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! 💐

Ive ordered a couple of bits for christmas (online) and now need a nap, surely online shopping shouldnt be so exhausting

Yes to the NI question Hills - sorry about the premature term ending. Same happened in DS's school to y11.

Isaw - lovely photo of the DC.

I must get moving. Got up a couple of hours ago but came back upstairs and got back into bed and now have a cat lying on me.

I had a night out with friends last night which was nice. We dressed up warm and walked circuits of a local playing field while swigging mulled wine from thermal mugs. What a bunch of reprobates.

Morning all. Today is a “just get through it” sort of day. Cagletini wet the bed (any advice on making clean up as easy as possible? 😫) and then “wasn’t sleepy” at 4am I then woke before my alarm and had to get a tired and grumpy Scout out the door for his orienteering this morning (he’ll be fine after a while I’m sure... hopefully ).

DD1 needs cash for dance club (fees and new ballroom shoes 💸💸💸) so DH will need to take the girls to town as I have piano.

There is soooo much I should be doing 😳

Foxes love that that your kids wanted to help you mop!
Ahh sounds like they were having a velro mummy day. Bet you were frazzled by the end of it. Shouting, crying and upset feelings- hope you managed to get a bit of time to yourself after all that.

Angel delight unicorns and dinosaurs! What is this magic you speak of? ? !

Please tell me more.

That i find online shopping exhusting too.

ED- walking around a field drinking mulled wine- sounds lovely 😊 i would do that.

sing a good trick for quick bed changes is layers, so waterproof sheet / bedmats then normal sheet, then another layer of waterproof sheet / bedmat then normal sheet, make sure wipes clean clothes etc are within reach

Morning. Caught up with you all. Sorry for GP frustrations Zoo, and for all those with isolation woes.

Welcome Isawthat!

Hope all is well Hazel

Sing, with regards to the 30 hours free, it’s term-time only but my nursery (and I assume others) will spread it over the full year. So my DD gets 20 hours 51 weeks of the year. This works out as 2 free days a week and then we pay for the other 2 that we need, but it means I don’t need to worry about remembering to book her in the school holiday club . Might be worth asking if Cagletini’s nursery do it that way so it’s only a slight increase in hours weekly but you and the nursery are both getting the full benefit of the funding.

KCC - I’m feeling very calm about Christmas this year. Most presents are bought, just need bits like chocs and wine. We know which family members are going where. The turkey is ordered, I have a cupboard with hidden Christmas treats that I’ve bought over the last few shops, and the veg etc we’ll pick up a few days before. DH has ordered us a delivery of a Christmas grazing platter for Christmas Eve from a local business. Wrapping and cards I’ll do next week on a child free day. We have really toned down Christmas the last few years. Less gifts, less pressure with decorations, and I’ve dropped my perfectionist tendencies (thanks flylady!). We had a few years where i was a complete stressed mess and we ended up falling out on Christmas Eve so we both decided to take the pressure off and do what we want. Others are welcome but if the house isn’t perfect and the cranberry sauce isn’t homemade, tough.

So today is the first day of 10 days off in a row 🙌🏻. It’s been a lazy morning, but I’ve sorted breakfast and set Dd away making some more cards. We let everything slide yesterday so I have a laundry mountain and a messy house, but I’m going to try and get it under control slowly over the weekend. Through the week I have a hair appointment and a relative’s hospital appointment, the rest of the Christmas shopping and the wrapping to do, and I also need to marzipan/ice my Christmas cake (I was just going to leave a day between Woolly, my cake making expert colleague says she sometimes just leaves it a few hours). I’m also planning on deep cleaning a zone per day.

First. More tea.

Few crossed posts. That sounds like a lovely night ED!

Sing -sorry to hear about the bed wetting.
I learnt a good idea from mumsnet 4 years into my first child and thought why the heck didnt i think of that.
Its the same as what THAT has written above-

1. bed Layers- waterproof bedsheet then normal soft bedsheet, then another waterproof bedsheet and another normal soft bedsheet.

2)keep a change of bed covers nearby incase quilt and quilt cover gets wet.

3. keep pants, vest and Pjs nearby for a quick change out of wet clothes. With the wet wipes That mentioned, and maybe a tiny hand towel.

Above are from bitter, bitter experiences of finally falling asleep to hearing a cry....then wandering around in the cold, from room to room to try find a bedsheet...shudder.

Oh there is something we are using with lil fraggle on the bed that has saved my life from washing hell...i will go upstairs and look at what its called...

Sing - we use washable bed pads underneath the bed sheet.
The one I have is called is a conni.

Saw lovely Christmas jumper pics!

Sing so nice your Dc was doing verbs in italian! How do you teach this? In awe!

Oops, lots of cross posts I am using my phone so its not been loading the new messages fast enough. Sorry, I will catch and read.

🍒🎄🖐 everyone.

Bower I love watching New Tricks too! 😂

With difficulty is the answer dancing 😂😳 I really hoped he’d want to learn French which I’m pretty good at, but no, he wanted to learn Italian. 🙄 Thankfully my parents have been learning for a while so they help me with questions but otherwise we are taking it veeeery slowly, using Duolingo and I’ve got a few other apps and some books. But I’m also a massive nerd and like making (and laminating) resources! :o

We’ve realised we can form a childcare bubble with DSD2 so she’s looking after Cagletini this morning. Doesn’t help with Christmas bubbles as it’s still two households but still, might make things a bit easier going forward.

Must get showered and dressed for piano!

dancing the angel delight was in Sainsbury's, it's a little kit, you make two different coloured layers so the dinosaur one is green and brown (so it looks like a swamp I guess!) Then I think some sort of cream on top like a trifle (I have already forgotten what it looked like, dh made it!) and then dinosaur sprinkles to go on top. Frustratingly the dc were excited about it but then remembered they don't like angel delight 🙄😬 I thought they did!

Sing sorry about the bed wetting and subsequent tiredness. Ds always wants a full on shower when he wets the bed (thankfully not often anymore!) so that's always fun in the middle of the night! I managed to convince him last time to just have a wipe down with a warm flannel and shower in the morning. On the other hand, now he has bunk beds that's helpful because we strip the wet bed and he goes back to bed in the other one 😂 . Waterproof sheets are of course an essential! We didn't even think of that when dd was little and had a soaked mattress a few times, that was definitely not fun. Dd had her waterproof sheet on up until quite recently as a precaution.

I only came on to post my power of 3 but have ended up waffling

Ta da
Got myself and kids up, dressed, teeth cleaned etc
Changed all the towels, put in wash
Took all the cardboard packaging from my new desk round to recycling bins

Dh has been to the tip. I need to get on with another power of 3.

Just catching up on yesterday’s posts

Thank you all for the advice re bed changing. Will organise supplies and get some more sheets, we only have two waterproof and two top sheets. Bed mats might be a good idea between them too, if it saves changing the under sheet in most incidences.

Right first power of 3 done:
⚡️Kitchen put back together - DW emptied and refilled, sink filled and hand washing delegated to DH, benches and hob wiped.
⚡️Downstairs loo s&s
⚡️Clean laundry carried upstairs and first of many LOLs in.

Next 3:
Beds made
Upstairs s&s
10 min general tidy

Must. Not. Sit.

Hills we got a surname letter too. I just assumed it was because we double-barrelled them

S2 had his Cambridge interview at 9am this morning. Seems to think it went reasonably ok - spent the entire time talking about the resources they'd sent him half an hour before.

S1 messaged to say thanks for his birthday present, which fits, phew (an overcoat). I sent Happy Birthday at 9 but he didn't reply till gone 11...

Need to clear up so that we can put up decorations - didn't I say that two days ago?

Ta das power of 3
Played battleships with the dc and then set up painting for them, they are decorating some brown paper for gift wrap
Tidied dining table / wrote a Xmas card while I was there as that's where all the cards were!
Did the washing up

Well done glittery!! you definitely have more patience than me!

Ooh that is exciting re interview merry!

that looks cool!

I’m taking a sneaky lunch break having done some shopping for Christmas fripperies. I may have returned the couple of items I’d picked up in wilko to the shelf though, it didn’t seem worth the massive queue just for that - need to go back with a list!

I’ll catch up with the thread in a bit

🎄❄️🎁 Friday 11th December 🎁❄️🎄

Zone - technically we are still in zone 2 - kitchen

Daily Focus - family fun

Today’s Mission - none as it’s the weekend!

✈️ FLIGHT PLAN ✈️

🎄❄️🎁 The Keep Calm Corner Advent Calendar 🎁❄️🎄

In keeping with this somewhat tongue in cheek meme :o it seems a good time to discuss home made/crafty presents! I absolutely wish I was good at crafts, if I could knit/sew/bake/build... anything really! I would definitely make presents if I could, home made things are just worth so much more in many ways. As it is, I can draw, but not in a way that lends itself to presents. I was planning to make some cards this year but haven’t found the time which is annoying. I’d also like to try painting some decorations (thought I’d get some of those wood slices with pre drilled holes) but with 13 days to go somehow I don’t see that happening. None of my family are crafty either really but I’ve had home made blankets for the babies etc and they’re treasured! DD1 has painted canvases and frames for some friends this year ❤️ Any more pics of your craft projects would be welcomed! 😍

🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻

Ta das
Lunch (leftover lasagne for us / sandwiches for the kids)
Tidied paints away
Rotated dishwasher

Building up to make some mince pies but need to get the kitchen fully cleaned first.

Cup of tea first, am in a slow paced mood today! Dh is busy present wrapping.

sing I'm not crafty! I can't sew or knit or draw...so I'd be no good at home made gifts! Our contribution to home made is the dc decorating brown paper for gift wrap oh and the Xmas cards feature a drawing by dd (they do them at school and get them printed, it's really nice). I can bake but I can decorate anything in a pretty way so, again, not much good for gifts! My mum makes sloe gin every year to give for gifts which I always think is a great idea and I always appreciate mine!