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!

Morning all

Just the links from me this morning - feeling seriously grim so going to have snooze on sofa until I need to take DS to opticians for our eye tests

Babystep is a catch up one today

The mission] is more tidying up in the bedroom although she doesn't say what you should do if you have stuff everywhere because of hiding presents in your wardrobe

Going to have lemsip - back later

morning everyone,

coffee percolating nicely and tea is brewing. Anyone for toast?

tuesday already [fschock], where's all the time going?

wtd nice to see you back.am also thinking of that fisherman's family. how horrible. hope dh gets home on time.

pluto i've almost given up clearing away from the snow. it's neverending!

pf am with you on the bedroom front. i work on the principle that no-one sees it apart from me and it's dark when i get up and dark when i got to bed so i never see it . am sure a bit of greaseproof paper won't do anyone any harm, bet he doens't even notcie

swanriver more mammoth lists, do you ever stop .

tibni you sound very organised. i have no idea hwere we are going to put all the xmas presents, particularly dd's as she is too little to play in her bedroom and not sure any room left in toys r us showroom living room.

om your party sounds fantastic. you didn't get stuck in all that snow in london did you?

mc at naked ds. i am sure my ds is going to be a naturist when he gets up. he spend half his life naked despite our protestations.

sc glad dh is one the medn in time for the big day.

today's list looks like this:

dw unloaded/on
washing on
clean washing put away
sort out kitchen cupboards to fit in new crockery/glasses
general tidy
food shopping list
taks ds to dmum's where he's staying overnight to have some 'grandma time'.
wrap dc's presents tonight

have a good day everyone.

x-posts with mc. get yourself snuggled up, hope you start feeling better soon. must also apologise for terrible typos...no keyboard antics to blame just me

I have come on here to nominate my "D"H as the most unreasonable man of the day/week/month/year/century! He went out last evening to get me a bottle of wine, some sweet cases and a specific bottle of what his mum drinks to go with her present. The shop is 2 minutes away. After an hour and a half he appeared with 25 bottles of wine, 4 boxes of chocs and 6 tins of sweets. All for his staff at work! None for me! He had met his mate and stood talking and forgot what he went for! I then had to wrap all this lot up for him.

While wrapping we "discussed" the fact that I was not happy to be sharing my lounge with not one, but TWO of his bikes over Christmas! We have two sheds in the garden, but apparently they are too precious and cost too much to go outside. We came to a compromise of one being moved out, so I thought I had won the "discussion" when one bike disappeared from the lounge, so settled into the wrapping marathon for him. I could not believe it when I went to bed to find .........yes, a bloomin' bike in my bedroom!!!!!!
He just doesn't quite understand my shocked scream reaction!
I am now not feeling so guilty about the "rice paper"!

Exciting day today as DD1 returns home for Christmas, as long as trains are running ok.
Lots of sorting and cleaning to get done today, so that Christmas mode of minimal housework can start tomorrow.

Have a good day everyone and keep warm!

X-post with both of you!

MC hope you feel better soon.

Morning all

Still not had time to catch up on the thread so gives everyone a big wave and offers up some toast and tea.

My excuse for my tardiness is SNOW, woke up yesterday with about 4 inches, the kids were very over excited so we spent yesterday taking full advantage of our snow day.

Must really get on with some jobs today as Friday is looming and the to do list is getting longer
absolutely must do today;
clean downstairs bathroom
clean all kitchen worktops
mop kitchen floor
dust the lounge
Remove all clutter from near the christmas
tree
Make a start on parents and in laws towel cakes, finish at least 2.
when kids are in bed - Wrap presents

Hope everyone has a good day

Morning all,

Hope you feel better soon MC, Lemsip is truly a miraculous invention in my mind.

WTD - hello again, so sad about that fisherman, will think of his family this Christmas. Many people from our town did not get home last night it seems, churches were being used as shelters etc, pretty bad.

Tidying - aargh. Little piles of presents, wrapped and unwrapped in every corner of the house. I cleared the top shelf of our wardrobe into the loft in order to be able to stash DCs presents up there and do the wrapping upstairs in the evenings so not actually too bad in the bedroom. It gets harder and harder to find good hiding places as they get older doesn't it? I remember when DS was nearly two, he woke up on Christmas Eve and had to be brought downstairs to calm down, didn't even notice the BRIO train track that Daddy was wrapping up playing with on the lounge floor. Those were the days.

DCs bedrooms both have very large clothing hotspots.

Todays list

DCs bedrooms
Wrap yet more presents
S+S, washing etc
Deliver cards to neighbours

[SC blows in with flurry of snow, stamps feet and removes icicle from end of nose]

"Hello all" ... um, slightly frantic here ... like WtD, the realities of Christmas being on Friday have suddenly caught up with me ...and like Mrs Grumpy my Christmas list is getting longer by the day ...

Oh no MC that's seriously unfair that you have succumbed in the week leading up to Christmas. Do take care of yourself. If you want a lie in tomorrow, I would be happy to post in your stead ... Wrap up warm and hope you are able to some rest when you get back this afternoon. Glad to hear your ds is a bit better. Hope you can cocooon and get rid of the bug quickly ....

WtD so glad you are OK (and NO head hanging perlease!!

but .... oh so sad about the fisherman . His poor family. It just shows one should never, ever complain. We have a neighbour a couple of doors up who very sadly lost her husband in September. It was very sudden and I bet she didn't think for a minute she would be spending Christmas without him...fortunately she has a large, lovely family who are with her constantly, but oh... must count blessings, must count blessings

Fingers and toes crossed for your dh's trip on Wednesday. Things can change rapidly and it is definitely a bit warmer today here...

Hi to MrsDingDong (hope your visitors make it and you are not snowed in for too long!) PF and Mellie - good luck with the present stashing

and lol PF about the wine and the bicycles in inappropriate place!! Could you not drape lots of tights and lingerie from the one in the bedroom? Oh and definitely baubles and tinself on the one in the sitting room? Might make him think twice next time!! Hope your dd1 has a safe trip home.

Mellie Good you are feeling better. Um, do you think your ma would mind taking in another (hopelessly over-excited) one for half a day? Hope you managed to soothe your family's brow btw ...my family tend to (just about) behave themselves over Christmas nowadays but the fireworks over summer holiday arrangements are not pleasant!! Usually three or four major bust-ups before we get it all sorted. Oh the joy!

I have also given up on the bedroom front temporarily ..frankly it's getting hard to actually locate the bed at the moment, it's so loaded down with clothes and books ...

Congratulations Pluto you sound really on top of things and great you managed to see your family and avoid the snow ...the M6 can be tricky ...I once got snow-bound in my car on Shap but that's another story ...

Swan what can I say? "Respect"!! Your lists are amazing ... !!!

Yo tibni great to see you .. you sound really, really organised! Glad the party went well ...

Anyone seen or heard of Dreamteam btw ... I miss her ...and Shopping Veggie and there are a few others who are missing too ...hope all ok x

Waves to DEM SBB and Optimistle

Will check in later

Quick pop in.

Just back from optician - clean bill of health for me and DS and I'm feeling quite a bit better - just bunged up etc so will do a bit of flying this afternoon after I've finished helping DS to do doing the Ben 10 jigsaw puzzle.

DH has shaved his head while we've been out (not unusual as he has very little hair anyway) and left the clippings all over the bathroom floor and in the bath. I was thinking about running the vac round anyway

No idea what we are having for lunch...

No lists today,
just a grouchy swan

feel a bit out of sorts..
and still need to mop the floor
and the house still feels really messy

but I don't dare set my heart on any great exploits of cleaning because kids are in incendiary mood..and in fact I am in incendiary mood too...
it seems wrong to get cross with them, when Christmas IS to make them happy.

DONE
some laundry
thrown away some Christmas catalogues [yay] no more presents ever!
lunch - ham sandwiches
taught dd to knit

If my DS gets any more excited he will burst! Running around naked again this evening (he was dressed earlier when we went out)

Just putting out hot toddies for everyone before I try to get him into bed

Swan well done on teaching DD to knit. That's a full day's work in itself

SC thanks for offering to post tomorrow. I doubt DS will let me have a lie in but would appreciate it if you would check in the morning in case I've OD'd on the lemsip and passed out on the sofa before logging on. There are some notable absences. Wondering if they will re-surface in January

Really sad news about the fisherman. I worry about DH driving long(ish) distances in this weather but at least he's on-shore and can park up if necessary.

See you in the morning

Evening ladies

Can I come back please??? My house is not looking wonderful and more importantly I have missed you all!

Been run off my feet with work and a bit down due to cat grief, but feeling better and a bit more lively and have rashly selected a replacement cat from the cat shelter who will be installed tomorrow. No real replacement for Deez the wondercat, but seemed happy to be poked in the eye by DD, so I have high hopes!

Babystepping it again in the morning I think! Off to try to catch up with the thread. Hope you are all flying high, or at least high-ish

Evening everyone

Hello PMPSS welcome back and good news about the replacement cat.

MC - both my DCs like wandering around naked, or quite often with just a tee shirt on. I have had reasonable success with teaching DS that it's OK at home but not to get your willy out and play with it in public or stand on the lounge windowsill in the nude. DD only tends to do it upstairs when she's supposed to be getting dressed.

SR - impressed with teaching DD to knit, how old is she? I whipped out the needles to make a scarf for a teddy the other day and DCs were quite impressed but unravelled anentire ball of wool when I wasn't looking

PF your story about the ferry men holding the last boat for DH brought a tear to my eye, as for your story of woe re the bikes, grr. Darts - I like Mardle too, but he seems to have lost his way, also (perversely) like Manley because he stirs it up. Used to dislike Taylor, with his cold fishy eyes, but have to hand it to the guy he works so hard. Did you spot his cameo in the Corrie darts team a few months ago, it wasn't publicised in advance, I had to rewind and double check I wasn't seeing things.

WTD - hope DH gets home OK. The weather seems to be improving a bit now, mayhem in this part of the world yesterday (near Basingstoke)

Hello also to DEM, Pluto, Tibni, SC, MM, Mellie, anyone else I have forgotten, see you all tomorrow.

ps - not much flying here today, just snowball fights and getting the DCs to deliver cards wearing Santa Hats, aww. I put the house numbers on the front of the cards instead of the names, so they could match cards to houses by themselves, good fun!

HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO fellow flyers!!!

My lord, I have missed you guys so so much- and so has my house

So much gone on in my world and, by the look of it, here and no chance of me posting a catch up so will just mark my spot from here and join back in from tomorrow if that is ok?

I was feeling quite despondant about the general state of my home this morning, but DS joined me in a 15 minute 'sort the lounge' out against the timer and it was fab at the end, and on logging on here and reading the first 4 pages of what I had missed I hauled my own arse into gear and did 15 mins on the kitchen which was the reason for my depression and my coming to hunt you all out.
And guess what? Yep, apart from the floors it was perfect in 15 minutes which just goes to show how far I have come since ... God when was it? August we started this?

So Happy Christmas and I am so glad to be back. Will read the last 5 pages tomorrow with a cup of tea (but no biscuits! I am dieting still!!), but now I really must go to bed!!

Night xx DTG

[SC tiptoes in ... peers around the door ....opens the curtains ....runs water for kettle ... ....looks for MummyClaus, hopes she is feeling better]

Yay!! Yippeeee!! and Yo!!

spots dreamingofawhitechristmasteam and pushmepullsantasleigh

How brilliant you are back!!!!!!! Great to see you!!!!! You were missed!!

Um, MummyClaus normally posts around now UK time, not sure whether to go ahead or not, but in case she is having a well-deserved lie-in

here is today's baby-step

This week we are in the master bedroom zone (all week) and this is the mission

and um, just trying to work out what today's Christmas mission is but not quite sure!!! (Think I need Mummy for that one.. could be about budgets ...um, not sure!]

Anyway, tea and hot buttered toast now available (with marmite or honey options) and coffee brewing ... help yourselves but don't make too much noise because MummyC needs her rest!

Thand you SC beautifully posted. The Christmas missions seemed to peter out so have given up on them. Everyone is panicking in their own way now & I really don't think the fat fairy will help!

Coffee and toat with honey please. DS watching tv. Off to sleep on sofa

[Passes over coffee and toast with honey]

Hope you get the rest you need to get better today MummyC

We are all a bit tetchy here this morning ... I have already had one melt-down trying to get dd to pick up her toys on the sitting room floor (not done last night so serves me right)

So much to do .....

Hope everyone surviving the last minute stress....

ShoppingVEggie and others ...do come and say hello over the holidays if you get a minute

Morning,

Welcome back DTG - come and join the general mayhem.

Er, confession time, although I have been posting, I haven't actually clicked on any mission links for about a week, let alone Christmas ones.

Toast and marmite just the job for me in this weather.

Today we have 5 inches of frozen solid snow and freezing fog. We are due at a friend's house in a village about 8 miles away at 10am, and due for a children's party at 4.30 at DD's nursery. DS is up and says he wants to stay at home all day (don't blame him really), DH and DD are still fast asleep. I am not dressed. Not sure what to do. In the meantime I am going to do some tidying (shuffles off). See you later.

We've just woken up half an hour ago Mrs DingDong...dh had to scuttle to work.
There is a beautiful hoar frost outside on all the roofs, creepers and branches, but only a thin layer of snow. I suspect it's a bit slippy though...
It takes a bit of effort to get out doesn't it - I had resistance to going to a children's party yesterday, but it was well worth it - lots of running around is a perfect antidote to telly
Do not want to go far today though.

Are you near Basingstoke Mrs Ding Dong? My grandparents, when they were alive, used to live near Old Basing in the countryside. I don't go back very often now

Now this morning -
DONE last night
wrapped presents from Father Xmas and from my parents and dh's parents Rationalised stocking fillers
kitchen is moderately tidy, so are dcs bedrooms

NOW THIS MORNING
hotspots: of wrapping junk
knitting wool mountain
filing (will hide in a dark place till after Xmas)
BAKING BAKING BAKING
our bedroom getting worse by the minute

DreamingofawhiteXmas - your post was a TONIC, I have to keep remembering the 15 min principle. Even for baking.

StillCounting - I felt v. tetchy yest - sympathy.

PushmePull - that's wonderful that you are giving a new cat a home. They are so different aren't they though? Our second cat was soo different from our first, and our third (concurrent with second) is a strange little fellow

Good morning everyone, well i'm on the final Christmas push from today.

So I must finish my paid work this morning (it's absolutely dire and not what I need today).

But I have this morning:-

Done the supermarket shop and I refuse to go back until next week (it's the equivalent of what you'd get in a Tesco garage shop, so didn't really take long)

Went for a lovely slide across the car park in the car, thinking oh this is fun which rapidly went to shit I'm going to hit something in a minute, fortunately I didn't.

DC's are at playscheme until 7.15 tonight as they're off to the theatre and then to look at the Christmas lights. So I'm just systematically going to go through the house cleaning once I've finished the paid work.

Ironing tonight.

Cross your fingers everyone that DH makes it down to Portsmouth for the ferry tonight. I won't settle until I know he's on the boat, plus he's bringing the turkey! Hopefully he'll finish work in good time for the journey.

I don't intend to come back on here today until I've finished my paid work and got to grips with at least my kitchen and dining room.

See you soon (I hope).

Best luck with the ferry situation WTD, and have a productive day.

Morning All

Still not had time to catch up so big wave to everyone, hope everyone is feeling well and not too stressed out.

Ds1 has just told me he is more excited than a very excited person in a very exciting place! I expect both dc's will be bouncing off the walls by dinner time.

had quite a productive day yesterday

clean downstairs bathroom DH has volunteered to do today
clean all kitchen worktops Done
mop kitchen floor Done
dust the lounge Not done yet
Remove all clutter from near the christmas tree Done
Make a start on parents and in laws towel cakes, finish at least 2. Done managed to finish 3
when kids are in bed - Wrap presents Done

I was on a roll last night and even managed to do 2 retro sweet tubs for dc's and put all the christmas cards up

To do today
Finish towel cakes
Do handprint pictures with dc's for grandparents
Dust the lounge
Look for hat I bought DH for christmas - haven't seen it since I bought it in Nov.
Wrap DH's presents
Do at least one load of washing

Hope everyone has a good day