Weekly Flylady Thread 3rd March 2008

tiamai_d

Vanilla, my Mum had to put a huge bolt across the top of the door (was one you locked from the outside, inside it was just a latch) not that I sneaked out on purpose, I sleepwalked. Neighbours kept bringing me back home after I would walk out in my PJ's in a dream and forget how to get home. I was a terrible sleeper, night terrors, night mares and sleep walking, I had therapy for Lucid Dreaming when I was 8!!! I still sleep walk even now, though not nearly as bad, I just wake up standing in the living room or in the hall or once sitting on the stairs.

JillD, the OT comes on Monday so I will ask her if she can use them or pass them on, I can't be bothered with Ebay. I may text my friends see if they want them too. They are baby toys, but there is a large collection of them and they were only used at 'Physio Play Times', so were not scattered over the room!

Dusty, I have a cheek, I only have one room. But the downpoint is that it has double the toys and half the space! It's the lego, magnetix, bricks and soldier guys that take the most time to clean up. Oh and the DVD's that DS2 takes out the covers and scatters everywhere! And all those power rangers with teh tiny weapons that you find with yoru feet.... Arrrggggghhhh!!!!!

Dustykitten

Just been looking at what you make on ebay and have decided not to bother with the lower value stuff - if you list something for 99p and it sells at that price and they use paypal that costs you 57p if you don't add it to the postage then you make 42p - OH said I'd rather give it to charity.

I am doing an NCT nearly new sale in April so will be able to get rid of loads of the kids stuff then without the ebay hassle and at least the costs incurred will go to charity.

lil_me

Good evening everyone, didn't pop back before we went out so trying to catch up now. I did loads before we went out inc the stairs by hand, DP reckons I am mad and the only person obsessed enough about dog hair enough to do an entire stair case, hall and landing with a lint roller because it gets up more hair/fluff than the vacuum cleaner as I proved with the amount I removed, it looks great. I sometimes use tape wrapped round my hand or a rubber glove but I ended up making a hole in my gloves last time with all the rubbing

Friends left about an hour ago ish, just sat having some time online after working so hard all day. Lovely catching up with them which isn't often enough due to the distance miss them a lot. Boys behaved themselves this time thankfully.

Now sat watching Match of the Day, haven't Barnsley done brilliantly, I bet they are over the moon! Going to cross off my list in a mo after trying to catch up and saying some of what I wanted to say.

Michelle hope Charlie is better soon. I remember when DSs were poorly with tummy upsets they used to tell us to to give them flat Sprite/7Up or Ginger ale at room temp or apple juice watered down to half the strength. http://www.basd.net/staff/ktruesda/gastroenteritis.htm this site says about the same. Gatorade what they refer to is the isotonic athletes drinks. I'll be honest my partner is useless when they are poorly, either frets for all of us or throws up just because they are so I tend to just say to him to stay out :rotfl: With the mould, the utility was bad when we moved it, it was noted on the inventory aswell, to be honest I am suprised her mortgage company didn't have an issue with it being single wall as a lot do, it was part of the garage and from the looks of it has just had a coat of plaster over the brick work. The conservatory it's been when the cold weather was we've noticed it but when I contacted the LL she'd had the same problems last year herself with it. I knew there had been some sort of problems as all the wood on the tops was warped, in places the laminates come off, mould in between the windows (bleaching it little and often seems to be helping)
serena, pleased you have been and seen her as I can imagine that would have brought some relief to know where she is and what it is like.
vanilla, scary but one of those things kids do I suppose. My sons always had weird sleeping patterns, one morning at 4am he got up, DP had just got in from work so stayed up with him. DP went to the loo and DS tottled off to a neighbours 2 doors away to see if their son wanted to come out to play :rotfl: needless to say his Mam wasn't impressed at the doorbell being rang at 4.15am. They are good at escaping when they want to. Needless to say after that we kept the door locked and took the keys to bed, ok not the safest in a fire but safer on a daily basis with houdini's for kids. With the back doors we have a key hidden on the top of the door frame which the kids don't know about (never use it in front of them) incase of fire etc. Bless them for washing the dishes tho :rotfl: maybe time to keep the knives higher up.
Dusty the granite stuff is the Astonish one, I bought it off Ebay as it was cheaper than Kleeneze. They used to do it in the £ shop but when I went to get some they had none. It does work quite well and the floors not slippy really. I have tried with other cleaners but never managed to get it to shine. Think I will look into getting the one pigpens recommended, I spotted a slate one too, we have slate in the bathroom thanks pigpen!
shell, try piriton for the itching. My youngests had the poxies 3 times and it was a godsend. Well done with getting so much done while you are still 'itchy' suppose it kept your mind off it a bit.
JillD, that does seem high but to be honest I think it's close to the going rate near me aswell but most are paying their childminders for the extra hours. Personally I'd offer her minimum wage (double checking what it is for 18 yr olds) and see what she says. For £6 an hour I would want someone who is CRB checked and has paed first aid qualifications at least. Even sitters from here http://www.sitters.co.uk/cost.aspx are in general cheaper than that. I remember babysitting when I was expecting and only charged £15 for the evening.
boddy hope you are not poorly for your hols, fingers crossed it passes soon.
Mudbath, well done, all that with a broken wrist!! Do make sure you listen to your body when it hurts! We've got roof issues, amazing how much the quotes are different between each company, I'm putting calling more on hold until after Monday as there is more high winds forecast.
embb, love the first house, I want the stair case and the bathroom! One thing that does make me cringe is it doesn't look like a home, it doesn't look 'lived in'.
Tracy, you are welcome, and thanks for asking about doggys tummy he's still 'iffy' especially the wind, thankfully only did one 'fluff' when my friends were here. I don't know what he's eaten but being a lab/springer cross it could have been anything!

JillD_2

lil_me wrote: »

JillD, that does seem high but to be honest I think it's close to the going rate near me aswell but most are paying their childminders for the extra hours. Personally I'd offer her minimum wage (double checking what it is for 18 yr olds) and see what she says. For £6 an hour I would want someone who is CRB checked and has paed first aid qualifications at least. Even sitters from here http://www.sitters.co.uk/cost.aspx are in general cheaper than that. I remember babysitting when I was expecting and only charged £15 for the evening

My thoughts exactly. My friends use an agency (I cant bring myself to use s stranger no matter how qualified) so I am goig to ask her what they charge, and also another friend uses an ex-nursery staff member type person, who is obviously trained in paediatric first aid, so we def would try and pay less than that as she's not qualified at all (then again neither am I and they have handed me 3 newborns LOL). The min wage is a good idea. She's at school but I think her Mum mentioned she does have a little job as well. I dont mind paying her but it would make a night out at the cinema cost an extra £20 or so:eek:

soappie

I am replete.

Full of nice food, a couple (?!!) of glasses of alcohol, good chat and relaxing company. Hey, the washing up needs doing (I NEVER allow my dinner guests to do that) and will be done shortly. But it's been a good day and a good evening. Lots done, lots to mull over.

The only damper (pun intended!) is that it's now raining v. hard so I'm going to be sleeping in Niagara Falls tonight. My bedroom is the garage.
~pause for audience to express surprise with, generally, a sharp intake of breath~
but which has been converted into a proper bedroom
~pause whilst audience laughs with relief~

Consequently, my bedroom has three outside walls and a half pitched roof. With guttering all around it. I did clear the guttering out about 2 years ago - honest! But clearly not well enough. All I can hear at the moment in my bedroom (which is where the PC is) is the sound of water cascading out of overflowing gutters. On all three sides. It's just like being inside the middle of a waterfall without getting wet!

Ooh - forgot to mention that I took on board the comment by someone or other during the week about letting off balloons and the potential problems it causes wildlife. So, when I went to Mr T this afternoon, instead of letting a balloon go, I took the daffs out of the vase in the kitchen that I'd put there for AnW'smum and her family with me. My Mr T's is v. close to a river so I went and stood on the bridge and dropped the daffs in and watched them slowly drift down the river to the sea. I hope that's appeased the environmentalists - it did feel quite good actually for me.

But I'm beginning to waffle more than usual. Off to do the washing up and then sleep in the waterfall. Hugs to all who need them.

lil_me

JillD I know what you are saying that you aren't qualified, but it's experience IMO, my thoughts would be on what experience does an 18 year old have? I did my first aid before babysitting (day and evenings) for my own peace of mind, I had a little boy who'd been knocked off a swing in a park who seemed fine before his parents went out to look after one evening and he stopped breathing (turned out he'd broken a bone in his neck which was missed on xrays) the first aid course helped me as a 17 year old deal with it properly and more calmly I think.

We don't usually go out because of babysitters, once in a year, the only person who looks after mine at the moment is my Mam and DPs brother (who has been there most of their lives as he virtually lived with us until about 18 months ago from the boys being born, he's still here a lot now) I have had the support workers who work with the boys offer but they charge the same rate as with the support work which is almost £8 an hour, not a chance! I'd rather stay in. We allowed DPs cousin to babysit previously which ended in disaster, she was on a NNEB chilcare course but a teenager, found out she'd let the neighbours sons in the house (other neighbour told me, they were the type I wouldn't let in my house when I was in nevermind when I wasn't), money, phone etc went missing, needless to say I flipped a little bit and she hasn't babysat since.

soappie, sounds like you have had a lovely evening. What a lovely idea with the daffodils, that made me smile. Hope you manage to get some sleep, our conservatory roof attatches part to my room and part on DSs so know what you mean about rain keeping awake, seems to have eased off here for now with the wind and rain but we are expecting much more.

Just crossed off my list, few things I didn't do which can be carried over to tomorrow, as for once I am going to stop beating myself up about not doing things and accept I have done a lot (something I tell others to do! but useless at it myself) I need to find some A4 paper for DP to write his coursework up on when he gets in, so he doesn't wake me to ask me or wake me rattling about, put the cups in the dishwasher then I think that's it for tonight.

tiamai_d

I've only used a babysitter once, and it was more to help her out when she needed money! She owns my Dad's horse stable mate. We wanted to go out anyway and family were all busy so it was handy for us too. Paid her £20 from 8pm to 12.30am. We knew her and the kids knew her. We knew she was reliable as she managed to look after them at the stables often enough!!

Lil_me, thought I'd update you on the overdraft situation. We closed two bank accounts down so we now have only 2, one main and one for Direct Debits. Husband paid off my £175 'secret' OD and the funds from his account cleared my other one. So now we only have a £200 one and I am going to just reduce it bit by bit every month, by removing the OD. I feel lost without my secret shoe funding OD :rotfl:

lil_me

Tiamai, blimey, big steps, well done, it's difficult when you remove your safety nets! I would in a way like to cancel DPs credit cards I have paid off, catalogue accounts aswell, but then I think 'what if' and end up keeping them I am thinking about cutting up the ones he has cards for so if an 'emergency' happened like both washers broke (using LLs and have spare in garage) or cooker (same applies) or FF (oh yes 2 of those aswell) we'd have to really think about it and ask for a replacement card to use it. We have 2 SEPERATE bank accounts, one in my name one in his, but I run both of them :rotfl: my partner hasn't a clue what goes in and out of his account. I have tried leaving it to him, about the only thing payments did was bounce, his credit cards I left to him and look what happens, he ends up with over £10k of debts (in addition to a loan and the car in his name which I pay for) He's no good at managing money and is only just learning the consequences of handing over plastic. His is the only one with an OD but we haven't used it for a while now where as we used to live in it.

Thankfully my really excessive spending habits have reduced dramatically and I am now managing to save instead of spend I've stopped spoiling myself, own one pair of boots, normal shoes, walking boots, wellies, trainers and 'going out' shoes, nothing replaced until it's broken. I have stopped replacing any clothes until they are beyond repair like my jeans, just got a pair for £3 inc postage off ebay (only bad thing is I ordered 'my size' and they are way too big, well good thing as weight loss is showing but bad as a bit of a waste) I've even reduced my spending on the boys clothes, their wardrobes are evidence of how bad it got and the numerous drawers full of clothes. Realising for example kids don't need over 40 tshirts each so I need to stop, NOW!

It's a long journey, but it's possible to change spending habits, we now can afford to spend in a way but are spending less, strange how that happens. When given a choice I would rather save money than spend it. We've just debated buying a PC chair as the current dining room chair we're using is giving us back ache, but I have to fight with the bit in my head which says 'but it'll do, don't spend anything'

Oh heck, I should stop waffling on and go to bed good night everyone!

soappie

Morning all

Slept well - even in the waterfall - think it must have been the wine! It's quiet and calm weatherwise here this morning but v. grey. Is it the calm before the storm of tomorrow? I'm glad I'm working from home looking at the forecast - means I won't have to drive in the expected gales.

I don't need a minute by minute schedule today but do need to do a couple of things:

• Finish Work work (only a couple of hours left to do)
• Put more postcards up on ebay
• Type up bid thingy

AnW'sMum

Morning everyone

Sorry for not posting much this last few days. I think I must have been running on adrenaline and coffee for the last few months and surviving on 4-5 hours sleep a night. All seems to be catching up at last. Still seem to be running around all over the place and the phone has been red hot with people ringing in support. So I am mentally and physically knackered!

I have to wait a week before I can get the certificate and may have to go back to Leeds for that so this part does still not feel over. Obviously I was not at work this week so took Friday to mooch around and take and collect the kids from school. It was in the local paper on Friday night so hopefully the weekends news will be fresh in their minds on Monday morning. I shall speak to A again today so she is fully prepared.

We did let some balloons off, I do take on board the article, but it was so important to both kids I couldn't tell them no. Will bear it in mind for the future though.

I have skim read the thread so will be going back to see what you lot have been up to. But I have seen a lot of the messages of support and want to say a big thank you to you all Think I will print/save it to disc as well so A & W can see the support from this last week.

Dusty I am still on with the book, it is providing much needed light entertainment. Up to the point where Venetia reads the message on the T shirt :rotfl:

So today....... well I have done some washing and drying this week which is in a HUGE heap on the armchair, still got some more to do and think we will have to go up to MIL's for an hour (or less if it get's too much) Had one text since Thurs, but then I have not exactly been making the effort. I just know they are going to want to go over it all with whys and why nots. I will not allow that to happen when the kids are around.

Suppose I should get myself in the shower first, catch you all later xx