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.

MOrning all,

The babystep for today is pampering.

The mission for today is here.

Have a good day everyone!

Round-up time .

nettie has stolen ernest from pa to get her loft done. He's not in the stroking mood though and is making fine progress . She also managed to avert bedroom wars reoccuring and get some sleep. Phew!

toffeefudge went on a lovely picnic and sorted put her DS's room. That is my job today and I might not make it out alive!

linzer is in the same country as us all but ina slightly more beautiful part than I am! She popped in to say hi from Wales!

pa had a nice peaceful day at home on her own . Did you do the hoovering?

feetheart how's the teeth?

admylin hope you are getting on ok!

Big waves to everyone else!

Quite a busy day in elliepac towers today. Going to my mum'sthis morning so DS can dig up the vegetables he has grown there (my mother's fingers are a lot greener than mine, cress is as far as mine go!). This afternoon DNiece is coming over and sleeping over so Dsis can get ready to go on holiday. Unfortunately this means that I have no choice but to tackle DS's bedroom a job I have been putting off since the beginning of the holidays.

The most bizarre thing happened yesterday. My sister discovered flylady through a friend on facebook! I have never told anyone of the fact I need the fat fairy to help me clean my house but she is now a convert and is shining her sink et al! Maybe I should tell her to come and join us .

That's it, am going to get cracking on the bedroom.

Backlater for progress report.

JUst a quick post and will catch up later.

Hoovering..... errrr..... ummm...... I have a very good excuse reason, miss.

To protect the National debt I rounded up the 11 teenagers who were littering around my house eating anything and everything that was sat still for more than a minute and we all bundles in cars and went off to the beach for the afternoon. The hoover IS actually out of the cupboard and has got as far as the upstairs landing. As soon as everyone is awake today I will do it I promise!!!

After the beach we came home for tea, then all poured out for the carnival, which was good fun. I did feel weird being with so many teenagers, especially when they all refer to me as "mum". I was getting some looks from people around us. I had tried to "lose" them all, because I couldnt imagine why they would want me around other than as another taxi driver. I did ask them how they would feel if they were alone with 10 40+ year olds, but no getting away.

No list from me today as Dh is off and we will be taking it as it comes. But, I will hoover!!

Enjoy the sun, everyone.

Afternoon all. Have managed to find the floor in ds room which is a feat in itself! Have also tidied all downstairs which means that I just have our bedroom to go before whole house is tidy and then I can get on with the actual cleaning and routines business. I think there maybe a light at the end of a very long tunnel . Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine and not getting filthy like me!

Did my morning routine and a crisis clean this morning before MIL arrived at 10.30.

She is here now and chatting to the boys whilst I rush around trying to get washing put away. She is very good about washing and always expects me to have lots to do, so she doesn't mind me getting on with it. I usually get more done when she is here, in fact.

I don't have to do today's mission because (drumroll) I have no extraneous things in my sitting room to put away. It is a very small sitting room, mind you, so there isn't much room for extra stuff in there.

Must go and be a proper host now.

Thank you for good wishes about teeth.
All I can say is that the dentist was rather yummy with a lovely French accent which helped a lot
Felt pretty rough once injections wore off but much better today.

Very little Flying today (and none yesterday) but I have done ALL of my morning routine for the first time in ages, managed to get DC to the park for a run/cycle around and have palmed them off on next-door neighbours now
Am about to chop up some rhubarb to make jam tomorrow, take more drugs and sit down again.

Evening. Been busy flying and not getting distracted from the computer. I see that you have all been busy. only get 2 mins peace on here before ds wants to play on lego again. He is overloading on lego computers games. Which is a fair swap for me ignoring him and doing some serious clearing up. This goes a be beyond crisis cleaning. It is a combination of crisis cleaning and crisis clearing/decluttering. 2nd trip to ikea in two days later. need more storage for getting organised. Hope to come back later and do some reading. will be glad to be able to sit for more then 5 mins. will have burn out tomo.garanteed.

Anyone got a pampering thing that can be done with a 5yo who will need attention tomo?

enjoy.

sorry i've been missing in (in)action - i'm still in the mountains with visitor no.2, which means no flying! very glad to see you are (mostly) all carrying on valiantly... and i will be back next week - flying starts again on tuesday

i can't promise to manage to read this monster thread, but am bookmarking so that i can find the new one i know i can't survive at home without someone telling me what to do next (even if my spare room is clutter-free )

(oh, and we saw another grizzly yesterday )

I am beginning to wonder whether I am in fact in the same country as most of you - where is this sunshine that you're talking about? Ah, I'd forgotten that most of you are in England, whereas Wales is synonymous with wet and windy.

I have my escape planned, however, and will be off to London tomorrow morning (where it will be 7 degrees warmer according to the BBC website) to meet up with DH. He decided to add a shopping trip to London on to the end of a work trip to France (return flight costs the same as if he'd flown back normally, so the company are paying for it), so we've booked a hotel for tomorrow night and I will be shopping till I drop. The DC are under strict instructions to be on their best behaviour for my parents, who have never looked after them for more than a few hours before - but I think they know what they're letting themselves in for!

As far as flying is concerned, no sink shining going on but I have been sorting out the DC's clothes and have got rid of a huge pile. However, I still can't fit everything into the chest of drawers in their room so will need to be even more ruthless when I get back from London. Also need to declutter some of the toys and games in their room, which end up strewn all over the floor by the evening - every evening. The only problem is that it is virtually impossible to get rid of anything in this house as my dad is the ultimate hoarder, frequently "rescues" items thrown in the bin and will save anything in case it might come in useful eventually. He just doesn't "get" decluttering at all, which my mum has to do on the quiet.

Am failing yet again on the early night babystep as I still have to pack for tomorrow (and could really have done with an early night tonight, as I have to be up to catch the 7.30 train tomorrow).

Waves to everyone; night all.

Evening everyone I am obviously sound asleep having gone to bed very early

linzer we had no sunshine here either in Essex. Hoarding relatives could be a theme that ties us all together I think. I am in awe at your decluttering away from home. Have a fab day in London with hubby and no dc.
nick lovely to see you I am still jealous of your trips to mountains however I am no longer jealous of your bear!! I have seen one today not unlike the one you described before. [smug emotion] (it was on
big brother and he's my friend [sticky Tongue out emotion])
aad wow well done on decluttering. A pampering thing for ds? How about toy story 3? My ds bit younger but loves baking cakes. I love rubarb crumble please please please can I steal the whole thing?
feetheart glad you are ok and nice fit dr made it bit easier. Hope you feel on top soon.
toffee hope you enjoy mil visit. I too doing smug emotion only because I did exactly that last night instead of staring inainly (sp) at the tops of my doors.
ellie well done on almost having completely remodelled your house on the cleaning front. Must say loved picture of your dd covered in icecream or chocolate!
pa the supercool mum all teenagers dream off. Hope you had nice day with dh

today's list and accomplishments

we all fixed the Hoover-family fix it. Very proud
dh mopped kitchen floor -very proud
go shopping this morning for cards and presents if I can steal time off work as ds can't go back to nursey till about 11-done
dd to nursery-done
dw/wm-dw but no wm nit enough for a load very proud
put away ironed clothes-dh done very proud
gym (first time in weeks)-done very proud
find mission-did yest

Good night all

Morning all!

Today's babystep is calender.

The mission for today is here.

Have a good day everyone!

Must be round-up time .

nettie completed her list apart from having no washing to do . She also fixed her hoover. It was ice cream that DD was drinking. Put a meal in front of her and she faffs about but ice cream....

linzer is decluttering ON HER HOLIDAY. Over and above the call of duty methinks so gold star of the day goes to her .

AandD has a DS who is enjoying his lego ( I spent hours clearing it allup from my DS's bedroom floor ). IUnfortunately I have no recommendations on the pampering front as that is one babystep I never do...as can clearly be seen from the haggard face .

nick has been frolicking with the bears again . She has pinky promised to return on Tuesday. We will hold her to that .

feetheart survived the dentist courtesy of a said dentist being rather attractive. Must ease the pain .

toffeefudge is playing host to the MIL. She was also a little (undertsandably) smug about her living room being clutter free .

pa enjoyed the beach and a carnival with a bunch of adopted children because she clearly hasn't got enough of her own . She was then looking forward to spending some time with her DH . Hopefully she managed to have a normal, quiet day yesterday.....but I doubt it!

elliepac had her teenage DN over to sleep who has behaved like a teenager and been a little horrible. She is going to think of something lovely to do with the DC's today. Sod the bedroom . Possibly a farm park...not sure yet.

Have a good day everyone!

Well, Definitely not super cool mum!! And definitely not a quiet day here yesterday!!

I DID HOOVER!!! Whoa go me!!!!

Then it all went t***up!! Had a call from a friend to say that her 13 yr old daughter has gone missing, so day spent frantically running round in circles with friend, police and trying to find her. Not arrived home yet and no contact with mum, but it is now obvious she chose to run away, so police have backed off. So, today will be driving around again and just hoping to catcha glipmpse of her, or something to go on. She had been texting DS right up until Wednesday evening, and had already gone, but we didnt know until 12 hours later.

Up at 5am this morning after a ridiculously small amount of sleep to take DD2 to the boat. She's now away for 11 days, but didnt want to go because she is worried about this girl (very good family friends and close to all DCs). Straight into work, thats now done, to leave me the rest of the day.

DH only has today and tomorrow left at work, then officially unemployed!!
George Foreman arrived at my house yesterday. Big beasty!!! I am in love!!! Lovely grilled chicken breast yesterday, then pop it in the DW!! Couldnt be simpler!!

Cant think straight, so will pop on later if I can.

Waves to everyone!

pa gosh that's awful. So worrying poor mum. I hope her dd is ok and that she gets in contact soon! Sorry your day did not go to plan.
ellie farm park sounds lovely enjoy!

So far
dw/wm on
s/s
cleaned sink and kitchen
swept kitchen floor
tried to make living room almost presentable
cleaned bathroom floor
still to do
Work this morning
coffees with friends this afternoon
bath and bed dc
my time all mine to watch rubbish tv and big brother!!!
Except for wrapping presents and writing birthday cards and getting ready for posting and sorting out things for arrival of dma and dpa and db on Friday.

Hope you all have a lovely day

PA - hope all ends well with the runaway 13 year old - what a nightmare! Too close to home for us both, I think. Presumably she can't easily get off the island? Would she being looked out for? Hope you get good news today...

Last day here before a v. early start tomorrow, so today looks like this:

DD haircut
ironing
clean out rabbit
car tax
Take FIL to look at local hotel for big family birthday party
Pack!!!

If I get that lot done this am it will be a minor miracle!
Sorry not ot post individually but big waves all round...

PA - how awful about your friend's daughter. I hope she turns up safely today.

MIL entertaining DS2 downstairs and I am meant to be getting dressed, but have sneaked onto MN instead.

Cooked big roast dinner for everyone last night, then tidied up the kitchen and left it sparkling. (Really do need a smug emoticon). Made up bed for MIL and spare bed for DS1, who moved out of his bed for her. Drank half a bottle of wine with DH and put DC to bed too late, but at least they slept in this morning.

Have done most of my morning routine and am hoping to do one or two extra jobs round the house today, in addition to being sociable with MIL. Am taking the boys out later for a runaround.

DS2's passport arrived ! So now we are all set to go to France in a few weeks' time. Am terrified of losing passports in the meantime, so have hidden them in my knicker drawer - can't lose them there.

OK, time to get dressed and then to put washing on. MIL must be wondering why getting dressed is taking me so long.

PA - sending good, positive wishes that missing 13 yr old turns up - v, v scary.

Unfortunately dishy dentist hasn't been around since taking tooth out and I could have done with the distraction! Whole jaw still aches and one side looks like Max Headroom (showing my age) or David Coulthard.
Overdid it a bit yesterday and crashed out on sofa at 8pm. Lovely DH did all the remaining jobs whilst I slept like a baby

Have done all my Morning Routine again today (2 days in a row!!). Not sure who added 'sweeping the kitchen floor' as a baby step but its a good one, thanks.

DC and I off to flat later as have people to show round - fingers-crossed that they want it. Then hoping to meet up with DH and do 'something' later. This may involve food of some sort and picking wild plums - we found an amazing collection of wild plum trees last year (little red ones, yellow ones and black ones) and have been waiting to go back and get some more this year.

She's home, safe and well!!

Yes, way too close to home. Mine have all had a lecture over the past 24 hours and I am pretty sure they know how desperate her mum felt, to never want to do that to me.

Anyway, I need some sleep.......

Sleep well PA. Glad she is back though.
Want to read through but awaiting yahoo to unfreeze and trying to rescue my poor ailing laptop. it is dying. slowly. one bit of hard ware at a time. I am flying in between. serious decluttering going on. not project decluttering. Hope to be able to risk reading through later or even to be back. it is looking a bit dia atm.

Oh this is going to be slow. meant to say ellie ds' lego is still hidden. he has been borrowing my laptop to play games under the products section of the lego website. there is a very annoying little monster style packman one he is rather fond of. SOooo much tidier

pa so glad she is home safe and sound. Hope you
managed to get a sleep.

feetheart ouch sounds rough! Hope you feel better soon. Is it plum time now? I thought it was a bit later?
toffee well done roast dinner and sparkling kitchen fab!
om good luck with packing where you going again?

today has been good day. I did brill at work. Really difficult invoices and reconcilliations all done. Lovely afternoon with friends too.

My list

Work this morning-done
coffees with friends this afternoon-done
bath and bed dc-bedded bath in morning
my time all mine to watch rubbish tv and big brother!!!-ready
Except for wrapping presents and writing birthday cards and getting ready for posting and sorting out things for arrival of dma and dpa and db on Friday-ongoing

have nice evening everyone x

Evening all. Never made it to farm park due to inclement weather but compromised on trip to cinema with BF and her Dd with DS (they are the same age and best of friends) to see toy story 3. Unfortunately got there and was sold out so had to book for Sunday night instead. Instead we went and hired Fantastic Mr Fox to come home and have film night here however Ds has now gone to have sleepover at bf's house. no flying at all today but have spent lots of time with my lovely children who have been lovely today.....for a change. Am going to get an early night now so will round up and step post in morning but will say pa am glad there was a happy ending. See you all in the morning.

Have done two big loads of washing today, including all the new school shirts for next term, which MIL says she wants to iron for me . We are going on holiday in the last week of term and it will be lovely not to come home to a big pile of ironing.

Kept up with my routines today, although luckily they are not as intensive now it's the holidays. No lunchboxes to unpack and homework to nag about, for instance.

After putting the boys to bed, I went through paperwork and tried to work out a budget for the next month so that we will have enough money for our week in France. I think we will have to eat very frugally for the next few weeks . There have been some good threads on frugality recently, so I will have to learn from them. I have no idea how much money we will need for our week in France. Anyone got any clue? Our gite and ferry crossing are paid for and we can take a certain amount of food with us, so I suppose we just have to cover petrol, fresh food, trips out and occasional meals out. I haven't the faintest idea how much this is likely to cost for the four of us.

Ellie - That is so funny about your sister discovering Flylady. Is she going to join us?

Feetheart - Hope you are feeling better.

Om - Have a happy holiday.

Nettie - Lots done at work, nice meetings with friends and 'me-time' too - I'm impressed!

Good night all.

Awake far too early - achy tooth, worried about boy-cat who is not 100% and remembered something I had to do for friend who's house I manage. Brain whirring so am up for now and have sorted out tooth, done stuff for friend and reassured myself that cat still breathing
Will go back to bed in a minute.

PA - so glad she turned up. Hopefully yours have learnt a lot and you have had some sleep.

Nettie - don't think its really 'plum time' yet but last year we found one tree laden in mid-July and the rest in mid-August. Going up this w/e to check on progress!
MissB - if you are interested they are in Priory Country Park. Can let you know exactly where if you want.

DH works all over Herts and Beds (often via country lanes) and did a lot of blackberrying in between jobs last year. He is currently sussing out good spots for foraging this year! Think he is hooked

Will be back after more sleep.

Morning all,

QUick post and run from me this morning as have a busy day ahead so am list posting to motivate myself!

Go pay CM (Pay her weekly every friday and always forget during holidays
Tesco
General tidy downstairs
DW on
WM on
TIdy DC's bedrooms and make beds
S/S bathroom
15 mins x lots in our bedroom

17yr old nephew is coming round today. We still have lots of work to do in the garden before we go away next week so DH came up with the ingenius idea of offering DNephew some cash to help him and as he is a teenager and therefore desperate for money he agreed so they will be busy all day so in between all that I also have to keep DC's amused!

Back in a mo for steps, sorry about lack of round-up but I really have to get moving!