Weekly Flylady Thread 6th November 2017

Honey_Bear

*Healing vibes* for you, ATB.
*Smooth boiler installing vibes* for you, Valli.
*Straightfoward clear up vibes* for you Natty.
I hope your preparations go smoothly and you have a lovely weekend, Ionafan. I know it's not a holiday weekend, but it should be enjoyable as well as work.

I am managing to clear out drawers and cupboards when I have the inclination and energy. I did the smallest kitchen drawer last night, the front of one of my underwear drawers this morning, and the birdfood, hats and coats cupbard by the front door after that.

I'm searching for one of Kelpie's kongs which has been missing for a few weeks but in spite of turning out both the sitting room and the dining room it's nowhere to be found. Still, that means I've moved all the furniture and cleaned under it except the bits that are too heavy or difficult. I found a Christmas card under one of them dated 2009. Ooops. This place is kneedeep in dust but I haven't the energy to do anything about it.

Today I must:
- finish those pesky minutes
- reread all the LPA information and get a form printed out for signature
- read some papers I picked up at an event on Wednesday
- keep searching for that wretched kong
- hug and cuddle Devil Cat
- stop shouting at Kelpie who seems to feel the need to be right under my feet all the time today
- deal with some of the dust.

tboo

pigpen wrote: »

Source christmas wrapping paper at 10p a metre or less.. any ideas?

Hi pigpen
Just an idea
Not very Xmasy but B & the Q do a budget lining wall paper
£1.50 fo 10m so 15p a metre
Could get the children to finger paint/draw on it etc

LameWolf

HB Of your list, I should prioritise cuddling Devil Cat.;)
Re Kelpie being constantly underfoot - maybe he senses that something isn't as it should be (viz DC's health) and staying close to you is the only way for him to express his concern/reassure himself that all his "pack" are where they should be? Just a thought.
Sending Kong-finding vibes - he wouldn't have hidden it in the garden, would he?

Suzie is busy decluttering loads of zzzzzzz. She's definitely a Snoozy Suzie! And she snores nearly as loud as Mr LW. :rotfl:

atypicalblonde

Afternoon ladies

Just sitting down with a cuppa. I have, so far, :

- Been volunteering
- Been to Aldi
- Spent 1.5 hours tidying clean laundry and toys away!
- Put another load of washing over the heated airer
- Hoovered and emptied the bagless thing

Giving myself until 1.30 relaxing and watching a Christmas film then will crack on and make a chilli for dinner, and clean out the woodburner xx

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi all

So my day so far goes something like gym, job no 1, call at job no. 2 to pick up paperwork then home to do more paid stuff.

DW on, house is a bit messy but nothing too terrible.

Worried about DS1. He has hardly spoken to anyone for the last few days which is very unusual. Think its GF trouble but who knows. Hard not to worry about him because of all his past MH troubles but he is nearly 19 so in theory its none of my business!

Right, more paid stuff for an hour then will see if I can brave the spidery log store to find kindling to light the fire.

pigpen

Well, I have spent the afternoon christmas shopping.. 4 items to buy/sort for offspring (including a guitar! and 2 phone upgrades.. free phones as gifts.. kinda.. ) and then I need some bits for my mother, stepdad and OH's mother and dad, and his friend and maybe a token thing for his sister...

Cleaning up dead mice.. 2 of them.. one inside, with external internals and one outside and thankfully intact.. I hate this time of year, poor little fuzzers are just looking for a nest for the winter..

beasties home.. best go feed them.. and OH can bath a tiny one.. the other 3 have swimming tomorrow so pointless doing them today.

sausages and mash for dinner.. and maybe veg if we have any left.. and I think I might need to build a beef stew tomorrow.. I defrosted beef a few days ago and haven't used it yet. I buy all the half dead veg from the greengrocers and beg some greens for my 'rabbit' and sling it all in.. jobs a good'un!

ionafan

Honey_Bear wrote: »

I hope your preparations go smoothly and you have a lovely weekend, Ionafan. I know it's not a holiday weekend, but it should be enjoyable as well as work.

Thanks Honey Bear.

I have finished almost all my list, and the rest can just wait until Monday. The sun stayed out for me and Rosie this afternoon, and we had a good walk with spaniels for Rosie to run with

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Today I must:
- hug and cuddle Devil Cat
- stop shouting at Kelpie who seems to feel the need to be right under my feet all the time today

Definitely cuddle Devil Cat x

Rosie has been under my feet all day too - she hates going out for a walk with DH if it means leaving me at home. Now that she's had her walk with me, and eaten a very late breakfast (her choice - it was put out for her at 9.00 as usual) she is lying quietly.

Must go and drink my cuppa, then I need to get ready for my lift.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

pigpen wrote: »

Twinkle just started walking.. she has been doing steps but has spent this evening running about on her skinny legs shouting 'Stinky' and 'Doggy' .. todays favourite words.. noone is stinky and we don't have a dog so clueless as to why she knows these words.

OH messed up and realised at 2:35 he started work at 3pm rather than 4 as he thought.. cue big rush out of the door!

My bed is buried in the boxes of presents he didn't get put away.. and I am rather tempted to bring some down and wrap them tonight while he is out .. ooh.. need to check something.. ok, done..

I have a small but expensive list of items I want to get for these so I may wait and see what Amazon put in their black friday deals and order elsewhere after that... ok, my list got much longer.. and my kidney got put on ebay lol.

Email sent to The Works as they appear to have neglected to send nearly half of my order including lots of box sets of books which are not going to make a small package! We shall see what they say!

Jojo/Other musical instrumentally types.. I am getting DD3 a full size guitar for christmas.. she has a 3/4 one at the moment.. She has a 'classical' one.. is it going to be any different getting her an acoustic one, they all look the same... and hard case or soft? She does take it to her friends and to the park and stuff so it isn't just hung on the wall. Guitars often feature in black Friday deals so I'm holding off at the moment. I can almost play a kazoo!!

Check her size/hands/height - many women (and some men) continue to play 3/4 size throughout their lives. If she's looking to remain quite dinky it's likely she'll fall into that category -

HOWEVER -

Rather than the Spanish/Classical style, I think she might be wanting a steel strung/electroacoustic model - they come with an inbuilt pre amp, which means that with the addition of a 9v battery and a lead, she'll be able to record or plug into an amp (and had effects pedals, loops and suchlike).

The necks of these tend to be much narrower than the Spanishes, which makes barre/movable chord shapes easier to form properly, whether 3/4 or full size.

In terms of shape/overall size, I wouldn't recommend a Dreadnought shape, as they are massive, but a nice cutaway where the neck meets the body is handy for any playing lead, as it means she'll be able to get to the highest notes more easily.

They come with steel strings, which will be quite tough on the fingers until the calluses build up - but they have a lower action, which means she won't have to exert so much force on the strings to get a clear note. Unless she has gel nails, she'll end up needing to play with a plectrum/pick - get a bunch of them ranging from about .68 to 1.1, as the thinner ones aren't really suitable for chords/rhythm. Rather than the factory strings, she could look at what sort of sound she likes - d'Addario make some rather nice ones, as do Ernie Ball/Earthwood - I'd suggest unless she's incredibly hard on strings that she tries a set of 11s. And if she is quite hard on them, you can get packs on Amazon of 6 x High E strings, 10s or 11s from Ernie Ball, which is more useful to have than three packs of E-e, as she's most likely to ping the high e.

Hard cases are very good, but they are heavy. Really heavy. You can get padded gig bags which provide enough protection for the majority of circumstances (until you get a loading the van situation, when a hard case becomes essential) and they are much lighter. You'll need to check the measurements as they are not made equal.

She'll also need a strap and two straplocks - they stop the thing crashing to the floor just as you stand up. It will happen if she doesn't use them, maybe not the first time, or the second - but at some point, it will happen, a couple of leads (3m ideally, as 1m leads are too short for any practical purpose - and the ones with an angled jack are less likely to lead to needing to replace either the lead or repair the jack plug) and a tiny cube amp will be handy, so she can play around with the additional sounds. And a floor mounted stand. It's miles better than propping it up against something, as she can take it with her.

Does she know this is happening? If she does, it's better for her to go into a real, independent guitar shop and try them out - depending upon your budget, I'd avoid the random names - and Stagg, I find their EAs are less than lovely to play or repair - and start with Cort, possibly going up to Tanglewood (but not the priciest ones). Fender acoustics can be nice, too. If she starts muttering about Martins, Gibsons or Taylors, run for the hills. You can get something perfectly adequate for professional gigs for £200 all in - but below the £120 mark, everything ranges from hit or miss through a bit ropey, down to overpriced firewood. If you're feeling flush, around £400 plus kit gets you edging towards entry level Ovation territory - they are beautiful and sound great - but it's a dangerous precedent to start, as if any of the smalls gets musical, they'll be gazing at the lovely thing their sister got. They can make plenty of noise with ukuleles in the meantime (twenty quid, Mahalo, plus a clip on tuner and you're sorted).

It's also possible to look at secondhand - you often get pristine or nearly pristine instruments for much less than new purely because there's a dink on the back or a bit of belt rash - or somebody has bought it and lost interest or upgraded. Rather than risking Gumtree or suchlike, it's best to go to a music shop and see whether they've got anything like that.


A real music shop, whilst it may appear a little dearer, will probably include a full set up and check on any instruments purchased (unlike big box shifters, where the guitars could have been abandoned at the back of the warehouse for the past two years next to a leaking pipe and underneath the weightlifting gear), they also tend to do what they can to keep people coming back - which might be a great all-in deal, a discount on lessons, or just somebody who is prepared to reopen at 5.35pm just for you because you're banging on the door when your last e string has broken and you're onstage in 30 minutes.



A steel strung acoustic feels and sounds much different to a Spanish/Classical, but has greater versatility and is, ultimately, a great way to develop and widen her skills. Before she gets herself an electric. And a hollow bodied archtop. And a 12 string. And a bass. And a baritone. And tons of pedals. And everything else that clutters up my house.


She might have a dream guitar in her head. It's handy to find out - but in all honesty, whilst I love surprise presents, it's really best for her to sit in a shop (and if they're arzey or only make eye contact with males, walk out and go somewhere else, they should let her try as many guitars as she likes and treat you and her with respect rather than as an inconvenience or sales opportunity) and find the one that, as soon as she plays it, she knows is hers.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Anyway, back to normal service [tries to switch work head off and fails]

She'll also need a set of wire cutters in a pouch and whilst the inbuilt tuner is good, a clip on Snark chromatic tuner is better for tuning in low light situations - don't get one for just a guitar or just a couple of instruments, as she'll probably end up needing one that covers a greater pitch range - but that's better bought online as shops charge a lot for them - they often go missing, so get one that is not black if at all possible.

Oh, and to be extra awesome, here's a tip for dealing with the inevitable dropping the plectrum down the soundhole - hold the guitar flat and facing up towards your face, shuffle it from side to side until you can see the plectrum in the soundhole, then flip it face down in a quick movement - it works first time almost every time and people are amazed, as most just stand about shaking the thing and wondering why they can't get to it.


Himself is somewhere in Gloucestershire, I think. So I've removed the sentient lifeforms from the kitchen, along with all the packaging for them, stacked all the washing up and decided to ignore it until tomorrow, fed the splats their meat blob and considered ordering some junk, as, yet again, we have no food.

Also sprayed the upstairs bathroom with cleaner and chucked a washload on.


I don't intend to do much else, but it's still more than he's done this week.

dancemum

Evening all X

Insect day here today

Ds2 wanted to earn some money so he has dusted the living room, emptied the washing machine and put towels in the tumble dryer. He also helped at Dancepops and dancegrans'.

Shredding completed
Very old frog eaten. We have dropped our PC at the repair shop.
Bought ds2 some hiking boots as requested by school. Not sure if he will wear them as he has sensory issues, torpedo feet and JHS.
Dailies done
Corner of doom sorted