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! 💐

Hills I am so sorry you are in so much pain! Its not right, its worrying to hear you in lots of pain. Have you gone outside to get some fresh air? You are a really strong person for making those decisions.

Thank you for the kind words everyone. You guys are lovely.
I am ok, there are women in much worse position than me, I am fine. If you met Dh in real life, he charms people with his stupid, funny way of talking. I think he is a twat when he talks.
He was until now decent. Somethings changed for him to act in such a horrible way. But I am willing to put it in the past.

I am safe, I dont want anyone to worry. If he ever did anything to hurt me, i would ring his mum and sister and get them to sort him out.
'D'h has not seen me go wild and lose my shit, if I need to I will go there, to scare him.

You wont believe this...he has got praise from his company for doing great in the new role...🙄 he sent me a screenshot of it. I didnt reply.
He is being friends with me now. I am keeping my distance.

Zoo thank you for the hug. Sorry your dd has food issues. It must make dinnertimes tough! Glad you are alive Zoo (hug).
YAY you have a clear dining table surface!!
Your garland sounds beautiful!

Woolly i am sorry that your dc have food issues too. I never knew much about it but I am learning about it now on this thread. That must mean juggling a minefield of food types.

Sing thank you lovely. Oh no the 23rd thats too far! Will you have boil water on the stove like woolly to get hot water! I hope not !

up thats a super impressive list of tadas!

Foxes aww its sad your little one will miss the Christmas party. (Did i remember this correctly?) Maybe the teddies can have Christmas party at home with crisps and juice.

Tinsel - great news your ds had a negative test result!
Thank you. I am only doing things i want to do now.
i must remember this one!
"Rearranging the deckchairs on my own Titanic."🤣 i want it on a poster on the wall.

I will use the above if I get asked to do something I dont want to do...😁

Wanted to share a decoration I have bought this week.

She is a pink, woolly angel. She has a missing bead for an eye but i love her even more!

Oh Hills 💐☹️ I like the one-eyed angel. We need more angels with disabilities - bendy wings and the like...

Glad you liked the Titanic imagery 😁

Thank you everyone for being so kind, it really means a lot to me. I probably won’t be on here as regularly as I used to be, I’m still feeling quite drained and want to spend some time getting myself back on track. But I’ll pop in from time to time to let you know how I’m doing. If that’s okay with you all. Thank you again for being so kind

I left the house.
Person A - has crashed as needed
Person B is in a meeting
Ds is being ds and staying out my way having seen how i got cross with the other two.
I went an spoke with a pharmacist, picked up some allergen free pain killers, and had a txt chat with a friend.
Am about to go work a few miracles so can de outside without waking person A. And then see about getting on with that college work. I think I am just going to hand it in without worrying about getting it right. And just have another go at it later. At least an attempt is better than nothing. Problem is I am a perfectionist.

Thankfully i have an appointment with the hospital department who is over seeing my care on Monday so it wont be too long to suffer.

Although i bought a bag of frozen cherries to eat whilst out and i have just notices my hands look like some sort of crime scene nothing that washing my hands wont remove, except anyone else at the point where their hands are cracked sore and bleeding from all the hand washing? gotta find the sudacream for that in a bit.

Am in a slightly better mood right now but still have a heap of things to sort due to the medical thing earlier. at least it can now wait until tomo evening ot be dealt with

Food issues aren't as severe here as some of you are dealing with, but DS has, shall we say, very strong preferences. Frozen cherries (and other berries) are one of his favourite things Hills, so I am used to him and his surroundings looking like a bloodbath.

Sherin no judgement here. One of the things I like about this thread is that we are a total mixture of ages and ages of DC. Most of my RL friends had their DC in their 30s like me and it's good to talk to mums in different situations here. I had my freedom in my 20s but am still actively parenting in my 50s, you will have the opposite experience.

Dancing - that does sound difficult with DH at the moment, I think this pandemic is causing a lot of tension in many people's relationships with unexpected WFH, other changes to work, childcare etc.

I'm going to post a to do list for tomorrow to give myself a prod with the pointy stick.

Relocate stuff from kitchen to dining room (mover out yesterday to vax carpet) - cat scratching post, magazine rack, armchair etc.
Clear coffee table
Write more cards
Package up present to post and take to PO
Do nails - fingers and toes both tatty
A couple of hours of paid work

Frozen cherries frozen are better than ice cream sometimes!

They are delicious aren't they.

yep. A favourite fruit. I don't eat much fruit at all but cherries are a total weakness. And just what i needed at the time. Currently munching hotted up bread rolls with cheese and ham cooked into the middle so can take the pain killers and relieved that the pharmacist is so bloody brilliant. Has taken a weight off my mind.

I have decided to just appologise to the tutor and see if she help me work out what it is i am doing wrong because i just cant get it to work and too tired to fight it. Sometimes you just have to admit you are struggling and human.

Sounds like a good plan re tutor.

Hills now I am craving frozen cherries! I am a big fan of cherries in any shape or form too. Yum.
I think it was a right decision to ask your tutor for help. That's half the battle. I hope painkillers are taking the edge off your pain.

Sherin lots of hugs, lovely. What a horrible week you had. It takes guts to walk away from an abuser, so massive well done to you! You are a strong, capable woman, and a fantastic mum, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Those people are not happy people. Happy people do not send messages like that.

Dancing thank you for your kind words few pages back 😘 Sending you strength with your H situation.

Tinsel very pleased to hear about negative test for your DS. Sing fingers crossed your set comes back negative too.

Up today was day 1 of my routine. I am doing similar to you, ie the order of activities and not really worrying about the time. McTiny barely sleeps during the day, so I am trying to keep myself organised with entertaining activities for him (it's a steep learning curve for me, until few weeks ago I had no clue of what to do with a little human..)

Ta da:
🎉Hoovered upstairs, stairs,and downstairs
🎉LOL - will get folded tomorrow
🎉 Extended bathroom S&S
🎉DW rotated
🎉 Morning and evening routines

🍒👋 to everyone!

ta da
🔆assignment edits
🔆laundry - think it was 3 loads
🔆sorted presents so stocking fillers etc are separate
🔆got DS to do some work
🔆reminded DD1 to look at homework tasks
🔆helped DH write a complaint to HA re leaving us with no hot water at all
🔆wrapped presents
🔆painted gift tags
🔆reading
🔆discussion with DH as to why his idea for future plans are in fact stupid*

*still seething a bit TBH

Will catch up in the morning

Sherin two girls from our school were always clean, hair done and homework always done good readers their mum was only 15 when she had the eldest. I miss those girls.

I think the not very nice girlfriend is probably anxious as you get nearer you date. She will be wondering if he will want to go and see you and baby. Maybe her pregnancy isn’t going so well. You have lovely children and they are lucky to have you. We certainly don’t judge in this corner except to perhaps say lots of men are shits!
I had was pregnant at19 DS1 born when I was 20 and my last one DD born when I was 35.

Not too much flying as I had to go out to get some things for tomorrow.
Bed made, new to me curtains up few things sorted. Some of my window done. I have the first three panes finished and some cut out but not finished. We got some shopping while out and DH decided to start speaking again...no apology oh no that would be too much.

Some good news yesterday. DD sold all her Christmas cards and 13 prints so DH had to package and send some more to the gallery. She will be so pleased to have some money. She is 🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒🍒picking now. They were allowed to move but I am not sure where she is.
Must go to sleep or I will start cross posting with Hazel or😠Zoo.we need a hypnotist on here to hypnotise Zoo into sleeping.

Bower I second the hypnotist for Zoo!

To add to 'men are shits' collection. DH's main contribution to childcare is bath time, however it is becoming increasingly more paired down by the day and requires more and more of my input. I have to undress the baby, help him to get the baby out of a bath, put lotion on a baby, and dress the baby again. All he has to do is to take off the nappy, put the baby into his bath and lather him. What did I find in the bathroom just now? Open dirty nappy on a windowsill. He didn't even bother putting it into the bin. 😖 It will be a standard excuse of 'I forgot' I have no doubt.

Bower how lovely that your DD sold out her cards, she must be well chuffed.
Sing sounds like your DH has been affected by the same magnetic wave, or whatever makes them all go nuts en masse, too.

MCnappy on sill?ltb(or pop it under his pillow)

Fun fact "d"p is a qualified hypnotist...

Hills I'm glad you sorted some meds lovely.its ok to say I need some help.you have so many plates spinning ALL THE TIME and your own health issues.perfectionism is overrated.another frozen cherry lover here(we eat fresh,frozen and tinned fruit here.the girls love dried too,but D's doesn't).I have shocking chapped skin and the crime scene fingers (or orange from cutting carrots) is becoming almost normal for me🤣

Morning!

I don't think I've ever had frozen cherries , we have a cherry tree in our garden and get loads every year and I so freeze some but usually to put in a crumble I've never thought to eat them straight from frozen , I will be trying that!

Well done for asking for help hills sounds like a good plan

Last night my brother messaged the family WhatsApp group, he's panicking about Christmas. I feel like we've gone back and forth so many times that I'm getting quite fed up of the whole thing. Nobodies fault of course, it's a strange year we know that, but I really don't want to talk about it anymore!! I think he has decided to still come anyway (for now).

We've abandoned all plans to meet family this Christmas . We will keep an eye on the weather forecast and find a dry slot to go and exchange presents with my parents on their drive. We can't see DH's family at all, they are a hundred miles away and in tier 3.

Oh and we might meet DB and DSIL outdoors for an hour or two, they are some distance away but we're all in tier 2 and all off work between Christmas and NY.

I was a young(ish) mum too Sherin, I was pregnant with dc1 at 19. I had 2 dc by 21 and now have 5 at 32. I am also ridiculously short and baby faced and often get comment in the street / shops (usually from old ladies) "Are those ALL your children?!" "What? No? They just keep following me"

Foxes that is crap of DS nursery!

woolly I too was a ear that or go without/have bread mum it doesn't work as lil zoo would rather eat dry bread than my hot dinners at mogiven she's a menstruating teen it's important to me she's getting half decent nutrition.ive discovered she will drink mini cartons soy strawberry milkshake so they go in(liquid and few nutrients)but wouldn't have regular soy milk with strawberry shake/straw addedsometimes I long for the days I could just cook something and it was hungrily devoured by all...

Sorry everyone's plans are being scuppered for Xmas I need a chat "d" p over Xmas day

Lil zoo doing 11-1at school today

Zoo That is really crap of him to overspend on one dc and not even pay attention to what the others would like Did you get the strawberry soya cartons from Asda? I have some in my online trolley for DD to try.

Hills
Dancing

Mc that reminded me of when DP used to do night feeds, it would involve me waking up, waking him, changing the baby and making the bottle. I eventually gave up as was easier to do it myself. However that is not what i should have done!

Bower good news on your DDs cards!