Social distancing around the Maypole: Fledglings fly into Flylady thread May 2020.

[Lisette1940]

Welcome to the May Flylady thread Fledglings! We are finally coming to the end of Spring and, erm, what a Spring it has been. Keep safe everyone and a special shoutout to Fledglings who are in the frontline of the response to Covid 19.
Lane has been superlative with the keep calm corner and has had a truly magnificent engagement with fledglings all through April – well done Lane!!! I have totally abandoned my routines (and my clean eating) and have been flying perilously close to the ground but am ready for take off again. But we operate a no fledgling left behind policy and indeed Flylady herself stresses that you are never behind in the system – no need to deep clean the house first, just jump right in.
All are welcome here from longtimers to newbie and those lurking – we all follow this zone-based Flylady cleaning system:
There are five zones and at the beginning and the end of the month we usually straddle Zone 1 and zone 5.
(amend rooms to suit your house – I do the living and dining room together as it’s all one room in my house)
MAY
Zone 1 Hall, entrance/dining room (Fri 1 – Sat 2)
Zone 2 Kitchen (Sun 3- Sat 9)
Zone 3 Bathroom and another room (Sun 10- Sat 16)
Zone 4 Master bedroom/closet (Sun 17 – Sat 23)
Zone 5 Living room (Sun 24 – Sun 31)

Pop onto the Flylady website to have a closer look here but be aware that lots of emails arrive if you sign up.

Flylady has an introductory scheme called Babysteps which is a light 31 day introduction to the system – dressing to shoes, shining your sink etc here.

There is a morning routine and an evening routine to keep things ticking over and a weekly home cleaning hour to change bed sheets, mop, hoover, take out rubbish etc. Flylady doesn’t want us cleaning all day so she is very keen on using a timer. Clean then stop!
In addition each day has a purpose: see the daily focus here

Monday: Weekly home cleaning hour (can be split into ten minute sections and spread over week) here
Tuesday: Plan and play (Menu planning, family event planning)
Wednesday: Anti-procrastination day
Thursday: Errand day
Friday: Clear out bags, fill car with petrol, date night
Saturday: Family fun
Sunday: Lift your spirit

Launch pad for guidance every day! launch pad

Habit of the month of May is moving – whether that’s your daily get out of the house during lockdown or in house movement. – moving is not my strongest point apart from pottering around the house…
We also have a naughty corner as a restful break out space and a Keep Calm Corner (KCC). I suspect I’ll be better at the naughty corner rather than the latter but I’ll do my best! Not sure I can muster the memes but I’ll do my best to keep spirits up.
So welcome to the new thread (I hope I haven’t left anyone out): Lane, SC, zoo, Bower, KTCluck, Willow/Megiddo, foxes, That, averytiredMom, fluffliest, ED, Strawberry, Chic, Hazel, Happiness, Cineraria, We3, stressy, and give.

And breathe!

I always loved the noise of the library date stamp too ED! We have one at work and I have to pretend not to be excited when I’ve had to use it for something

Glad you got your lie in in the end Fluff

Zoo your ta da list is epic today.

Gorgeous flowers Hazel

We3 DH bought BBQ stuff today for Friday. Let’s hope the north east weather doesn’t thwart our plans.

I made it out for a walk with DD while DH stayed at home and finally decluttered his wardrobe. The playhouse didn’t arrive until 7pm so we managed it get out of the construction of that.

Rest of Ta Das:
✅ upstairs dusted and hoovered
✅ bathroom cleaned
✅ bathroom window cleaned
✅ bit of ironing
✅ got 15 minutes lie down while being DD’s ‘patient’ - my favourite game!
✅ lasagne made for dinner, and breakfast and salad prepped for work
✅ decluttered and tidied a kitchen cupboard while waiting for it to cook
✅ wiped cupboard fronts
✅ wiped kitchen door down

DH cut the grass and is on dishes duty, I’m off to bed. Forgot to do hob so will do that I. the morning. Night all!

And to think when someone wanted the date in the book itself (as opposed to taking the receipt) we had to write it in pen like some kinda chump

Can’t believe we are on page 13 already. Definitely another 2-thread month! ❤️

Lots to do tomorrow but not sure when the FaceTime is happening (only that it is at some point). Need to:

🔰get DD1 to do a lot more work than she has been - she could finish English, science and DT and start the next maths at least
🔰do more HE with DS as we’ve really dropped the ball there too - more work on Islam poster will be first after the usual stuff (which we have managed still) and he could type up his second story which he wrote yesterday
🔰figure out new workout patterns
🔰phone author to see if she has finished the next bit
🔰tap class for DS
🔰do some more quiz drawings
🔰read a bit
🔰workout/bike
🔰redo chore chart
🔰possibly go to town as they didn’t have DH’s meds when he went today
🔰finish therapy journal write up from phone notes

I already feel this is insanely ambitious 🙄

Thank you lisette and KT they smell gorgeous too!

Growing up I wanted to be a vet, overlooked the fact I'm highly allergic to cats lol. I then wanted to be an interior designer, that never happened either. Oh well.

More ta das:

🦋 S&S.

🦋 3rd LOL and all put away.

🦋 Had DS sort out a bunch of clothes shoved between the foot of his bed and the wall. Apparently a bunch of clothes he doesn't wear.

🦋 Had DS go through all his clothes to make room for the clothes he DOES wear. Almost filled a rubbish bag full, will take them to the storage unit until we can have a yard sale.

🦋 Sorted through part of the shed to make room for the freezer we're getting this weekend.

🦋 Swept in the shed, noticed I will need to organise it better in there.

🦋 Skyped my mum.

🦋 Made spaghetti dinner, with spaghetti squash for noodles.

🦋 Noticed electric tin opener was DISGUSTING and took a toothpick to all the nooks and crannies before putting it away.

🦋 Got tomorrow's clothes out and my lunch ready.

🦋 Cleaned up kitchen and started DW after my shower.

I felt like I had a laid back day today, even though I got a lot done. It was a very good day. I work tomorrow, so I'm assuming not much flying to be done.

KT how on earth did you manage to get your DH to declutter his wardrobe? Mine straight up refuses to get rid of any of his clothes, complains about mine, which I'm starting to think he has more than me! I do keep decluttering clothes, and would get rid of more but I still need to wear something!

Sorry there isn't anyone else I'm replying to tonight, it's bedtime here now and I need to get to sleep! Hello to everyone 👋

Hazel it took months of nagging, an eye roll every time he ordered something new, and then eventually a refusal to iron anything of his until it could be hung in his wardrobe. It was so jam packed you couldn’t squeeze anything in without it being a crumpled mess. He has actually been wanting to do it for ages, I’m not just mean . There was so much that he didn’t wear and expensive things that he planned to sell. So now he can do that and there’s a big charity bag too. He’s quite pleased with himself now.

Glad you enjoyed your productive day!

Work day for me:
✅ LOL in
✅ s & s
✅ DW emptied

Good luck Lane, ambitious but you’ve got this!

Good luck Lane - remember anything that gets done is a win!

Hazel, great list there and lovely flowers. My DH is quite resistant to wardrobe- clearing too. KT, well done to your DH!

Yesterday turned out to be so busy I never got on here! It was a proper housekeeping day in the end:
♥️ Properly scrubbed both bathrooms
🧡 Swept and washed bathroom floors and skirtings
💛 Changed all bathmats and towels and boiled the old ones!
💚 Cleaned up the kitchen after DSs 1 &2 "bonded" over beers on Tuesday night (apparently it was Two Pint Tuesday) and reached the careless stage where a bottle of orange got knocked over. They kind of cleaned up, but is was still... sticky!
💙 Mopped the kitchen floor ditto
💜 3 x LOL washed, dried and handed out, including all DS2's pants and socks 🤔
🖤 Walked the hound
♥️ Went to Tesco and shopped for a week
🧡 Came home, unpacked it all, put it all away
💛 Accidentally fell asleep on the sofa because I made the mistake of sitting down!
💚 Made a most peculiar tea of leftovers lamb stew for me, DH and DS2, falafel, couscous and salad for DS1 (doesn't eat lamb) and pickled eggs and salad for DD (doesn't eat stew or falafel) and DS3 (Doesn't eat stew or lamb). Salad included radishes from the garden rather closer to tennis ball sized than usual!
💙 Read some of a very strange blog by a woman who believes she is the reincarnation of the oldest sister of the Brontës, who died at age 12 in 1825.
💜 Messaged with a friend who is trying to end her marriage, while her STBXH seems to believe she needs his permission to end the relationship
🖤 Received surprise flowers through the post from DH, "just because". I knew he was my favourite for a reason! 💕

KCC who is the person who has most inspired you?

Baby step number 7 is before bed routine linke to routines

Thursday's daily focus is errand day and we are still in zone 2. Maybe make a list of what needs to be an errand if you are not going out today.

Be back in a second

Today's plans are rather less fulsome!
🔥 Get DS2 up in time for meeting at 11 (should start now!)
🔥OT appt for DS3 at 3.30
🔥 End of school week for everyone!🔥 Put bottle of white in the fridge to celebrate the above.
🔥 Do some client writing and some writing for me
🔥Consider whether to bake a Bank Holiday Cake for tomorrow
🔥 Get chicken out of the freezer for DS2 to cook tonight.

I have already
🌼 S&S all lavs
🌻 Rotated DW
🏵️ Perambulated the Hound
🌸 Done some weeding
🌺 De-poo'ed the garden (my least favourite bit of dog ownership)
🌷 Refilled the water in the water wheel
🥀 Opened all the upstairs windows🌹 Checked in with DS1 about mental health because it looked like things were going wobbly, but all is well.

Now I'm going to have breakfast and some time on my own, because DS1 was up when I got up at 6.30 and I've had no quiet at all to start the day. Ds3 will be down in a minute in his break to tell me about animal crossing, no doubt.

🍒🙋 to everyone, must get on with it all!

these two images made me laugh...

Really like the Church Of The Stunned Chicken there, Lisette! 😂😂

Morning all! I’ve been to town this morning to get DH’s meds and a few bits from Sainsbury’s (first time in a supermarket since mid March, assuming B&M doesn’t count!). It felt like a right treat being able to buy Actual Fresh Food!!!

Bugger it just saw a rat in the garden. Aaaargh!!! What do we do?! 😳

Who has inspired me. Hmm. I’ve never really “looked up to” anyone as opposed to admiring them (or maybe I’m overthinking the difference?!). I tend to look inward I guess so I only really have myself 😂 that’s definitely not meant in a boastful way at all - quite the opposite as I’m not exactly blessed with high self esteem 😂 - but rather that I just try and keep myself going I guess.

If absolutely pressed though I’d have to say that currently it’s:

• My therapist as I think she is fantastic at her job, I admire the way she works and I would quite like to do that as well
• Tyler Joseph, from twenty one pilots - I think he’s incredible at writing, I relate to a lot of it and it’s helped a lot of people

I don't know about dealing with rats but this lockdown cartoon has a possible solution if you have a friend who misses the underground.

The captions runs along the lines of 'I got this rat because I thought you'd be missing the subway'

Megiddo have you ever been to Haworth where the Brontes lived?

Lane well done on deleting emails. I know it's virtual but it feels like 'real' decluttering. I'm also impressed by the tin opener cleaning Hazel - I often have those moments when I discover something that really needs to be cleaned and we just haven't noticed!

I have an hour to blitz the house before another work meeting. I'm not meant to be working today but it's fallen off yesterday's list.

I think my former library boss is my most inspirational person. He was lovely to everyone and truly himself. Sadly he got ill and didn't live to enjoy his retirement. He had so many interests and was so human and kind. He also dressed in vibrant colours and was funny and cheerful. I also am inspired by my grandmother who was loving and (grand)maternal and who basically saved my childhood by being there for me. She taught me to bake and knit and took me places on adventures.

I'd say the Church of the Stunned Chicken probably does Easter in a big way.

I think you're probably right about Easter there, Lisette. I've not been to Haworth, no. I have to admit (whisper it) I'm not actually a Bronte fan. We were forced to read Jane Eyre when I was about 13 and I thought it was totally overwrought and decided I didn't like Mr Rochester, thought St John was a whiny weed and didn't really care where Jane ended up. It rather spoiled everything else written by all of them for me!

Having trouble thinking of a person inspirational to me atm, I totally see what you mean about turning inwards, Lane. Your former boss and your grandmother sound very special, Lisette. 💖

Actually, having said that, I think my inspirational person was my paternal grandfather. He was born in Wales just before WW1 and lost his father before he turned 4. Left school at 11 - because there was no money for him to take up the place he won at grammar school - to go into the quarry and then down the pit. Left home on his 18th birthday in the Depression because the family needed his stepfather to claim unemployment relief for a father of 6, not for it to be paid to him as an 18 year old (and I'm told it would be directed to the "cheapest" family member). So, he walked to London and slept under a bridge at Greenford until he got a job on a building site, met my grandmother (who had herself left home at 16 and headed for London from Ayrshire) and the rest is history.

He always believed you could do something about a situation, even if you didn't like the options. Family and education were everything and it would be alright in the end - if it wasn't alright, it wasn't the end. He and my Granny survived several reverses of fortune in the 40s and 50s (including going bust twice when his foreman and then his surveyor ran off with the cash box twice in six months) but were always happy and together, and my DF remembered his childhood as poor in patches, but always happy.

I aspire to that feeling for my children.

jig wow, that is an amazing story. Certainly a man to be proud of.

I didn't sleep well last night, worrying about things I cant control. Then DD was up early this morning, I didn't realise until after we got downstairs that it was half 5 in the morning! Ouch!

So I'm giving myself the day off today, going to spend as much of it reading as possible. But I have done some bits:
❤ put gammon in the slow cooker
🧡 written the 'verse of the day' texts for the next 10 days for my church.
💛 work emails sorted and out of office set up for next week

And that's it. I'm hoping DH is going to take DD out for a bike ride or something so that I can have some time eating pringles, reading my book and napping this afternoon.

I'm really sorry that worry is stopping you sleeping, Fluff. Sounds like you're doing some positive self-care today, though, which is really important.

I am going out to the Post Office in a minute. I was very excited because my Cotton Traders parcel arrived (yes, I am now so old and fat that I have Given Up), although I did think it was a bit small to contain two types of waterproof jacket to try and a new summer frock. The parcel was address to me, but the dispatch note is wrong, and a lady called Margaret in Aberdeen is missing two soft-touch v-neck sweaters...

Hey ho. Thank you for your kind words about my grandfather. He was certainly a force to be reckoned with, and properly built like a Welsh / Irish miner (his grandfather was an Irish immigrant to Wales) - 5'9", with a 17" collar!

Hi everyone! Hope you got your rest fluff , and post office trip not too bad meg how annoying!

Ta das
Dishwasher on X 2
Washing on and hung outside
All rooms quick tidy
Made a Nutella cake shaped like a unicorn 🤔 it isn't out of the oven yet so can't comment on how it's turned out!
School work with dd, reading, writing, BBC bitesize games and videos, a bit of maths
Helped the kids do cards for grandparents (not quite finished)
Dh has dropped a present to our good friend (socially distanced of course!)
I did a morning of work
Cleaned all the mirrors, doors and handles in house
Decluttered some of craft cupboard in kitchen
Cleaned out tin foil cling film drawer
Did quick five minutes exercise routine

Got peppers and tomatoes roasting in the oven ready for veggie pasta tonight

Catch you all in a bit!

Hope you get better sleep tonight Fluffiest. The worry and lack of sleep just makes you so tired the next day. Dh tied a new chicken and almond recipe from the Hairy Bikers. Did not get all my work done around the house today but made some progress.

ta da
🐟town - walked down, got prescription and signed up for text service, got some food shopping - have to say I felt SO much better just for being up and out early!
🐠showered off the Outside World
🐟found ingenious (if I say so myself) way of propping up iPad correctly for FaceTime - involving an upside down Kallax basket! :o
🐠posted about work on a couple of relevant groups - already had a suggestion for an organisation that may help me!
🐟managed to get DD1 doing some work - so much faffing around FFS
🐠didn’t get FaceTime from FSW today but had phone call from the parenting course leader as I’d told her about the work help people and we chatted a bit which was lovely
🐟bit of home ed with DS
🐠took phone call from local autism charity, the Caglets are now top of the list for support after a long wait, assessment is booked (Microsoft Teams) for next week!
🐟emailed a dance club DD1 wants to try when it’s reopened (a friend from school does it and if it keeps her active after school I’m happy!)
🐠sat in the garden and drew more of my quiz. 6 down, maybe 24 to go...
🐟got the Caglets to wash the tuff tray which has been languishing outside with the hose and bring it round to the hallway to dry (I’ll scrub and disinfect tomorrow)
🐠decided on my first FutureLearn course and started the first week (need to dig out a notebook to take down info on these courses... definitely DO NOT need to buy one)
🐟started helping DH make a digital “vote for me” thing (work stuff)

Didn’t do my workout 🤦‍♀️ really want to sleep now!!!

Ooh yay. Just had email from dance club - all ok to try it when lockdown ends. And an email from adult education confirming my enrolment, with the counselling skills course stuff attached! Woohoo!!!

Ignored a lot of the things on the list (waiting for FaceTime sort of put me “on hold” IYSWIM, not her fault at all though - she had urgent work stuff come up) but definitely not a write off at least.

Just a quick trip to say hi. Yes Lane I can’t keep up with this thread and I still haven’t read the first couple of pages.

Lisette. Yes to Haworth. Oh I love it. We went for a day out then went for a weekend and at the end of that year I took DD who was about six to the Scroggling of the Holly. I took some amazing photos and think I should go back with copies to give to the people who were children then. There are some adorable ones. We stayed in a lovely

Had a bath.

I went to town for the first time as I had to sort something out at the bank. Lots of tape outside and then an old guy practically steps of my toes. As we were waiting to come out he came and stood behind me.
I also went back for the prescription that was short of an item and I emailed them...they don’t have it!
Dropped off the plants to my shedding friend who was delighted. Spoke to him for a little while. He should have been in London taking part in the VE celebrations. He is naturally disappointed. He has been told it can be changed to Remembrance Day at the Albert Hall. So he is a bit cheered by that.
Spent the afternoon turning an egg box into poppies.
Iced the cakes I made yesterday
Had veggie pasta for tea.
Had a walk.
Wrote a long post yesterday and the screen posts

Cheery waves

Didn't get an awful lot done yesterday but i did go to Morrison's for my DGM. Only got a few bits for us because I'm going to start going on a weekend. It's a PITA having to go after I've finished doing schoolwork with the boys. Got a LOL done but not ironed it yet. S&S. Swept floor, cleaned table, fed everyone and dishes.

We put some decorations up outside for VE Day too. Couldn't find anything in the shop so we made them out of Aldi carrier bags. Have attached a pic I think it looks ok.

Going to have to finish up a bit of schoolwork with the boys today. Teachers set work even though it's a bank holiday DS2 has loads to catch up on too. Not going to do as much as we usually do though.