June's Fledgling Flyers:"two flyers are "blooming marvellously" : here come the rest doing their flaming best"

[elliepac]

Welcome to the June edition of the Fledgling Flyers where we are going to attempt to restore order in our houses, chatting as we go.

Here you can do any of the following:

• repeat or start baby steps (again!)

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

or

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

For those who are curious, these are the Babysteps, which we all hope will restore order in our homes and make our lives a little bit easier with lots of support (and chat, and wine, and a little more chat )

So please come and join us, old and new, from June 1st.

Morning everyone

nick ooo good luck with ur spare room dejunk! Small bit at a time
feetheart welcome back of camping. Sounds like great fun!
mm how did ur hints to DH go?
missb love croc flip flops, much more practical
ellie well done on fab roundup and completion of your humungous list.

I'm working today so my list is basic

get dressed to court shoes
get ds dressed to flashing shoes
get dd dressed to patent shoes
get dh dressed to smelly shoes
shine sink
dw
wm
take dc to nursery
work
weight watchers (please stay same, please stay same)
work
ocado online shop
move coats off bannister put in none existant wardrobe, ie floor.
Pick dc from nursery line up
bathe dd
bed them
back to britains got talent followed by new moon.

I've made it look good but should be easy

Waves to dwm pa uni sc linzer gormers chairmum swan biddy and om hope I haven't missed anyone.

Morning!
Am feeling very together this morning as am dressed to shoes (not lace up but there's a limit!), a load of washing has just finished and I have swished and swiped

However, before anyone thinks I am sounding smug, I would like to point out that the rest of the house is in chaos

So, NICK, I am with you in the wonedring when/if I will be magically transformed into a domestic godess by the end of the month?! I have tried waving my magical fairy wand but it doesn't quite seem to work these days

Right, off to write a report before I head to work. Have a good day, all.

Morning all,

I am trying to work but getting distracted by Henry VIII (or rather by trying to find a picture of him plus wives that I can use in today's English lesson, which seems to be turning into more of a history lesson). I have far too much work on at the moment and unwisely accepted even more yesterday, so I will definitely be sticking to babysteps and decluttering this month.

Today's list:
Work
Prepare English lesson (combination of London sights and Henry VIII today)
Piano lessons
Pick up friends of DD2 and DS
DD1 to birthday party/sleepover (not yet quite sure how I will manage this logistically, as the remaining four under 6s can't be left at home alone but won't all fit in my car)
Persuade DH that I need bigger car NOW (and before current one falls apart completely)
Blitz entire house ready for cleaner
Shine sink
Decluttering

ellie Well done on managing to do everything that you'd planned! I would be far more easily distracted... The postcard writing is going well, thanks - DD1 was quite disappointed yesterday that she'd run out of people to write to. A card is winging its way to your DS as I write.

Nick Thanks for the e-mail; have replied.

Nettie If that's a basic list, I'd like to see your normal one! Then again, I would probably find it too demoralising...

MissB I have given up on waiting for the domestic goddess transformation and suspect I will be on babysteps for eternity.

Have a good day everyone!

Don't get too disheartened Linzer - think the beginning of the month coming during half-term has sent most of us into a mad spin.

Nettie - love the family shoes listing

Ellie - meant to say thanks for brilliant round-up last night and well done on mammoth clear-up.

Today's list is a continuation of yesterday's

• breakfast for DC - DS still not awake!!
• bath and hair wash for me
• Empty camping crates x 1
• Do camping washing-up and put away
• Washing x too much! - 1 load done, another on. Have use of next door's line so will keep going until I run out of drying space
• Insure flat now I am a Freeholder (long story but still no bl**dy tenants )
• Morning routine
• As many 2 mins hotspots as possible throughout the day to reclaim some sort of order
• Do child-swap with friend - DD to hers to play with best friend, her youngest DD here to play with DS
• Garden
• Park
• Sausages, chips and beans for dinner as DD not here
• Evening routine
• Collapse in a heap and go to bed at a SENSIBLE time - still in camping-mode last night and stayed up far, far too late.

Breakfast first methinks!

I read through but have forgotten what anyone said

For those who don't know I am a serial name changer, I get bored ad fancy a new coat. Somepeople collect shoes, I collect names.
On this thread I was unifying leptons and quarks, before that I have been known as slugbrains and I am currently Muckydcky. When I am in normal mood I am DEM. But muckyDucky works much better at the mo

Right, now i have left you less confused I shall post my todo list which is was i what i actually intended to post rather then the personal history

Right:
Lie in done
Shiney sink done
check emails/mn/fb
dress to shoes done
hang out washing done
Wash remaining loads x1 done
Finish top (machine stitching)
Hoover lounge
Cut material
run up top (machine sticthing)
Ring companies to chase info
Banking
job application(s)

Morning all!

Some seriously impressive ticked off lists out there, well done ladies!

Nearly all packed, just the absolute essentials to pack away now - although have run out of boxes! Ooops! Yesterday wrote redirection letters to absolutely everyone that i can think of - a fortune in stamps!!

Linzer - I would use a photo of jonathan rhys-meyers from The Tudors as the Henry VIII picture. Amazingly, I can almost see past all his nastiness and wrong-doings when he looks like that!!

Hi Ladies

Look at those long lists! Go and enjoy the sunshine instead .

Love the new name MuckyD, I think it is my favourite so far!

The hints went reasonably well Nettie and he even agreed to do some decluttering this evening!

Well, I'm having a low-ish key day as the cleaners have just been (although I'm sure we will be back to the normal chaos by tomorrow morning).

• Washing machine has been fixed and is on (repeat several times as laundry pile is taller than me good drying weather)
• kitchen floor washed after washing machine repair mess
• make chow mein for dinner
• take DS to park
• decluttering
• sort Ocado delivery out when it arrives
• kitchen cleaning etc after dinner
• sort out clothes for tomorrow for DS and me

and I think that will be all.

Back later

'Afternoon all.

Just got back from a tiring time, even though I didn't do much. Went to see my counsellor, picked up DS from H at soft play (they'd been having a lovely time - H was sweating he'd been running around so much!) and then wandered round till my friend got out of work and we had a nice lunch together. Then the hard work of pushing DS a whole mile home (never used to seem like much) but at least he's having a nap now.

Done this morning:

• dishwasher
• washing on line

To do before bed

• bring in / put away washing
• dinner / kitchen (for 1, won't take long!)
• hoover downstairs properly
• actually manage to clear dining table
• relax.

Before then I am going to let my poor body recover while DS sleeps.

Hello everyone. Guess where I've been today! Back to the b*ing vets, that's where - twice (2nd time in taxi as DH has gone to work)! Dearest Daisy scratched her wound so much it has re-opened and was bleeding. We put some temporary socks (sorry DS) on her but she got them off, so back to vet this morning (Receptionist at 8.15 "we've got no appointments this morning, but we can do this afternoon" Me "we're coming this morning!" receptionist "ok but you might have a bit of a wait". Vet saw us in reception and whizzed us straight in). He kept her in to put some more stitches in, new bandages on feet and more anti-biotics. So now she has to stay in again. For another 2 weeks. Picked her up an hour ago and she is fine but frustrated and doing the cats bum face a lot x.

What else have I done?
Washing - load 1 on line and load 2 ready to go out
DW unloaded
mince out of freezer, just need to decide what to do with it

Still to do
SOME WORK!
trawl of bedroom, landing and lounge to find any stray washing that should have been in the washing basket (DH: why didn't you wash any of my work trousers? Me: there weren't any in the washing basket DH: oh) and do load 3
shine my sink!

btw am dressed to slip on sandals

Chin up all - back later

Crikey!! Can't keep up with you lot! Everyone is certainly very determined this month and Ellie you are setting us a very good example. Well done on your mega-clean-fest yesterday.

My decluttering project started well (thanks for asking Ellie) but was hi-jacked half way through owing to a minor crisis with a leaking lav.

Today I have :

• done morning routine including 2 loads washing (now drying in sunshine), dw loaded and emptied, s&s and master swipe.
• done school and ballet runs (half day today)
• done errand shop and had speedy haircut
• got lots of blisters
• done 2 hrs fairly tortuous French study

Don't seem to have much energy left but am currently drinking coffee and doing paperwork.

To do:
afternoon/evening routine
sort out duvets/spare linen post-visitors

Leaving it at that today as feel a bit cream crackered. Early night tonight.

Planning further basement declutter tomorrow.

Sorry - no time to reply to everyone individually today. Suffice to say hope Daisy feeling a bit better now Mummy

Carry on everyone ....waves to all

dw - done
wm - done

to do today (continuation of oddities):
police check
tax return (still late)
ring school council trainers
ring school principal re dd1/ dd2
ring man about garden
10 things from spare room!!!!
kitchen floor
grocery shop
swimming lessons
sparks/guides - aargh.

ah, half term - that explains the general household busyness! no such luck here, we don't have one, but only have a month left of school until the summer hols

was woken up by dd2 fussing about recharging her ds and then dd1 realising that ds1 borrowed her goggles and left them at the pool, and she needs them for her lesson tonight. cue much familial angst, and me forgetting i was supposed to be lacing blardy shoes and not chugging coffee with sugar for survival
ah well, there's always tomorrow.

poor daisy - realise i'm hopelessly out of the loop, but what happened to start with? (and do you have insurance ?)

a quick beginnerish question - this here control journal thingy... am i supposed to have a planned list of what to do each day? only... i seem to be making it up as i go along, and i had a sort of epiphany whilst busying myself with the sink yesterday, that having a list on a tuesday night to remind me that i needed to get the sparks/ guides/ swimming stuff ready would have been really useful... is that what a control journal actually is?

Nick - yes that's basically it but have a look at this - t'will explain all ....

www.flylady.net/pages/cjmain.asp

Sorry no time to catch up properally. mucho to do still tonight. however, DWM you're not having much luck with daisy are you

Right list update:

Lie in done
Shiney sink done
check emails/mn/fb done
dress to shoes done
hang out washing done
Wash remaining loads x1 done
Finish top (machine stitching)
Hoover lounge done
Cut material done
run up top (machine sticthing)
Ring companies to chase info done
Banking done
job application(s)

Must get at least one top finished tonight and i am procrastinating. going to have a coffee and then get back on it.

Evening everyone.

It's safe to say today has nit panned out how I planned! I wonder how I got on. (sitting down already)

get dressed to court shoes-done
get ds dressed to flashing shoes-done
get dd dressed to patent shoes-done
get dh dressed to smelly shoes-done
shine sink-nope
dw-once
wm-been on wet washing still chilling out in there
take dc to nursery-done
work-done
weight watchers (please stay same, please stay same)-done and failed
work-done
ocado online shop-done
move coats off bannister put in none existant wardrobe, ie floor.-nope
Pick dc from nursery line up-done think got right ones
bathe dd-dh did
bed them-done
back to britains got talent followed by new moon. -doing!

Gonna try and peel myself off sofa away and get on with it!

Back later

Evening one and all,

Have been out all day on exciting mission with the mother. Have only just got back to my mum's and still go to get home, dinner etc. so I will do round-up and steps first thing tomorrow morning if that be ok ?

Looks like another fabuloso day .

See you in the morning .

Evening ladies,

I am sat stroking ernest ferociously!! Oh yes,oh yes, oh yes he has eventually arrived!

A terribly frustrating day. Work at 7am so that I could be home for the rest of the day to wait for my delivery. Arriving sometime between 8am and 7pm! These people think I have nothing better to do than wait in the house all day ... PLUS it was lovely weather and I wanted to be outside.

Anyway, that has given me a wonderful opportunity to get under DSs bed and in every nook and cranny! I will never venture under the bed of a 14 year old boy, ever again. I found 7 yes 7 lunchboxes, including remains! Now, let me just let you into a little secret here, DS has not taken sandwiches at all this academic year, so I am assuming these are probably a year old!!
Now all he has to do is go through a pile of stuff I was not sure if he wanted or not, then we are ready for the wardrobe arrival next week. He is suitably embarrassed and so far I have had the dsishwasher emptied and loaded as well as some tidying to show his repentance. I wonder how long that will last.

I have had a house full all day and my head is spinning nad that is before i open the bottle!! DD2 has had a "revision" party day. She's had loads of friends round and they have spent all day discussing sociolgy and psychology A level.
DS decided to have a water bomb fight with a few friends, which resulted in our garden getting watered and me being "bouncer" to stop any errant bombs coming in through the kitchen door!
DD3 has had boyfriend round, DD4 has had a friend to.
So far they have managed to demolish 2 whole cake tray bakes, 8 pizza's, Jacket potatoes, adouble batch of homemade biscuits as well as 2 packets of chocolate digestives, copious amounts of very unhealthy drinks and I can hear a few remaining teenagers now rummaging in my fridge!! Do they ever stop?

DH now wants the laptop to watch something on iplayer, so must sign off.

I'll try to get on in the morning and catch up with all you busy people. It sounds as if all your homes must be showhomes now with all the work you are doing. I must do something more tomorrow.

I am going to open a bottle. If you want to join me, youd better be quick!!!!

Too late

Well, I
Decluttered
shed of old toys
and assorted garden stuff 8 sacks I kid you not
turned it into playhouse [sort of] except door doesn't close, which is good because they can't now slam it on each other

picnic in garden, amid clutter dcs had sack race hopping over assorted junk

spent rest of day with dcs doing tennis and swimming. Telly now banned due to v. v bad behaviour every morning, hope they may start playing with each other now [ever hopeful

more tennis and swimming tomorrow, may be the only sensible way to get through halfterm wth stropp-ios. They seem to adore being told what to do by someone other than mum! and of course running around in a gang of other kids in the health club.

PA Loving the waterbombs and traybakes, and the earnest discussions.
Feetheart I've been a bit behnd on this thread over halfterm, well done on camping trip.
Chairmum pushing buggy sounds v. exhaustng. Hope you have a nice ergonomic double for the two.
SC well done on the French, and everything else too!

Linzer I struggled today to part with a
toy stable that dd never plays with
and a Percy the Parkkeeper Puzzle that dcs grew out of three years ago at least. ended up keeping horses, and Percy for possible use by visiting three year olds but next time they are for the CHOP.
decluttering is very very hard - somehow the value of the thing seems to take over the value of the space you will free up - it's as if all your hopes and dreams are part of the clutter. Of course they are not [resounding amen}

PA - I am in awe, not only of your fortitude at actually venturing under DS's bed (Ewwwww at lunchbox remains ) but at the quantities of food consumed Scary thing is I know DS will be doing exactly the same in a few years time!

I like MuckyDucky too

DWM - at Daisy, damn cats!

Nick - coffee with sugar for survival much more essential than shoes, always

Not bad again today:

• Empty camping crates x 1 - done
• Do camping washing-up and put away - done
• Washing x too much! - have filled our line twice, an airer and next door's line (they are away), poor washing machine doesn't know what's hit it, usually only does 1 load a day
• Insure flat now I am a Freeholder - no, eek! MUST do it tomorrow.
• Morning routine - done eventually
• As many 2 mins hotspots as possible throughout the day to reclaim some sort of order - hmmm, not many done
• Do child-swap with friend - DD to hers to play with best friend, her youngest DD here to play with DS - done, all had lovely time
• Garden - done
• Park - no, too much fun in garden
• Sausages, chips and beans for dinner as DD not here - done and eaten in garden
• Evening routine - nearly done
• Collapse in a heap and go to bed at a SENSIBLE time - better get a move on

Have also aired some of the sleeping bags and made Mint choc chip ice-cream for cat-sitter. Whoever offered to cat-sit, you would be more than welcome. Just need a strong stomach ATM, seems to be a procession of dead baby birds and rodents being eaten with relish and at least 4 frogs to be repatriated in the past few weeks - they obviously don't taste as good

Bed now.
Night night

I did get rid of stable though
and tomorrow I am throwing away the mini-airport which takes ten hours to assemble by an adult and stubs your toe in the night

Mini v exciting having maternity clothes
Nick control diary, sometimes I can't face writing down what needs to be done, except on here. It seems so FINAL, and then you haven't done it
however, it does help to stick to facts not conjectures of what might to be GOOD to do if one ever got round to it, so maybe essentials are the best thing to write on a Control journal. ie: scouts, doctor, garage thingies.

Yep, i know i should be in bed but the fat fairy's early night thing is something I always struggle with I am definetly a night owl.

I have almost completed the two tops i wanted to get made. Need to put in a zip tomo then it is hemlines that need doing and could really use some help to get them straight. So it will have to wait til i get back of holiday.

Going to post list tonight in attempt to focus thoughts so i can actually sleep not think about this stuff when i finally crawl into bed.

Put zip into top.
turn 3 straps right way round
shiney sink
Pack stuff up.
Pack car
Job applications
Leave for caravan about 2pm.

I am sure that i will find a 101 other things to do but really must get those job applications off before i go away.

well done on the declutter Swan,
As for the rest of you - i actually hope this pace slows down a little, i am getting exhausted just reading your lists. Holidays are ment to be a time when you gets some r and r not kill youself cleaning

hope you are all sounding sleeping.

Not me! (but it's not 7pm yet - I fear any fairy, fat or otherwise, would still be shining her sink at that point...)

Thanks for linking control journal thingy sc... there are 19 steps!!! i'm plucking up enough courage to get past step 1 i think swan's idea of sticking to essentials at this point might be, well, essential.

lunchboxes are the bane of my life (but much kudos for admitting the 'last year' truth of the matter i've found a nice little home on this thread! i'm so glad i found it!)

i am in awe of 8 bags worth of declutter.

what did i do today:

police check - done!
tax return (appt booked for tomorrow)
ring school council trainers - no
ring school principal re dd1/ dd2 - no. am definitely procrastinating about this. not sure why.
ring man about garden - done... but ongoing
10 things from spare room - tonight's job, dh can help.
kitchen floor - swept but not mopped
grocery shop - done
swimming lessons - done
sparks/guides - done

and fastball end of season party/ softball match that i didn't know was on until this morning

it doesn't look much - but the grocery shop is a 1 1/2 hour round trip, and the police check is a 40 minute round trip, so i feel okaaaaay about today, if a little underwhelmed in comparison!

have a fab time md

MOrning everyone,

Eventually got back home at about 10ish last night so apologies for not doing round-up last night. DS and I spent the day with the mother shopping for static caravans. She has decided to purchase (or rather has purchased one) on a lovely site with lots of amenities near Filey on the NOrth Yorks coast as a 'family' investment. It should be really lovely to have access to it over the summer so we spent the day, looking around, teating the facilities (fab swimming pool for a start!), choosing caravans and then paddling on the beach which is directly accessed from the site. Am quite excited!

Today I have quite a busy morning to hopefully prepare for a lovely afternoon.
List looks like this:-

General maintenance tidy
Morning routine
WM on done
DW unloaded/loaded
Shops for goodies for this afternoon
Buy paddling pool
Find garden hose
Skip trip
Best friend and DCs + sister and DNiece coming over for general play/gossip/lounging in the sun

Now I have a clean and tidy house I am determined to keep it that way.

Have a good day everyone!

Round-up, Round-up. Here is your daily does of what the fledgling flyers have been up to .

nick has had a very busy day by the looks of it, with lots and lots of driving! Nick, the babysteps are just that steps that you add to daily. You joined us at the end of the month so didn't get chance to see the whole routine take shape. This month just add in each babystep day by day and your routine will build up nicely. Don't try to do it all at once because you will risk burn out!

muckyducky has a fabulous new name. In my rather worthless opinion her best yet. And she is going on holiday today. Woohoo. Am . Have a fabulous time

Today's babystep is consolidation. All you have to do today is shine your sink and get dressed in whichever way you fancy .

The mission today is here.

Have a beautiful day everyone. The sun is shining, the sinks are shining, it is good to be a fledlging flyer

Excellent round up Ellie.

Everyone is so busy!!

I fell back to sleep and have only just resurfaced.

Today DH is off, so family day = very little flying (any excuse will do)
BUT even I think I will manage todays babysteps. Shiny sink and flipflops!!

Bought a top yesterday for the wedding, but decided I dont like it, so thats going back and I NEED to find another one.

Hope everyone has a lovely day in the sunshine.