Fledglings Flying Frightfully into October

[EerilyDeleted]

A huge thanks to Mogthesleepycat for steering us successfully through September

If you are struggling with C.H.A.O.S. (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) and S.T.U.F.F. (Something That Undermines Family Fun) then this is the thread where we (loosely) follow the step-by-step Flylady housekeeping system (in our own, unique, relaxed style) with lots of support and chatter along the way.

The FlyLady link is here Flylady. Don't be put off by the twee language of the site – we all agree that the underlying system is very effective.

This little-and-often system is designed so that you can follow a series of steps and routines each day (which gradually become second nature) in zones of the house which are designated weekly; defining and minimising housework - which in theory should leave you with loads more time to do something more interesting instead.

At the same time it is intended to reduce that panicky "rabbit in headlights" feeling when you are overwhelmed and everything needs doing all at once. No problem if you miss a day or two; just jump right back in and it will all come around again next month.

It's up to you, but we advise not signing up to receive the Flylady e-mails as you will be swamped with marketing nonsense. All the information you need will be linked here on a daily basis.

From the first of the month, we will be following Flylady's steps and routines using a three-pronged approach (dependent on the stage everyone is at):

• start or repeat baby steps
• repeat baby steps + do 15 minutes a day decluttering in the current zone
• reinforce baby steps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering.
• And if you are really enthusiastic and have finished decluttering - you can go on to detailed deep cleaning in each zone.

There are three key points to keep in mind throughout:

• No perfectionism allowed - this is harder than you would imagine and many of us on this thread struggle with this one.
• You are never behind - just start where you are and anything you do is progress.
• It didn't get into a mess overnight, it won't get tidy over night - accept it will take time to get on top of things and you will be happier.

If you are new; then trying to spend 15mins decluttering daily and doing the baby steps is a good way to start. Some of us (mentioning no names) can have scary looking ‘ta-da’ lists but don't let that worry you. Do what you can, anything is better than nothing, and don't judge yourself against others.

If all else fails, a brew + the power of three technique + a bit of support on here can work wonders.

Here's the launch pad for more experienced fledglings Launchpad.

Don’t let it put you off if we appear a bit cliquey, we really aren’t. Some of us have been on here for years – but all lurkers, intermittent returnees, oldies and newcomers very, very welcome.

SingToTheSky put together a glossary of the many weird and might-seem-a-bit-cliquey terms. We have been going a long time but we always love newbies - hopefully this list will help you settle in.

KCC - the Keep Calm Corner, invented by our lovely Fledgling SC back in March, where the OP posts nice diverting links, memes, questions etc to distract us from the pandemic.

Ta Da - instead of a to do list (which is of course welcome too) we often post our achievements, with accompanying jazz hands, in order to celebrate the positives, however small they seem! Sometimes if we want to share an embarrassed giggle/commiserations we also post a ta didn’t - the stuff we didn’t get done!

BRC - Bag/Box of Random Crap. These are usually formed when we are panic tidying and shove anything in “to sort later” which is also known as a stash and dash .

Power of Three or PO3 - the idea that if you’re feeling really unmotivated/overwhelmed by your to do list, you just choose three things to do, and then post when you’ve done them.

DLMS - didn’t lose my shit - in other words, somehow stayed relatively calm despite a stressful day!

SS/S&S - Swish and Swipe - this is one of the key parts of the morning routine, a quick once over of the bathroom.

Home Bleugh - Flylady's Home Blessing routine

And a few basics:
LOL - load of laundry
WM - washing machine
TD - tumble dryer
DW - dishwasher
HSL - hallway, stairs, landing

And finally "The Naughty Corner" - this is for Fledglings who perhaps didn't get done what they had planned for the day but are in need of a comfy seat, pile of cushions, tasty snacks, stiff drink and friends to chat to.

Afternoon all,

Sorry, I didn't get time to do the links this morning, I had a dentist appt at 8.15 then went on to yoga class and a bit of shopping.

Today is Friday, which means declutter your bag and car day.

Our mission is to sweep and mop the kitchen floor.

The flight plan is here flight plan.

Today's babystep is www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/fly-faq/#rescue add a 5 minute room rescue to your morning routine.

Sigh. So tired. Finally got to meet my Homestart volunteer in person, which was lovely! She’s really nice. Then Cagletini suddenly decided to leave the park and run across the (very quiet) road. She did actually stop and look so that’s something I suppose . She then refused the buggy and I couldn’t get her in, but after a few minutes she complained about the backpack (it’s one of those ones with a strap). Normally she just walks holding our hand and then gets in the buggy when tired but after running off I said no to that and she stropped for ages, I actually got DH and DS to come and meet me halfway as I couldn’t carry her much! 🙄😳

And now it’s time for an hour of zoom therapy with DS. No peace for the wicked!

Right. Checking in before I go to collect DD.

KCC:

Kitchen - I love the colour of the benches/units and the layout we went for as it works in the small space, I love having a utility room, and I also love the open plan dining room (we knocked a wall down Foxes; messy but worth it). However I dislike the layout of that side of the house generally - small kitchen then downstairs loo with a corridor to the utility room which just seems a complete waste of space. I hate that it’s a flat roof and the utility and loo are really damp. Our extension plans involve knocking down the utility and toilet, and rebuilding it with a better layout and slightly bigger kitchen. Eventually.

Chocolate - not at all fussy but I’m loving the Cadbury’s orange chocolate buttons and twirls at the minute.

Foxes I’m impressed with the running after the school run. Hope DS is better soon and all ok for nursery on Monday.

Wellies I could have helped with the Northumberland facts . Giggled at you defrosting your glasses, and you absolutely do not sound snowflakey re: DS. You sound very sensible.

Sing sympathies with those difficult toddler mission, and sorry you and DH are struggling at the minute

Welcome Kats and Mother.

I’m in a bit of grump as I’ve discovered DD’s pram and pushchair, which DH had moved from storage in the garage to blocking the back door in above mentioned damp utility, have gone mouldy . I’m gutted. We are tentatively considering another DC and I really wanted to be able to use them. I think the pram chassis is salvageable (the carry cot bit for newborn is fine as it’s upstairs) but the upright seat part is only fit for the bin. The other pushchair isn’t as bad (mainly the straps and just a little bit) but it will be a complete fart on taking it to bits to wash. Even if we don’t have another DC I’m annoyed that we’ve let such expensive items get ruined. I love the location of this house but it’s totally exposed to the elements and wow it’s damp. Grrr.

Rant over, ta Das:
✅ bed stripped, bedding washed and on the line
✅ living room dusted, hoovered, mopped, window cleaned
✅ kitchen cleaned, swept, mopped
✅ damp wiped off utility ceiling. Floor cleane don hands and knees. Bench tidied and wiped, cupboards and back door wiped down.
✅ hallway tidied, floor hoovered and mopped, paintwork and front door and damp patches wiped down
✅ relaxing soak in the bath (cut short when I heard the window cleaner and had to leap out to shut the door and the blind before he got an eyeful again
✅ legs defrosted, exfoliated etc.
✅ grocery shop done and put away Gin purchased.
✅ nice phonecall with relative
✅ group message chat with friends who I am really missing!

That’s a good idea Wellies, I’ll try that first before dismantling. I’d love to come and do yours, but alas DH has just poured me a glass of my new gin (‘Bombay Bramble’) so I won’t make it

Ah up that's annoying, but easily done! I'm pretty sure ds old stroller is festering in our garage right now, I keep meaning to sort stuff out there but never seem to get to it I hadn't even really thought about the fact that he definitely won't use it again now (sob)
That gin sounds lovely, I'm running low so I may have to try that one next! I've got a blueberry one at the moment.

Wellies glad you had a restorative day, so nice to chat in person these days isn't it!

Ta das
Dropped birthday present to my friend
Picked up a parcel
Took dh some shoes to his office because he didn't pack any (he cycled to work and had cycling shoes on which you can't walk in what a plonker!!)
School run X 2
Dishwasher back on because it didn't wash anything earlier
Washing put away
Washing hung up, more put on which I need to hang up
Looked for dinner recipes as I didn't know what I fancied. In the end we did home made chicken nuggets, we never cook together and I remember why!
Did online food shop
Played mario with the kids (reluctantly because I'm hopeless!)
Cleaned up after cooking
Tidied the kids bedrooms a bit

Didn't do any missions or decluttering again today, everything a huge rush yet again 🙄

Up that sucks about the pram :( (but ooooh about potential second mini Up!)

Willow DS3’s face must say it all really bless him!

It is a takeaway sort of evening today, just totally done with the week! DH can get DD1 something on the way back from ballet.

The autism support session was great today though - DS’ bit was done within half an hour so the therapist and I just chatted for a while about various autism related issues, including all the stuff I ranted about last night. She’s got some ideas and liked what I was planning about clearer rules on screen time etc so I feel a bit more positive - just need to find the time/energy to actually discuss it all with DH and then the Caglets!

hi all

no flying because I am haemorrhaging ridiculously and we have no chocolate.

After a few days of rewatching Buffy, H is back on The Boys (oh and I was wrong - it was nazis) so I've just been singing along to Billy Joel again (well your mother told you all that I could give you was a reputation...)

Talking of chocolate - for a while my favouritest was Galaxy but then they changed the recipe (sulk). Used to love a little packet of Minstrels... or just a massive bar . I just buy Tesco's cheap stuff now. I like Bounty bars, Viennese Truffles and chocolate oranges, and most stuff with mint in though I don't like dark. Very occasionally I can enjoy it - probably right now, in fact - but mostly not, and I can't face the 85% stuff.

I'm always the first one to finish my Easter eggs.

Ooh. Viennese truffles. Yum. Although that was taken over in the Thornton’s rankings by the Alpini!

Takeaway, slobbing about online and seeing Cagletini in a Halloween dress (DH fell into the Middle of Lidl) has restored faith in the world a bit. I can hear DS enjoying Scouts - they’re playing Among Us over zoom!

And I’ve ordered DH’s main Christmas present which I’m really excited about, and pleased as I saw it last year but too late. It’s a map of the stars from the day we met, he’s a space nerd and is a soppy romantic git at heart so he will love it. I want to sort out his birthday too (late January), does anyone know good ways of getting magazine subscriptions?

wellies hurrah you took some much needed time out.glad you had chance just be wellies for a bit not mum,teacher,chauffeur etc.amaxinv how much better you can run at things when your batteries are recharged!
Up bugger.i second scrubbing in situ.i did it with a high chair straps and first bit soapy water then sprayed it with Dettol trigger spray til wet then left to dry.

Well we also love in a damp house,confirmed when we had slugs chilling in living room for 2bloody years at night.as I was cleaning today j noticed well over half the edging on the laminate is swollen and smells dampcan't afford replace at mo....

Tada cont
Pull out dining table
Clean skirting
Sort out D's Lego crate
Sort out jigsaws discarding to chazza bag any lil zoo finds to easy that D's hates
Wiped over stuff that has to stay and return to place under back to chairs against a wall
Pick up the girls
Lil zoo again not eaten/had. Drink and felt faint.made her some hummus and pepper stix/breadsticks and gave her some oasis to perk her up
Scrub main section living room floor on ands and knees
Scrub kitchen floor on hands and knees
Sort out the 6stashed BRC that were behind sofas

Then I was too tired to do the rest,which has totally pissed me off.heyho

Hot shower (well I say hot,kept going ice cold then hot again.ffs please don't say showers on way out)and hair wash

Fed lil zoo and D's cheese and pesto toasties,carrots and cucumber and grapes

Veg in oven for dd2 and me

Need decide what to do about lil zoo and school....

Hi all! I’ve had a lovely day today, finished work for the week then got home and decided to take DC to the park. I’m not sure if I have said before but I live a couple of roads away from my childhood home and I’ve never shown the DC it so I decided to walk past it on the way to the park. It was lovely and brought back lots of memories, I called Dmom and we had a laugh reminiscing. I also got some popcorn and popped on a film for me and the DC, we’ve been so busy lately and my heads been all over the shop so I thought I’d treat us to something nice!. DM has also bought DD a bunk bed! She’s so happy, she won’t be sleeping on the top bunk for a good while yet (although it is only a mid sleeper), but she’s wanted one for ages so her dolls and teddies can have their own bed to sleep in. We built it after school and she is over the moon! Her and her teddies are all tucked in. DS now has DD’s old bed which is bigger than his toddler bed so he’s very happy about it!

I’m sorry DD1 has been pushing your buttons lately sing. And sorry about the toddler struggles today. I’m glad the support session went well.

Sorry to hear about your DD’s IBS pain zoo I hope she feels better soon.

You don’t sound snowflakey at all wellies you sound like a very varying mom who has her DC’s best interests at heart.

Lovely pic up! Sorry about the pram, I hope you can at least salvage some of it.

I’m glad to hear DS is feeling a little better foxes

I hope you feel better soon merry

ta da
Made beds
Washed and dressed DC
Morning skincare routine
S&S
Dressed
Fed animals
Cleaned cages
Made breakfast
LOL
Dropped DC off at school
Work
Marking
Picked DC up
Walked dog
Put washing away
Wiped down bags
Refilled bottles and popped in fridge
Played with DC
Put up DD’s bunk bed
Made tea
Washed up
Bathed DC
Put DC to bed
Tidied living room
Tidied playroom
Mopped kitchen
Wiped down sides
Shined sink
Bathed
Wiped down sides in bathroom
Washed out bath

Magazine subscriptions - if you want the paper versions, do you have a Tesco clubcard as you can use the vouchers for some magazine subscriptions? If it's for reading on a device there is Readly which gives you access to a lot of magazines for a monthly fee (I've not tried Readly).

Not a bad day here, looked at some doors and windows as we are thinking of replacing ours. Had beef stroganoff (slimming world version) for tea which was nice and I'm now drinking yet another chilled glass of white wine having watched Phantom of the Opera again on the free YouTube channel (only available for 24 hours if you want to catch it).

Wellies my DD shed a few tears over Art homework this week, you are leaning against an open door with me on that one! However, all children are different and she loves drama and music so I'm grateful for those being on the school curriculum and crossing many body parts that she can take both as options next year She does do them outside school as well, so it's not that school is the only option by any means IMO. We all make the best choices we can for our children and sometimes that involves swimming against the tide.

Up that is a fab photo, a puddle of dreams for a splasher - lovely

I can sympathise about the damp, this house is prone to it too, and we had a similar experience with a car seat stored in the loft. I think we got it clean and gave it away but it was a long time ago. We tend to run a dehumidifier with a sensor through the winter now which helps, but does use a bit of electricity and as we ventilate well I do wonder if it is just sucking damp air in from outside on wet days.

Wellies - I think you are totally doing the right thing for DS3 too, the school does not sound at all the right place for him can probably guess which one it is.

Chic both mine have been happier at school once they'd chosen their GCSE options and gone into y10 (both their schools do a two year GCSE). Interestingly, my DD who has always been very into art and performing arts did not want to take any of them for GCSE, she says she enjoys them as hobbies but wants to keep them for fun only. She enjoyed the acting part of drama at school but not all the technical stuff. Same with art, she loves to draw and craft but isn't in the least bit interested in the theory, history etc. I was really surprised.

Ooh thanks yes good shout on the clubcard - we’ve got £105 in vouchers to use up on boost stuff which will go a very long way!

Feel a bit better this evening and will be seeing my friend for breakfast tomorrow which I’m really excited about.

ta da
🐁home ed - been a really good week for that!
🐀put LOL in dryer
🐁shower
🐀walked to nursery, went to playground
🐁autism support meeting
🐀drawing (and uploaded them)

Not a terribly productive day!

Today was a bit more productive than yesterday.
Ta da:
🎉Morning routine
🎉Kitchen blitzed
🎉Bathroom blitzed
🎉LOL X3
🎉Delegated hoovering to DH - downstairs, stairs, and upstairs
🎉Planted bulbs. DH helped. Then we lost track of precise location of where we planted the bulbs, so executive decision was made to bark the whole area without a membrane and hope for the best.
🎉First layer of bark out in back and front garden. Second layer will go on tomorrow. Finally the garden is starting to look like I want it to!

Apologies for the lack of personals. This was shameless dump and run. I will catch up soon!
👻👋

sing enjoy brekkie with your friend.anyone with insomnia fighting tips I'm all ears
Three hours sleep...tired but brain just starts whirring after couple hours and it's game over.i average 2-4 hours,and have been for around a year now.cant take anything as D's/dd2 have panic attacks in the night occasionally

Morning. Zoo sorry your insomnia is bad have you tried keeping a note pad by your bed so when thoughts wake you up you can "dump" them so they aren't whirring round ?

Audiobooks help me sometimes zoo although I’m currently in a bad habit of putting Netflix on instead with the screen brightness turned down. Either way it has to be something I know (I actually use the kids’ audiobook of Percy Jackson! Netflix is stuff like Friends) so I’m not needing to concentrate, it just distracts me enough to help me wind down. Not saying it’s healthy mind you.

zoo sorry to hear that you're still struggling with sleep. It must be tough.
mc even just the bark should help reduce the weeds and might make it easier to pull them out if their roots aren't established in the ground. It might be enough to smother a lot of them too.
Sing it's good to hear the HE was good this week, hopefully it's the beginning of a good routine that may become second nature down the road.

Ta Das today:
☠ DC cleaned the house - vacuumed, mopped, cleaned the bathroom, laundry (MY BASKET IS EMPTY!)
💀 Vacuumed ILs house on my lunch break.
☠ Took in DDs dress for tomorrow night - there is a homecoming dance that she is going to with a friend. When she bought it, it was a little big so I spent some of my evening sewing. I also found another couple items that needed mending as well. She's tried it on and it fits better, thank goodness!
I'm on a long weekend now since we're closed Monday, although I'll work my 2nd job Sunday and 3 hrs on Tuesday at my main job.
It's just gone 1:30am so I'm going to sleep now 👻👋 to everyone I didn't mention.

Ta das
Breakfast, supervised kids getting ready
Washing on
Dishwasher on
Kitchen sides wiped
Rubbish out
All rooms quickly tidied apart from living room as kids have taken it over for some sort of game involving all their teddies and blankets 🙄
Bedsheets stripped in our room
Cleaned bathroom
Put all shoes away in the porch

foxes I write stuff down before I go to sleepI do write at night to.i get songs playing that won't go away,a lot of the whirring us exactly that.nit real thought/ideas just a sense my brains literally buzzing when it should be calm and soothy.ive heard it might be "my age"...

Tada
Fed cats
Wash on
Harpic lav

We keeping scoutcat separate from the kits at mo as season change cossima us highly snotty/bunged up and although risk covid is very very low she would certainly die,as she has needed steroids quite frequently in her little life due to having cat flu as a kitten vet thinks.anyway,scoutcat sat in kitchen doorway glaring at the comfy cat tree basket as he's in (warmer) kitchen during the daywith a box and a nice soft jumper zoolets outgrown.feel sad for him so decided he needs a snaffly bed in there...

Sort another BRC from front room
Walk Asda George with dd2 as new friend in 6th form birthday on monday.normallg new friends get chocolate but she has an eating disorder so she bought a nice travel mug for her as she always brings a mug in with coffee and complains sometimes it spills in her dad's car on the way!
As Aldi is next door be rude not to pop in...

Found small dog bed £9.99 it's ultra soft and fluffy.will get pic of him in it later❤️
Picked up few bits the zoolets love from here(almond butter,dark choc chips for baking are dairy free and few treats)
Wipe shop
Breakfast for all
Empty bookcase
Move bookcase
Clean behind it(found pretty woman dvd that we haven't seen since bought it,making dd2 and I believe we had imagined purchasing it in first place!)
Wipe skirt board and floor
Put back
Reload and wiping shelves all dvds
Sort the two shelves of books at the bottom.ds discarded all the Artemis fowl and couple other books so they all fit in there better now(they have shelves in rooms,but we have overflow)
Kinda secretly pleased roald Dahl collection survived the cull,along with original Wizard of Oz books and borrowers.wealso kept classics they've not read yet that were given (Alice in Wonderland,little women,jungle book,huckleberry fin etc) as I might and if we do end up in lockdown it's something out if genre might be able get them to engage with probably delusional
Scrubbed doorframe and door to kitchen with pink stuff then wiped off well,ditto living room to hall door and frame
Sifted thru meds box.going to hunt see if I have smaller takeaway size boxes I can move stuff down to as specifics-painkillers,antihistamines etc as I could them move whopping crate off top bookcase and pop smaller boxes stacked on top fridge freezer which lives in what was the pantry as no where else to have one
Wiped filthy light switches

Feel like I'm getting there on this room,but it's deffo bigger job than I anticipated!!

Ah zoo how frustrating , I hope it passes and you get some proper sleep soon
Great list by the way

Ta das
Dishwasher on again
Washing put away
Washing hung up
Lunch made
Supervised the kids doing some weeding in return for a small toy each (they haven't done enough yet 😂)
FiL is here doing some plastering for us so have made him a tea and found the ladder for him which dh decided to hide in our wardrobe
An hour of work
Tried to book dd opticians but website didn't seem to be working properly
Ordered descaling tablets
Sorted out all the cleaning product packets for posting back (I use splosh refills)
Put my bunch of flowers in the garden waste bin that were looking very past it