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

[elliepac]

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.

Had two hours to tidy up this morning before collecting DS2. Aware that I will have children with me every day from now on, I was a whirlwind of activity -

Unloaded the dishwasher
Using Barkeeper's Friend + new cloth from Lakeland = SHINY SINK!
Tidied up the hotspot in my kitchen
Swept kitchen floor
Emptied kitchen bin
Put recycling away
Put washing on
Cleaned bathroom sink
Cleaned bathroom loo and put bleach down
Made all the beds
Admired the floor in our bedroom, which I can see at the moment thanks to recent 15-minute blitzes on the clutter

Phew! Wanted to start the holiday off on the right footing.

Have just come back from school, as DS1 wanted to stay and play football. He came running out of the football match, face flushed and happy, then cried all the way home from exhaustion. In fact, both the boys are utterly exhausted.

I'm very encouraged by all the cleaning going on with those of you already on your holidays - Ellie, PA (ironing basket triumph! I don't think that has ever happened in this house. I'm so envious) and QofD. I hope I can get stuff done too. On one hand, i won't be interrupted by various trips up to nursery and school - but on the other hand, I will be interrupted by the copious needs of my children. I'm hoping that it will be a bit easier this summer as DS2 is now 4, so not quite so needy anymore.

A question - what does swish and swipe mean? Does it mean clean the bathroom sink and loo or does it mean clean the sink and tidy up the surfaces?

Linzer! Good to have you back and to hear that you had a good holiday. Sorry you missed my end-of-work celebratory bottle. I like the sound of the de-cluttering book you're reading. What's it called, if you don't mind me asking? I have borrowed several from the library over the years and usually lose them under the clutter in the bedroom!

Off to cook dinner now. Must be time for a glass of wine.

Evening all!

How are we all doing? DD has been an utter nightmare today, inparticular scratching everytime she hasn't got her own way! I am pooped!

toffeefudge stupendous list today. Well Done! Question: What is a Swish and Swipe. Answer: here.

nettie hope you managed to get to work on time. I find Pj'S most comfortable, i reckon you should have gone in them .

qod hope you got on alright! Glad DS was a bit better this morning. If you are feeling tired, you should be taking it easy...and that's an order .

pa has been making delicious things again. I'm with you on being far more productive when i've nothing to do. Have a suspicion the novelty of actually having the time to do the housework may wear off some time soon .

linzer how did the decluttering go?I was supposed to start on DS's room today. I walked in...and promptly turned round and walked back out again . Whoops!

Will post steps in the morning. Am off to watch High School Musical with DS.

Wine anyone? .

Have a good evening!

Thank you Ellie - now I know what a swish and swipe is. I have been thinking all this time that I just had to clean the loo and sink, but it's surfaces too. Am not so keen on the old shampoo in the loo idea. I use Milton spray, which is a disinfectant, and wipe the loo with loo roll, then flush it down. (Flylady really needs a proofreader, by the way. Had to resist getting a red pen out).

After a mad, mad few weeks I am now on a mission to reclaim the house, along with almost everyone else on here
Had a good start yesterday as DS (who finished on Weds) spent most of the day with a friend and today wasn't bad either even though they were both off. Need about 2 more weeks like this to get things back to 'acceptable'

AandD - I won CD copying marathon which annoyed DH as he was doing it on his new supa-duper whizzy laptop and I was using my falling-apart, cranky thing that has to have the screen propped up with a coffee mug until the new hinges arrive

PA - Kensington buns sound lovely. Do you use a bread-maker?

DH out on a 'sleepover' (according to DD) tonight and my attempts at an early night have failed spectacularly. Must stop watching Paddy Kielty, finish kitchen and GO TO BED.

Night all

Morning all,

I have woken up to a very quiet house this morning as all three DC slept at friends' houses last night. And to a much tidier house - the decluttering session turned into more of a putting-all-my-paperwork-away session, so I didn't get rid of as much as I'd have liked. However, I was quite ruthless with all the DC's plastic tat - it's now in plastic bags in the cellar to see if they miss any of it (I suspect not). DH has promised to take our growing charity shop pile into Vienna while I'm back in the UK; it's almost an hour's drive from us so it's sometimes easier for me to take things back to Britain with me and then just take them to Oxfam there.

feetheart I never manage to have an early night when DH is away - I usually end up pottering about achieving very little.

ellie It can be so exhausting when the DC play up, can't it? Especially during the summer holidays, when you end up wondering whether you'll have to cope with that kind of behaviour for weeks on end.

Toffee Perhaps you could offer your services to FlyLady. One of Gina Ford's books is just awful (from a proofreading point of view, I mean!) - I think it was the potty training one, but whoever had proofread it (I assume that someone must have done) didn't seem to have heard of semi-colons and I really couldn't concentrate on the content!

Going back to swishing and swiping, I particularly liked the sound of having "my favorite window cleaner in every bathroom" - the only problem is that window cleaning doesn't seem to exist as a profession in Austria!

The decluttering book I read on holiday was in German and was a bit strange in places. The literal translation of the title was "Decluttering with your inner pig-dog" ("innerer Schweinehund" means something like inner temptation or your weaker self, I discovered afterwards) and it kept on talking about agreeing with your pig-dog to do such and such and then it would leave you in peace. Some of the suggestions were quite good and it has inspired me to do some more decluttering, but in the spirit of decluttering it has now been consigned to the charity box.

Have you read "No More Clutter" by Sue Kay? I took that and FlyLady's book on holiday with me last year (the only time I get to read!) and found it had lots of sensible suggestions too. I have to confess I read anything about decluttering that I can get my hands on; it's putting it all into practice that I struggle with...

Morning all,

It is a beautiful day here today so I feel I am going to ignore the big job of doing upstairs and tackle the equally humongous job of getting the garden in order. Something else that has suffered as a result of the last mad few weeks.

linzer you are so right about the DC and playing up. Yesterday I was thinking if I would be unreasonable to pay for her to go the CM's all holiday even though I normally love this time of year because my childcare bill is halved (just pay half fee during holidays) .

feetheart there are an awful lot of us trying to get back on track after the mad end of term malarkey. I too have given myself two weeks. We go away two weeks today so am hoping to be able to get it all done for then!

Steps comng up!

There is no mission today as

Not sure what happened at the end of last post!

The babystep for today
Siwsh and Swipe. For explanation see last night's round-up!

Have a good day!

Good morning.

Just come on to say that I wont be flying today as i am facepainting at a family fun day involving thousands of people and its all free, so ever child under the age of 14 wants their face painted.

So, all I am going to do today is:

Chicken will be chucked in slow cooker with a curry sauce and hey presto.... dinner!
Drive DD2 to work
Drive DS & friend to tennis lesson
Weekend food shop
Facepaint x1000000000000000000000000000000000000
Home to wrap DD4's Birthday present for tomorrow and prepare for girlie sleepover tomorrow night.
Collapse in front of TV for darts and tour de france fix, with a rather large glass of something cold and yummy! (and a bar of chocolate, maybe)

feetheart, buns made in the kenwood, not the breadmaker.

Everyeone seems to be on a bit of a roll these past couple of days after struggling for a few weeks. Have a good weekend everyone.

A good start to the holiday, although DS2 woke up really early, which he always saves for weekends. I can barely get him out of bed on weekdays. Managed to get both boys to eat decent breakfasts and insisted DS1 do his daily Kumon maths worksheet before having time on the computer (mean mum, but now he's done it and I don't need to nag). Have done my morning routines and DH commented that the house was looking a lot better "with this Flylady stuff you're doing".

Cooked spag bol last night (with DS2's so-called 'help' - my heart always sinks when he wants to help, even though I know it's a Good Thing for him and better than watching telly. But it means so much extra work for me!). Made so much that we have enough for today as well, so I won't have to do any cooking later.

Linzer - I read that GF book too! It's so distracting when a book isn't proofread properly. But at least her system of potty training worked well.

I'm not sure I'd want our window cleaner in our bathroom - he's the one who accused us of being alcoholics after he fell over our unrecycled wine bottles. But a fantasy window cleaner...mmm, that's an idea.

Thanks for the tips on de-cluttering books. I'll give the inner pig-dog one a miss (!), but might do a search for the other one on Amazon.

Thanks for the swish and swipe mission, Ellie. I'll keep practising...

PA - facepainting for thousands....argh!

Right, am going to do another 15-minute declutter on the bedroom. It's defintely looking better for it.

morning just ds arranged his own babysitter last night so i went out. it was very late so am tired, but very fun. Failed on the babysteps so far as not even up yet but kitchen taming to do later and more washing. So will see how it goes once i have actually drunk the coffee i made an hour ago but forgot to drink

PA - eek hope you survive the 1000000000s

Oh and ds had another dry night last night. will be glad when it happens more often and i dont get woken up to mummy feel my nappy... good school report yesterday though so he had treats. And more treats for my lie in i went back to sleep after gettiing him breakfast

hope you all have a fabulous day will hopefully be back with news of flying later.

Hi everyone! I'm back having sneaked on yesterday to look at all I've missed.... School and RL just took over the last month but I'm going to try and jump back in!!

Today is mammoth washing and ironing day/weekend!! I have an ironing pile the size of the alps and the himilayas put together. I know, I know I should be able to do the flattening and folding thing but it just doesn't work for me!!

It's just me, DH and DS2 here at the moment - Ds1 is in Oz playing rugby for three weeks and DD is in Paris until tonight so it is a bit strange.

Anyway I have a week until we go on holiday to try to get the house back to some sort of order.

For now it's washing, ironing, BBQ and chilled white in that order!!

Catch up later...

Have been working on my control journal. It now has morning, afternoon and evening routines, weekly routines and Flylady's detailed cleaning lists (hmm - that's really going to happen, isn't it? ).

DH has taken a load of stuff to the dump. He is always cross about doing this and needs an awful lot of encouragement. Managed to clear out a load of crafty creations from DS2's room (very old and dusty Charlie and Lola creations from the comics - hope he doesn't notice they've gone) and am tackling his bedroom now. It really is horrendous. It was in a mess the last time MIL came to visit and she is coming again next Thursday, so i really don't want it to look just as bad this time.

Am also going to have another 15-minute tidy-up of our bedroom.

BTW, can anyone tell me why DH can put his dirty washing on TOP of the laundry basket, but is apparently incapable of lifting up the lid and putting the clothes inside?

Linzer - have just ordered the Sue Kay book you mentioned. It had fantastic reviews on Amazon and I really need some help decluttering. Thanks for the tip.

Just flying in for a thread Hijack.... sorry.

OM -Hi stranger. might find this interesting. Come and argue have your say!

Will be back later when I have stopped seeing spiderman every time I close my eyes.
If anyone wants to beconme spiderman, bunny, dog or have flowers facepainted on your cheeks (face cheeks, no other cheeks please!!) I'm your woman!!!

Definitely time for wine here - I'm utterly exhausted after DS1's birthday party. Even DH, who normally takes these kinds of things in his stride, has suggested we might want to arrange to be back in the UK for DS's birthday next year. We only invited 5 children from DS's class but what with brothers and sisters, the neighbours' DC and our three, we ended up with 13 children aged between 2 and 8 - and were cooped up indoors most of the time thanks to the sudden change in the weather. It was DS's first proper party and he was a bit overwhelmed by it all; it would have been far better to stick to fewer guests... Oh well, no more parties now for another five months thank goodness!

ellie Hope you managed to make progress in the garden today. That's one area I leave to DH as my fingers couldn't be any less green, and I struggle to keep up with the house as it is!

Armed Well done to DS on the dry night. Mine is finally starting to have more dry nights than wet ones, but I put him back in nappies when we were on holiday as it was just easier (and he was wet virtually every night).

PA Hope you had fun face painting; I would have hired you today if you could have been in two places at once!

Toffee It's a man thing - actually putting washing into the laundry basket wouldn't be, well, manly. The same applies to my DH and the dishwasher - it drives me mad the way he'll take dirty dishes into the kitchen but will put them down on the work top rather than into the dishwasher, even though I keep telling him it would only take a few seconds longer.

Hope the book comes in useful - I feel inspired to reread it now! Sue Kay also has a website and there are some good tips on there - not a million miles from FlyLady either (cf. Tip 35: use a timer).

Linzer- he has been kean for ages but sleep meds interfer. I think the last straw has been the fact that the last batch of nappies i bought had winnie the pooh on and he hates winnie the pooh. Havent splashed out on nighttime pants things as he can go through several nappies a night and it is just too expensive. He will too have to be in nappies when on holiday. Wet bedding and camping doesnt work and he is with his grandparents not me so really not fair to ask.

Ellie - how is the garden?

PA - will you be painting faces in your sleep tonight.

Toffee - I have no idea where my control journal is atm, well actually it is beneath the clutter. Dont focus on the big picture keep working on the baby steps and adding alittle bit at a time and you will suddenly find you are doing a large chunk of what you have just though would never happen. admits to still be waiting for that to happen

Been a bit productive today and managed to do:
washing
kitchen
collect fabric samples
purchase fabrics to start ds' christmas present
sort out plants
empty bins
2x 15mins in ds' room.

Will be up late to oding on diet coke and am hoping to get more stuff done tonight.

DS2's bedroom is now relatively tidy and has been hoovered. I have also done another 15 minutes in our bedroom. It's incredible how effective this is. The floor is now clear!

Have just finished my evening routine and have a shiny sink and clothes all laid out ready for tomorrow. Whilst cleaning the sink, I looked up and saw - to my horror - dozens of tiny spiders all over the ceiling. I stopped counting at 25. Sorry to fans of 'Charlotte's Web' or bugs in general, but I'm afraid I had to hoover them all up. Then I discovered they were all over the ceiling in the dining room too - argh! I'm not fond of spiders at the best of times and the thought of about 50 tiny spiders growing into great big ones was too much to take.

Do you think 50 tiny spiders will start crawling out of my hoover in the night?

Am taking our boys out to an activity park/zoo thingy tomorrow as a holiday treat. Also taking a friend of DS1. So no flying tomorrow.

Linzer - yep, thought it must be a man thing. I wonder if I can do a better job on the next generation? Thanks for the website address for that book - I'll have a quick browse after this.

ArmedandDangerous - yes, am keeping on at the babysteps and seeing improvements already. It really helps to have a list to go through every morning and evening as it keeps me focused. I'm sure lots of (naturally organised) people would think me mad, but it seems to be working so far, so I'm not complaining.

PA - well done on all that facepainting. I am in awe.

Am not doing so well at the 'bed at a decent time' instruction, so had better sign off now. Good night all.

Aaarrraagghhh @ toffee spiders and at city of spiders dwelling in Hoover

v busy day no flying
shopping
party
restaurant
boat trip
insomnia

hope you all ok catch up tomorrow as having my loft day and no kiddies!!!

Good morning ladies,

Nettie that sounds like a lovely day, yesterday. Hope you got some sleep, though.

Toffee those poor homeless spiders. Hope they didnt crawl out of the hoover overnight.

Linzer I'm sure you are glad the birthday party is over with. Hope DS had a good day.

Today is the first day that I can say that I have 5 teenage children, for the next 373 days!! DD4 is 13 today. I always dreaded this year, but to be honest I think the worst has gone. They are far worse before about 16, so far I have now got 3 over that age and survived, so not bad going.

Today is looking like a major manic day. Housework this morning,
Present opening ceremony
Open air church service in the park
More facepainting
Home for a quick snack
Bowling with DD4 & friends and family for her party
back for meal
Sleepover for DD4, so evenin gof dvd, nail art, girlie things, snacks and lots of noise.

Housework for a few hours SHOULD consist of:
Washing
Sorting
Hoovering back lounge
DW - unload, reload
bake a cake - pink with pink sparklies on top, by request
Oh %$£&&&^* just realised I dont have candles, so will have to pop to the shop.
Put clean covers on front lounge sofas
Want to tackle the upstairs bathroom too, but realistically that will probably be a tomorrow job.

That sounds enough to keep me out of mischief for a few hours, so best be off into shower before I start.

Have a good Sunday, everyone. (pouring with rain here, so plans for open air church and facepainting could be interessting!!!)

Morning all!

Well, the garden rescue went relatively well yesterday. It is now relatively tidy and presentable and all the DC's toys have been sorted (my garden is like a branch of toys r us!). I was knackered by the end though hence no posting last night. Today mainly consists of pottering so I am not list posting, will just see what I get done. We are going to a family BBQ this afternoon so there will definitely be nothing done after that.

pa happy birthday to DD! 5 teenage children, wow! Although your comment about them being better after 16 does reassure me a little because when DD becomes a teenager, DS will be 18 and therefore out of the worst of it!

nettie your day yesterday sounds lovely! Good luck with the loft today!

toffeefudge well don on the bedroom clear out! I really need to do mine. Aagh at spiders! DH is such a manly man in so many respects but confront him with a spider and he becomes a big girl, screeching!

AandD productive day for you my lady! Well Done to DS on his report as well!

linzer huge sigh of relief from you now parties are out of the way! This is the first year we haven't had DS's birthday party at home and paid someone else to do it and I have to admit I am looking forward to that!

om we missed you! I too have had a manic last couple of months. So glad it's holidays and I can relax...oh no I can't I have to repair the damage the last couple of months has done to my house! (although I have two weeks before I go on holiday!).

Back with the step in a mo!

Today's babystep is learning the routines.

Have a good day everyone!

Good afternoon everyone.

So far today

s/s
bed made
dc picked up by inlaws
2 loads of loft stuff to mil
one load of skip stuff in landrover
chest of drawers moved and reassembled
boxed and toot put in conservatory covered with bedspread (makes me feel better)
tv moved from room (blardy heavy but dh said I couldn't do it alone so I did it alone)

still to find home for Xmas stuff
tidy up room
clear rest of junk from loft

covered in spider webs and really p-ing off lampshade headed cat who can't get away cos head to big for catflap!

I'm getting there and obviously doing it all in
15m bursts and not been at it nonstop all day

see you all later

Afternoon.

Carrot cake anyone? ds made it so it is a little rustic in places

Being productive today and got loads done already:
painted the river on the lego play board
supervised ds in kitchen
bedding on to wash
cut poles for curtain weights
more pinning of said curtains
sort out plants - feed, water, and pick what ready to eat.
think about how to make the moon - part of ds' christmas present
cut fabric top for ds' present for teacher (jar homemade jam)

Left to do today:
evening routine
top coat coasters and stool still not done although been on list alot
finish curtains
more hand sewing of patches.

tomorrow's list is already looking daunting. so glad ds is in school for another few days.

Ellie- glad garden is showing progress.
Nettie - i thought i had been busy try not to kill yourself completing your list.
OM- good to see you!
PA - have you got ear plugs for surviving the sleep over?
toffee - spiders - eeeek! with you on that really not keen on spiders.

computer is going mad so no idea what of this post will actually appear on my screen in about 1 min when i hit post

Grrr just lost my post....

aad mmm carrot cake sounds lovely even the rustic kind!! Think you deserve one of ellie flier of the day stars for all your flying today

I did it.... The loft is clear, piles of covered toot throughout my house. I am sitting on the decking ignoring the state of rest of my house drinking cider until dc return from their day trip with mil.

Ahhh clear loft........dreams of glistening storage, hanging rails and drawers a plenty

ellie hope you enjoyed ur BBQ this afternoon
pa hope ur open air church went along fab with not too many rain streaked painted faces
linzer ds received his postcard from your ds and is champing at the bit to send one back. Glad birthday party went ok. Im starting to feel your pain as ds puts in almost daily requests of what kind of party he wants and hid birthday is not till september.
om hope ironing is going well
feetheart good luck reclaiming your house.

Right tomorrow I am going to learn those routines and do house blessing. I will be back on track before my dma n dpa come down to visit in just under two weeks.

Waves at everyone and leaves some pears cider for those needing refreshment