February Flying for Fledglings, No More CHAOS here

[ExpletiveDelighted]

Welcome to February! This is a friendly ongoing thread where we follow (n some cases, very loosely) the Flylady method for sorting out our homes and lives!

Newbies are always welcome here! It’s a long running thread so please don’t worry if we appear cliquey. There’s a lot of chatter and support for all sorts of things, alongside the housework stuff.

Every day I will post a link to the Flylady launch pad, which is where you can access the information for that day - babysteps, missions, daily focus etc. But if you’re confused about anything, please ask!

Check out the website too - but we suggest not signing up for the millions of emails.

The great thing about Flylady is that you jump in where you are. Everything you do is progress. Don’t worry about not “keeping up”. Any achievement, however small, means progress.

More info to follow.

ta da
✅put rest of our clothes away except a couple of things I need hangers for
✅read Solihull journal so far
✅Solihull homework - that’s it now, absolutely all up to date so I can symbolically put the folder away for 9 days!
✅cleaned a windowsill as DH had moved the plants to water
✅got DH to transmit barcodes for shopandscan
✅resisted takeaway so DH got stuff at tesco including ice cream :o
✅started Tesco order, got in a huff with it as I can’t decide a damn thing and gave up 😳
✅got even more annoyed as DH has agreed to something that may take even more time up. But... self esteem boost, something productive... maybe it’s better. Aaaargh

KTCluck I headed off to Asda and left dh at the football! It was too cold to stand around. Husband almost thawed now 🤣

Evening all, I'm back. HAven't really kept up with the chat I'm afraid but hope none of you haev suffered too much with the weather.

Links for Monday:

launchpad

This week we are in the master bedroom. Monday's mission is to clear your dresser. Habit for the day is Home Blessing Hour, no chance, I will be out from 8 till 8. .

I realised I have been forgetting about babysteps - Monday is Day 17 - go to bed at a decent hour! I am spectacularly bad at this one.

Although two roads in and out are still flooded and one has a car the other two roads are ok. Managed to get to Mass.

Able to go to choir too and the train was only ten minutes late.

No much flying done but Sunday is my day of rest. Boudoir tomorrow. I have two baskets of washing to put away.

Hello everyone! Hope all Fledglings doing ok?!

Haven't read thread properly but noticed a few "hellos" and waves here and there and wanted to wave back!🍒 👋🍒👋🍒👋🍒👋🍒👋. Hope all ailing people and DC are feeling better?

Amazing lists everyone! 🏅🏅🏅

Lane a friend swears by John Frieda Frizz-Ease

Zoo huge sympathies re: aches and pains, my joints are awful currently but goes in flares ifyswim. Doc keeps pointing me back to Oestrogel which I am already using but I might go for second opinion as really starting to impact on life/energy levels (especially with so many stairs here) and currently can't open jars or bottle tops , do up girths, or shorten stirrups as right wrist useless.

Bower hope you are not marooned

Waves to everyone else!

Bit overwhelmed by life ATM (well,more than usual ) Not helped by having sort of non-sick "sick" bug for four days this week (Lane I think you had something similar?) resulting in getting v stressed about not getting enough done. Dossier has hit another blip. Not a bad one but tedious to sort and stressful. Job really expanding ; doing more hrs but more interesting thank heavens. Also editing a book that dh has written (work related, very boring technical).Two lots of volunteer work quite full on; requiring professional levels of standards and effort. Building work in country ongoing. Dh away a lot and frantically busy when he is working here. And exhausted when home. He will actually be here most of this coming week but may as well not be, as out every night. And now has bad cold. DD challenging as she is overwhelmed by huge amount of hwk and project work (but she did mop floors voluntarily the other day when I was ill and dh was away .) She did a damn fine job too! .

House here in total chaos as result of all of above and have visitors arriving next Sat for a week (half term holiday) and I know it sounds ungenerous but I feel like crying at the prospect. Feel seriously down about it. One because cleaning lady doing minimal hours and I don't think I have the energy required to do the massive overhaul required to get everything in to guest ready shape (also difficult with current joint pain) And two because, after last lot of visitors at Christmas , and recent activities (esp dh) we all feel like we need a rest. This wk must tidy and clean entire house which is in pitiful state, wash bed linen etc, plan outings, plan meals etc, do online shop on top of everything else including approx 26 hrs work. Dh and DD blaming me because I didn't say "no" to visitors but to be fair, I only intended to say "yes" to a long weekend and stay has morphed to a week.

Positive things: (if you will forgive maternal boast) DD conquered her nemesis last Monday: the dreaded climbing wall and received her brevet for tallest "red route" ! Really proud of her!

Also she and her friends made me smile on Friday because they came back to ours after school (to change) in high spirits each clutching a really beautiful long-stemmed red rose from a bunch which one of them had bought for all the others at the supermarket at lunch time, and then after a quick snack they took themselves out clothes shopping and a pre-booked pizza at an Italian restaurant (ignoring all the couples) and then back here for a film/sleepover (for which I had supplied heart shaped chocolates). So much more positive than Valentine's day when I was a teen when we mooned about waiting for boys to give us cards/ask us out etc and they rarely did! . (That might have had something to do with the fact that there were only eight boys spread across two years in the entire sixth form mind you!).

Oh blimey it's 1.30 here, must get to sleep, not enough hrs in day currently.

Finally, thread has moved on but I can't seem to do chores and watch screens at same time. I listen to podcasts mainlyb(I love Fortunately too Expletive and How Did We Get here and Radio 4 Newscast).

G'night all, take care, and see you next month!

Sorry managed to miss your post about being able to get about Bower! Saw the news about Hawick which looked awful. Such a beautiful place, used to visit quite a bit in my youth. Rainfall described as "biblical".

Was very muddy, wet and windy at wreck2 this weekend. Could do very little with dhorse as conditions too squelchy underfoot. Had mammoth indoor tack polishing session instead.

Morning campers

Morning, just been woken by hailstones crashing against the window. Worried about getting to work, route was badly flooded yesterday. SC - lovely to hear from you but sorry you have so much to deal with ATM.

🥞🥞thanks SC.

Glad to hear you ok just snowed under.

Managed to get out yesterday thanks. Geared up for more rain today. Garden soaking and difficult getting logs and feeding hen as very slippery wasn’t helped by large bags of sand etc from path.

Been woken several times by noisy wind. Outside not me🤣
Hips aching now. Builder called in sick last night. Genuine as whole family been ill over past fortnight.
Damn painkillers downstairs and I can’t be bothered to get them. Then cat will demand food.arrgh I dobbn want to get out from this cosy nest.
Fantastic ta da lists.

Morning all! Lots of Ta Da lists there, great stuff. SC, hope you survive the next fortnight - is there any way the guests can be put off / reduced to just a weekend? Blame DD's studying, or DH's workload, or your joint pain? Thinking of you.

KT, DB is only not under the patio as it was too wet to go out out!

Very little achieved yesterday except some things for me - a couple of hours doing the pretty bits / high level planning for March in my bullet journal, and some embroidery before bed. Must crack on today with everything else, but the weird thing about homeschooling is that I now get more done in the holidays, not less!

When I got up at 6.30 this morning, I found DS3 watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Clearly, it can't be watched til the book was finished... And he confessed he stayed up til 10.15 (after I put his light out at 8.45!) to finish the book. I don't know whether to be exasperated that he's going to be tired and cross today, or delighted he's finally "got" reading.

Lane hope today goes smoothly. Totally understandable that you want DH to do things that are positive for him, but also don't want to be left juggling everything else yourself. My hair goes frizzy if I don't treat it like curly hair, even though it's really only very wavy IYSWIM. I use John Frieda Dream Curls conditioner, only wash it twice a week and don't brush unless I'm just about to wash it (when I brush it properly, upside down and everything, to get all the loose hairs out). I sometimes use his Frizz Ease spray on dry hair too, which gives me a defined wave at the front rather than looking like a haystack.

Bower, pleased to hear the wind was external! 😂 Expletive, thanks for the links, hope your long day isn't too hideous.

Cherry waves all round!

Willow how old is ds3? My big two like reading but neither of them ever got Harry Potter! They are 10 and 12 now and i am struggling to fine new things for them to read.

Morning

Sadly OT is a nosey judgy bitch,and she WILL 100%report me to s.services as I'm "clearly not coping" if house a mess.every.fucking.sentence she utters she tries to add she thinks I'm not coping

SC lovely to hear from you.sorry about pain,mess,life.hurrah for DD and wall.climbing!

So,on back of fact nosey britches will be upon me, up before 6..

Tada
Fed cats
Harpic lav

Living room
Sorted dvds aways etc,cleared around TV unit
Pull out sofa one under window and retrieve cat toys,crisp bags etc
Tidy around fireplace remove dead cactus
Clean down far corner
Pull out sofa two and clear behind/under
Find dining table,putting away detritus,binning rubbish
Clean said table
Sweep floor

Empty recycling bags/bins into big one
Empty kitchen bin,bathroom and bedroom bins
Empty both littertray and scrub/disinfect

Bathroom-
Clean windows/mirror
Wipe sills
Clean bath/shower tiling
Bath skirt and radiator wiped
S+s
Sweep and scrub floor on hands and knees

Squeegee carpet on landing and stairs

X posts that anything particular they've enjoyed reading?
DS is a bookworm.

They enjoyed all the wimpy kid and tom gates stuff, beast quests. But they have outgrown all these now but i dont really know what is next and neither do they!

Hello all,

I’m the end I did manage to get them to do some homework. Totally agree though KT, if should be outlawed. Especially at a bloody infant school . Plus craft creations. Ugh. Clearly just work for parents until the kids are old enough to do it themselves. At parents evening I shall be saying something about homework as it is ridiculous. My older DD has significantly less than my younger (different schools).

Anyway... after that rant.

SC . Woohoo for your DD and climbing wall. I also think / hope Valentine’s Day is better now. I was always single as a teenager and HATED it so much. Still hate it now tbh although just try not to make a big deal out of it. So much nicer to focus on all love not just romantic love.

That, sorry but no book suggestions as my two are not old enough yet. I bet if you made a thread on here lots of people should have ideas though if you are struggling.

zoo .

Willow, I would go with seeing the positive in the Harry Potter reading . I can’t blame him. I am rereading the books now with DD1 and it is fabulous. Just the right amount of time has elapsed that I have forgotten lots but still remember the gist and how much I loved it, especially the early books. Also watched all films. The beauty is now I am a mum I am not reading all the books (as she reads some on her own and some with DH) and never sit down for a whole film so actually when it comes to reading with DD2 some will still be new. Last night with DD1 we got to the end of the page and Voldemort had just appeared so I let her read for 15 more minutes on her own as how can you stop at such a critical point ?! Sadly real life called me so I went downstairs at that point to tidy up.

Half term here so a whole week of family fun . As you can imagine everyone is in a great mood . We are off into town (if we can get in) for Build a Bear for DD2’s birthday and general Christmas money spending- DDs obviously not is.

Hope everyone has a good day and huge sympathies to people struggling with the weather / life.

Should point out by family fun I mean DH is off work too. Somehow kids’ behaviour worse when we are both around

Right, paused for lunch!

Ta Da:

• all bathrooms cleaned
• downstairs hoovered
• LOL
• DW rotated
• our bed made
• DD's new trainers received
• useless printer cartridge packed up to return to Xerox
• home bookkeeping up to date
• business bookkeeping up to day
• Tesco bill paid
• phoned Podiatrist to get a letter about DS3's needs for EHCP
• found all of DS3's school reports and "next learning steps" slips from Parents' Evenings since Reception. He has quite clearly been sliding down the attainment scale.

Sorry the OT is a pain in the bum, zoo. Is she actually doing any good? Hope you can pace yourself.

Stressy, KT, Just William was right - homework in the holidays is enough to give a chap brain-fever! (and his parents, these days).

That, DS3 is 9.5. His technical literacy is really good but he just didn't love it. I think it's the ADHD - he has to really want to read something. He adored Beast Quest, but when that ran out he was a bit all at sea. Additionally, the school refused to recognise him as a free-reader and made him stick on the reading scheme that bored him silly.

Anyway, as to what to read - after HP we're going to try Percy Jackson, I think. DD at this age got into Charlie Bone and Skulduggery Pleasant. DS2 at this age was mad for the Willard Price books from the 60s and 70s, where Boys Explored Things and Had Great Adventures, they're out of print and I had to buy them in charity shops! DS1 used to have to have his book prized out of his hands in order to eat and sleep and in Y5 was reading HP, How to Train Your Dragon, Percy Jackson, the Mortal Engines series, I think. As they get a bit older, there's Robert Muchamore and the Cherub series, although the later ones in that series deal with some very adult themes that I wouldn't let a 12 year old read.

Does any of that help?

Right, back on my head.

that Hunger games?
Northern lights trilogy
Pig heart boy by Mallorie blackman
Private peaceful by Micheal morpurgo(so?)
Ali sparks books(frozen in time/dark summer/out of this world/wishful thinking in particular.lil zoo likes them too)
Boy in the stripes pyjamas
Holes

Of I think of more I will come back to you!!

D's had check up,got flu spray up nose whilst there
He went o.t,I head shops dd2.she in mood n wouldn't help carry bags, palpitations set in black and stars and down I went like sack spuds
I didn't totally loose consviousness,luckily on way up our hill.i staggered home and lay sofa.o.t comes in declared j look rough and shallshe ring doctor?like fuck off I have aneamua and low blood pressure they won't do jackshit just tell me not overexert etc...

Got paperwork for EHCP.they planning a mainstream setting.OVER MY DEAD BODY

Forgot to add,lunch in oven-blackeye beans mashed tahini,herbs,garlic powder.little balls rolled in mix seeds and baking along selection vegpittas about to go in wrap in foil to warm

AWOL again ... bit like my motivation

Hope everyone is doing OK, did zoo ask about my yarn stash? It's not too bad, but mainly consists of single balls of yarn which hang around until I can think of something scarf to do with them. It is unusual for me to buy yarn in bulk as I did the other day.

Not caught up with thread recently, DD out today but needs collecting later on - going down with another cold, I hope she's OK for today and tomorrow. Still getting her recent exam results through, her usual mix of less-than-stellar results (tests are not her forte) and postcards home from school for being at or close to the top on other subjects. She is looking forward to selecting her options next year, I think!

Catch you later!

Will pop back in to catch up on posts read some but not all.

Zoo I wonder if she has any kids? maybe she has a cleaner

Ta Da

Cleaned kitchen. DH washed up so no cleaning of butler sink, no floor swept/ vacuumed, no work tops done. Should have helped but he said sit down so I did.
Demonstrated to DH that potato bag has a little door no need to unravel and leave open the top. That is the point and why i bought it from Lakeland. He chuckled.
Cleaned forgotten corner.
Vacuumed sitting room, under sofa and cushions. Sorted boxes.
Cleaned basin, wiped down shower screen(scrubbed) Builder poorly so no tiling done.
Cleaned and refill all bird feeders.
Cleaned worktops and table in kitchen wiped down chairs.

To Do find somewhere to put cloths.
Dust one chest in boudoir.

bower she has 2,and 4year old just started preschool and a 6yr old I believe poor buggers

Everyone fed,dizzy AF.so lay on sofa

Sorry to hear you are having stressful half term holidays, Lane, Zoo and Stressy, just when you'd hope to be having a nice break from the usual routine. I hope you have some enjoyable times too before they start back. We don't have half term holidays as DS1's preschool; it just runs through to make it easier on parents who use it as childcare and so they can top up the government funding, I think, but DS1 is only there three afternoons a week so doesn't really need a break from it.

Glad you are still able to get out and about, Bowerbird. Is your area often flooded? I hope it eases up soon.

I had a reasonably productive Sunday even though I think I don't do housework on Sundays:

Nappies and trainer pants washed, dried and set up ready to use (folded, lined, matched with covers etc) in their drawer. They are normally left in a heap on the back of the sofa!
Cleaned and replaced filter in fridge water dispenser,
Cleaned DH's coffee spaceship inside and out without breaking any bits
Ran cleaning cycle on washing machine and descaled powder/softener drawer
Usual dishwasher, swish and swipe, etc.
Cleaned hob and oven doors
Got DH to put Christmas decs and high chair in loft and test smoke detector near loft hatch
Tidied and cleaned toys in cover of dining room (ride-ons, scooters and box of musical instruments
Cleaned revolting booster seats
Stain removing on few white shirts to be washed Monday
Made loaf of bread

Today I haven't done much apart from laundry (strip and remake beds, prewash of muddy, dirty items, fast wash of new nightime training pants for DS1, dark wash, light wash and delicates plus hanging dark wash and trainer pants to dry) and an extra dishwasher load of big things like cake box, hob fittings, microwave plate, roasting trays etc. really as the boys were in need of more attention than most days in the morning as they always miss DH on Monday mornings and then I have the two walks to preschool and back a couple of miles away to drop and collect. I don't tend to have anything but a coaster and mirror on our bedroom drawers, thanks to toddler tidying (sweeping everything I leave on it onto the floor until I learnt not to put it there!) so can skip today's task. I tend to do weekly home blessing on Thursday, so skip that on Mondays too.

Willow, I saw that you had put 30 mins crafting or making list of crafts on your to do list at the weekend. I think I will do that too. The chance to tick something off a list should stop me putting it off any longer! Also, wondering if you might be considering crafting your brother a soundproof balaclava to muffle his insensitive pronouncements!

That my DS is 10, loves Percy Jackson, Michael Vey (very into Greek mythology) and is now reading Harry Potter. We actually watched the movies of Harry Potter before he started reading the books and that's what got him interested.