are reading Hills.

Festive cherry waves to everyone else.

I have enjoyed my wine and am just going to reset laundry and dishwasher and take rubbish out. I hope to collapse into bed soon.

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Bowerbird5 · 24/12/2019 23:32

My phone has died completely.

What is this sorcery of Christmas Breakfast? Cinnamon buns? Is everyone having them except me? Is this one of Zoo's recipes that I have forgotten to write down?
Luckily I saw a young woman with a baby getting something out of the freezer at the butchers. I was in the queue but then realised what she was up to... getting frozen croissants and Danish pastries. She said she started a few years ago and now it is a tradition.

I'm glad we are going to DS1 for the first time as for the last ten years or so bar two occasions we had a young lad come and he died this year so it would be sad to have it here.I still have his Christmas present form last year as he was to ill to come and although he was allowed home here he wasn't allowed to fly home to his own country and be with his parents.It was so sad as he died shortly afterwards.So thank you Too Stressy because i do have mixed feelings this year. DD and her partner flew home on Christmas Eve as his mother was very ill. She didn't want to ask them but was glad DH booked them flights.They nursed her for 6 weeks. I am so proud of them.

I went to Mass from 6-8pm. It was really full 250-300 i would say. The lad two seats in front and his father kept talking through the hymns and then during the sermon. The priest actually stopped and told them if they wanted to talk to go out. They made out to whisper but were actually quite loud and it was very disruptive and spoilt it for some of us. The priest told them afterwards in all the Christmas Masses he has never had to do that. He was quite annoyed and I didn't blame him. I felt sorry for his MIL as she was further away and she is a devout Catholic. I bet his wife gave him a few words at home. His two year old made less noise.Rant over.

I finished the cake for friend's relation and took it with me.
I had four out marzipaning and icing. all four done just three to put the decorations on top. After Mass it was out to sing an hour of carols and Christmas songs then a couple of drinks with some choir and some locals. I am going to finish cakes in the morning.Too tired. I have just eaten my tea. Bolognaise without the spaghetti as i couldn't be bothered to wait.

Right off to bed. Was hoping DD would skype DH said she sent a messageand one from my sister.It is Christmas there I saw Santa landing in Perth.

Merry Christmas to you all and I hope you have a wonderful day. Friends and family are the important things and if things don't go quite right in your house just be glad you have a house and not like some of the Aussies whose houses have burnt down or the two young family firefighters that have just lost their lives. If we don't get a present it doesn't really matter does it.

Bet zoo is first up to see if Santa has been!Grin

ExpletiveFairylighted · 24/12/2019 23:41

He has been at our house (I can tell because his mulled wine has gone Xmas Blush).

Wise words Bower. We started having cinnamon buns a few years ago, I think the idea came from MN. Make them the night before and leave them to rise slowly and straight in the oven when we get up, we also have the frozen croissants. None of us is a fan of a cooked breakfast but it's nice to have something different to normal.

IVEgotthetinselBITCHES · 25/12/2019 00:03

Gosh bower i remember you mentioning that poor young man and cant believe a year has passed, so very sad Flowers

Well the presents are all wrapped and under the tree. No where is particularly tidy but you cant win them all!

Next year i wrap as i buy. I PROMISE!

Bowerbird5 · 25/12/2019 05:57

Expletive thanks for enlightening me. They sound yummy.
ive yes he was very ill at Christmas then died a few months after. He was very popular.

Not particulary was 4. My eyes keep closing so going to chance another hour.
Merry Christmas.