Festive Fledglings Flap Frantically Towards A Calm, Clutter-free Christmas!

[SingToTheSky]

OK so clutter-free is a bit ambitious. But anyway, all welcome to join us for a jolly holiday thread, in which we very loosely follow (or at least half-heartedly mention now and then) the FlyLady system of housekeeping.

I’ll be posting links and reminding us all of various tasks up until Christmas Eve, for those who want to follow the system - and if it’s like previous years there will also be some specific extra missions to help us prepare our homes for Christmas. However, we really are just a bunch of frazzled Mumsnetters who will be very happy to welcome you along for chat whether you follow the system or not! We discuss housework, sure, but a whole lot of other stuff too.

We will also continue with the Keep Calm Corner, in which you’ll find various diverting questions, memes etc.

And finally a huge thank you to Foxes who did a fab job of running the thread for the first time in November! 💐

Great progress there merry!

Sorry you feel crap zoo :(

Question for any history and/or science buffs - can anyone recommend any documentaries suitable for 11yo please? He likes watching them and seems to learn quite well from them, but he’s also quite sensitive - we enjoyed the first episode of the recent Great Plague one on channel 5, but he asked to stop on episode two when the deaths mounted up. So it would be nice to hear any that won’t be so sad! He did recently enjoy the BBC ones about electricity and the periodic table, but found the David Attenborough one on Netflix really upsetting (I don’t blame him there, TBH). Any recommendations would be great :o

Something by Lucy Worsley? Jeremy Paxman on the Victorians? Lots on inventions etc. Victorian Farm series etc

Oh the victorian farm lot did a whole load of them through the ages. was interesting.

A Tudor treat series etc www.dailymotion.com/video/x6wnyjs

Am greedy 😁

I enjoyed Schama The face of Britain which is a bit left field for what you're looking for

Husband says PBS are usually good. Also found this www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/best-history-documentaries

Ooh you guys are awesome!

You may need to access PBS docs via Amazon Prime

Also PBS America on Sky

One of the pbs channels is on freeview "old"tv

Hi everyone 👋

Welcome isawthat!

Today has been another busy day because it's a work day for me so no flying (again) but the basics have been done and I did veggie chilli in the slow cooker today so feeling like we've had a nice healthy meal and it wasn't a rush even though ds only ate his sweet potato chips and no actual chilli

Dd also finished off her homework ready to hand in tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my day off and my morning with ds, hopefully I can do a bit of flying as well and then we need to go to the supermarket for some bits in the afternoon.

The kids are tired, ds especially is quite grumpy, bed time was quite hard work. Roll on the weekend!

Aah sorry about the stroppy bedtime! Cagletini is still awake but if the trade off is another night sleeping through in her bed I don’t care. Meant to be watching Princess Mononoke with DD1 if I can stay awake!

In the meantime they’ve been going great guns tidying the living room. I hope this means we can decorate over the weekend.

ta da
👽got up and took Cagletini to nursery
👽remembered to drop off board books (checked them as I packed them in bags)
👽bought milk etc
👽home ed
👽nudged friend for payment for lesson
👽tried new earplugs
👽spoke to GP about referral for Caglets
👽fiddled about with thermostat with friend’s advice
👽got DS sorted for zoom tap class
👽made dinner
👽bathed Cagletini
👽put laundry away
👽took vitamins for the first time in a couple of weeks
👽got Caglets doing a few little extra chores
👽edited tesco shop

Think that’s it. Cagletini was up late and then I stayed up watching Miranda with DD1 which was nice. Need to sleep now though! 🍒👋

Hiya, thank you again for welcoming me. It’s been a crazy day here, I forgot that it was Christmas jumper day at the DC’s school and nursery tomorrow so DH had to rush to the shops to get one for them both. Then as we were about to bath DD and DS1 the bathroom light broke, both the DC kicked off and didn’t want to have a bath in the dark so we had to bring a lamp in, I’m glad it’s bedtime to say the least!. I’ve had a go at the tasks, I will post a ta da list, please let me know if there’s something I haven’t done correctly. DS2 is going through sleep regression so currently trying to get him back to sleep.

THAT He’s fitted in nicely, he is a dream baby and the DC adore him. It’s mainly just the extra housework, and DD starting reception/DS1 starting nursery, so there’s been a huge change to our routine. You sound like a superwoman though!.

tinselette I feel like this year it’s got dark much earlier than usual, on the way home from getting DD it was becoming dark, and that’s only 3:15.

sing we weren’t planning on anymore and I’d got used to the fact that I wouldn’t have a baby again, so it’s a bit of a shock to the system that there’s a tiny one in my house again. I am dreading having 3 teenagers at once though!. I hope you’re CAMHS referral is speedy. I really enjoy the Victorian farm shows.

zoo DS1 was probably the hardest for me. DD was an angel and so is DS2, but DS1 was a proper trouble maker, he still is😂. I have around a similar age gap with my sisters as your eldest has with your 2nd, I think it’s a lovely age gap. I hope things work well for your DD with the meds, I struggled on sertraline, the side effects were horrible.

dancing I can’t control myself when I’m in Sainsburys, they have some gorgeous little clothes for the kids. I’m sorry things are going downhill for you.

merry my windows really need to be cleaned, I’ll do that tomorrow!. Well done on getting so much done!.

Thank you for your welcome foxes sorry about the difficult bedtime.

ta da
Fed the sprogs
Got the big 2 ready for school
Saw DH off to work
Dropped big 2 at school/nursery
Washed up from breakfast
Made beds
Tidied kitchen from breakfast
Wiped bathroom sink from toothpaste stains
Wiped bathroom mirror
Tummy time with DS2
Put DS2 down for his nap
Cleaned out the fridge and freezer, chucked some of the stuff we won’t eat/has gone off
Cleaned oven and microwave/kettle/toaster
Picked DS1 up from nursery
Sorted through his school bag
Put DS1 into home clothes
Made lunch
Washed up from lunch
Took DS’s to the park
Put DS2 down for a nap
Did some playdoh activities with DS1
Nursed DS2
Picked up DD from school
Made snacks
Sorted through DD’s bag
Changed into home clothes
Did some homework with DD
Started tea
Served tea
DC tried on Christmas jumpers
DH washed up
Tried to fix bathroom light (no luck)
Bathed DS1 and put him to bed
Tea and biscuits with big 2
Bathed big 2 and bed
Washed up
Shined sink
DH hoovered living room floor
Bathed
S&S

Morning all

Plodded away yesterday and managed get about 2/3 front room under control so zoolets decorated the tree!(at last)
This has lifted many spirits and I'm reminded that whilst they don't believe/aren't babies anymore they still get excited for the traditions of Xmas❤️

Kitchen still semi bombsite,so need crack on there.gas man coming to sort timer out on heating between 8-1 so couple hours to make place look half decent!

Onwards and upwards!

Morning Zoo, aww that great they helped decorate the tree. Bet it looks beautiful! Hope you get kitchen done for the gas man.

I saw- hi 🖐 welcome! Congratulations on your 3rd baby, bet the cuddles are great.

Bower- your castle birthday sounds wonderful, and family bought extras. Even more lovely is what you did for your friends.

Zoo-
🤣 present short of a sack and big girl pants...camel toe! (Def dont want those 😳)

That- I hope you find a reason to the low energy. Sending you a hug.

Up- lovely you got to work early and got a chance to have a cooked breakfast.

Wooly- so sorry you have so many worries about Christmas. Sending you a huge hug!

Hills- yay you have a new cooker! I hope your car is ok?

Sing- I know the recipe to perfect basmati rice...every time.

1. Use the same type of rice, basmati- its light and fluffy. (Avoid long grain rice as it heavy and sticky. Harder to judge if it cooked.)

Gas burner control is important, high gas burner heat needed to get a rolling boil, then turn it down to the tinest flame, is needed to cook the rice for 10mins.

Same mine is similar to foxes. I use my mug for measuring 😊

• One cup of rice

-Put in saucepan cover with cold water and soak for 10mins- this is very important. -Put 10 timer on for 10mins.

-Then pour out the water and swirl the water in several changes of water. This gets rid of the excess starch that we dont want to be eating and it stops the rice from sticking to each other.
-Drain all water out of the rice.

-Boil kettle of water.
-Measure 2 cups of boiling water in the rice pan.
-Put a large knob of butter into the hot rice water. For taste and to stop it sticking. -Swirl pan.
-Put the lid on.
-Bring it to rolling boil. Watch it and as soon as the bubbles start bubbling-
-Turn the gas down to the lowest setting.
-Set timer for 10mins.
-Make sure you do not for any reason take the lid off. As you want all the lovely steam cooking the rice.
-You will have perfect rice every time 😊

If my arms are hurting then I make this in small steps throughout the day.

Merryhouse- hope your son is ok and gets to sing.

Tinselette- sorry about your mum and your braces. I understand I went thro something similar. I finally got my braces aged 17...can you believe it...after beening called goofy all my life...changed my life so I was confident enough to smile....then ended up working for my orthodontist...such a amazing, amazing kind man. He dedicated his life to Orthodontics, god bless his soul. When my kids need them I will be straight in there.

Ed- thats really early for a flu jab! Hope you feel ok?

Sing- yay! Wonderful news your little one has slept in her own bed again and had a dry night!! 🎉🎉

I popped out to more shops last night to avoid people...and I found some interesting baubles...will photo pic after the school run.

Big 🍒 🎄🖐 to everyone reading!

dancing I'm definitely going to give your rice recipe a go! I always rinse my rice but never soak so will try that!

The ds is very much my child, mornings are not the time of day we do best.

There is going to be a stash and dash mission for half hour before i head to work. I am just done with tidying and sorting and it can ultimately wait in a box.

to do
Get Ds out the door to exam
stash and dash
work
drop prescription request
Pick up prescription request
Tea
nodd at decorations
pass out and sleep

Ooh thanks dancing I’ll definitely try that too! I always forget to turn the flame down when pans boil 😳

Just woke up and again she’s stayed in bed all night so yay. She was a right little madam all evening so the routine isn’t totally sorted yet, but it really is such a huge improvement. Hopefully I can now wake her up for nursery without too much grumpiness

I also realised last night that from January she is entitled to 30h at nursery (currently uses the 15h for 2yos due to our income). I’ve no idea whether to use it or not, it’s not needed for childcare while we are both home. She will be soooo tired 😂

Right best get her up. I can hear DH scanning the shopping which means I have a chocolate croissant for breakfast YAY!

I’m going to be doing more stash and dashing too hills I just want a bit of time with clearer surfaces for Xmas! I got better at actually sorting through the resulting BRCs in lockdown 1 - became quite a dab hand at sitting down to declutter in front of Netflix comedies - so I’m not too worried about them building up out of control... 😬

sing our ds (4) does 30 hours, to cover work i would only need two days but as its school nursery it was all or nothing. Its so good for him but yes he gets really tired! Not uncommon for him to be asleep for 4pm luckily he can nap like that and still sleep at night

Tada
*Cats fed
*Wash on
*Harpic lav
*Sorted cat tree corner(incl 2stashed bags,wipe tree of cat fluff,located abundance as batteries that have toppled down and been picked up)
*Clean around TV unit(putting non essential things behind the TVso I can add Xmas flourishes
*Xmas letterboard done
*Wake dd2 for meds
*Wake dsx4(doesn't sleep well,not a great morning person because if it)
*Breakfasts for dd and D's(predictably not for lil zoo)
*Cut remainder of sertraline pills in half required for tapering off.remind DD take it!
*Find snack size bag to put pills in and put in pill packet
*Sweep kitchen floor
*Speed mop kitchen floor
*Recycling and bins out to big bins
*S+s
*Littertrays sorted
*Empty cupboard under toaster(not much in there tbh at mo)
*Scrub out cobwebs and spilt popcorn kernels/crumbs of cereal
*Dispatch dd2 to walk lil zoo to busy road end our street and help her cross it(,awkward roundabout and not very helpful positioned zebra crossing