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!

Bower I am thinking of you and your dd's lovely cat.

SC (and other fledglings) I am heavier now than I'd like to be and have downloaded my fitnesspal and am tracking my food which is helping enormously. Have not stood on scales recently. I'm adding exercise now too. Just to say fledglings you are not alone. I can recommend weight training as it helps to burn fat and raise metabolism.

Thanks for links and highly appropriate meme Lisette

Lisette thank you for solidarity post! Wishing you the very best with calorie tracking and exercise etc!

Dh is a feeder which is problematic but tbh I am not in the best frame of mind for dieting ATM so I can only blame this on myself. I find the cleaning and decluttering really dreary so to add dieting to it as well seems like too much ATM. (I realise that sounds a bit pathetic when I have much less to do than most of you on here!!) So I am just trying to make small substitutions ATM such as grapes or strawberries instead of biscuits and chocolate. An apple instead of cake. And I am trying to eat two meals a day instead of three! Thats not easy though as DD (being thin and eating less at each meal) is understandably hungrier in the evenings whereas DH and I would be happy to eat just breakfast and lunch.

Anyway, good luck to everyone on here who is watching their weight. Lockdown certainly makes it more challenging!

Afternoon all

We have just done brick church on FB
5min challenge was build something with one hand
15min challenge anything beginning with letter b.we did banana,bed, brachiosaurus,butterfly and boat!

It's simple catch up rather than anything biblical involved but nice for D's to get feedbacklil zoo joined in too as not allowed phone.theh spent fair chunk this morning playing with keyboard together

He's now off to playstation.dd2 and I am shortly going open package that's been quarantined for 3days
Full load pants and socks washed,towel load near ready for drier
Everyone's fed

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Facial is order of the day shortly
*Face scrub
*Steam
*Pore strips
*Mask
*Massage in creams

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Ooh enjoy your facial zoo

sc you don't sound pathetic, we can all say "I have it easy compared to someone else" but that doesn't always make your lot in life any easier for you to handle.

I was feeling a bit low today. Sunday is normally such a social day for us normally, that it brings home how much I miss people. I took myself off for a walk and then did some cleaning and actually feel a lot better now. I think I needed to get up and move about a bit.

Ta das
🧹 put laundry away
🧹 tidied for 15 minutes
🧹 washed dishes
🧹 wiped kitchen counters
🧹 put recycling in bins
🧹 watered plants

Thanks Fluffiest and well done for getting out and doing some chores That's an excellent list

Brick church sounds fun Zoo!

SC, you're not pathetic at all - we all have things to deal with that seem dull to us and marvellous that we cope to others. I am absolutely certain that I could not live your life needing to know 2? 3? 4? different languages just to get through the week! That alone would stop me concentrating on anything else in my life and I'm amazed that anyone can manage it.

I also totally know what you mean about dieting just being One More Thing Too Many to deal with. The problem with Flylady is that, at the far of the just-15-minutes idea is a day so full you never stop and never say no and the whole thing spirals out of control. I'm (finally) back on the keto wagon because last Sunday I was 1lb over last summer's highest ever weight that drove me into dieting; which was, in itself, 11lbs over the previous Highest Ever Weight from spring 2018, when I lost some. Which was 2 stone higher than spring 2016's highest ever weight, when I finally got my shit together to diet...

I shall take Lisette's advice and try to add in weight training. I certainly enjoy it more than HIIT I used to do (and which I've hurt myself doing in the past). The reason I'm doing keto and (at present) paying a website to tell me what to eat is that I don't have the mental energy or bandwidth to do any extra thinking, even for myself, right now. I think that's probably where you, understandably, are too; and trying to make better food choices, or at least those that really nourish you rather than just hitting dopamine receptors until the next time, is an excellent start.

Fluffiest, I'm really pleased moving about and getting things done helped. Zoo, hope the facial was lovely and relaxing!

You are not pathetic SC. We all have enough going on without overloading ourselves and there's not much distraction to lift our mood. Everyone fed and nobody dead is good enough. 🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼

Agree you're definitely not pathetic sc!! You always sound to me like you have a huge amount going on and a hell of a lot of patience to boot!!

Dh has just accidentally dropped all the potatoes in the sink 😣 and they are not salvageable because the sink was very dirty from where I'd just dumped stuff in it while cooking 😱 tbh I have pretty much laughed it off (although slightly crying inside because I peeled all those potatoes!!) but dh it very cross (with himself!) .

So I've stuck some oven chips in to go with our roast dinner as no potatoes left 😂

Oven chips with a roast and gravy would be worthy of noting in the diary in this house, as an extra special treat!

DS2 has just cooked us steak, exceptionally well. He has expensive tastes, but is a very good cook. DS1 tried a plant steak and reports it tasted like an elderly bath sponge dipped in slightly-off gravy and he won't be doing it again .

I have achieved one metric Bugger All today (an Imperial Bugger All might be a bit much, even for me) so I am going to review keto meal ideas for next week, plan some of how next week will work with some new actually history that's come in, and have an early night!

SC another cry of you’re not pathetic from over here. I’m usually in awe of how much you have going on! Your DD sounds very mature being able to limit her phone use like that unlike me sorry DH is irritating you. I’m again starting to wonder if he’s related to mine, who has been in doing my bonce in today

I am also at my heaviest ever Meg and have had a serious word with myself today as I finished off the chocolate digestives It can’t continue and I have no clothes that fit. I think I might have to try Lisette’s weight training suggestion. I’ve definitely noticed a benefit to doing some of the more intensive yoga workouts. Not in weight but I feel stronger and a bit less wobbly.

Foxes you must have been gutted about the potatoes but I could definitely get on board with oven chips on a roast.

Fluff sorry you’ve felt a bit flat but well done for managing to turn it around. It was a shower with my posh shower oil, shave and eyebrow pluck that made me feel a bit more positive this morning. Feeling a bit guilty I haven’t managed a walk all weekend but by the time the weather cheered up DD and DH just didn’t want to and it was too easy to just stay at home.

Zoo brick church and a good pamper session sound like an ideal Sunday, and top flying for ‘renewing your spirit’.

Ta Das:

✅ nailed big Yorkshire puddings instead of my usual dinky ones
✅ consumed said Yorkshires along with the rest of the roast made by DH
✅ Dishes, benches, hob and table sorted after lunch
✅ quick hoover and mop downstairs
✅ a bit of ironing including uniform
✅ breakfast prepped for the next two work days
✅ relaxing bath, then DD scrubbed and hair washed.
✅ quick downstairs tidy
✅ done an amazon order of some bits we need, a birthday gift, and I’ve treated myself to a lovely bullet journal / planner thing that was a bit extravagant but has cheered me up.

Have put off making a salad and putting away the ironing but I’m back in the naughty corner for the rest of the night so that’ll have to be done in the morning.

Night all!

Thank you very much everyone - sorry for the moan - really appreciate all of your kind words!

Tbh I am a bit disappointed with my lack of weight loss as all entertaining/socialising here revolves around food in a big way - it is a very foodie country - so I just assumed that the weight would drop off in the absence of meet-ups!! Sadly it appears that I make far too many trips to the fridge for my own benefit without the excuse of feeding guests .

I really, really must stop whinging and start doing more about it. This is embarrassing but having moaned on here I went and ate seconds at supper just now and had a glass of wine! While weight loss was on my mind . It was rather yum though it has to be said!

KTCluck very well done re: the yoga! I can really sympathise about the clothes because I am starting not to fit in to my XL clothes which were bought as a temporary "fat" measure Mortifying!

I do think weights might be the way to go Lisette Megiddo and KTCluck! I listened to a Trinity Transformation podcast today (yes that is how desperate I have become!) and apparently weight loss over forty is a different kettle of fish to when one was young. And weights are a way of exercising without putting too much strain on creaky knees apparently! Their "regime" also involves foods that the whole family can eat which sounds good to me. It does make me laugh though because it is targeted at "high achieving women over forty" - well I certainly fulfill the over forty bit!! Joking aside though, there were some nuggets in there that sounded useful.

Megiddo yr post about your previous dieting goals made me cackle! Believe me, I have followed the same path so totally get it! And I know it sounds like excuses but I think you are right, it is having the mental energy and space to focus on weight loss that is so crucial. Otherwise it's so easy to fall back in to old patterns.

For example - another bloomin' excuse - I know for sure that I head for the biscuit barrel after having "words" with either dh or dd. It's become a pattern I really must break.

Oh no Foxes what a disappointment! One tip for next time ... gleaned from Mumsnet ... is to roast some new potatoes (rinsed really well) from a tin in some goose grease/olive oil and thyme. They are a surprisingly good substitute. I always turned my nose up at tinned pots but used them one time when trying to cobble together a sort of school "camping" supper with minimal cooking equipment and they are not half bad! Goose grease is calorific but it is the good sort of fat apparently (yet another excuse ).

Meant to say, hope your dd has been more cooperative with clothes today KTCluck - enjoy your well deserved quiet evening!

Bower I thought of you tonight as they had a feature on rescue hens during Countryfile.

Did anyone see the last tribute to Nigel on Gardeners' World btw? I must confess that last shot of him sitting on the grass among bluebells etc made my eyes water a little ... .

I have done quite a bit of ironing today but I have given up for the night. The dw is stacked and the wms are on for the morning. Tomorrow is another day.

Enjoy your Sunday evening fledglings!

Yes, I saw the Nigel tribute SC. I don't watch GW that often because the rest of the family moan so much if I try but I do like it. I read Monty's book about his dogs and particularly Nigel a couple of years ago, it was a lovely read.

Bower - so sorry to hear Dcat is unwell again, hope she is a bit better now.

Work today so not much Flying. BBQ dinner tonight, then a bit of allotmenting. I sat up there by myself for a while it can be very peaceful in the evenings. Need to get back to some proper exercise though, I haven't been out for a proper walk for a couple of weeks now. I realised yesterday that the four of us haven't been out as a family once since lockdown started, we are all using it as a chance to spend a bit of time on our own.

I'm sorry to hear about the bad day you have all had. bower I hope your DDs cat improves overnight and they have some answers for you. meg KT SC ED zoo lisette and whoever else I missed (can't scroll on the app) I really hope tomorrow is a better day.

I have had a busy hardworking day today. We spent the day at SILs getting her front garden sorted out, her weeds were out of control. We got those out, big rocks moved, several bushes pulled out (3 of them had to get pulled out with a tow strap and our pickup). She had planted 3 lilac bushes as well. It all looks gorgeous. It's a late birthday present (Feb birthday) and she appreciates everything we did. We had lunch while we were there too.

I've taken a shower and now lounging, don't plan to get up other than to eat leftovers in a little bit. I hurt and ache all over now and my legs keep shaking, so I got a good workout in. I'm off work tomorrow so I should be able to get some stuff done around the house, although we have to mow tomorrow and plant my new plants.

Snugger lost post. I was just saying i would post before it disappeared when a bloody mumsnet message sub came up and over again and again. Lost the post damn damn damn!

Not letting me type now argh!

Thank you cat home and had a lovely cuddly day with her she was glad to be home. Vet had a long chat on phone and have given eye ointment etc but prognosis not good long term and talked about quality of life so if she doesn’t improve... on a good note she ate some food at vets and she enjoyed some cottage pie mince in two small portions we cuddled up on sofa and she was on me then DH then me again and we all had a nap as fire was on. My anxiety from Boris choice of kids going back to school, then losing Henny Penny/Ziggy and on going health issues with cat means it is back like it was before and I was feeling well a couple of weeks ago more like my old self. I just feel sick with it and DH said he would tell DD and I don’t think he has. I just feel so anxious now. I did manage to lose myself in Maigret for a while I read the books when I was about 14/15 as dad had some. I enjoyed them and also read Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh a nd then went on to Dick Francis as I was horse mad. Right going to post before it disappears again

So did mention people in lost post sorry and thanks those who ask about DCat .

Sc. Missed Countryfile today and miss Ziggy a s she always came to say hello. The bantams are cute and bless them they laid me five eggs today.i actually have too many eggs just now. They won’t all fit on the egg thing NT.

No flying done bar S&S, bed made and food made. LOL x1 maybe tomorrow.
Snuggered where has that come from.

Can’t sleep so popping on to put my list on:

ta da
💚filled pill box for the week ahead
🧡found something that DS could read aloud for practice (space fact cards)
💛downloaded some more stuff from Twinkl, printed some and saved the rest
💚made Caglets do their chores - we’ve lapsed with the new bigger list this week for sure, DS actually said “we really need to get back on track” cheeky wotsit but he’s not wrong!
🧡added to notes for home ed report
💛English with DD1 (went really well!)
💚cleared, cleaned and refilled a basket of random crap (mostly game pieces so they went in that box, the rest was shoved in another box!) to use for nappies etc - this can now live one of the windowsills as that makes use of the space, saves them getting lost every five seconds, but can still be moved easily on window cleaning days
🧡read half a chapter
💛sorted some more board books - a few gone to recycling
💚sat outside and worked on tattoo designs (someone requested a while ago)

Rest of the day a write off. Not prepared in the slightest for tomorrow. I am not a fan of my brain. Sleep would be nice

I am not a fan of my brain.sleep would be nice totally relate lane
Bower sorry long-term prognosis isn't good,but glad she's home
Foxes well done for keeping calm.chips with roast sounds like a win to.me!
Megthe description of vegan steak
SC if a friend spoke the way you do of yourself you would be firmly telling her to stop being so self critical.its very easy to complain and pick fault but more you do the more in need of comfort you will be.you have a very busy lifeto manage as well as holding the fort whilst dh works,teen parentings hard bloody work!cut yourself some slack or I may need to prod you with the medieval pike!!

I know there are more personals I wanted to add but can't scroll back.i think I will start not things down as I read,cheery waves to everyone else!

Didn't get facial in the end.dd2 too anxious and lil zoo not up for it.mayne today we will indulge..
Some shein order came out of quarantine and dd2 paraded around in new items and post pics on social media indicating she's confident and happy with new purchases.another batch still pending,and lil zoo awaiting her haul impatiently!!

Have a good day all
I go give up and start home bleurgh shortly in hope some time out later/recipe sorting

Morning

Whats the quality like on the shein stuff zoo

Primark type that,bit with I find they don't shrink as bad if tumble dried!

Tada
Cats fed
Wash on
Harpic lav

Kitchen
Clean windows
Clean sills
Clean all tiling
Quick wipe surfaces and hob
Wipe cupboard fronts
Wipe front table drier/de lint
Sweep floor

Living room
Yet again clear both dining and little side table of belongings(put in piles in rooms) and detritus
Wipe windows
Clean behind sofa 1/free cat toys
Polish round TV unit,put away stray dvds
Wipe mantlepiece
Clean around fireplace
Clear and tidy under dining table
Sweep floor
Change motivational quote..

Shared on this sunny Monday morning...