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

Well I totally LMS today over thoughtlessness,mess and general laziness

Tada
Nag D's clear up bathroom bin
Nag lil zoo sort littertray(which has added tissue)
Nag dd2 clear up cascade of recycling she was ment sort other day and now hazardous kitchen floor status

Refuse back down on it
I couldn't watch them do it as was painfully slow,but got done in the end

There was a LOT muttering low level complaining under breaths but I refuse to feel guilty over it

We had snow start 4pm,it's a very thin layer.forecast due couple hours still but has stopped

I am resurfacing.

Put up our big Christmas tree yesterday, but it involved taking down baby's huge playpen. Tree lasted grand total of 30 mins and DH nearly had a stroke trying to keep a rampaging toddler away from his books (which were previously well protected by the side of a playpen). So no big tree this year, I have kept a small one on a window sill in the corridor though.

I have been chasing my tail today a bit getting ready for the week, making sure all that's alive is fed, watered, and cleaned.

Still trying to conquer laundry.

We are starting to look at buying a house, it's a little earlier than we planned, but there is a good one that just came up on the market. Hopefully will get to view it early in the week.

MC that's exciting news!

Exciting news indeed MC.

Still snowy here. Brrrrrr.

Ooh exciting MC!

I have achieved nothing today 😳 feel a bit blah. Regretting not spending the energy getting prepped for the week ahead - very much feel we are limping towards the end of term now.

po3.2
❗️Hang out sheet/pillowcases to dry (not outside obv!)
❗️Exchange Clubcard vouchers
❗️Start looking at kit list for winter camp

po3.3
❗️Write on planner board
❗️Start a nice list of trips and activities to make home ed more fun again after Xmas, and discuss said list with some friends
❗️Bind SPAG sheets into a book for DS to do for the rest of term

Ooh, exciting news MC. Sorry the tree had to come down again.

Delighted to report I finally mopped the kitchen floor and finished the home bleugh.

I am ignoring the fact that tomorrow is Monday and I'm supposed to start again 🤦

Also
❤️ Finished embroidered card
🧡 Made roast chicken etc
💛 4 x LOL washed and dried / hung up
💚 Portion of roast dinner sent home with DS2 for his GF who has what I hope is a really heavy cold / flu, not Covid. She fainted 3 times on a training course yesterday and her employers are going to make her pay to do it again because she failed it by repeatedly passing out 🤬. I am not impressed, she's only 18.
💙 Two Christmas lunches cancelled due to Omicron as I don't believe viruses can read and tell we're in a restaurant / pub, not a shop. Very sad.
💜 Kitchen tidied etc because DH still feeling crap
❤️ Tomorrow planned at a high level, to accommodate the surgery changing my blood test from 0840 to 1000 without mentioning it. I shall not make a fuss because I now get the phlebo who can honestly get blood out of a stone without the stone noticing. She is a magician.

Better go to bed now, I suppose!

Hills you wanted snow , you got SNOW! No pleasing some people🤣ours started a few minutes after 9 by 10:30 we had a couple of inches and DH was saying perhaps I shouldn’t go to church. I was up early and had made pancakes, showered and dressed in something nice that I couldn’t fully zip up. Shoved longer top over no one wise. Only 57 at church and only about 18 came for tea/coffee. So we had a chat.

We like Hawes we sometimes go to Hawes. We won’t be going. They have 8’ of snow.TanHill pub has snow over the top of cars in the car park. BF once got snowed in there with her DH they had a ball. Most of the roads are now open. My little chickens were chortling about the cold. I went down with a bag of straw and put lots in to keep them cosy and shut them in. The greenhouse door is frozen so I don’t know what the temperature was but it was -1.7 at 6last night.

Zoo hot water bottle, bed and a good book or telly.

DH had to forgo his meal with DS3. DS3 sent photos of Tattie Pot looked delicious. We had soup for lunch and pheasant broth and bread with blackcurrant, sponge and custard.DH declared me clever and loved the broth. Must admit it was nicer than I imagined.
That all fed no one dead sort of day.

I rewarded the mincemeat added the brandy and re potted. Then I made the first part of Delia’s Creole Christmas Cake. My it is boozy.Had the radio on. So I was quite happy.Bertie Wooster was on.😁🤣

Ooh exciting Mc! Is the playpen one that can be arranged in different ways? My DSis had one like that and put it around the tree so it was safe from DN. Could try and do it so it blocks the books too?

No snow lying here. We’ve had the odd flurry but that’s it. Relieved to be honest, what with a having a decent sized hole in our roof . Someone is hopefully coming tomorrow to make it watertight but can’t say when he can fix it properly as most of the town are chasing the poor soul. Other local roofers have announced they can’t take any more calls! I haven’t managed to get through to the insurance company yet either so that’s today’s job (they do have an automated message to say to go ahead with necessary repairs but need photos and receipts).

Red your menus always sound delicious! It looks like we’ll need to get the paintwork touched up but luckily just two rooms.

That’s harsh making her pay for the course Willow. Hope she’s not too poorly, and hope DH feels better soon too.

That tea does sound pretty nice Hills.

Weekend ta Das (not many - Saturday was “recover from shock of storm Arwen day” while yesterday was apparently “baby up crush spine and batter ribs day” which made moving undesirable):

💨 roof slates and ridge tiles and fence panels picked up (DH - he also did a few of the neighbours either side as the only male adult resident under the age of 60)
💨 another couple of Christmas bits ordered - just wine and chocs and vouchers left to get.
💨 attempted to tidy DD’s room. Made limited progress.
💨 cleaned up after DH’s roast
💨 soaked fruit for Christmas cake
💨 few LOLs done, basic tidying, DD’s uniform sorted, reading done etc.

Determined this week will be more productive and some actual cleaning might get done (DH has done some basic stuff but it’s not how I like it)

i dont think it was the snow that was really the problem. Ice is the worst. But mostly it was a 5hr trip on unfamiliar roads at a much later than normal time when I want to go to bed early cos exhausted and know that driving in snow and ice and unfamiliar is always tiring.

Most annoying bit was i had a boot full of stuff for ds' dad (grown out of clothes for cousin etc etc) and i forgot to give it to him. At least it made it into the car this time

MC second the tree in the playpen idea. We also did the no decorations on the bottom half thing but that is a mildly unsettling solution imo. Have you looked into the felt trees little fingers can attach felt decorations to as a distraction thing?

willow good luck with bloods.that is disgusting about making poor girl pay😤
Red food sounds amazing(as always).I can imagine your girls snuggled in the hay ❤️
Up hope roof is watertight soon

I need get on
DS was picked up for a full day in transport.was nervous wreck,bless him,and I hoping we can sort reducing hours for a bit as he won't cope jumping in at full time
Go try clean/tidy my anxiety for him away today....

Ooh I love those felt trees. Like fuzzy felt from days of yore :o I wish I’d got one for Cagletini while she was younger!

Hope everyone is staying safe in the cold/ice etc 💐

Been an odd morning here, nursery shut last minute (not covid), pupil not logged on for maths, DH has had to go and drop DD1’s inhaler at school as well.

po3.1
❗️Email volunteer supervisor
❗️Message pupil’s mum and make this month’s invoice
❗️Check work email

Asda have a tree that is just the top half!

I’ve also seen cat-safe trees that hang on the ceiling 🤣

Have been a tiny bit productive so far, now need to carry on with stuff.

po3.2
❗️Rotate DW
❗️Ring volunteer client (either to chat now or arrange next call)
❗️Set DS up with some work

We stand our tree on a coffee table. It is a practical no where else to put it thing but it does help to lift it from small fingers, not that that is a problem around here.

I am procrastinating. December is barrowing towards faster than is desirable. So much to do, so much don't want to. So SO SOOOO much teenager attitude.

Left message with client so that’s still on the list to try later (we have to withhold our numbers so can’t arrange by text or ask them to call back). Also had a chat with a colleague who needed a vent, and sorted some laundry and rubbish. Feeling a bit better now!

po3.4
❗️Make notes to start planning maths assessment (not done this for an online pupil before!)
❗️Merge some BRCs in the living room and throw/put away anything I can
❗️Put away some books and craft stuff

We have our tree on a coffee table too, our living room is quite small and you get full height but less diameter at the base that way. The cats like to sit on the table under the branches but have never tried climbing it, but when they and the DCs were younger we used to tie the top branch to a hook on the front of the wall-mounted bookshelves on the wall behind it.

I'm all behind with the thread again, will try and catch up later. Has anyone volunteered for December? If not I'm happy to do it as it will hopefully get me more back on track again.

Ooh, ED , will you do December? I was going to volunteer but I don't think I can manage it.

Monday has spun out of control again. Don't know what is up with this day of the week.

Ta da:
❤️ Morning routine of windows, bed, S&S, DW, LOL, dinner
🧡 Blood test at surgery, rearranged from 0840 to 10am by them. Questioned as to why not there at 0840. Showed them their own text and Patient Access account. Much embarrassment on their part.
💛 Walked into town for DS2's prescription. Still not ready, come back in ten mins.
💙 Walked round town looking for chocolate coins for stockings and bath bubbles. Coins only available in M&S, Superdrug now sell bum and boob masks (like facemasks but for other areas). WTAF?
💚 Collected prescription and walked home
💜 DH still ill and very grumpy
❤️ DS3 hysterical because he missed a homework. Talked him down.
🧡 Planned a fortnight's menu
💛 Wrote a shopping list
💙 Dashed out to neck physio
💚 Had a grump because DH texted the say Bookshop.uk cancelled my order (can't actually get the books they said they had) and lost his altogether. Honestly, this is why people use Amazon.
💜 Neck physio was painful, ineffective and short 🤬

Now I have to go home via Hobbycraft and Dunelm and then sit with DS3 while he does his geography test.

I am having a very definite attack of the Don't Want Tos.

That’s lovely of you ED thanks 💐

I’ve made six pages of maths assessment (putting each topic separately so I can mix and match with future pupils too) so it’s been a productive afternoon work wise too.

po3.5
❗️Shower and wash hair
❗️Maths with DS
❗️Get DS to start packing for scout camp (will use an empty box for now as borrowing giant backpack from friend!) and make note of any necessary purchases etc

Feeling very productive indeed now and pleased that DS did very well at a new topic in maths 🥰

po3.6
❗️Last attempt at calling client
❗️Look at prices/sellers for necessary camp bits and see if friend wants to split an order
❗️Look up some OU dates

But first, some sliced apple dipped in peanut butter 😋

Oooh yum. Sounds really nice Sing.

I am exhausted. Hobbycraft and Dunelm were busy and tense and hardwork and the traffic was rubbish and now DS3 is procrastinating on his geography test.

I am going to have a strong cup of Earl Grey Rooibos tea (caffeine free, so hopefully the flavour alone will fool my brain into working) and get going on the next lot.

1. Baking potatoes into the oven on the timer
2. LOL 4 in so DD has thermal socks for tomorrow
3. Collapse in heap.

Aah sorry you have a Procrastinating Pre-teen willow 😩 last thing you need after hellishly busy shops

I have done considerable anti procrastination today, and have got a bit more organised for the rest of term. Wondering if I should pause now before I get too wiped out, not that I’ve been doing anything physically demanding really, just a lot of different small tasks.

po3.7
❗️Clear out coat pockets, backpack and handbag (taking pics of train tickets for expenses)
❗️Swap BRC and camp stuff so as to save space
❗️Find some maths I left unfinished days back and finish it

Gah. So I registered for my degree but still got an automatic reply saying I’m on restricted status. So I’m guessing that means something fell down in the process somewhere as I had the all clear to start 🤔 hopefully I can find time to phone tomorrow.

po3.8
❗️Check picnic stuff to see if I have enough for DS and some friends to take to camp
❗️Start photographing stuff to sell and put pics in album on phone
❗️Write list of things to look for for Xmas

sing you can do my OU work if you like?

that.

Sing might rather my maths based studies? don't really want to share, need a house elf to do the chores so i can do my studies