Weekly Flylady Thread 9th April 2007

tinselfairy

Morning all

lil_me- hope those anti-biotics weaved their magic and you are feeling much better. how's the tablecloth looking?

solway- happy DIY-ing this weekend.

Michelle- congrats on getting so much acheived.

Pigpen- good to hear you all had fun at the BBQ, hope your sister is ok.

Mermaid- I love freecycle too! DS's old mini trampoline was collected yesterday. It was great knowing another child was going to get hours of fun out of it as he did and also great for me as now I can move in the shed and carry on tidying it.

poohbear- sorry to hear about the car trouble, hope it's all sorted now.

DH said Thurs night he would clean all the downstairs windows at the weekend so fingers crossed he keeps to that!
Yesterday I bought 3 lidded storage boxes and with DS's help we went through his bedroom and sorted toys he wanted to keep into them. We ended up with 3 bagfuls for the next car boot we do and another 2 for the charity shop, plus he decided which items he would pass on to his new brother or sister when we finally adopt again. He was a such a help.

Today I'm off to a jumble sale, love having a root around those to see what bargains I can find. And also a maritime sale in town as I maybe able to buy a Christmas present there for my dad.

Enjoy your weekend whatever you are up to.

maralum

Well well well. You're all so organised. I didn't get much done yesterday. Finished DS's room, but not much else except my dailies. It's so hard getting things done when DS is here, he requires so much attention when he's not at playschool burning his energy.

I have a sneaking suspicion I wasn't cut out to be a mum actually, I find it so difficult to balance my time with him and time with the house. I end up frustrated and cranky when he's around all of the time and don't feel that I'm giving him a very good holiday.

Does everyone feel overwhelmed with their children or am I just a useless bint? DH's attitude doesn't help sometimes. He gets angry and blames the boy because I'm feeling stressed, when really, I need him to do the things with poor DS to make his little life better and more fun, then I wouldn't feel so guilt-ridden about "neglecting" him. Instead I end up arguing with DH because he snapped at the poor little lad and the whole cycle begins again.

Sorry about the moan, just feel a bit stretched at the moment. Wish I could find a better balance. It's not DS's fault, he's only 4. How do you all cope with it?

tinselfairy

Big hug to you maralum.

I know where you are coming from and empathise with you completely.

When we adopted DS, one week I wasn't a mum, the next week I was a mum to an energetic 3 and half year old with DS leaving the house at 5.45am and getting in 12 hours later.

Over the past few years I have become more relaxed about the state of our home during the hols and just tried to accept it is only for a short period of time. Of course this doesn't always work and I have to have a blitz at some stage.

No-one's perfect and we can't get it right all the time, but I bet your DS thinks you are because you're his mum and that's the most important 'job' to do. My heart soars when DS tells me we're having the best day ever because we've spent time in the garden bouncing on the trampoline or been to the park and playing with the bat and ball. At times like that I couldn't care less I haven't hoovered all week!

I've read time management books to try and get it right, how sad is that?!

The bottom line for me is that the housework will always be there, these days with DS won't be.

Sorry I seem to have rambled rather.

lil_me

Tinsel, tablecloths making the table look much better, I'm less paranoid now about them eating at it Antibiotics don't appear to be doing much yet, restless night again and still no voice this morning

Maralum, stop beating yourself up about it and pass your DH this way so I can give him a swift kick. Certainly not helping things at the minute is he. 4 year olds have a lot of energy, fact of life. Some kids are fine to entertain themselves while you get sorted, my DS1 has Autism and prefers this, in fact more I try to get involved worse he gets, all part of it I suppose. DS2 however is what I call 'up my backside' 24/7. In all honesty I prefer the way DS2 is.

Time management is a good idea, but you have to do what works for you not the books. Setting out what time you need for you, your relationship, work, house chores etc. Tinsels right, time while they are little is precious, housework can wait, time with them won't.

If you're getting the list done and your dailies you're definately accomplishing a lot anyway, especially when it's the hols and being pregnant, instead of beating yourself up about what you haven't done be proud of what you have. I started doing this as household work is such a thankless job and my house was a mess because of that, now it's something achievable, may seem sad to some sat here crossing off a list but before I just thought I did nothing, when I realised what I did do instead of what I didn't, it made me much happier.

Tinsel -- you've probably heard this a thousand times but I really admire you, even when prepared with pregnancy etc knowing what is coming I found it hard, to adopt a child must have been a big change for you, but I am sure an extremely rewarding one. I'd love to foster children and until my DS1 started having 'issues' I had considered it seriously but have decided it wouldn't be fair on him and others. Just with the comment he made about best day your little DS sounds a complete darling.

cha97michelle

maralum i think you need to let something go a bit if the kid wants to play with you. I try to judge it on Charlie, i'm not an expert as he is only tiny, but i think if they get a good bit of your time, then it is ok to have a small chunk for yourself to do what you want or need to do. If he is grumpy, then i spend time with him. If he's happy to play by himself for a bit, then i will do something.

tinselfairy i had a chuckle at you reading time management books. I've done the same, and i think the best thing is to just do what is done here, try to do the housework regularly so it takes less time, and try to do big stuff like buying pressies and organising things like going away well in advance so i never have to spend absolutely hours on things, and keeps the stress down. I like the technique where your to-do list is prioritised by dividing a square into 4, and each 1/4 is

urgent/important urgent/non-important

non-urgent/important non-urgent/non-important

then you choose where you want to do the job from based upon your need.
E.g. today for me. urgent/important is DH help his friend move house, and me go to the shops for bread/milk etc. urgent/non-important is to make a banana loaf

so you choose where your priorities are.




Anyway, flying,

DH didn't get in from working away till 5am this morning, so i don't want to wake him early. I wanted a walk upto the shops, but i won't go upstairs with the baby and wake him up while i sort stuff out, so i'll need to wait till the baby is asleep around 10, then pop up, grab stuff quietly, then get on. I'm not going to be as strict with myself as yesterday, as i don't want to burn out, and weekends are for family fun as well.

Michelle, x

:hello: morning lil-me

lil_me

Morning Michelle, great minds and all that, I also have the urgent list and the jobs which are there for when there is spare time, non urgent. I agree with what you're saying about little and often, I used to do massive cleans then leave it for a while, used to be shattering to say the least trying to do everything in every room in one day or even 2. Now I find those 'blitz days' take much less doing. I still do them once in a while but most things only need a quick once over. Enjoy your shopping, I'm also stuck downstairs really until DP gets up, another one in about 5am, would love to get upstairs vacuuming out of the way on the morning but he'd be a little cross with me I think.

Oh I did get those trousers done, took me ages, my thumbs now got more holes in than a seive, just shows how good my sewing is doesn't it

Right, time to get DS1s sheets on the line, clean the dogs room and get those dog beds in the wash. TTFN

aimeelister

Morning all :hello: Hugs to all that need one :grouphug:

Pigpen - glad your alive hope your sis is better

lil_me - hope your feeling better

maralum - not having kids i cant completely comment, but i do agree there are more important things than housework so i really wouldnt stress!

Michelle - I think you deserve a slow weekend!

Poohbear - hope you havent seen any more rats. lock the cats in there and leave them in there till they have caught it, that is unless its anything like my cat which is scared of rats!!! (stupid thing!)

I appologise now for cursing the weather!! I went and bought a hammock yesterday from argos and put it up last night about 7.30pm and guess what - horrible weather!

Well i was doing a Pigpen and have invited everyone over for a BBQ this eve. Was quite relishing it as all i have to do is the food and hoover downstairs as the house is looking loverly due to this thread! Thank you everyone. So if you have no plans this eve and live out near the A420 by Swindon pop in!!! But i do apologise about the weather, bring a brolly!

Have a lovely weekend everyone, take care and see you on Monday! :wave:

cha97michelle

I need to do some sewing, which i hate doing.

A tshirt of Charlie's, which i went to put on him (brand new) but the seam had worked loose, and a top of mine, i wore to my sisters the other day, and i sat on something on her outside bench. Thought it was bird poop and would come off, but when i washed it, it didn't come off, so i tried scrubbing at it and made a hole. I think i may be able to trim an inch off the bottom of the top as i only bought it for my interview the other week and don't want to throw it out,but i probably will end up doing that as i can do cross stitch, but my general mending skills are a bit non-existent.

I noticed whatever was on the top was also on the back of my combat trousers. I'm not sure if it is chewing gum actually. :mad: But i'm not impressed if 2 bits of fairly new clothing are no good.

lil_me

oh yes, I am also pleased these repairs are hidden area, from zip-bot basically, as it's not the tidiest of repairs :rotfl: Chewing gum DS1 got on his top I'd just bought him, I put it in the freezer and scraped it off with the back of a knife then washed, came off.

Aimee sorry to hear the weather near you isn't very nice, thought we were in for a downpour but so far it's quite sunny. Nothing wrong with BBQ with a brolly, have seen DPs Dad do that before as he'd had his heart set on one when it started to rain he popped a brolly up and continued cooking. Did have to eat isnide which was a shame tho.

Pollybear

I've made a sponge and some flapjacks today. Can't do the washing yet because the shed is being put up and there isn't room to hang it out, but the weather is good so I should be able to do it later and still dry it.

Not much else going on. I'm hiding away from the shed-building. I don't need to learn any more swear words.....