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! 💐

Evening folks. I’ve been hiding upstairs for a couple of hours watching Outnumbered as it was that or kill people. Very much feeling as if we are limping pathetically towards Christmas and can’t be arsed to try and make it a fun day!

And just heard DS ask Alexa how to spell “anxious” so I’d best go see what that’s about.

Ignore the last bit. DH got him a cheap puzzle book to try helping him relax at bedtime... 😂

oh that is funny sing

I lost a long post.

ta da
crap ton
Not enough

will have to surfice. tired and cba.

woolly sending you a huge hug. Hope you are ok.(Squeeze)

Sing sending you a portable heater to heat your bedroom up. Its not on, thata its so cold.
I have had months of listening to meds- gabapentin, Dh was taking it for 6months. He told his sister, that last week, he stopped taking all the meds. It explains alot.

isaw sorry lovely, that I got mixed up and thought you were expecting. Your dd looks adorable and so sweet learning how to knit.

*Ed' weldone for losing weight by careful eating. you deseve it.

hills hope your migrane has gone.

Up you are lovely. Big hug.

zoo i hope you have rested today. I understand the unravelling feeling. Try to take time to rest for you.

foxes hope you are feeling ok? The run up to Christmas is hard.

Sorry if i forget or got muddled...sooo sleepy.
Spent all day transforming sitting room into Christmas village, hot chocolate stand, cookie house, more displays in pinks.
Mini trees, and big trees.

I cant see clearly as soo tired. Blurry eyes. Night.

Just flying by to say to Woolly - I am nodding my head to your description of your TV setup. My DH is one for obsessive hobbies, and the music / hifi one peaked when the DCs were pre-school age (12 or so years ago). We used to have a simple CD player on the TV stack with the DVD player and I would use it with the DCs. Then with no consultation he changed it for a system with CD unit, separate amp, two separate pre-amps, woofers, tweeters, random boxes with one button and an LED, god knows what else, and an early version of Sonos and rendered it completely impossible for any of us (me and DCs) to play music. ILMS on multiple occasions over this. In the he simplified it and predictably a few years later he completely lost interest and moved onto a new hobby. So our current system of Sky Q plus XBox and Sonos actually seems quite simple by comparison and if I can't work it the now teen DCs can. I get a bit irritated with his current obsession with Pokemon Go sometimes but at least he doesn't need expensive and bulky equipment for it.

Wow you’ve all been so busy.
I hadn’t heard the news until I came on here. DH doesn’t want to listen to it. Therefore I can’t. I sneak off now and then.
Been to Mass today. I drove myself and as it was quite quiet went up past school( which felt odd) as I needed to get a house number of one of our ex pupils. I have a card to send him.
I am not sure if I should say so I’ll whisper... I have wrapped all the presents except one this afternoon. I couldn’t believe it myself till DH said. We don’t have many. I have three sons. DS 1 has three gifts, DS2 has one but needs something else. DS3 is just getting one. That keeps them all about the same money wise. DD gets nothing bless her. We didn’t know where she was going to be and she has had to use the card to get things so DH says she has had enough.
I have two people I exchanged gifts with and two from church one had her gift early basket of craft things. I need to decide on other. I might get her a plant, yes think I will. I buy two children in two families from church a small gift each.sisters and niece with great niece and nephews have had some money.

Not sure what is happening with DS 1,2&3 re Christmas Day.
Been to BF’s Window tonight so stayed and had a bit of a chat out side with her. As she lives on a farm we weren’t in the garden except to see window which she did a great job on. It was good to see her. She had a bad day the other day so good to see her face to face. Been tired today.

Need to paint the frame of new door tomorrow and get some paint for dining room. Going to start that tomorrow. Still haven’t cleared the table but now I have done the presents I can clear the rest off put a bag from school in my room belongs to someone else. A bag of gifts to Women’s Refuge. Some ironing and a box of extra food. Once painted I might set the table. I want to eat in there but DH wants to eat in the kitchen.

Will catch up and respond tomorrow.
Sorry things are now worse for some. I hope you can find a way through.

ta da
🤬carved out some me time by watching The Middle on my own (and assertively NOT turning it off when the others got home thank you very much
🤬DLMS despite being super hormonal (always seems to be day 3 for me, rather than PMT?!)
🤬found my workbooks and had a quick look at the next unit
🤬wrote up therapy diary and notes for next time

Rough plan for tomorrow:
🎄make simple cupcakes with the Caglets
🎄get them to paint some gift tags
🎄get them to wrap their gifts for others (in the evening as the tags will have dried)
🎄absolutely MUST study no matter what! Thankfully the next unit looks fairly simple so I don’t think it’s impossible to get the first submission done by Christmas.

Shedloads of housework to do as well of course (although no pressure since nobody is coming round!) but I want to actually prioritise a few nice Christmassy things.

Morning all 🧃🥞🧇🥐☕🍳🥓

Today i will wrap presents

Honestly i will

Morning.

My get up and go got up and went. Tired, sore and achy. And so much to get done

And apparently i now crave a fry up.

Morning all!
Oh Hills, now I am craving fry up too 😂

Sing hormonal mood swings are fun, aren't they. Hope you manage to get some studying done today. Sending you motivation vibes.

Woolly I remember you were doing genealogical tree, may I ask, which platform were you using? I am making a family tree for our little one and looking for digital platform/website to make formatting it easier. Would be grateful for a recommendation!

I wanted to draw a flow chart at work a fee years ago and googling for ways to do it led me to conclude that Excel was easiest (and cheapest) for that too.

DH forgot to put the bins out last night

ED does your local council have a bin reminding app? It was suggested to me as a way to improve independence and stop this happening here. So far it has worked.

Although this morning i paniced and jumped up when i heard the sound of a bin type lorry. Forgetting of course it is in fact monday and not later in the week. Thus very much not bin day.

Morning. Not feeling today. It’s my last day off (although I’m only in for two days) and I have a fair amount to do. Urgh.

🥓 🍳 🍅 for Hills

Well done on ‘DLMS’ Sing

Thanks Dancing 😊. Your living room sounds brilliant.

Right. Finishing the cuppa then need to:
🎁 get some bits at supermarket. Going to try and get rest of Christmas dinner bits if dates allow and need some festive flowers to complete a gift I’m dropping off today.
🎁 LOL/ironing
🎁 home bleurgh
🎁 thorough bathroom clean
🎁 bake Christmas cookies with DD
🎁 sort and deliver 2 lots of gifts
🎁 show DD Christmas lights in next town over (one of doorstep present deliveries is here)
🎁 sorted for work tomorrow

Have delegated all meals and some tidying to DH.

Suppose I should move 😩

Ta da

🎄 wash on
🎁 dryer on
🎄 me and dc all up and fed
🎁 checked emails re deliveries today

Sleepy 😴

DH has put a reminder on our phone calendar for 7am on Mondays. Which was OK when they used to come mid-morning but they are usually here around 7 now. Also he is usually still fast asleep. Prior to that he used to put them out before bed on Sunday night but that would be around midnight and it's noisy dragging them along the path beside the house so I suggested for the sake of the neighbours he try and remember to do it earlier but he kept forgetting 🤦‍♂️. I don't think the council have an app.

Luckily it was recycling so we don't need to worry about it festering.

God our bin goes at 6am at the latest!

Might be worth all checking your bin dates actually as ours has changed this week!

Yep ours too. They are going tomo instead of Christmas day. So i need to make sure that is kept on top of. Reminder pings about lunch apparently. No idea not tried it.

I have a hospital appointment. I have literally NO idea for what time. So now i have this annoying voice telling me every 2 minutes someone knows i am in the video call waiting system. It is incredibly annoying and I could have over half hour of waiting. but daren't not be logged in because it counts as a no show and you get booted out of the active list. I hate hate hate covid hospital system.

ED, Woolly oh thank you for the excel tip! Will give it a bash.
Woolly I would be very grateful if you could kindly DM me an example of a set up please 😊

Hills hoping you didn't have long to wait on the system. Can you give department reception a quick buzz to check the time if you are still in limbo?

We usually get the bins out the evening before they are are due to be collected (all neighbours do the same). There is no way neither DH or myself would remember on the day!

🎄❄️🎁 Monday 21st December 😂😳🎁❄️🎄

Zone - 4 - boudoir

Daily Focus - home bleugh

Today’s Mission - 27 fling boogie in the bedroom!

✈️ FLIGHT PLAN ✈️

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

Random memes, obv. The book one made me laugh. Mine is not true, I have read Harry Potter 😂 I am a total Capricorn though 😉

Anyone reading anything good? If time allows 🧐🙄😭 I’m on three different books right now 😳 Oh Dear Sylvia by Dawn French which I chose in the library weeks back, The Mistletoe Seller (a saga type book - never tried that genre before) for an online book club although I’ve not had time to keep up with it, and I’m trying to plough my way through Wuthering Heights and I hate to say this of a classic but I’m finding it quite a chore 😳 really want to finish them all in the next ten days

BUT I must say reading is a good pampering thing for me - remember it’s the habit of the month! So I should make a little time for it as it is far better for me than mindlessly scrolling online 🤦🏽‍♀️

🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻🎅🏻

Oh well. Remembered two days in a row to change the date, and forgot the pics instead! 🤦🏽‍♀️

Also, does anyone mind if I don’t do links etc from Christmas Day onwards? And it’s more like a normal chat thread for the rest of the month?

Hospital appointment done and used the time productively

Sounds like a plan to me sing happy for it, and would highly back this train of thought