Fledging flyers - December's messaholics anonymous meeting place

[droitwitchmum]

Everyone welcome, newcomers and old(ish) flappers alike!

Here you can do any of the following:

• repeat or start baby steps

• repeat baby steps + do 15 mins a day decluttering in the current zone

• reinforce babysteps and do daily missions if you have finished decluttering

As Christmas is approaching I will also be posting Christmas missions.

I'll post links early in the morning on the relevant day while I'm making the coffee and brewing tea. There might even be toast...

Good luck!

Hello everyone

DSM/SINO what a day! Hope you have gone to bed (& everyone else - I'm up far too late & will suffer for it tomorrow )

Fairly quiet on here even for a weekend. Trusting you are all doing fab festive things and very little flying or having a pre-Christmas meltdown somewhere.

See you tomorrow

well at least the sinuses will be clear - you poor thing DSM - truth be told mine have been a bit loco today too, backtalk, serious bickering and jumping off furniture. I think the tension of preps can be too much for them, let alone Mummy turning into a crazy tidying machine

Hope you can have some fun with him tomorrow.

morning everyone,

coffee on, tea brewing, toast hot and buttered, please help yourself .

am in a foul mood this morning. Do you ever have those nights when you just can't sleep. DH spent all night tossing and turning. He's got a cold and, although not unsympathetic, i was ready to lose the plot when, because he was hot he decided to throw the duvet off the bed leaving me freezing. grrrrrrrrr. Anyway, onwards and upwards.

this snow is very pretty (we've got some proper snow now, a few inches fell last night) but I actually have to leave the house today so not looking forward to driving in it. our road does not get one iota of sun on it at this time of year and is treacherous. ds has a birthday party to attend and i forgot to get a present so am going to have to pinch one of his stocking fillers .

Today's list looks like this:-

dw on done
washing
general tidy (why are men so blardy messy?)
wrap dc's presents while ds at party and dd napping
pay cm
take ds to party
Do food shopping list.

have a good day everyone.

Good morning and thanks for coffee & toast mellie

We've got a birthday party to go to today too but thankfully I got the present last weekend with DS (managed to smuggle some stocking fillers in basket at same time ). Still no snow here but very icy today. DH was out all night - by arrangement - after work's party. Was told to get back home in time to take us to the party on pain of death or decapitation.

DS actually slept in this morning - 7.30! So beds are stripped and bedclothes (round 1) are in the WM. Speaking of which..

Today's babystep is to get a load of laundry done every day. This is SOOOOOOO important. I really notice now even if I miss a day.

Been summoned to wrap the present - back later...

now that is a baby step i need...

feeling a bit better for a good nights sleep. Now just need to rescue the house. house of crisis clearing me thinks. Send warm thoughts to my washing machine. it might have a fit if it catchs sight of the laundry to do pile. It will end up on non stop today, i expect.

Morning All

Yesterday turned into a hectic day, but can finally say that Christmas shopping is finished yay!!!!

Thanks for coffee and toast Mellie just what I need this morning.

Haven't had time to read yesterdays posts yet will have to catch up later my excuse is that we had surprise visiters this morning (don't you just love surprise visters!!).

Plan for today is to try and tidy up the lounge so Father Chrismas doesn't break this neck trying to get to our Christmas tree.

Bye for now

Evening All, hope you have all had good weekends (mainly fairly frantic I imagine)!

Mellie - sorry you had such a bad night, hope you are having a bit of a rest now and not flying about!

MC - thanks for the laundry reminder, I usually do a load (or two) every day but had forgotten in the chaos of this weekend.

Well done on finishing your Christmas shopping MrsG and you sound pretty confident about having had surprise visitors which can only mean that your house was looking presentable when they arrived.

I'm feeling very sad this evening, our neighbours have now gone and who knows when we will see them again . I think they really enjoyed their party though and the food turned out really well so it was well worth the effort.

DS fell over in the ice several times today and has grazed his face a bit.

I'm shattered!

I'm going to wrap a few presents and then get an early night.

Evening all,

Have tried to spend less time on the computer this weekend in order to get a bit more stuff done - don't think it has made much difference

DSM - what a nightmare. I got the Olbas oil out tonight (DD has got a streaming cold) I am going to put it very high out of reach I think

Mellie - hope you get a better sleep tonight

MC thank you for keeping us all going

MM - poor DS, this ice is treacherous. Our snow has just frozen into solid ice now, looks lovely but is lethal.

MrsGG - well done on the Christmas shopping.

Hello to Pluto, Tibni, SR, PF, SBB, OM, and everyone else (I'm still a bit confused by the Christmas names, by the time I get the hang of them they will all be changed back again)

Haven't really made lists for the last few days, reasonably on top of things thanks to DCs going to stay with grandparents last night. As well as DD having a cold, they are both tired, and although basically happy, the slightest provocation is turning them into whinging wailing miseries) .

Never mind. Tomorrow was going to be stay at home and make gingerbread men as presents, but I would feel a bit mean giving anyone any food item handled by DD at the moment, so it will probably be more telly games in front of the fire instead.

Off to catch the end of the darts on telly. Weirdly compulsive, fat men in loud shirts, we watch it every year.

Glad you are feeling better DSM
Sorry about your early start Mellie
MC - yes, I left it one day and the laundry is now following me down the stairs [eek]

We had a hectic "entertaining relatives" day, one of those days where you spend all morning tidying and it is dirtier in the evening than when you started When people look in the bedrooms you realise nothing was really tidied at all
Still, feel really pleased that I had got some of the food organised so quite easy to manage two meals, and the parlour looked festive so there was somewhere for my poor parents to sit Dh did loads of washing up in gratitude for everything going smoothly; I realise now why I get so sick of housework, because normally I wash up and cook.
This eve has been bliss. And it was lovely to see brother and parents.
And an easy relaxing day tomorrow - just messing around with dcs and two of their friends to visit.

ok time to confess done nothing today. make a snow reindeer -pics on profile which will need its head rebuilding due to some shits knocking the head off. ds will be gutted and i am a bit as i spent more time building it then he did but hey. more snow tomo.
Night all.

Good morning

It's 6.55 and already my day is off plan! DS was going to holiday club today & I was going to get stuff done before he is under my feet from tomorrow but he has got up & been sick! Only in a small way but I can't send him now. Oh well. He is on sofa watching Tom & Jerry & I am going to do a list when I've given you the links:

The babystep is having a nose around the website

We are in the master bedroom this week.
The mission is clearing junk out of your bedroom (to make room for more )

OK then my list:
breakfast
get dressed (no shoes though!)
dry laundry
ironing
tidy lounge - toys everywhere
type and e-mail resume to work by 12
DH up and to work
no junk in my bedroom but I do have a basket of stuff to be put away so I'll do that instead
s&s
shine sink
maybe sort out filing box (done 2, 1 more to go) but only if everything else done

Have a good day (still no snow in Worcestershire)

Morning all.

No snow here either MC. Freezing cold and raining, but no white stuff yet, since the dusting on Friday morning.

MrsDD - I can creep out of my closet and announce that I am a secret darts fan too. It is totally addictive and a must watch all over Christmas. The DCs think I am a really sad muppet and don't quite "get it".

Quite a successful day here yesterday. A lot of hoovering done in half the time it had been taking me before I discovered the filter that was blocked! No more naff hoover! Then DD4 and I did a load of sweet and decoration making, which was fun. More of the same today.

to everyone here, sorry for lack of personal messages, must dash.
Don't get too cold.

Morning all

Snowing here again this morning, can't remember last time we had a white Christmas in this part of the world.

No particular list today, just the usual washing etc. Had been planning a quiet day at home today, as the visitors start tomorrow, with DDs cold we definitely won't be going far today.

Did make DH clear his clothes pile from the bedroom floor yesterday, and I dusted behind the telly after I accidentally broke it the other day . I turned the house electricity off on Friday to replace the light switch in the bathroom which had been sticking for weeks, when I turned the electricty back on the telly went pop and that was that. It was quite old, it is a VCR one, and one of the kids videos is stuck in it, not sure what to do. Don't think it is the fuse as one of the little lights still works, but can't switch it on or make any buttons work. Looks like MrsD will be asking for a new bedroom telly for her birthday. I watch it while I iron, so there may be a buildup of ironing in the Dinky household again

Whos do you want to win PF? Surely it can't be Taylor again? As Mr Hampshire (Jenkins) is out, I might support Co Stompe.

Morning all!

PF MC - I shall probably get lynched but you're lucky not to have snow!! We haven't really been able to get out all weekend as it is 6 inches think and now frozen over. That combined with a useless council who can't seem to find their grit and no 4 wheel drive means all our plans have been shelved etc.
The party on Friday night turned into all our neighbours as everyone else couldn't get here. Actually it was great fun and copious amounts of mulled wine/cava was drunk along with large amounts of Tesco's Indian selection party thingies!!!
Flying has meant, though, that for the first time I am not in panic mode regarding Christmas food shopping/present shopping which is just as well.
Today we are going ice skating in London and to be honest it is going to be better finishing the shopping there than in our local town/shopping centre (there's no snow in London!)
Other than that more present wrapping for me today...
WtheD I have been thinking about you a lot and hoping your DH is 'stuck' with you rather than in LOndon (I assume he uses Eurostar).
SC - Belgium looks pretty awful too. How are you?

Have a good day all...

i second the probems with snow. as much as i had fun in it yesterday that was because my boy free few days had to be shelved because i couldnt get ds to his dad's cos of the snow. Ok so here is my list:

laundry
packing
wrapping
post office.

Good afternoon everyone (gone 12 here anyway)

How is the start of the week going?

Hi Optimistle glad you had a cracking party ...sounds great!! Have fun ice-skating (last time I went, dd said "Mummy, you ice skate like a giraffee" which I have to say was v. accurate description!!

Yes, we have had yet more snow that has settled on top of the last lot (what was the snowman is now a perfect triangle) and it's very difficult to get about ....a bit more snow this morning too. We couldn't really leave the house yesterday. The garden has that strange, quiet "muffled" atmosphere... 8 inches deep in some places. DD said to me when we were looking at the snow-covered trees "oh it looks like blossom" (out of the mouths of 6 yr olds and all that)

One of our colleagues from the office got stuck in the Eurostar on Friday night and although he only lives in Kent he wasn't home until 3am having left at around 7.00pm. I've also been wondering about WtD's dh ... hope he is not stuck somewhere ...

We are just grateful (what with dh being ill - he is now on the mend thankfully)and snow/travel problems that we opted to stay here for Christmas and that our friends visit was cancelled. Trying to get the house in to a reasonable state before the big day as it has suffered somewhat with us being all at home. Master bedroom has exploded again ...

MrsDingDong - hope you can profit from the peace today before everyone arrives and that your dd's cold is getting better

PF here's to you and MrsDD [shouting very loudly] "up the oche""!!!

Oh dear MC best laid plans and all that ... hope your ds recovers speedily .. good luck with your list and thanks for much needed laundry and master bedroom promptings ... (btw hope you enjoyed the party and that your dh managed to avoid decapitation )

DSM aw - lol at your Saturday list! How's your laundry mountain? And hope you have recovered from olbas oil incident!!
Lovely people who go around beheading snow men or reindeer - but you have the technology and you can rebuild him!! (or her)

Swan your family day yesterday sounds lovely ..am a bit

MiniM so glad your party went well - it is sad when friends leave isn't it ...but I bet they really appreciated the fantastic send-off you gave them - hope your ds is OK

MrsGrumpyG well done for getting to the end of your shopping and surviving "surprise" guests ...v. impressive .. we have our drawbridge firmly up at the moment ..although things improving a bit this morning

How's things Mellie? Hope you got a better night's sleep last night ...

Hello to SBB and anyone I have missed!!

Today I have:
done general tidy sitting room but still need to declutter thoroughly
cleaned kitchen and shined sink
washed all downstairs floors (again!
bathed dd
gone to place where I Mumsnet far too much work (to be fair, v. v. quiet here today thank heavens!)

To do:
laundry
finish cards for local delivery
do 15 mins bedroom
15 mins home office
get an early night tonight

Look after yourselves everyone!!

morning everyone,

not a lot going on here. No more snow but the few inches we have is frozen and showing no signs of going anywhere which makes for very icy conditions under foot.

Haven't done a lot today. dh earned husband points today by getting up with dc's so i could have a lie in so am feeling much better today. am going over to my mum's in a bit because it would have been her and my stepdad's wedding anniversary today and it is just over a year since he died so she is a bit fragile and in need of some tlc. My Dsis and her family live with her (long story) and they have had an almighty row this morning with ended up with my mum in tears on the phone at 8am . dsis has gone away for christmas now so am going over to soothe the troubled waters so to speak.

As far as xmas is concerned, we are almost there bar food shop on wednesday. House isn't looking too bad, have just got washing to do and out bedroom to sort which is currently a complete state (sc i feel your pain).

Hope everyone has a good day.

DS has just announced that he is better so is tucking into advent calendars with a vengeance! Oh well, he hasn't been sick since about 10. Is refusing to get dressed and is, in fact, naked. Thankfully not expecting any visitors today...

List going really well
breakfast done for me anyway
get dressed (no shoes though!) me
dry laundry done last bit on airer, washing in machine
ironing done need to put it away
tidy lounge - toys everywhere done
type and e-mail resume to work by 12 done but e-mail bounced so had to send it again
DH up and to work gone!
no junk in my bedroom but I do have a basket of stuff to be put away so I'll do that instead
s&s done
shine sink
maybe sort out filing box (done 2, 1 more to go) but only if everything else done

Not leaving house today. I've got a cold and we have sufficient food for me and DS so that will do

Glad you snow-bound folk are ok - bit worries about wtd as well

Back later with mulled wine & mince pies

Hello all,

Survived dd birthday party!

House not the best but not too bad I guess. Want to spend some time sorting out dd room to get her birthday pressies away and make room for christmas.

Christmas pressie shopping all done - just waiting on 1 delivery and all wrapped. 2 cards left to write, that need letters in.

Seem to have constant visitors so not really getting much done but hey it is christmas

Hope you are all ok.

Need a new improved list for today, as there hs been too much dilly-dallying over chocs and visitors here..

Children had friends over this morning, so that was good, BUT
mess HAS increased

DONE
ordered final xmas present for dd
started using my paper cups for visitors!!! hurrah for paper cups No Washng Up..paper plates look invting too
hoovered stairs, bedrooms and doormat
ate lots of xmas chocs and started on my sicilian lemonade
cleaned two loos
changed a bed sheet
shortbread [already eaten by visitors]
played in freezing garden for 20 mins
supervised[abandoned]dcs and their friends
2 lots of ds1's leg exercises

TO DO
all the laundry
what's for dinner - leftovers
cook something for festive hospitality [already run out of eggs, may have to be more shortbread]
post last four items (pendants, earrings and a tie)through letter box TODAY
sweep floor
declutter ktchen of strange alien objects AGAIN

get dcs to help me wrap and label them

DONE
posted last four items
got dcs to help me with some wrapping for two seconds

DEM - my DH and DD (3) just built a beautiful snowman on the grass outside our house, and guess what, half an hour later, kicked to smithereens, grrrr. Luckily it is dark now and she won't notice will just have to tell her it fell down.

Our town is in a dip in the hills and appears to be totally cut off, all roads out are up hill, this happened the day before I went into labour with DS, boy was I nervous about getting to hospital, luckily it cleared on time as his delivery was anything but straightforward.

Other than the snowman incident we have had a lovely day, DD has been happily wrapping presents up, DS has been playing Christmas tunes on the computer all day, DH luckily came home at about 2 o'clock. Hope everyone and their loved ones are getting home OK tonight.

Not much flying, but never mind, in all likelihood the visitors won't make it tomorrow, and we'll just have to eat their edible Christmas presents ourselves!

Hello ladies, it feels like a long time since I've been here, but a combination of hanging my head in shame as not much flying being done chez Dinosaur at all plus mega, mega busy with work. I was supposed to go part time this week but we're so busy I've had to pack the DC's off to playscheme and take on full days - January is a long month however so the money will be more than useful.

I've got all confused with Christmas and thought Christmas Day was on Saturday so my plans for finishing work on Thursday and then going shopping on Friday have been scuppered, not quite sure what I'm going to do now.

Haven't had time to read through all your posts but it looks like you're all doing really well and also enjoying the snow. I think I'll be going back to baby steps in January as just haven't been able to keep on top of things here.

Am getting very worried about your snow in the UK, DH is on the ferry on Wednesday night and it would be so awful if he couldn't get here because of bad roads/cancelled ferries, so cross all your fingers that it clears up in time. He had a really sad trip home last night, the ferry was diverted to help search and rescue for some fishermen whose boat had sank in the channel. Three were rescued but the fourth wasn't found, DH said it was really sad because there was a spotlight on a life vest with a flashing beacon but no one in it. So my thoughts and wishes are with the family in Teignmouth tonight who have lost a family member.

OK am off to put the DC's to bed and do a bit of ironing in an attemt to get back on track. I'll try and keep up with you all in the next few days.

Evening ladies,

Just had a quick catch up with all the activity today. Everyone seems very organised!

OM - I know we are probably lucky with no snow but I am very cos I am a big kid! DD1 is supposed to be travelling down from Blackpool tomorrow for a week. I paid for a coach for her, but she cannot get into Manchester to get the coach, so it looks like a wasted ticket and she we will have to pay loads to get a train ticket, which is loads of changes and waits and a really long trek for her.
We've had lots of rain today and it is freezing, but not white!

MrsDD - I am a bit of a Mardle fan, but I am more into knowing who I DON'T want to win. Can't stand Barney, so anyone playing him, or Lewis, I would support. I quite like Taylor and I think he is amazing to have been the best for so long, but it can be a bit boring if he always wins. But he is a very humble and likable guy. "Up the oche"!!

Mellie - I hope the trip to your mum's went ok. This time of year can be so hard.
I am with you and SC on the bedroom front. I tend to hide all the presents in the bottom of the wardrobe, which is fine, but there is no room for a load of my clothes, so they are in a heap on the floor. It is going to be like that until we bring the presents to put under the tree on Christmas eve. I just shut the door and pretend it is not really there. It's dark when i go to bed, so if I don't see it I won't get annoyed by it!!

WTD - welcome back, stranger! LOL at shopping on friday. That sounds like the sort of thing I would do. Good job you realised today and not on Thursday night! How awful about the guy who was lost at sea. I will join you in thoughts and prayers for the family! Hope DH gets back ok. My DH worked in London for many years when the kids were little and every Christmas I was convinced he would end up sleeping in a seedy B&B cos he always got the last train out of London and the last boat home here. No boats on Christmas day, so if he missed it he would not have got home til Boxing day (one boat). A few times he literally ran from the train station the couple of miles down the road to the boat. Once I remember pleading with the ferry company on the phone in tears asking them to hold the boat, or 5 kids would not have daddy home for Christmas day. They did, they held the boat for 20 mins as he ran down from the train! Well worth the crates of wine and beer as a thank you!

tibni - You sound very organised, well done and welcome back!

Swanriver - We had a fan club for the paper plates in August when this thread started! Wonderful invention, but you need to ask SC about what happens when the gravy laden plates go limp and soggy!!Oh she's so naughty!!!

Hi to everyone else on here, too.

Had a good day today. Went shopping for most of the food stuffs, just fresh veg and fruit, bread and milk to get on Thursday now.
We then spent the afternoon making more sweets and treats. Fudge has come out brill. Florentines were another matter! I have to admit that they have stuck like glue to the greaseproof paper and I have actually > cut them up with scissors and told DH it is edible rice paper and covered them in chocolate! Not sure if I will get away with it! I don't think I can give them in the little sweet boxes that I am giving, though. I am not that cruel but DH will be fine! Won't he?????

DH has gone to get me a bottle of wine as he thinks I am in need! (If he only knew how much and why!) But he seems to have been gone an awful long time!
hope everyone manages to get done what they need to dispite the snow. Have to say I am the mosst organised I have ever been and I am sure it is because of you lot! I felt so far behind you all a few weeks ago, so felt egged on. Also house is so much better than normal, so not so much to do to get it tip top for the few days off housework over crimbo.

Haven't done any flying since Saturday morning when we decided at the last minute to head up the M6 to see family, a day ahead of our planned visit, in order to beat the snow. We had a massive tidy and clean before leaving so the house was looking really good when we arrived back here this afternoon. The snow is fantastic here in deepest Kent - but I'm glad we haven't really had to drive through it this evening. Now I have another job to add to my flying tasks each day - clear up from snow.

WTD to hear about the missing fisherman. This puts a lot of perspective on my trivial housekeeping worries.

Tomorrow's list looks like this so far - but I think there'll be more to add later...

clean fridge (not as bad as it sounds )
food shop
ironing
whites into washing machine
wrap stocking pressies
get DH to clear snow off in front of our house in hope that will actually manage to get DS2 out into fresh air tomorrow in his pram.

Waving to you all and hope you all are feeling snug.