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.

Tada!

✅Go to town for errands
✅Phone DWP to start DS's PIP application
✅Hoover house
✅LOL
✅A bit of food shopping
✅Empty dehumidifier
✅Cleaned insides of all bedroom, bathroom and kitchen windows including sills/frames
✅Hoovered/dusted/cleaned windscreen of the car.
✅Sprayed bleach on a few mildew spots around kitchen door.
✅Emptied vac and cleaned filter

Well I did put my pj's on and planned to put my feet up until I made dinner but DH and DS1,2,3 ganged up on me and put Xbox on. I have too many males in my life 😂 so I thought I may as well be productive
✔️ extra LOL
✔️ more ironing
✔️ paired up socks
✔️ wrote meal plan and shopping list
✔️ made dinner
✔️ dishes

Definitely should be my pick of the tv tonight to make up for it though 😉

Boudoir almost done. Worked earlier, took ds to swimming. Changing bed sheets now!

ta da
✅was a good friend to my friend struggling with baby and back to work stress, including dashing back home to get her changing bag as she’d not taken it to lunch
✅LOL
✅got DS sorted for scouts including temporary hairband woggle as he’s not got his yet (the other two being invested last week already had theirs from cubs)

Not sure I’ve done anything else really.

Oh BTW re this friend, thank you all, a friend finally convinced me to unfollow and put on restricted status, which sounds like such a small thing but even that feels too brave and confrontational. But it’s like she acts out when she sees anything she’s jealous of 🙄 and I’d rather just cut out the anxiety.

I think I'm heading to bed soon and I'll catch up with the thread tomorrow. Still have tiny ensuite to do.

💤💤💤😴😴

Definitely wise to cut her out Lane, you’ve got enough on your plate without anyone bringing you down.

Willow how cute of your DS. Hope everything you had to deal with today went smoothly. Exciting times for your DH.

Good luck Hazel my fellow birthday hostess. We’ve got this (hope your to do list is shorter than mine)

Cineraria my breakfast was of a similar composition - an orange and an egg smothered in pretend “mato sauce”

We3 I really want to go and see the knife angel.

I know I had more of you I wanted to respond to but I’ve been catching up throughout the day and can’t scroll back to check. I know I was impressed by how much flying was going on though!

I’ve stayed on top of the laundry, dishes, and general tidiness on my two work days. Did a top-up shop on my way home tonight, work clothes straight in the wash, and 3 batches of cupcakes baked with DD’s ‘help’. For the first time since I decluttered I’ve regretted getting rid of something - only led tousled with one bun tin so max of 12 at a time.

Going to post my to do list now so I can forget about it and go to sleep:

Downstairs dusting
Hoover everywhere
Mop downstairs and bathroom
Clean bathroom and downstairs loo, clean towels and loo roll restocked
Relocate cat radiator beds upstairs so they can get some peace and there is more room in the dining room
Relocate DD’s dolls pram and random toys to her room
Dining table / hallway / kitchen bench hotspots tackled
Decorate cupcakes
Make curries / rice
All laundry away
Coats and shoes upstairs out of hallway to make room for guests coats etc
Dining table cleaned and pushed back against wall
Decorations up
Drinks chilled
Cocktail made
Glasses etc cleaned and out
Buffet assembled
Make me and DD look presentable

DH’s input is to keep DD occupied, clear some moulds spots in the downstairs loo, and sort a playlist. He’s conveniently booked himself a hair appointment at 12

Right. Sleep and then up early. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

So bloody wingy here I've been awake an hour
DS melatonin experience not going well.settled tearfully but early.up at 1 bad dreams/can't go back to sleep
Been a long night and I'm tired for the day already!

Morning all!

Please note; whingy "woe is me" vent ahead. Do feel free to ignore.

Just checking in from the slough of despond either would do frankly this morning... .

Guests turning up late morning. House looks awful. Haven't prepared beds or food. It's been cleaned (not by me - been working very long hours - have missed first book deadline) have had sudden realisation that our cleaner doesn't clean very well half the time or she is on some sort of go slow since dh reduced her hrs without bothering to consult me ) and I am ashamed of the state of it. Talk about faded beauty. Bare boards. Crumbly plaster. Odd cardboard boxes everywhere. So sick of it. The prospect of guests usually scares me in to action but I can't seem to bring myself to care this time. Maybe it's one time too many... .

Keep trying to put my foot on the accelerator but nothing is happening! Yargh! God knows how I am going to feign enthusiasm, cook meals, go out in expeditions etc, when all I want to do is go to bed for the week.

And it's down to me because dh is exhausted (he has almost killed himself this week at work as there is so much going on at office) and DD has a bad cold. She's come downstairs just now and in response to my "good morning, how are you feeling?" she literally snarled "how do you think?" and stormed off. About sums up our relationship currently. .

Do you think anyone would notice if I sneak out of the house and go and live in dhorse's American barn for a week? There is running water and fresh hay... .

Apologies for "me" "me" post but literally no one else gives a shite here. I worked a 47 hour week this week (admittedly unusual for me) and I

Morning all ,

Zoo - sympathy, did you get back to sleep after posting?

Lane - I've had to improvise woggles with hairbands too, Ds is an Explorer now and they just knot their ties but he still needs one for parades, I keep it safe in my dressing table drawer so we're not panicking on parade mornings.

I am a little tired this morning, went to a party last night and may have drunk a bit too much wine (by which I mean about three glasses, it's a lot for me as I rarely drink at all) plus a cold. So I have been up, hung some washing out, seen DS off on his paper round and come back to bed. It has been very windy, some of our garden furniture has blown around overnight.

I hope you haven't collapsed at the end of that post SC. Sounds like an awful week.

Oh no, cross posted with you SC. That sounds truly shit.

Sc i think living in the barn sounds great! Dont know how you cope with guests at all. I do not like extra people in my space. Fortunately i have filled all of our bedrooms with children so i can say there is no room at the inn!

I'm falling behind on uni work again. Must take my book with me to dds activity this morning and actually read it instead of talking to the school mum i keep ending up stood with!

This week i am going in work (to the job where i dont like the people and said i would not go back post mat leave) to see if i can negotiate hours which suit me on a trial basis. Fully plan on stating it is a trial and if it is same load of crap it was before i went on maternity then they can stick it!

Ta da

Wash on
Dryer on
Pots washed
Microwave cleaned
Last sleeping dc dragged from pit

Haha! Thank you for replies! Love this thread!

Just reading the sentence "I've had to improvise woggles with hairbands too" makes me feel better

Hahaha That think I may have missed the boat on the "filling the bedrooms with DC" solution! . It's a good 'un though! Very best of luck with your study deadline! Don't know how you do it ... . And good luck with job negotiation!

Hey Lisette hope you are feeling much stronger now. You've had such a rum do of it health-wise recently.

Must go. But having a sod-it moment and thinking of sneaking off to hairdresser (who will always fit me in) and letting everyone else worry about guests ... .

waves to all fledhlings!

SC . I’d say the guests have to take you as they find you and if the accommodation isn’t quite up to scratch well maybe they’ll just stick to the offered long weekend next time

Sc ☹️ didn't realise your guests were staying so long. I've done the same as that actually there's not really enough room in this house for those of us that live here never mind guests. People that call in are expected to take us as they find us though.

I've done absolutely nothing this morning other than make a lovely full English 😋. I'm such a messy cook though, the kitchen looks like a bombs dropped.

Bit concerned that paper mache homework project is not going to dry in time but work have asked me to go in for half a day tomorrow so that can be DH issue. Also just realised that DS2&3 need haircuts before they go back to school so need to fit that in.

Promised I would take them out today too but think we'll wait until DH gets in from work so he can come too.

SC, that sounds truly shit, I'm so sorry. I remember when my DM went back to work full-time, suddenly, when I was 18, everything fell apart to begin with because we hadn't realised how much we were leaving to her. It was a nasty shock all round.

Sounds like you had best get out for that haircut and let other people take some of the strain. If the guests feel less welcome than usual, then maybe that's a good thing. They might see how hard it is for you that they keep imposing (and they do). Do you have to do sightseeing etc with them? Can they not do it for themselves? Your house is your home, not a hotel, and if they don't like the presentation there's a very easy workaround available to them...

Sorry the melatonin isn't working, zoo. Didn't work for DS2, either, although it knocks DH out for 12 hours straight.

Good luck with the parties, KT and Hazel. Suggest the mixing (and consumption!) of cocktails first off. Hand the guests a G&T as they arrive and they won't notice anything you missed!

We got DS2's paperwork off yesterday and are just gearing up to DS3's (with a second cup of coffee and toast and marmalade in bed ). It's important to be well nourished before one begins these things.

Lane, pleased you felt able to unfollow the Not Friend. It feels like a big step and a big statement, but you have to protect you. You can always blame some sneaky fb algorithm if anyone notices (usually, they don't, in my experience!).

That, good luck kicking work into touch! Big wing flaps to Expletive, Cineraria, Bower, Stressy, foxes, chic, rachael (if you're still there - is all well?), We3 and anyone else (still can't scroll on phone). Yesterday I got our new mattress made up with clean linen and mattress and pillow protectors, so the boudoir is lovely. Didn't manage the flylady window cleaning, but I might do that today.

We3, in an absolute pinch, you can hairdrier the papermaché, or put it in the oven on a low heat!

I have dried paper mache on the heated airer before!

I've used a hairdryer on papier mache before too.

It has plastic inside the frame so oven won't work but I'll definitely try the hairdryer on it.

Have finally motivated myself enough to do
✔️ S&S
✔️ ironing
✔️ LOL
✔️ bathed hair dried and straightened and makeup.

Am not going to tackle kitchen before DH gets in and we take DC out

SC I’m so sorry, that sounds really tough.

Frankly DH was an inconsiderate idiot cutting the cleaner’s hours without telling you anyway, but to do so when you are also about to increase your workload?! Massively by the sound of it. Not fair at all - really he should be increasing the paid help available, as it sounds like he’s still avoiding any responsibility despite you both working 🤬 it’s really shitty of him. Why does he get to be exhausted from work and not you?

Sorry for the rant.

Lazy morning with Cagletini here. Not done anything! The others are out. Need to tackle homework with DD1 tomorrow, she is exhausted after a late and very fraught convo about school. It’s a bit of a dilemma really as one can never tell whether it’s teenage drama or whether the other kids are actually really in a bad situation, and if so, should we inform the school 😕 it’s just a case of waiting to see what happens on Monday really. Thankfully DD is allowed her melatonin again tonight after two weeks off.

Sorry it’s not working for DS zoo x

Hello to everyone else! My KFC has arrived so I’m off :o

Quiet here today!