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 everyone.

Been up since 5 marking, 25 to go. Am seriously hoping to get them all finished by tomorrow night and then am going to do nothing over the weekend. I promise the round-ups will be back then as well.

The babystep today is beginning our Control Journal.

The mission for today is here.

Have a good day everyone!

Morning.

Everyone has so much work to do, busy busy! You can all be proud with what you manage to get done.

I don't get enough work - dh only brings me proof reading to do now and then. I'm thinking of trying to do some private teaching to German dc maybe but as I have never taught before I have to plan some lessons. Do any of have any good website tips or such like for grammar?

I'll definately do the journal thing but wait until we've moved or it'll just get lost in one of my boxes.

Morning everyone

ellie well done and at. 5am start!
mrsd yes I'm quite chuffed. My dh was going to do it too but he never does. He just tells me what's wrong with my advert! Well done with ds tennis playing.
toffee have a lovely day with your friend and loads sparkling

sorry battery going and dd screaming.

Quick list post
dressed and ds to preschool
dcat to vets
home dh to work
decide if dd ready to return to nursery
major house rescue-15m slots as feeling really rough myself!

Bbl have lovely day

Hello all, my name is WhereTheWildThingsWere and I am a thrice failed flyer.

BUT I'm back and I am going to give it another go, it always works so beautifully then somehow I just stop doing it and my house just falls apart again.

I have already started doing some babysteps again but I really need to get and keep the house straight over the summer.

Morning all,

I've just finished all my work and am hoping that's it before our holiday - I don't have time to do any more and really can't afford another late night (I also need to start packing and getting things ready for the holiday).

DD2 is still asleep as she was allowed to watch the match last night. Both she and DH were supporting Spain (DD2 because she has a Spanish football T-shirt, DH because he supports whoever Germany is playing against) so were very pleased with the outcome. I'm now enjoying some peace and quiet as I don't have to pick DD2 and DS up from their sleepover until 10 am.

admylin I find lesson planning so time-consuming - I usually end up searching the Internet for handouts for DD1's class (hardly "planning", I know). I'm also teaching a classmate of DD1's this summer, and am cheating by photocopying pages out of books aimed at primary school children learning English. I try to focus on one or two themes each lesson and introduce grammar as part of that, but his English isn't very advanced yet as it isn't introduced as a compulsory graded subject until the third (next) year.

ellie Good luck with the rest of the marking; we're missing your entertaining round-ups!

DTG DD1 does have a "best friend" but was actually playing far better with the boy we had over yesterday - I was amazed. He stayed until 7 pm and I was able to get so much done; it was brilliant. How old is your DS? DD2 is 6 and will also go off and play quite happily with her friends when she has one over, but it's not quite as easy with DS (almost 4) - he and his friends need a lot more supervision, especially as his best friend's little sister (2.5) very often comes over as well.

MrsD Hope DS has got over Germany's loss...

Nettie DS loved the train postcard; thanks so much! Hope you and DD are feeling better soon.

Toffee As tempted as I am at times to give it up, I can't really imagine doing so. Apart from the money, I do actually enjoy it (when I don't have to work silly hours) and would probably miss it after a week or two. I've also worked so hard to get onto the agencies' books and would probably have to start from scratch if I took a couple of years' break.
Hope you have a lovely day with your friend today; you are definitely allowed a "best friend". Coincidentally, a good friend of mine is turning 40 on Sunday but I won't be able to celebrate with her as she's in England - I will just have to raise a glass instead!

No list today as I'm just going to focus on getting as much as possible done of my morning routine while it's still quiet!

Have a good day everyone.

Good morning!

Day off today, so packed day for me.

Admylin - You will notice a difference too. you ahve hit the ground running, some of us have been here far too long- a while . And dont forget, what we put on a list is only words, what we actually do may be quite different. (but dont tell Ellie )

Toffee hope you have a lovely day off from flying!

Ellie think of the money. think of the money. You are nearly there. It will be worth it, b ut have a break before you tackle the house again.

DTG Whoa hi again!! I watched the tour last night to make up for Tuesday evening, so had my fix!! Were you still in awe of roomba before he fell ill?

MrsD Ohhhhh bunnies!!!! DD fell in love with an older bunny, so we have 2 x two yr old coming. The only trouble is that one is called "Sue" (stupid name for a rabbit!!) and our more than slightly mad next door neighbour's name is Sue, so I dont want to imagine the mad conversations that would go on if I was calling Sue for her din dins, and let me clean your Poo, Sue!! So a re-naming is a must!!
hope DS got over the German humiliation. We were all jumping for joy here!!

Welcome back Nettie, yoiu were missed.

Swan not sure my teenagers would agree with you!!

Today:
Kitchen clean - Already done. Spotless (to a blindman!!)
wetroom cleaning
hoover
make scones for

Hello WhereTheWildThingsWere - hop on board!

I had also failed several times at flying (before I joined the thread) but I'm now finding that the babysteps are gradually becoming ingrained and slowly but surely I'm getting there.

Ok, computer obviously thought i had typed enough, it decide to post that!!!

....
DD3's boyfriend's mum is coming here for a coffee. Manic clearing before she comes as apparently her house is spotless!! [Eeeeeeek panic emoticon]
Bit of shopping
Prepare some bits for a big interview DH has tomorrow.
Governors meeting this afternoon (Must try and stay awake during this)
Steak in red wine pie tonight - steak doen in slow cooker
may make some bread rolls if I have time
Home group meeting tonight, (if I have not fallen asleep before 7.30!)

Right, that will do for now ..... off I go.....

x-posted with WWWW - huge welcome to the madness!

Linzer - same reason as your DH for the joy-jumping Spanish cheering last night!!

Have a good day!

Hi all

Just whizzing in and out with bin bags, cardboard boxes and microfibre cloths in hand ...

Huge clear-out 'project' still continuing here although not exactly on track as somewhat "interrupted" (in a nice way) on Tues by friends coming around (had lovely time nattering in garden while dc played) and er, yes, yesterday when had a very rare child-free adult lunch out with another friend at a lovely Italian restaurant ...didn't feel too energetic yesterday afternoon

Still, tis the holidays - us adults are entitled to some fun as well - and still stonkingly hot here.

So cracking on with avengence today ....

Have done
Morning routine, including s&s, master swipe, dw on, wm on, dd off to pony camp
Sorted/chucked and wiped out all handbags Finally found my passport and carte d'identitie (phew!)
Dusted and hoovered second floor

To do:
Sort/pack old clothes of dd and carry up to roof
Sort out and tidy first floor landing
More laundry
Gardening (urgent maintenance)
Take "box of shame" to parish hq - tis 4 items of clothing I ordered on-line that didn't fit and I never got around to sending them back ...
Ironing
More office sorting
More basement sorting
DD back from pony camp
Aft/eve routine

PA snurk at potential Sue-the-rabbit-neighbour confusion. Who names a rabbit 'Sue' for heaven's sake? It's like calling your dog 'Malcolm' or your cat 'Steve' . Very of you having bunnies though ... would love some but have heard (contrary to popular belief) that they don't get on so well with gps...

Lovely though they were, the Tour de France thighs were very blurred btw! Blink and you'd missed it...I'm sure your dh would have been impressed ... many serious bike strokers among the ranks !!!

Good luck with your work and packing Linzer. Hope you manage to get it all done. Tis lovely when dc have friends with whom they really "click" ...

A warm welcome to WildThings. No head-hanging allowed on here!! Most of us on here are thrice-or-more failed Flyers (I'm on my 10th or so round of babys-steps at least!!) Agree it does work wonderfully well when done consistently. Good luck with getting your house straight over the summer!! Am attempting the same thing myself so am with you in spirit!

Admylin (and Toffee & Linzer) I'm amazed at how many of us on here are copy-editors/proof-readers (I used to work for London publisher in former life although please don't take my posts on here as evidence - always typing at 100 miles per hr!!!) Used to edit and proof read very boring EU documents when first moved abroad too which developed in to teaching English so can recommend the following bks:

Practical English Usage by Michael Swan (published by Oxford)

Learning Teaching (terrible title!) by Jim Scrivener (published by Macmillon Books for Teachers)

Five-Minute Activities by Penny Ur and Andrew Wright (published by Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers)

Admylin - the above are aimed at adults not dc, so not sure if relevant to you, but they do contain lots of tips on lesson planning etc.

Well done Ellie on your early start and thanks for still posting links when you are so stretched. Hope you get the marking finished today!!

Hello Dreamteam great to see you!! I owe you and Queenofdreams a huge apology because (twonk that I am) I think I have mixed you both up!!

Toffee hope you are having a lovely day today!!

DEM hope you feel much better soon

Swan hope you are recovering too

Good luck with letting flat Feetheart

Hello to Nettie (hope you feel better soon) MrsD and everyone I've missed such as Optimistic and Pushme

Having downed a bucket of strong coffee - I must stop scrolling and go and "do"

Keep going everyone!!

PS I want my Mummy

Hope you are ok

And forgot to say hello to Chairmum and Mini too

Hello wwww lovely to see you. Only my first attempt but going ok (ish). Good luck
pa good luck for dh interview tomorrow. Your busyness (? Is that a word oh proofreader trio?) never fails to amaze and slightly frighten me!
linzer glad ds got the postcard (being trainspotter that I am I couldn't resist it )

right well so far my 15m rule went out window as forgot that the people are coming at 12 to pick up p&t!! Worst kinda visitor ever, the stranger kind!
So I have
taken cat to vets
taken ds to pre-school
dh to work
dw on
wm on
floors swept
hoovered bedrooms and halls
cleaned kitchen
tidied whole house
had cup of tea

so this afternoon after dd nap (and mine)
put away ironing
swish and swipe bathroom
move washing along
make dinner for dd (don't know what I think if they can't get into nursery they should deliver prepaid meal
and pudding to you!!)

have good afternoon

Lol at the box of shame Stillcounting , I also have a blouse hanging in the wardrobe that I forgot to send back. It's my insentive to lose weight!

Thanks so much for those book tips, have never taught but I'll have to give it a go as I need the euros!

Linzer yes, I think the lesson planning is time consuming which is why I have started gathering ideas and have filed them for after the move, once we're settled I will advertise in the neighbourhood. I'm also counting on some of them coming with their school books and asking for specific help on a subject then if my plan works, I'll just have to look it up in my file and already have some worksheets or explanations ready.

Off to work in my kitchen now. Will take more than 15 minutes but it has to be done.

Hi again all, sorry have been awol - I've had a really low few days. But I'm kicking myself up the butt to stop feeling sorry for myself and do stuff!

So today's list:

Washing up
Hotspot: kitchen counters
Hotspot: living room shelf
finish sorting old baby clothes
1 load of laundry
Shine sink.

Haven't been able to catch up due to ds constantly disrupting, so hoping everyone's ok and flying along well

Sorry you are feeling low atm QueenofDreams Be kind to yourself and keep giving yourself breaks between 15 min bursts - I find it helps to keep me motivated. Good luck with your list x

Admylin no idea if it's any good or not but just spotted this on the back of one of the bks I mentioned

That's a very impressive list Nettie

See you later everyone

I am sitting here struggling to install something on my computer and have now it seems de-installed the printer!

sofar
done
found where dd's pony place is so not so harassed by driving there after school (itis very nearby!)
paid for pony lessonx 2
bought a wordprocessing prgramme at last
installed it, now what (will wait till eve?)
hung out washing on line
have found ingredients for supper in freezer and veg box.
2 hours driving lesson
and more driving practise after

house complete depressing mess - Dad took some things away but not as much room in his car as I had thought, so serious editing of freight bags - contents now strewn everywhere Cue more CHUCKING

think will wash up first

Right quick update from me:

Washing up done
Kitchen counters done
1 load laundry in machine

Still to do:

Living room shelf
sort baby clothes
shine sink.

Oh and I did something that wasn't on my list - I swept the kitchen floor

have written letter to council re: elderly neighbour and now can't print it

now off to pickup

well done QOD

Evening everyone

I have my feet up, the dc are in bed and my dh is making me bacon sandwiches and soup! I like dem have tonsilitis and also conjunctivitis. [feeling sorry for myself emotion]

hoping dd is well enough to go to nursery tomorrow so I can go to bed till pick up at 1pm tomorrow.

I have managed this afternoon
dh left work early to pick up cat (only 2teeth out in the end) and ds till i went to drs
put away ironing-some done
swish and swipe bathroom-done
move washing along-done
make dinner for dd -homemade cottage pie hardly ate any but did eat lotsa chicken noodle soup this evening.

Gonna wave to everyone and eat dinner go to bed.
Hope you all had a good day

Phew, a lot of busy people here at the moment.

PA LOL at rabbit names, I know exactly how you feel, DH is called Dave, and so is our neighbours dog, we had a visitor one evening last week, we were all sat in the garden relaxing over a glass of wine and visitor was most surprised to hear the neighbour calling out "Dave where are you get in here at once"

SC LOL at box of shame!

QOD - well done for something that wasn't on your list, those thing always make me feel much more satisfied than if I had remembered to write them down.

Nettie I'm still holding out for DH to Ebay the car seats and baby back pack, I know I could quite easily work out how to do it myself, but I am digging in, I hate falling for the old if you want something done do it yourself routine all the time.

SR - hang on in there, it won't be this messy for ever.

WheretheWildThingsARe - welcome on board, there are many repeat offenders amongst us...

Waves to DTG, Ellie, MiniM, Admylin, MissB, Linzer, everyone else

ANother busy, out all day sort of day here

School run - done
Play tennis - done
Take DD to soft play - done
Take DD to pre-school - done
Help in school - done
DS had a friend round for tea - done
General tidying - done
Make vanill ice cream - doing
Washing - done

DH is packing to go to the British Grand Prix, camping, therefore bags and boxes everywhere, but, it's all so much easier since the big shed clear out of last weekend.

Off to check the ice cream. Think I need to restart on the body clutter....

ps - have just tried the new thing where you can asterisk round a whole sentence even with gaps and it works, so much easier! Going to try it with strike outs too. No, only with bolds, oh well.

X-posted with Nettie - oh, poor you, what a combination, conjunctivitis is so yuck and I hate it when I can't wear my contact lenses, to have that and tonsilitis at the same time is rotten luck.

DEM - an apology, every time I do some sort of round up this week I hit post and then think, oops forgot DEM, very sorry and hope you are feeling a bit better now.

Well, I thought I was doing well until I sat down just now and noticed it'S 10pm (9 UK time) already - where did the time go? Dh is still at work, he left at 7:30am, shame he isn't paid by teh hour, we'd be rich.

Mrsdinky do you make your ice cream with a machine? I've heard it'S loads better than bought and healthier. We like yoghurt ice cream but the shop bought ones have bene rubbish, also hard to get a nice vanilla one but maybe we are fussy!

Nettiespagetti hope you feel better soon. Sounds like you're being looked after (trying to remmeber the last time dh made me something to eat)

Stillcounting , excellent site, thanks for that. As soon as we've moved I'm getting myself some files and I'll start planning. Have another couple of good ones from friend in US who teaches to foreign students too.

Off to take some tablets, headache coming now, have been taking beds to bits for the move for past few hours and it's still too hot.

WTWTW WELCOME
Its a fab thread. Like many others I am a thrice and more time failed flyer, but when I cam here last (July? August ? was it?) year it all jsut finally clicked into place and now things are better than they have ever been for me.

Linzer DS is 5. He has friends but not a best friend as such and I had thought I should invite all the kids he plays with but your post made me think, maybe I should be inviting those he doesnt really play with too, as there could be a great hidden friendship in there for him?

PA yes I still loved my Roomba so much until she started going in circles. Hoping the new Holly is ok and lasts forever I have to sya it has been one of my best ever purchases

SC Totally forgiven on confusing me with QoD. My own fault really for disappearing so often. I should just stop going on any boards other than GH and then my blood wouldnt boil and I wouldnt flounce of and stay away from MN for weeks at a time ... Love LOVE your box of shame

Quick waves, get well soons and well done to everyone else and a special
Brilliant job to Ellie for keeping up looking after us when she has so much else going on. Well done chuck

I have done nothing except mercy dash to friends house who has broken her ankle and cant weight bear to help look after her 8 month old, 3 year old and 5 year old. I fed and bathed a teeny baby so cute!
Am gonna do a bit on house now tho, jsut not quite sure what

Night all xx

MOrning everyone!

Nearly nearly there. Form reports written, last few exam papers to do today and then I can relax! Again sorry for not coming on last night and doing a round-up but I just want to get everything cleared so I can actually have a weekend!

Babystep today is decluttering. A very important one that I still haven't got the hang of in my 11th month of being on this thread .

The mission for today is here.

Have managed to have a quick read of the thread and everybody is doing my proud being very busy. No time to go through everybody but a huge welcome to wherethewildthings. I hope you enjoy the thread as much as I do .

Have a good day everyone!