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 all,

It's a bank holiday here today and we're off to Berlin this afternoon for the long weekend. Work cannot be ignored, however, even on a bank holiday, so I'm trying to catch up on some this morning.

V. stressful day yesterday - spent far too long researching Henry VIII and London sights when I should have been working, but not quite long enough... The children weren't too impressed by the fact that I didn't know how tall Big Ben is or how many windows it has and the teacher can't have been at all impressed that I didn't know who succeeded Henry VIII (though she did a good job of hiding it).

Even more stressful afternoon - took the four remaining children to the playground after dropping off DD1 at party as I just couldn't cope with them indoors any more (constant quarrelling, whining etc - my two were by far the worst). Some of the equipment was dry enough to use but there was a small lake underneath the swings and the two boys charged straight into it (DS in his trainers...). Now have mud all over my car; made sure the two girls took their boots off before they came indoors, but didn't manage to catch DS's friend in time before he came in from the garden so ended up with lots of mud in the house too.

On the plus side, I'm managing to keep up with the baby steps. Well, with shining my sink (am ignoring the lace-up shoes as usual) - which is about all I can manage at the moment.

ellie Thanks for the fabulous round-up; I was LOL in places. I wish we'd learnt about Henry VIII at school instead of spinning jennies, iron ore and the Rebecca Riots (the extent of my knowledge of pre-20th century British history).

Nick I have a control journal with different sections for morning, afternoon and evening routines and days of the week - but rarely get round to looking at much more than the morning routine page. Still, it helps me feel slightly more organised.

feetheart I don't even have the excuse of half-term for falling behind, as we don't have one here - I can only just about cope when the DC are around in the afternoons. I am trying to psych myself up for the summer holidays (nine weeks long) in a month's time...

swan Well done on the toy decluttering. My heart sinks when I think of all our toy clutter and I just don't know where to start. DH thinks we should take some of the Playmobil to his parents' (to join the goodness-knows-how-many sets the DC already have there). It's really not much more than shifting clutter around, but as long as it's out of the house I'm at the stage where I don't care any more.

gormers Good luck with the rest of the packing and the move!

Waves to everyone else - happy flying!

Right I have now figured out why I fail miserably during term time, God (aka the fat fairy), quite simply, did not put enough hours in the day for us flegling flyers. I now offer the fat fairy a prayer, if you wish to please bow your heads and be silent:-

Dear Fat Fairy,

Thank you blessing us with dusters and fairy wands.
Thank you for suggesting we all have some sexy lace-up shoes
Thank you for our shining sink across the globe
And thank you for your one billion e-mails to keep us on the straight and narrow and away from the dark side that is chaos
I, elliepac, have but one simple request.
Can you please put an extra hour in the day before I go to work because I have just done my morning routine properly (first tims probably ever) and it took me an hour and I, quite simply, do not have the time to do that.
I thank you fat fairy for listening to my humble prayer.

Amen

So far I have

Wm oneloadononeloadonlineanotherloadin
dw unloaded/loaded done
made beds done
shined sink done
s/s bathroom done
swept/mopped floors done

Am now going to pay bills and then to Tesco!

Back later

Great round-up Ellie

Argh at mud everywhere Linzer. Enjoy Berlin

Right, list for today:

• 15 mins paperwork - done 2 lots already but hasn't made much of a dent yet
• Morning routine
• Water garden (ran out of enthusiasm last night!)
• Insure flat - MUST do this asap
• Sort out few things with friend's house that I manage
• Washing - want to be able to close washing basket lid by this evening!
• B&Q for compost
• Make lots of tapas-type stuff for DH and I tonight. Its our 5th wedding anniversary but have failed to get baby-sitter so eating at home, hopefully in garden (must remember to put wine in fridge)
• Mission
• Park this afternoon

That will do, anything else is a bonus.

Enjoy sunshine

Morning! The son is shining and the stitches are holding. Daisy is hiding behind the bed so can't report on the socks! Nick she had a cancerous lump removed about 3 weeks ago and has been playing up ever since - escaping and ending up on top of a neighbour's pergola, running across the road, squeezing under our wooden gate - you get the picture. Stitches finally came out on Tuesday, she was allowed out, burst the wound and I had to take her back again yesterday when the vet promptly put them back in!

Day all to myself today - DH gone to Aberdeen and won't be back till tomorrow. DS still on hols with GPs so its just me and the cats even made too much dinner last night so just have to stick it in the microwave

Now this list might look like a lot but I really have to get my act together but its no more than 15 mins for each thing interspersed with work. Here goes:
kitchen rescue to include shining sink
dining room rescue
lounge rescue
our bedroom - put washing away and make bed
walk into town for more cat litter (this is more than 15 mins!) and maybe the bank. Get little bus back (must check timetable first)
swish & swipe
get washing in - put it out before bed last night
ironing

Am already dressed - cat (Katie) but no shoes. Breakfast then start.

Have a good day everyone

Eh up my lovelies

Gorgeous sunny day here in the usually lugubrious lowlands

Had fun reading your fantabulous round-up Ellie which has made me chortle

And "quite so/indeed/nods head emphatically" at your light-bulb moment!! I thought you were being terribly hard on yourself. Sadly, the primordial rule about time management is that (wait for it, drum rolll....) you can't manage time!! My full morning routine takes me from 6.50 until 8.20 am (90 mins) so you are doing much better than me (partic. as I've only got one dd and only work pt (and at the moment very intermittently)). I've tried to slim it down but that's going at full stretch.

We can only do what we can do, and Ellie you are already doing that brilliantly!!

(N. Yorks sounds lovely btw.)

Happy anniversary to you and your dh today Feetheart

Enjoy your bank holiday weekend Linzer and hope your recover from your stressful day yesterday

PA glad you are now fully Ernest-ised and good luck with the shopping. Yuck and lol in equal measure at your ds's mouldy lunch boxes ...!!

Don't worry too much about control journal Nick - you can fashion it to suit yourself - and Fat Fairy makes it sound alot more complicated than it really is. (One thing that is v. helpful though is to write down all the emerg. tel phone numbers and numbers you use most often at the front plus pet feeding/house maintenance and safety routines etc. This has been a godsend when we go away as I just hand over the whole file to whoever is house-and-guinea-pig-sitting or checking.)

Well done with your list Nettie

Waves to Mini Swan, MuckyDucky, Mummy [miaoww to Daisy] and take it steady Chairmum and flaps duster at anyone I've missed

Right, girding my loins again for basement but feeling less than energetic.

Had very disturbed night because I lost one of my gps in the garden so could only bring one of them in to their night quarters around 9pm as usual. Then woke up at 3 am to hear truly bloodcurdling howls of cats outside. Was sure my gp was a gonna. Dh - very nobly - went searching in the garden in his dressing gown - we couldn't find a torch so we lit one of those beacon/flame things you stick in the ground - he looked everywhere to no avail and only narrowly managed to avoid setting fire to shrubbery
Came back to bed very anxious and had gruesome dreams about guinea pig decapitations. Woke up at crack of sparrows and went searching again only to find the furry miscreant sitting happily under a rock, totally unperturbed, eating a dandelion. They are now both safely locked in their enclosure on the lawn .....

OK time to stop procrastinating and get cracking ...

Enjoy the sunshine everyone

just a quick flying post as want to get a few things done before I leave for hols.

I have put a picture of the 2nd top i have be making on my profile and thought you might like to see what I have been working on. It still needs zip putting in, heming and straps attaching which is what i am now going to do before i pack.

Have a good week. try not to burn out with this manic fluttering of activity

Good morning everyone,

I am sorry i bailed yesterday. Never did manage to peel myself off sofa

I did however manage to finish New Moon as i was wide awake at 5am and decided that would be the most productive thing i could do at that time of the morning. Yes i hold my hands up I love Edward Cullen and i am desperately sorry for Jacob....Ah well i start next one tonight. Better slow down they supposed to be for my holiday and i'm not going till 13th June.

I am having lotsa fun on this thread too. Loved the round up ellie

You are all so Busy, i am half term. I am aware it does exist but with 2 under 4 and a seasonal job, it means im extra specially busy at work and they still go to nursery.

Anyway, im sorry im procrastinating waffling

my list and i neeeed one

i have already put dw/wm on, made bed and got dc to nursery and me and dh to work!

So i have to do work.
Ring dentist-dh doing
research new preschool for DS- 1 app made, another to do this afternoon.
do washing mountains of dh clothes that he hasnt put in laundry basket for the last week.
sort out babysitters for our ann next week
pick dc up from nursery bath ds
bed them
gym me
dh out painting boat
me home BGT, and eclipse
evening routine and bed

DWM aw poor daisy what a pickle!! have a lovely day to yourself. not at all jealous
feetheart happy anniversary hope you have lovely night.
ellie oh i like the prayer, im not normally a praying girl but i will try! hope your mum got super=duper static caravan. My DH would want to know which one obsessed pashionate about statics.
linzer ooo i would love to go to Berlin, always fascinated me. I hope you have a lovely weekend. Well done yesterday you did it managed another stressful day
pa have lovely family day, best excuse!
sc i read that for ages thinking omg she has lost her grandparent in the garden
nick 1 1/2 hrs for groceries!! OMG time for a home farm.
muckyducky have lovely holiday
swan what fab toy decluttering and loved sack race over the toy mountain
pa i love the lunchboxes. DS not at this stage yet and i will know to check regularly

Hope you all have a fab rest of the day. I must get back to actually working. Got some bank reconciliations to do x

muckyducky that is lovely very summery. Ill have two please extra large x

Quick check. Have done some work also some banking I hadn't 'banked' on doing and had lunch. Daisy still hiding behind bed so can't give her anti-biotic and they are now capsules so I have to push them down her throat Off out now to

1. go to out of school club to pay bill (they rang this morning)
2. go to bank
3. go to pet shop for more cat litter
4. sweet shop on way back
5. buy some sugar - need to cook rhubarb this afternoon before it goes off (again!)
6. catch little bus back to end of the road

kitchen rescue to include shining sink done
dining room rescue
lounge rescue
our bedroom - put washing away and make bed
walk into town for more cat litter (this is more than 15 mins!) and maybe the bank. Get little bus back (must check timetable first)going now
swish & swipe
get washing in - put it out before bed last night done
ironing

Back later

Hello everyone!

Sorry to not do individual messages, but can only nip in here before back to the work of moving!

Got the new keys, and the house is so sparkly!! So, I clearly need to work darned hard to keep it like that!

Will be moving some stuff by car today and unpacking that tomorrow, and the movers do the big stuff on Saturday! Annoyingly, there's not really any good 3g reception in the new place and the broadband isn't set up yet so probably won't be popping back on for a few days.

Have a great day.x

Quick lunchtime check-in.

have now been to Tesco and Poundstretcher for paddling pool (Poundstretcher my a*, spent £50 on new paddling pool and hosepipe, way more than I intended to!). Have blown said pool and it is now filling up (vvvv slowly).

Am going to pop some more washing in, put some more away and then relax for the afternoon, enjoying the sunshine avec little elliepacs.

BTW linzer your fantastically lovely postcard arrived today. DS was super excited and has put it on the wall next to his bed . Now have to go about finding a postcard to send you of the depressing dump industrial garden town I live in. In fact I don't think they do them, may have to be industrious here

Enjoy the sun everyone!

muckyducky I love that top, you are one talented lady, I have to get the MIL to sew buttons on .

Back from town - that list complete although I talked myself out of lugging cat litter home on basis that I am sure we have enough to keep us going till Saturday. Got scratching post and little snuggly cushion thing you can put in the microwave as Daisy was looking so miserable. She is out from behind the bed now and having inspected her new things is sitting on the plastic bag they came in

Trying to get laptop to spark back into life and then onwards!

dw - done
wm - done
tax return (have canx appt - apparently we need to submit joint return here... pending clarification)
ring school council trainers
ring school principal re dd1/ dd2 - hm, will try today.
10 things from spare room - done
kitchen floor
buy birthday present for dd1's friend - i forgot yesterday whilst i was in town, so, i'm getting back in the car...
planning meeting for cub camp
cubs (fire station visit - not sure if i will enjoy this more than the cubs )
bank - opens in 30 minutes, so can't hang around!

chat later - lots to do, but morning all!

Going to update now as might not get on again tonight

• Morning routine - mostly done
• Water garden (ran out of enthusiasm last night!) - done
• Insure flat - MUST do this asap - done
• Sort out few things with friend's house that I manage - no
• Washing - want to be able to close washing basket lid by this evening! 3 loads so far and I can close the lid if I sit a child on it
• B&Q for compost - no, 'borrowed' large bag from neighbours who are away for 2 weeks!!
• Make lots of tapas-type stuff for DH and I tonight. So far have made houmus, patatas bravas, roasted peppers and intend to make Baba Ganoush and flatbreads for first time. Wine in fridge
• Mission - no
• Park this afternoon - done

Have a good evening everyone (and a good day Nick)

Just dashing in before I dash out to babysit for a friend.

Lovely top MD and have a great holiday.

Work today so not much flying but did manage to get a bit more washing done.

Have a good evening and 'see' you all tomorrow x

Gormers - ooo moving is so exciting. Hope you're enjoying the new place as much as you can!

DM - poor daisy - I guess she needs a bit of pampering.

swan - no double here - I carried DS in a sling most of the time till he was about 13 months, so I'm aiming to wait till the baby is 6 months before looking at doubles. I have a loola which both DS and the baby can go in, and after 6 months I should be able to get away with a decent stroller and a buggy board as DS is generally a good walker and rarely naps in the day, otherwise I'll buy a double stroller.

PA - I do love new hardware. I'm lusting after an ipad even though I have no justification for wanting one, already having a nice macbook and an iphone. They just look shiny

I am going to give up making lists and just focus on a few things every day, to keep the place clean and running - basically:

• a clothes wash a day,
• a swish and swipe of the bathroom
• an after-dinner (or morning if the baby is like DS was and cluster feeds for hours each night!) whizz round of the kitchen and lounge.

The one thing I really needed to do - phone someone about my oven - I failed to do so will have to try to remember tomorrow!

I have resorted to raspberry leaf capsules and clary sage oil in my bath. I'm really really ready for this baby now! (39 weeks tomorrow)

Evening everyone,

How are we all on this lovely summer's evening. I have had a lovely afternoon with best friend, sis and various dc's but am shattered now!

List went well today. Managed to achieve everything that was on there and in addition have done more washing, cleared up from dinner and put some more washing away. Successful day methinks!

chairmum curry to takeaway ? I think your maintenance plan sounds fabulous and most importantly, manageable. Don't want to miss those magical first weeks cleaning but on the other hand don't want to live in a hovel (God knows what my excuse is, DD is 2 now ). Perfect balance in there. Remember to phone a man about an oven!

mm washing! Me too . Hope babysitting went ok!

feetheart I assume you are reading this tomorrow morning after having had a wonderful romantic evening with your DH. Happy anniversary . Take it easy tomorrow, you might be too tired after your busy day today! .

nick fireman, yum . Do you ever take it easy? Every time you post you are dashing from here to there, you give me a headache .

dwm treats for daisy sounds much needed, bet she is as sick of the vets as you are! Well done on completing what was a big list!

gormers congratulations on the new house and good luck with the move itself. . We'll be here to help you keep it nice and sparkling!

nettie how did the bank reconciliations go? Not that I actually know what one of those is. . Mum's caravan is an ABI Horizon ? a 12ft, 3 bed one. Tis lovely inside and quite roomy. DS is ridiculously excited, thinks he's going to be living there .

muckyducky i know i have already said it, but didn't want to leave you out of the round-up have a lovely holiday. You have had a tough couple of months and i think the break will do you the world of good .

sc i absolutely love the fact that you have a very precise starting time for your routine, not when i get up, or when i get DD to school but 6.50am precisely . Have you got all your guinea pigs in, guinea pig decaptitation does not make for a good night's sleep . Bravo to DH for going out there, mine would, I suspect, have just left them, nothing gets in the way of his sleep . Not even babies...grrrrrrr.

linzer have a wonderful time in Berlin. Never been to Germany. Am .

pa family days are the best kind of days . Hope you had a fab day!

Big waves to everyone else.

Steps up next!

Ooo chairmum how exciting
Linzer ds was dead chuffed about getting mail, he wants to go on the big wheel with his "best friend" from Austria. He was not however impressed about sending the zoo postcard so I'll try find another. We also looked up Austria on map and flag book! I never knew it was there!! further than I thought!

Today's list, how did I do?

Ring dentist-dh doing
research new preschool for DS- 1 app made, another to do this afternoon. Another app next week
do washing mountains of dh clothes that he hasnt put in laundry basket for the last week.-dh put one load in
sort out babysitters for our ann next week- done just gotta figure out what to do with our whole evening off
pick dc up from nursery bath ds-done done
bed them-done
gym me-done ouch
dh out painting boat- gone
me home BGT, [watching] and eclipse
evening routine and bed. soon as BGT finished!

See you tomorrow x

Are we ready for another babystep. Today's step is writing post it notes and sticking them around the house?. Now, if like me, you do not want all and sundry knowing you need reminding to get dressed of a morning and therefore thinking you are slightly insane (or even more insane than they already thought in my case ) I would suggest you write them down in a file ready to start your Control Journal later in the month. Or if you have already done that and have been here x months then just shine your sink and get yourself dressed .

The mission today is here.

Have a nice flight everyone!(Your exits are here, here and here )

X posted withellie ooo sounds lovely. We like abi's hee hee. My ds is desperate to stay in one but as that's what we eat sleep and breath each day, dh thinks would be too much like bus mans holiday!!

Poor deprived boy (it's ok I'm working hard on dh about buying a family tent, the next best thing in my book)

dw - done
wm - done
tax return (re-booked appt for tomorrow...apparently we may have inadvertently been committing tax fraud since march 2008...)
ring school council trainers - no
ring school principal re dd1/ dd2 - no
10 things from spare room - done
kitchen floor - noooooooo.
buy birthday present for dd1's friend - done
planning meeting for cub camp done
cubs (fire station visit - very much done)
bank - done

oh, dm, poor daisy. no wonder she's fed up and giving you the run around. hope you manage to keep her calm for long enough to heal!

firemen were on tip top form (which is more than can be said for the cubs...) and we might even have convinced one that he fancies me helping out and becoming a leader

i think i might take it very easy with the control journal - just a few basic lists by day so that i don't get caught out - i like the idea of putting them in plastic so you can use a wipe-off to add 'oddities' to them on a one off basis. i'm also utterly failing to see how millions of stickies all over my house will improve anything! (including dh's perceptions)

ellie, life is much quieter when i'm at work . it keeps me in one place for a few hours at a time anyway.

my unplanned trip back to town was ok though - as i was there i thought i would get some choccies and take them round to my very pg friend (who i hadn't realised pretty much shares her dates with chairmum ) who has been contracting on and off for ten days, and is thoroughly miserable. i do feel for you chairmum, it's exciting but exhausting lol.

happy flying everyone - tomorrow i get to try and work out with the accountant whether dh i can crawl out of this tax hole or not . dh didn't read his tax return properly last year and apparently claimed he was single (wishful thinking lol), which means the tax i thought we had paid, in fact only he had paid... wish me luck. i have no idea how tax works here! (but i'm about to find out...)

oh, and md - lovely top! i wish i could sew... my limit is endless badges on camp blankets apparently.

feetheart, please will you marry me if i divorce dh for tax evasion? (or if he divorces me for tax evasion... )

sc - i like the idea of using the journal for numbers etc too... at the moment they decorate my fridge - lots of very tatty pretty little scraps of papers with random numbers on. maybe undecorating the fridge could be a mission one of these days!

Hello everyone,

Super duper quiet here today! I take it everyone is off enjoying the sunshine and family time during half term .

DH unexpectedly had the day off today which we only found out after we had already got up at 6! Grrrr. However, we decided to seize the day, got the DC's up and headed off to the seaside for the morning (we are lucky to be only half an hour's drive away from the sea). A very lovely time was had by all. Left just as it was starting to get really busy but by that point had had a few hours on the beach,lots of paddling, donkey rides and ice cream.!

Not list posting as am not sure how much will get done. Have done:-

WM on
load on line
DW on
S/S bathroom
beds made
general tidy

That may be about it. We are going to the park later for a picnic tea so may not get much else done!

Have a fab day!

Afternoon everyone

I have already
dw/wm
worked
dc nurseried picked up and now napping
get ds to pick up snap cards all over house
play in garden
weed in garden
more washing - peg out got pegs first hang out since 4yrs
dejunk old book selling file
remove coats from bannister

that'll do I think!

ellie Beach sounds lovely we are very close but don't use it anywhere enough like we should!!
nick hope ur tax meeting goes alright and whatever it turns out to be is manageable for you
totally agree with post it notes, think dh would get me taken away! Haven't even admitted my addiction to this thread or flylady

right well gonna finish watching supernanny USA and then get on with it!!

Havenlovely rest of day x