Fledglings Flying into the Festive Season

[ExquisitelyDecorated]

Well here we are, December is upon us and we are settling in for the winter. We aim to 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 maintenance system, some combine it with other systems such as TOMM. Links at the end of the post.

These threads have been running for years, many posters have been here for a long time but new Fledglings and returners are always welcome, just jump in and ask if you don't understand anything.

Experience has taught us that these threads are only loosely about housekeeping, they are more about keeping good company and looking out for one another. So we have the naughty corner fully stocked with cushions, blankets, hot water bottles, comforting drinks and snacks, with a few sausage rolls and mince pies in a nod to the season (gluten free, vegan etc all catered for).

A few of our abbreviations and sayings:

BRC = box of random crap
Mount Washmore = out of control laundry
CHAOS = can't have anyone over syndrome
LMS / DLMS = lose my shit / didn't lose my shit
It's all gone a bit Pontypridd - it's all gone pear-shaped (some sort of spellcheck error)
No Fledgling Left Behind - there is always someone here to lend a listening ear, whether you want to have a grumble, let off steam, or just feel a bit behind or out of sorts. We recognise that many people have a lot going on in their lives, caring responsibilities, work, health conditions, general family life

So, with that, I will pop a couple of links to Flylady pages here:

www.flylady.net/ - homepage

www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/ - getting started

We suggest you do NOT subscribe to the emails, unless you want a very cluttered inbox. Ask here instead.

www.flylady.net/d/cruising-through-the-holidays/ - seasonal stuff

Morning all, meant to post earlier but my phone was playing up, starting work now, will pop back on at break time

Well what a palaver. Got logged out. Name changed to get back on then wouldn’t let me post again and now back to 🐿

Well there have been some stresses in here bless you all.

Sing how DD is feeling better this morning but missed what op was about.
Hills sorry about fish and people oh and builders. Three years ago they were still putting my kitchen in so I feel your pain.

Up are you having planned SC then? I had EmCS with baby 1 but wanted to have trial labour with DS2 why I chose that pregnancy...9 lb3 1/2 Oz made my eyes water I can tell you. DS3 was 5lb 6oz so much, much easier and didn’t have a big head like DS2 who still has a big head and is now 6’! I’m 5’3”!
SC thoughts are with you trying to sort everything.
MC oh no. At least a few days unexpectedly off means all/ most Christmas stuff might get done.
Honey just do what you can. Family won’t notice.
Merry Hope voice fully recovered. I had a practice run when DH was out and struggled on high note for O Holy Night.Sops!
Zoo hope you had better night’s sleep.
Hazel I think you must be working too hard. Reminds me truffles to make for crackers.

Ta Da

Going ok but not perfect here. Deliveries were mixed yesterday. So posted letter and card to DD & DP yesterday as they moved and no point but then DD has gone back to North Island and DP on South Island. Playing chess. I hope they haven’t fallen out. So able to send it to her. Letter is his.
So post done I think.
Delivery to receiver of food bag not in again x2 took to co ordinator but he didn’t take it. Said to leave outside back. Rain forecast😣
Delivery to Women’s Refuge successful. Yeah, first time in three years someone answered door. They would be delighted to take scarves too. So need to finish one then deliver and they will send two over to Men’s hostel. Yeah!😃
Cake three done. Smelt delicious. Need to bake DS 2 a cake for work charity sale on Friday.
Veg box arrived. Lovely clean parsnips.
Painted nativity, twice.

To do.
*
Need to get up.
🌲Going to Lakeland today by DH request. Two hour round trip plus time there. Hope to go via Grasmere Gingerbread on way home.
🌲LOL
🌲Find tissue paper for window. May purchase more as be quicker than hunting in Room of Doom.
🌲Gingerbread to make tonight for DS 2
🌲Shortbread for us.
🌲Paint nativity. The stable was built yesterday. Put together on Christmas Eve for Carols late afternoon when dark and then unveil. It is looking good. We have to sort out lighting though.
🌲If time and energy bake fourth Christmas Cake. Slightly behind on this. This is a light fruit cake so doesn’t keep as long so therefore last week baking.
Truffles.
🌲Think of something for tea.

Tomorrow

Window to do.
Mince pies to make.

Presents to wrap. Just five people’s I think.

Mulled wine to make/ heat.

Christmas Eve
🎅🏼🎅🏼🎅🏼🎅🏼🎅🏼🎅🏼
Don’t forget to collect Seafood Platter.
Buy bird nest.
Don’t forget to collect turkey on way home.
Fruit shop.
Make Pavlova.

Carol singing in village. Crib.
Mass dress children, carols and Mass.

Large glass of something alcoholic.

🍒👋🍒👋🍒👋🍒👋🍒👋to all.

Hopefingers X Jan has no side effects and you breeze up to xmas
Hills your solstice plans sound perfect.🍀🍀with builders
Up dining tables on my list for today.nestjng is in full swing at yours
MC sort mctiny has lurgified the household again..don't worry if you don't get all the cards/stuff done.early xmases are HARD.they get a bit easier as they get older I promise.x
Ed toilet duck fresh shower curtains?!rather fond of the pine one here.kind of festive scented I guess...
Merry long list🌟did you do shortbread cut outs or fans/fingers
Sing Lego instrument sounds "interesting"

Sorry about further lurgy, Mc, hope the rest of you can avoid it. Thinking of which that, how are the MiniThats?

Waiting at present to hear if DS1's train will actually run, or if DH needs to go and get them 😫. 4 hrs each way.

Ta da:
💖 Pastry made for mince pies
🧡 DBro's enormous box of local craft beers wrapped
💛 Mum's gardening voucher made
💚 DD dispatched on first driving lesson 😬

To do:
🎅 prep spare bed in roof for DS1 and GF (and find space to open it first!)
🎄 Wrap birthday gift for friend
🎅 Ice Christmas cake (this could wait a day)
🎄 Make mince pies
🎅 Wrap last two sets of Father Christmas gifts

Best get on!

Yes planned section Red. Dd was EMCS after failed induction. I was happy to try for VBAC if everything was straight forward but alas it hasn’t been and they want baby out at 39 weeks. If she decides to come before that and all is progressing well happy to go with the flow, but as my BP has been troublesome again I suspect they will want me on my back with an epidural like last time and that’s a no (it’s what made everything slow down). Just straight to theatre and cut out the faffing about thanks . I’m going to marzipan my cake today. I’m very impressed you’ve done 3/possibly 4. Good luck with the rest of your list, you sound very organised.

The silver lining I was thinking of was peace and quiet Hills . We had builders up to Christmas Eve a few years ago - electrician finished wiring in the oven in the afternoon and we were hosting for 9. I don’t know what I was thinking. Despite the stress and narrowly avoiding divorce we had a lovely Christmas. Hope yours comes together too (and you have a smoother one next year).

Hope DD enjoys her driving lesson Wassailing, and fingers crossed for train.

Ta da:
✅ MW appointment
✅ DW
✅ LOL done and hung up
✅ beds made

Going to crack on with the cake and housework while DD is happily playing.

Morning everyone. Just about! Took me a long time to even sit up today, full of fibro pain and weird dizzy brain zaps since last night - even checked I hadn’t been given the wrong strength meds! No idea what’s going on there

DD1 is doing well - Red she had surgery on Monday evening after breaking her wrist at the skate park on Saturday - they’ve put pins/wire in. She had a sleepover with 4 friends. That’s the most people she’s had to stay, it really cheered her up though. They were asleep around 2 apparently and I was most impressed that I’d said they could stay if they all left by 11, and they arranged a lift, all out the door by 11:01! ⭐️

DH is on elf/Santa duty yet again today. We Had Words yesterday about 1. Not writing ALL shifts in the diary/making sure I know in advance and 2. Actually saying no sometimes - he’s absolutely a people pleaser when it comes to all the voluntary/community stuff he does (which I don’t mind in principle as it is also important to his MH and his paid job) but there’s a limit especially when we are struggling to get everything done at home.

Not even bothering with a power of three yet.

hills hope builders are buildery not peopley and that they get stuff done and tidy up after.

Mrs Claus has much the same problem as you sing getting Santa to log appointments!

Jabbed and trying to warm up. Need to do light tidying and meal timings.

I keep thinking Christmas Eve is tomorrow and then getting freaked out. It's not tomorrow!

Thanks StillFestive DD survived the driving lesson, although enjoyed it might be taking it too far. She is taking some time to think about whether she wants to continue (she is planning on Uni applications to big cities with good public transport networks).

Sing I feel your pain with things not going into the diary! This morning I found a diary entry I didn't recognise for tomorrow "half life Wassail". I asked DH, and he has calculated that tomorrow I will have known him exactly half my life. Which is a bit... weird.

Further Ta Das:
💜 Mad celebrations as DS1's train has run and he and the GF are safely on it. They should be in Euston in the next 15 mins or so.
💖 Make and do cupboard emptied for tea and coffee so we can clear the kitchen windowsill
🧡 Sewing half of the loft room tidied
💛 Christmas packing boxes put away in loft
💚 Frozen food and Christmas gifts swapped with DM
💙 Present wrapped for friend
💜 Delicious lunch sandwich of tongue and brie in granary bread 😋

Now going to poke DH into hoovering the loft room!

That’s a rather sweet thing to put in the diary wassail but the wording could have been slightly less alarming 😳🤣

Still feeling wiped out today, I’m only downstairs because I need to be. I’m being talked at about Kpop (I love Kpop, but unlike DD1 I do not give a flying fig about the personal lives and antics of them!) but luckily DS’ endless talking mode has chosen another target today - “Cagletini, would you like me to give you a quick lesson about single celled organisms?”

(She ignored the invitation by the way, too busy watching spongebob 🤣)

I really should get on with something now. But I can’t actually remember what I was meant to be getting on with anyway.

po3.1
❗️Get DS to put towels away and then do his laundry
❗️Check parcels that arrived (one is some Japanese snacks that need dividing between two recipients… plus one bit that’s just for me :o)
❗️Read - I really want to finish my current books by the end of the year!

Again, Christmas stuff has taken back seat this morning as not only is it Christmas (not such a big deal here as NY) but it is the end of the tax year, and the end of the ordinary quarter, so there is so much admin to do it's unreal.

Spoke to a very intransigent person in a public body today and gave them all of the papers they asked for, with every statistic, and every number, (follow on from a conversation we had last week which was follow on conversation from week before that ) and they just had to say "yes, that is the decision made" but instead they said, "well the holidays are approaching, we won't be back at work until Jan 8th, and we won't be looking at this until the 15th". And when I said politely (but disappointed) "ok, fair enough, but I can look forward to your decision on the 15th then?" they replied "oh no we will just start looking at it then" and I said "but I don't understand as by law the decision you make after 15th has to be the same decision you would make today " she put the phone down on me!

I understand that she probably has70 other people asking her the same thing today but this is such a simple tiny part of one thing, that we have been trying to get sorted for the past six weeks. The system is so slow and the tax burden so high, it is really frustrating trying to do business here!

Grrrrŕrrrrrrrrr and 'scouse me venting on here!

Glad your dd ok Sing!

'Scuse not scouse!

I'm so sorry the Official put the phone down on you SC. That's only something family do in my experience 🙄 . And at this time of the year. 🦔

I'm normally an all parts of animal eater but I stopped dead at this @wassail

Delicious lunch sandwich of tongue and brie in granary bread

Hi all
Hope everyone's chipping away at Xmas prep

Nope zero prep here today. Living room an absolute tip. DD1’s pain has really kicked in now and DH has had toothache since last night, he’s going to try and get an appointment tomorrow morning. Feeling completely shit physically and it’s definitely having an impact on my mood too. We’ve made so many improvements this year and I was really excited about hosting and actually having a nice clean house etc but it feels like it’s not achievable now because we are all so run down with various injuries etc. I know there are more important things and nobody visiting us will judge either way, but I’m gutted.

po3.2
❗️Stay upright long enough to eat dinner
❗️Finish another chapter
❗️Try and discuss what needs doing with DH

I think it's time to re-open the Keep Calm Corner, like we had in the early days of the pandemic.

Tonight DH and I were both tired and a bit out of sorts, so while the dinner was in the oven we walked up the road to a house that is all lit up for charity, including the front and back gardens, just for a few minutes I felt calm and peaceful, here are a couple of photos.

Also, a Spotify playlist of a lovely album of Christmas choral classics which was recommended on another thread

open.spotify.com/album/6ofE22BFZVaJ54SmWgHtkk?si=_eUWM5-NTH2QL5dhOJzrOw

Sending peace and love to all the frazzled Fledglings

Wonderful post Ed thank you for the lovely photos and Spotify list.

I did chuckle at reading this:

I think it's time to re-open the Keep Calm Corner, like we had in the early days of the pandemic

Whoever thought we'd be juggling Christmas in a Pandemic 2

Well the Christmas chocolate and stollen has been opened here! Feel okay after jab but keeping up hydration.

Have A Plan for Christmas dinner timings.

Sometimes things are just too much Hills - we'll miss you but pop up when things feel better 🌻

emergency issue Christmas free pass dated to 6 Jan 2022

Hope there is indeed less drama for you very soon Hills, and you do manage to find some calmness and joy yourself too. We’ll miss you until your back

So sorry things have gone so badly hills - wishing you some peace and quiet and calm among the Christmas storm. We will miss you and are here when you need us and are ready to return. 💐

Hope you’re feeling a bit better now Sing?
You’ve got your lovely newly decorated living room to host in, you’ve done loads this year so don’t be hard on yourself! Plus new job, starting a degree… don’t be gutted. Anyway, I’ve decided there’s no point stressing for a nice clean house for Christmas Day. Every year it is all undone before we’ve even got out of our pjs.

Lovely photos ED, I do feel quite nice and calm looking at them

Also keep thinking it’s Christmas Eve tomorrow Hope, no idea why?

No popping yet Zoo

Wassailing hope you’re enjoying having your boy back.

Ta das:
🎁 wrapped DH’s presents - I’d left them at PIL’s and forgot all about them! Just got them done as he walked in the door at lunchtime having broken up from work early
🎁 took DD to choose some sweets for him as a gift from her. Suspect she has her eye on the strawberry laces herself
🎁 completed vacuum cleaner maintenance accompanied by much swearing, hair and dust. It was basically blocked in every place it was possible to be blocked, but, with the help of wooden skewers and my broom handle, I retrieved fragments of the old wardrobe and a full new cat and it is sorted. No idea how it was picking up anything at all.
🎁 marzipanned cake
🎁 wiped kitchen cupboard fronts
🎁 vacuumed kitchen, hall and living room
🎁 dusted landing and cleaned landing window
🎁 folded DD’s spare bedding into new under bed storage

Tomorrow DH is getting the final bits of food shopping while I ice the cake. There are a few presents left to distribute. I will be happy with whatever cleaning we get done in the next two days, and have accepted it’s not going to be all of it. There are also some Christmas cookies to be baked and walk or drive around to see Christmas lights.

Aw thanks still :) it’s true things are so different even if it’s messy the decorated room will be nice - the guests who are possibly coming on Xmas day (we still don’t know!) haven’t been in a couple of years.

Really I need to focus on the kitchen especially as friend said if she can visit she will bring the turkey crown anyway (we have lamb if not, we aren’t really fussed as long as it’s a roast with trimmings!).

Managed to wrap a few more presents despite the room lurching every time I move 🤢 not sure if it’s labyrinthitis again. I’ve set an alarm for tomorrow morning to see if I can at least get the anti nausea stuff I had last time.

po3.3
❗️Take wrapped presents back up, label and hide them, and check DD1 labelled her present to DH
❗️Decide if I can wrap some presents upstairs with the last bit of paper
❗️Try and sleep