Summer holidays are coming, fledglings flying into the fun.

[HillsBesideTheSea]

Welcome to a long running chatty thread. We love new faces so feel free to join us as we attempt to tame the chaos and building routines using the fly lady system.

We have a few words and phrases that we use that might not make sense, just ask and someone will explain. I'd like to explain but the brain noped hard and i can't think of any

a few rules cos i like rules
🍄you are never behind. Jump in where you are with what needs doing because everything comes around again

🍄you can't clean clutter. lets be honest you can but it is going to take 50 times as long to get the basics done and you might loose the will to continue in the process. So that pile of paperwork that needs dealing with, yeah we all have one. Deal with it don't ignore it.

🍄be kind to yourself. chaos does not happen in one day unless you decide to knock down a wall but that's a different kind of chaos so it is going to take more than one day to get rid of it. Also habits take time to build and reinforce.

So tomo we start with the baby steps and you can find the information about it here

In case the links go awry the launch pad which is a good place for starting to explore the system more can be found here

Saturday is family fun day so do something fun with the family.
You can define what fun means to you and your family. It doesn't have to be big and flashy, ie could just be watching a film together.

Oh no hills I hope you feel better soon 💐

Hills you hang in there, things will get better.

Ta das:
☕LOL on, dry folded and put away
☕Spot treat few stains on the sofa
☕Quick hoover around of high traffic areas
☕Put out hot spots in dining room
☕DW rotated
☕Bleached the bathroom sink, again 😬

Just about to start prepping dinner - Japanese style chicken noodles 🤤

Tomorrow will be the day I plan to do deep zone cleaning. Bedroom is not bad at all, but the shelves with toddler PJs and vests need a bit of tidy up, things are starting to look chaotic there.

We're going camping again this weekend, leaving tonight after work. I got some storage solutions for the camper but they require assembly, so they are going with us and I'll put them together when we're up in the mountains 😇
The camper is mostly packed, just last minute things to go in (things used this morning, like my makeup - although I usually don't wear it in the mountains).
ILs will be joining us as well at least for 1 night, so that'll be nice.

Elf you're keeping busy!

Hazel have fun camping! Is it something that you do regularly?

Ta das:
☕All surfaces in bedroom wiped and antibac-ed
☕Beds stripped (including mattress protector and topper), aired/changed, and remade.
☕Detailed hoover, including under the bed and upstairs landing.
☕Tidy up of toddler shelves/drawers. Everything else is still holding well thanks to Marie Kondo.
☕LOLx3
☕Dinner on the table.
☕Kitchen wiped, DW rotated.
☕Fishtank maintenance X3.
☕Mani done.

I am done for the day. Tomorrow I need to update the content of nappy baskets with small nappies/wipes, and I am finally ready for baby #2 to arrive. Not so much mentally though, but I am sure it will all fall into place once he is here.

Enjoy the camping trip Hazel

Living up to your name today Elf

Hope you feel better soon Hills

I've spent the day in the garden sweeping, weeding and planting 🥀🌱🌻🍃🏡

Ditzy sounds like a fab day. The weather has been absolute pants up here, couldn't get out of the house for some meaningful fresh air.
Hopefully this rain will do one fairly soon.

Elf yes, we go as much as we can! This is our 4th trip this summer 😍 it's much easier with our camper as we can keep a lot of things in there ready to go
Thank you both, we will have fun!

Elf you really have been busy! How long do you have until baby? You must be close!
Ditzy I need to work on the garden at home, not this weekend though 😆

We're on our way right now, it'll be nice to relax around the fire with a drink!
clarification: firepit is good, house fire is bad!

Morning 🌄 everyone 👋
I've been very tired and a bit lazy since my trip away, so no TaDas apart from the necessary basics.
Went shopping yesterday, realised when I parked up (luckily before I got to the checkout) that I'd left my bank card at home, so had to drive back to get it. Cursed myself a lot 😆
I treated myself to a Vax carpet cleaner in the Amazon sale, so I'll be playing with that next week.
ToDo's
Put away the LOL I did on Tuesday, I only got as far as putting away the clothes I didn't wear.
Put away the toiletries I took.
Anything else will be a bonus.

Hazel hope you are enjoying your time away from daily chores.
I am now 38 weeks, and will have an elective section at some point at 39+ weeks, so it's all very imminent. Not looking forward to c section recovery with 2 small children.. but will deal with it as it comes.

Cherry oh Vax carpet cleaner, nice. I really rate their upholstery stain remover, honestly, I don't want to think what my house would look like without it 😬

Ta das:
🪷Recycling and normal trash to the bins.
🪷Lol cycle done - I am finally back on track with 1 cycle per day, including folding and putting away dry one.
🪷Usual kitchen wipe down and DW rotation
🪷Dinner cooked and on the table, dining room tidy up afterwards.
🪷Started on washing the pillows in the washing machine. So far so good.
🪷Watered indoor plants
🪷Meal plan for next week done

Sorry i have been a terrible terrible thread leader this month. Still my bed is my friend poorly. Unfortunately we are doing some emergency building work, not planned and urgent kinda building work. Estimated at least 2-3weeks to get done, and then we can tackle the scheduled building work. The amount of dust flying about is not helping me.

Hazel hope the trip is relaxing and restful
Elf eek that is really close.
cherry let us know how you find that new cleaner. My ancient heavy bulky cleaner will need replacing eventually as it is getting harder and harder to find parts for it.
Ditzy Garden time sounds amazing, i miss being able to be out in the garden.

Hope everyone is doing well and able to find time for themselves as well as getting everything done that is needed.

Don't worry about it Hills, you rest up, nobody's going to hold it against you. Emergency building work sounds alarming. Hope your house is ok

My decluttering is going well, if slowly. Donated some things to a charity raffle, cleared out some clothes and some spare boxes we're not using

Ditzy that sounds like a great progress. There is something therapeutic about decluttering.
Hills I am sorry to hear you are not feeling well. Rest as much as you can (although emergency building work does sound worrying. Is everything ok?).

Ta das:
☕Cleaned kitchen multiple times, few loads of DW
☕Lolx1

About par for the course for this house. Something breaks, should be simple but annoying fix, except it isnt so you end up with a giant job that requires half a ton of stuff to be moved so that the thing can be fixed and then everything to be put back. It was emergency as it was not on the schedule, it is important to fix for safety reasons so not something that can be left. So the work that was scheduled for the end of last month/beginning of this month has been pushed further back til next month now. And everything gets delayed.

And thus is the pattern of building work in this house. Fuck knows what it is going to be like when we eventually get the roof replaced... Which is not on the to do list yet either. I swear we should have knocked the house down and rebuilt, it would have been cheaper and quicker; although not sure neighbours would have appreciated as we are not a detached house.

Hills all that sounds very stressful. Definitely not something you need when feeling unwell.

I did no housework today, other than rotating a dishwasher. Had a fun day out with DH and DS, it was great.

hills that sounds so stressful! I hope the repairs are not too destructive.
Elf 😱 you are so close! I'm assuming you have everything ready for baby? It's good to see you enjoying time with the family as well.
Ditzy well done on your progress. Once you have more space, you won't know what to do with yourself!
Cherry I hope you didn't have to go far to fetch your bank card 🤞

We got back from camping, had a lovely time. I went out on the four wheeler a couple of times. We swam (sat/waded really) in the creek to cool off, and relaxed around the fire.

Ta Das:
🧺 everything unpacked from camper & put away
🧺 LOLs x3 (including dog beds and blankets)
🧺 bathed dogs
🧺 de-limescaled bathroom sinks and shower
🧺 rotated DW
🧺 showered thoroughly
🧺 filed nails & painted with clear coat

We will be having repair work start this week, apparently. Hopefully I'll find it more on Tuesday, but I'm sure we'll have to switch bedrooms as they'll need to take the ceiling out of our room as part of rebuilding the roof.

While we were up in the mountains, we saw a mama moose and her 2 babies 🫎 I'll add some pictures of our trip

More pictures..

🍒👋 to everyone

Morning 🌄 everyone 👋
@HillsBesideTheSea that really does sound stressful, and I hope you feel better soon.
@BloomingHazel your trip looks amazing! And I want to smooch your adorable dog 🐕
I've been in a state of inertia since I've got back, not so DP is being a dick and it's taking its toll on me, so I've not got enough spoons for anything other than the absolute essentials.
I'm not making ToDo lists other than I must return a parcel today as it's the deadline to get a refund. It's a 5 minute job but I feel so fed up it seems like a mammoth task.
Hope everyone is doing OK.

I have new meds from the GP which should help me feel better. 1st dose tomo, and honestly, right now i want tomo to hurry up and arrive.

How is everyone doing this home bluergh day?

@CherryogDog I completely relate! I also have a parcel that I meant to bring back today.. I hate going to the post office, I don't know why but even packing it up overwhelms me.
Shall we both try for tomorrow?

Hazel those photos look fab, look at that mama moose with her babies! 🥰 Must have been spectacular in real life.
Sounds like there is some movement with repair works. Hopefully they will be able to get it done quickly. One step closer to normality.
Hills I am glad you got the meds. May tomorrow come quickly for you.
Daffodils and Cherry sending spoons your way 🥄🥄🥄

Ta das:
☕Kitchen tidied and wiped, including a quick wipe of the windowsill and a cupboard which has onion/garlic/potatoes basket in it. Onion and garlic skins are getting everywhere, so annoying.
☕Washed drip trays from both coffee machines
☕Usual DW rotation
☕Lolx2 - usual cycle of wet out, dry folded and put away
☕Proper S&S toilets and potties
☕Put out hot spots in dining room and cleaned McToddler's booster seat. How he manages to get it so murky is beyond me.
☕Living room zone cleaning: de-cobwebbed corners, dusted, and antibac-ed all surfaces. Don't have many ornaments thankfully, so that really helps.
☕Hoovered: living room properly, and the rest of the house just the high traffic areas
☕Dinner on the table

Tomorrow need to sort out the fishies and get some self grooming in. Have a haircut booked and will try to squeeze in another IPL session before next week.

My main issue with flylady I need to work on is to do things in 15 mins... Yeah, 15 mins would probably see me put the washing out and maybe a DW loading. No way I will be able to do any zone cleaning in 15 mins per day all together. May try with a timer or something, to see how much of this is doable..

Oooh I've got a name-sister hi daffodils1 I didn't notice you before, I'm not on the thread as often as I used to be

Glad you have new meds Hills fingers crossed they work better for you

Hazel those pics are amazing

Elf I don't do the 15min thing either. I usually do an hour, it's easy enough to keep going for an hour and you can get a lot done so it really feels like progress. The other thing I do is 5min bursts while the kettle boils

Hope your refund comes through swiftly Cherry

Home blessings done, back to decluttering later in the week. I've filled another bag to donate this weekend

Cherry sorry to read that your DH is being a dick! I hope your day ended up going better.
hills I hope the meds work for you. I had DS work on the home bleugh for me!
Elf I do not miss cleaning a highchair, they can get so gross, so quickly! I don't understand it either!
Thank you all for the picture love ❤️ we do love it here, DH is from here (Idaho) and even though the desert is very near (10 miles ish), the mountains are also very near and within 1hr 45 mins, that is where we are, with those views.
My mum and brothers have yet to visit, and I don't see them ever visiting, I've been here 18 years now. It's sad, but it is what it is. Now we have a big enough house and spare bedrooms, but still no visitors 😪

No ta das today, unless you include looking up tile options for the bathroom! DS vacuumed, mopped and mowed the grass. I loaded up empty boxes for a coworker.

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Still not sure of what I can get done. It'll be a long day though, I'm sure. It's an early start with the contractor and I feel like it'll be never ending!
🍒👋 hopefully I'll get on here tomorrow with some ta das

@daffodills1 I made a superhuman effort and returned my parcel, hope you get yours sorted!
@DomesticElf thanks for sending spoons, so needed!
@DitzyDaffodils the refund was swift (Amazon), the money was in and back out very swiftly 😄
@BloomingHazel we are in a civil(ish) truce but he knows he needs to sleep with one eye open 😁
I'm sorry your family haven't visited yet, mine came a few times when I first moved away 6 years ago, I don't know how much longer I'll physically be able to make the trip as it takes so much out of me.

My vet's coming this afternoon for one of the horse's boosters, I'll get a half hour notice call, but obviously anything can happen in a vet's day, sometimes it's half hour, sometimes 4 hours, hopefully I'll get a dry window to brush the mud off!
Tomorrow I'm seeing my hand surgeon, touch wood his clinic usually runs on time.
But mentally I cannot plan any ToDo's today and tomorrow because I've got two appointments, it's a miracle how I used to work full time, look after my family, keep a clean house and have the time and energy for horses and dogs!

@HillsBesideTheSea I do hope your new meds help you feel better.

Hi everyone! Thanks for info re bobble remover, I’ll have a look. I’ve been hanging my newer work clothes to dry instead of tumbling them and they seem to be lasting much better.

Elf I can’t believe how close you are, that also brings home how long I’ve been away from the threads! 😱

I got back yesterday from a lovely three night trip away with the three Caglets and eldest’s BF (he’s lovely and they’ve been together over a year 😱). I’d booked it on a whim 💸 and DH was working/volunteering all weekend, so he stayed home.

Glad it’s summer now but I still have to do a bit of work - didn’t do my hours last week due to flare up. Also have lots of life admin to do and DD1 has her first job interview today, and the plan for the holidays is to decorate the Caglets’ bedrooms which feels a tad overwhelming at the moment!