Darkness drawing in, Fledgling flying through November

[HillsBesideTheSea]

So another month another thread.

first things first: Naughty corner is over there ----> stocked with comfy chairs, blankies, cupboard of comfort food of your desire, something strong if you require and a nice warming fire.

Right next up the formalities.
We loosely follow the fly lady system. It does work if you follow it, but many of us have found that it works better if you combine it with an additional decluttering system to speed up that process. Flylady is more of a maintence system and build routines to prevent system

This is a loooooong running thread. We seem clicky but welcome new blood to the brood, and you will soon catch up. We don't leave fledglings behind. But also we would like to remind you that perfectionism and comparison can be thieves of joy.

This year has been hard, this winter looks like it will also be hard. So remember to be kind to yourselves. We are all juggling a lot. The house, work, kids, animals, partners, bills, being the family brain. This thread is here to support. So if it looks like sometimes we chat more than we fly, then that is ok. Life is more than living in a show home, and real life is chaotic, messy and loud and that is just what it is.

So welcome to November's thread

< puts feet up in naughty corner >

up when are you due my lovely? What pram have you gone for?

Aww exciting times up! 😍

Nice to see you that 😀

I have flagged a bit and need to get on with stuff.

po3.4
❗️Eat lunch as I realised I haven’t eaten today
❗️Laundry away
❗️Gather some rubbish, old toys to get rid of etc

Due in 6 weeks That but likely to be early due to slowed growth and high BP. They’ve said possibly 37 weeks and not past 39 depending on next scan. We are reusing the silver cross we had from DD but needed new straps and I’ve bought a new mattress. The chassis needs a good clean down from being in the garage and it looks like the cats had discovered the cozy carrycot in the bottom of DD’s wardrobe .

We have red weather warnings for wind now. I fear for my roof! School run will not be on foot today!

Red I hope your scan went well 🤞 hopefully putting up that curtain will help with a draft, especially since you don't use that door.
woolly being woken up by a dog is never any fun, you've been extremely productive though!
Sing a new Christmas tree is so exciting! When are you planning on decorating?
that hello 👋 it's good to see you pop on the thread. How old is baby that now?
Up it makes it so nice when you can reuse some baby things as everything seems so expensive

Ta Das so far (9am):
☕ 1st cup of coffee drank
That's it! I do have some cleaning up to do, mostly just the handwash dishes from yesterday. We stayed on top of the DW mostly (until the thing that happened that I don't want to mention). I'll have my 2nd cup of coffee before I do anything else.

Tonight is the Christmas lighting in the town I work in, I love it. Santa is driven around the town square on a fire truck, then he turns on all the lights, as fireworks are lit off into the sky! Also our tree (among others) is on display starting today, for people to buy. We will walk around at some point to see if it's been purchased yet.

I plan on putting my tree up some point this weekend. When are you all planning on putting your tree/ decorations up?

Our tree etc is going up on Sunday 12th, Hazel - it needs to be a weekend, and after DD's birthday on the 7th. Other little decorations might gradually go up from 1 December, starting with Advent calendars and progressing to the door wreath and turning on the outdoor lights.

Up good job on getting stuff done, don't wear yourself out. I had two lovely Silver Cross prams, a big old 1970s one that would hold 3 children and the shopping, and a modern 2001 one, they were great.

I had a message from Dancing earlier, she's fine but having tech issues and MN won't load on her phone. Hoping to solve it and be back soon!

Other things achieved:
💖 Finished writing for client, updated his draft family tree and emailed to ask if he wants me to try to go further (will cost more money!)
🧡 Finally hand-washed my tights from Snag, which I always procrastinate on
💛 Saw DS2 when he dropped in, lent him my hairdryer and gave him his advent calendar to put away for Wednesday
💚 Talked to DS3 about how to consolidate learning for revision as he is worried about his geography and maths Winter Term tests.

Now I am freezing cos I'm up in my eyrie, so I'm declaring it End Of The Week and going downstairs for a hot cup of tea and to do some embroidery.

Red hope scan went well.

Hazel oh no what an end to Thanksgiving.

We are still working on Thanksgiving leftovers!

We have just changed to new medical practice so got the call to say all well with transfer.

Willow it most definitely is the 'end of week'. So glad this week is over.

We have opened a bottle of wine while Storm Arwen rages outside. I am nervously watching my silver weeping birch which is currently upright next to my conservatory. WILD out.

It is a case of batten down the hatches across North-East Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.

I’ve told the Caglets they can decorate on or after the 1st. We’ve always left it till after my birthday (also 7th!) and more often till the end of term, but that was because we had no space, no nice room etc. So now we have a nice living room (although far from perfect) we are all excited to decorate earlier from now on!

Feeling totally overwhelmed by clutter today though. It’s been a fairly productive day but I feel I’m on a go slow and it took forever just to find some stuff to throw away, and the place really doesn’t look much better at all. Must try and keep plodding on as all progress is progress right?!

po3.5
❗️Admin for upcoming winter scout camp - DS’ first - and make sure DS puts clean trousers on before he’s picked up for tonight’s meeting
❗️Gather any more cables I can find to add to the electronics box (needs decluttering but that’s not a priority)
❗️Bit of BRC diving in living room

Aldi and the works for nice paper puzzle books.

Ooh good thought, Hills, thanks!

What a day I had yesterday
Arguements and stresses over school transport for D's(starts Monday,but not half days)
And top it all ED team signing lil zoo off to camhs
IN ANOTHER TOWN and with a CBT "expert" we saw in interim after initial assessment who is dominating(not good for a shy reserved child) and too lazy print out age appropriate worksheets,(at 12 included signs of depression stuff about avoiding social contact,sex etc)
My karma took its self outside and burst into flames
I refuse work with that asshat or travel that far and will be making a complaint if anyone tries to say there's no other options!

sing cables are part of the decluttering in my house. There are so many of them!

I need to look outside to see what last night brought ❄️😱🌬️💨🍃🌪️🌀⛈️

Sing progress is progress, and getting all the cables into one place is a massive start. I've decided Stacey Solomon and her sort your life out programme is onto something in terms of getting everything similar together so you can see what you've got. (I know Marie Kondo says the same thing but you can see it more on the other programme).

Lisette, Up I hope you have both survived the night without too much storm damage. Ditto @Redsquirrel5 and @Mc3209 who I think must have been in its path too.

Zoo you are quite right to reject a CAMHS worker who can't behave appropriately around Lilzoo. I'm not surprised your self-restraint took itself outside to set fires. Hope DS's travel can be straightened out quickly.

We are very soggy here today and it has been blowy overnight but nothing like what's going on up north.

Christmas is creeping up on me. Today I need to:
❄️ Update the Father Christmas list and fill the gaps
🤿 Get out and wrap DD's birthday presents
❄️ Plan when and how I'm making the birthday cake (which will be a raspberry sponge yarn basket with icing wool in it)
🤿 Finalise the Tesco order to allow for Advent breakfast on Wednesday
❄️ Sew a Christmas card for lovely friend
🤿 Make soup and cheese scones for dinner
❄️ Possibly get to Dunelm for a picture frame for DH's Christmas present and some more Christmas bedding for us as everyone else has two sets and that's not fair

willow where can I get this creeping up on me?it's galloping at me head on with me like scared rabbit in Santa's sleigh lights🤣🤣🤣🤣

Hope everyone safe today after red warning for northern areas

So far I've sat by the fire
Made lashings of toast
Chivvy D's to feed birds(he informs me no fat balls left) so lots seed,seed feeder is full and mealworms are out now
Listen lil zoo play keyboard whilst waiting dd1 collect her for a bit
I do have an extensive to do but lack the energy or motivation so I may curl up and knit
The house will still be a mess tomorrow if I don't tackle it(as in won't go anywhere)
It's a good job I've hung out in these here parts a long time and know perfection isn't a top priority or I'd be asked to leave🤣🤣

My most frequent motto at the moment is don’t let perfect be the enemy of good :o

I have the house almost to myself (DS upstairs with Lego) so I’m going to put something on the telly.

Scratch that, DS came down so I left him with YouTube, took my meds and had breakfast in my room 🤣

Should really get on with stuff now though.

po3.1
❗️Strip bed and take stuff downstairs to wash later
❗️Message pupils’ parents about December plans, end of term etc
❗️Bit more BRC diving/general tidying

We have snow. And it is very cold but the trees near us are still standing. Hope everyone okay.

Just a quick update.

Scan: thank you for asking. Puzzled as he couldn’t find it. Just found an old one which is possibly an umbilical hernia certainly in that area. So just wait for GP phone call.

Woolly yes we were in path but probably not red.
Damage over night - three large trees down on two blocked roads in and out of the village.
Down pipe off the house but no tiles off. Phew!
Roof off chicken run. Not off coop and I shut them in as it was so cold.
Cover off bench not sure how.
Plant pots over and cover off A frame (at 8pm so took it off before it ripped).
DS2 struggled to get home last night as trees blocking the roads into his village.
DS1 had a drunk driver drive into his parked car and it will be lucky if they don’t write it off- front passenger side completely wrecked. The police got him though.nearly lost post so will post and go back and catch up.
Oh by the way the Pennines have snow on them. Beautiful fine day so very picturesque.

Halfhope bbbbrrr! Cold here but no snow just looking at it in the distance may go and try a photo for you all.

We’ve lost a chunk of roof, back fence, and there are roof slates all over. Leakage onto the new paint work upstairs and upstairs electricity turned off as water was dripping in through the lights. All safe though and we’ve come off far better than others near us. We barely slept so there wont be much flying today! Comfort food and feet up I think!

Shame about DS’s car Red. Sorry about the damage to yours too.

Sorry about all the storm damage, delays in healthcare stuff etc!

Living room is currently an awful mess, but I feel quite productive as I’m sorting a lot of stuff. Still ending up with BRCs* (I’m really not sure we will ever be truly BRC free!) but I’m salvaging a lot to tidy properly, and getting rid of stuff.

*For any newbies, BRCs are Boxes (or bags) of Random Crap. The sort of thing that happens when you panic tidy and shove everything in to try and make space!

po3.2
❗️Make lunch for Cagletini, and eat something myself
❗️Gather painting stuff in one box as it’s still lurking all over the place
❗️Sort paint sample pots - probably not many worth keeping

Our bins blew over. I thought they'd be ok as they sit by the wall and we're quite sheltered, but no. Rubbish one worked its way all down the side path and knocked the gate open, the other two scooted across the (small) lawn and attacked the rosemary by the fence.

I'm bravely soldiering on, thanks...

Apparently Lanchester had a power cut and Tow Law has no water. There are advantages to living in the suburbs.

Yes but we didnt have any snow

We currently have a tree that has sheered at the base and hovering over powerlines so may well lose power later. I need to figure out how to report it to the power company.

Took a hike in the cold. It was lovely, although longer than intended as decided to loop rather than to come back under the tree vs power cable situation.

Put photo up for Hills

And others

Beautiful Red - I can feel the fresh air (and no the roof isn't missing here!)