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Housekeeping

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July's Fledgling Flyers : The dc's drive us round the bend, the school holidays descend, our sanity we will lend, and flying will be our friend

482 replies

elliepac · 30/06/2010 09:21

Welcome to the July 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 July 1st.

OP posts:
QueenofDreams · 14/07/2010 13:57

Hi ladies,
I'm not doing very well with the baby steps, or with keeping up.

So today's list will be:

Washing up
Clear counters
wipe counters
move old baby clothes down to cellar.

And of course now ds decides to wake up. grrrrr.
to everyone.

MumAlwaysKnows · 14/07/2010 14:06

Will post picts on profile when they are done DWM

droitwichmummy · 14/07/2010 16:09

School run done (chat with DS teachers about his report (fab)- they job-share so really unusual to see them together) and taking DS for haircut later so quick check on progress:
2/3 loads of washing - to be dried in garage (think there is just about enough room)done
empty DW and reload done need to empty again
put dry washing away not yet
lunch (seem to forget this when at home)done
rescue dining table maybe later (or tomorrow)
clean bathroom might manage s&s rest tomorrow
shine sink very shiny

PositiveAttitude · 14/07/2010 17:23

I survived the dentist!!

Nettiespagetti · 14/07/2010 19:52

Evening everyone

I'm a gatecrasher too and I'm going
nowhere not even in august! I love this thread it's a really positive thread and I get lots of encouragement from it!

Today i have
made bed
dinner in slow cooker
swish and swiped
dw
WM x millions
soft played good fun (ddwas in good firn this morning. Shame about this afternoon)
tidied up
fed visitors
almost killed my DNeice as conservatory window fell out and narrowly missed her
got clothes out for nursery

still to put away clothes
evening routine
serious chat with DH (wish me luck)

I'm sorry not to do individual messages but I hope you all ok.

MrsDinky · 14/07/2010 21:12

Evening all,

Another vote for carrying on in August, although I won't be around for all of it. We might lose the momentum if we stop. And it would be a shame if the thread missed it's birthday party!

Today I have been a bit more productive

School run - done
DD to trampolining and softplay - done
Sainsburys - done
Cleaned entire toilet including round the back - done
Decluttered bathroom cupboard a bit - done
Wiped down kitchen appliances (WM, DW, fridge as all covered in fingerprints) - done
Taken DCs for haircuts and errands in town after school - done
About an hour as an unpaid consultant doing work for DH's business - done
Tea, DCs bedtime etc - done
Washing - none done for 2 days due to bad weather.

I had an idea for a new babystep today. I am not very good about sweeping the kitchen floor as often as I should, it does need to be done every day but I am guilty of putting it off till the morning, then the evening and so on. So my new babystep is that every time I empty the DW I must then sweep the kitchen floor. Will report back in a week or two and see if I have kept it up.

PositiveAttitude · 14/07/2010 21:41

MrsD i need your babystep!! brilliant idea. I looked at my floor when cooking tea tonight and thought " I must sweep this floor", needless to say, it still needs doing, so next time I unload the DW, I will sweep, too.

PositiveAttitude · 14/07/2010 21:48

Posted a bit quick there!!

Dh doing serious bike stroking tonight and I have been doing some book-keeping work. Now feeling brain dead, in need of a small drink and my fix of tour de france thighs. Unfortunately some stupid girlie football match has overrun, so half an hour wait for the tour!

Night night ladies.......

elliepac · 14/07/2010 22:05

Evening ladies, how are we all?

Busy day here today so I am here to round-up the news to save you all some time .

mrsd was absolutely back on form today...so much so that she decided that the fat fairy does not actually know it all and introduced a whole new babystep. She is a rebel with a cause and that cause, her kitchen floor, will be all the better for it .

nettie washed times a million and nearly killed her niece, normal quiet day for her. Hope serious chat with DH goes ok. .

pa went to the dentist, cooked food for the masses and had a doze and read her book . She is also well and truly set the catamongst the pigeons but more of that later!

dwm returned with a vengeance and a DS with a fab report . Well Done DS! She had lots of jobs and did lots of jobs. Result! Oh and she had list envy!

qod checked in and is keeping on going . Babysteps, babysteps. . made

mak posted a list that made the rest of, particularly dwm jealous. No DW or WM there, just embroidery and lovely things, all in the name of decluttering. She is a genius. Fact .

wtwtw checked in but was struggling with the frigging sink. I too struggle with the frigging sink. The friggin thing always frigging fills up just after I have frigging cleaned it. Frigging sinks! In all seriousness, as said above. If the sink is a struggle, aim for something you know you can do just to try and get started. Be it putting clothes out the night before or 5 mins a day in ahotspot. After a long day the last thing i feel like doing is my sink but after I got over this, 5 mins as you are going roudn shutting down for the night makes all the difference! Just do what you can and keep popping in and tell us how it's going and DO NOT EVER think you are gatecrashing...you are not, you are enhancing our fly world by being here .

toffeefudge you have been working so hard recently, please don't get sad about things. Hope DH isbeing ok tonight. We women, despite the beliefs of our DH's, do only have one pair of hands and if those are busy they can sod off. Just do what you can .

nick unpacked her groceries and revealed she has mulitiple identities. .

I think that covers just about everyone. Big lovely waves to sc and linzer who are enjoying their jollies and everybody else sr missb mmom (where is my wine buddy ) admylin* and anyone else I have forgotten.

Now to the topic of the day! There will be an august thread undoubtedly, we ain't giving up now! Although some of us may be away, we will get through the summer hand-holding and flying. I know thesummer hols is when I do most of my cleaning while the DC's run feral in the garden so count me in! I think what pa was trying to say was that they found that last august people dropped off the thread because of holidays and the like and she wanted to ensure that we all reporrte for a new term come september. But it is our birthday in August and we shall have a big party on August 1st to celebrate . The other thing i want to make super clear is that no-one on here is a gatecrasher, Ilove all my fledgling fliers, new and old and think we make a fab communityfrom lots of different backgrounds and I wouldn't want to change it for anything. And that's why new people joining is so lovely. .

Lecture over. As you were ladies .

Back in a mo with steps!

OP posts:
MumAlwaysKnows · 14/07/2010 23:13

Ellie - fab round up made me

i have been about on this thread since august i think, possibly september last year - its just i have a habit of going awol

Party you say ellie - erm does the fat fairy have prep and clear up rules for that too?

NickOfTime · 14/07/2010 23:23

blinking kids, who'd have 'em? i went to get groceries yesterday solely because ds1 had run out of pull-ups, so did the rest of the shop whilst i was there (hour and a half round trip yada yada). did he bother to put one on last night? did he? did he?

elliepac · 15/07/2010 06:27

Morning all,

Just checking in and realised I forgot to post steps last night! Doh! . So here they are!

Today's babystep is making the bed. A very important one, just makes my house feel tidier, even if the rest of the bedroom is covered in rubbish!

The mission for today is here.

It is not a nice day here. Cold and windy and it our sports day where we transport a whole school (all 1000 pupils) to the local athletics stadium. As a parent, I love sports day. As a teacher, I hate it . My day will mostly consist of supervising those who can't be arsed to get involved and stopping errant children fro sneaking off for a fag. Yay!

Have a good day everyone!

OP posts:
PositiveAttitude · 15/07/2010 06:54

Hi ladies,

Not sure what happened to Ellie last night, but the days steps dont seem to be here, so hope you dont mind me posting them to kepp everyone on track. (should make up for panicking everyone yesterday!)a good one today that takes half a second and makes a huge difference.

and s pretty good mission too.

Day off work today, for me Yipppeeeee!! so plan to do as little as possible.

Clean kitchen
DW - and floor
Make some scones
Man coming to measure for the rabbit run
hoover hallway
sweep lounge floor
lunch with DD2 & DD3
Prepare food for BBQ tonight - I'm doing potato salad and chocolate cake
A bit of accounts paid work at home
sit and go through DD4s school report asnd write out questions
Cook tea for the DCs
Parents evening (at the school that doesnt even know her name and she's been there 4 years!!!!)
BBQ at friends house for our homegroup (could be a washout!!)
Home for thigh fix tour de france.
BED

Well, that now sounds like quite a full day!!

I'm glad Ellie straightened the August confusion out.

Nick - I remember madwomanintheattic, too. loved that name!!

DWM - Lovely to have you back among us.

QOD - lovely to see you here again, too. Always welcome to pop in.

Nettie - Glad Dneice survived the window!! Very long list for yesterday, well done!

MrsD - Right on form with that enormous list.

Waves to Toffee, Wtwtw, MissB, ad MM (hope you are ok) swan, mak

Off to wake DH. Yesterday he overslept (due to still being poorly, really) but apparently it was my fault for not waking him.

PositiveAttitude · 15/07/2010 07:08

Sorry, Ellie. It took me so long to type all that out, between sorting out cats and towels for the shower room, putting DHs shirt in tumble drier (for work today )and watching my morning fix of the news - I like to know whats going on in the world.

Have a good sports day!! I though the days of fagging behind the bike shed were welland truly over.

Nettiespagetti · 15/07/2010 08:39

Wahey back to work today!! Dc are already packed of to nursery.
Dw done
kitchen cleaned (got pa blindman in)
td on

still to get dressed
make bed- love this one this is the one I have stuck
with all along! Almost 4 months and I'm still doing it woohoo
s/s
hihohiho it's off to work we go ( after 3 weeks at home primarily alone with dc except from visitors I'm ready)
feel little guilty at being desperate to pack dc off to nursery. Maybe if dh could spare us at least one whole day a week I might feel different.

Anyway also to
put away ironed clothes
put load in wm
and off out for a currry with some mumsy friends tonight.

Hope you all have a fab day and I'm hoping to be back later.

PositiveAttitude · 15/07/2010 09:12

Hey Nettie You cant pinch my blindman, I desperately need him as a permanent fixture!!

droitwichmummy · 15/07/2010 09:19

Morning all!

Not sure how much I will get done today as have to get to osteopath & back on bus/train/feet (& I wonder WHY I have a bad back!) That's at 12 so will wipe out much of the useful (ie DS & DH free) part of the day. Like the mission today though - was thinking the bath looked rather grubby the other day so my list is

(more) coffee
check washing from yesterday dry (some still in garage)
DW on - already loaded
clean bath
s&s while in there
1 load in WM
dining table (again - groan)
shine sink
do something with the mince I defrosted yesterday

not sure when I'll get to have lunch - DH has made me sandwiches forgetting I was at home today - he NEVER makes the sandwiches, no idea what has got into him. Maybe it was my moaning at his not doing anything ('but I put the DW on today' - first time in ages; I threatened to put 1 load of washing on a week to match his efforts)

Oh and I'm catching up with the tour pa. Managed to catch up to the end of day 7 last night (thank goodness for sky+!)

Have a good day everyone

MumAlwaysKnows · 15/07/2010 09:43

just for DWM putting the picture of the chickens up on profile. please bear in mind i am aware they have an eyes issue and this will soon be rectified as will the gaping back wounds. Will post picture of table clothe when finished. didnt get round to the embroidery patches as have been working on a 2 toned voil net thingy which has taken considerable pinning and much thought and cutting to get to 1. look good and 2 fit the window.

MumAlwaysKnows · 15/07/2010 09:53

Oh am away for a few days so no flying. catch up with you all on monday. have a good weekend.

droitwichmummy · 15/07/2010 10:29

MAK love those chickens!

swanriver · 15/07/2010 10:39

I'm with you on sweeping MrsD
However I can't face bathrooms.
Will try masterbedroom today before going on holiday.

will report back when something is done

swanriver · 15/07/2010 12:02

I am officially panicking again.
needto
look yummy for local mums' lunch
find present for host halfdone
find another present for violin teacher - he doesn't drink
tidy dd's bedroom for visiting child this afternoon

havedone
cleaned up masterbedroom/decluttered, but not yet remade bed or hoovered will now abandon
tidied kitchen minimally
rescued a few areas

answer is get ready for lunch now and then buy something on way there for her and violin teacher and tidy bedroom later, if ever

supper is instant tortelloni spinach and ricotta, veg extra

6 presents down (for teachers)another 6 to go [and cards aargh for children to write]

swanriver · 15/07/2010 12:07

Does anyone else feel like this...
wandering from room to room wringing hands and feeling slightly sick at thought that this is last chance to get anything serious done before kids are HERE ALL THE TIME, and I've blown it

anyway, the feral children don't care about house do they?
In August I shall be flying in holiday cottage which needs particular fly attention as I'll be on my own there; somehow can't bear thought of this place being a shambles too (will get worse whilst dh is here by himself)

swanriver · 15/07/2010 12:13

Nick we have had three nights of wet beds from ds2 (also 8) and I have also lost ALL THE WOGGLES. Found some badges in my sewing box whilst looking for necklace mending wire though Then got distracted and have done neither badges or necklace mending, but started throwing applecores away from under bed.
Inspired by MAK I have packed some tie-dying equipment for holiday cottage! Feral children can pretend to be ancient Britons. There is a large dank basement I can do dye in!

QueenofDreams · 15/07/2010 12:50

Hi again everyone.
I've not progressed with baby steps, so I think I'm going to repeat the ones I've already done until we get back round the cycle again IYKWIM.

So today:
washing up
clear counters in kitchen
5 minutes in living room

I think putting any more than that down is a bit overambitious!

hope everyone is ok. very of those going away on holiday.