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!

Oh Bower, I'm sorry about the anxiety. I never realised how badly I'd had it / dealt with it over many years until I had a proper anxiety attack last Saturday. With lots of hard work and counselling I've been able to mostly put it down and suddenly last weekend I was back to the nausea and complete decisional paralysis, all I could do was sit there in distress, ramping up the physical symptoms, waiting for the world to end, basically. I cannot believe there was a period in my life (measured in years) when I felt like that all the time, and just believed that's what adulting felt like and I had to get in with it.

Also really sorry to hear that DCat is not doing so well. Hope you can keep her safe and comfortable at home as long as possible. But what lovely memories of your grandparents! I think we are all quite lucky there.

Lane, great list there and I love the fruit as bullet point markers. Pleased you have such a healthy diet! 😂😂

I've forgotten all the other personals, dammit. I'll look at that later on the laptop, while "we" (DS3 and I) are doing "our" holiday homework!

Ta Da from the end of yesterday / this morninf:
♥️ DW rotated and run again
🧡 Washing off the line and upstairs
💛 Finally got DS2 to check when his Class Zoom (with his form tutor) was - 10am today, so he's going to have to get up 🤣.
💚 DW rotated again
💙 Spoke to DS1 who appears to have actually slept last night after managing a "day" during daylight hours, taking Megahound on a long walk, doing some DIY fixing his room and generally getting back to living an actual life, not vegetating. He's gone to do some yoga now to help his hypermobility and has dug out his physio exercises for knee and ankle support!

To do today:
🌄 LOL
🌄 Clean cloakroom incl floor scrub
🌄 Do homework with DS3 🤬
🌄 Collect sushi for Friday treat tea.🌄 Clean bathrooms
🌄 Hand out more bloody washing
🌄 Finally, actually, mop kitchen floor
🌄 General fiddly-bits tidy
🌄 Do some of my puzzle
🌄 Get DS2 online to his Y12 Meeting at 2pm. I can probably trust him to do it himself (he managed it for the 10am form time) but, y'know... teenage boys etc
🌄 Get used up printer cartridge to the post office

Also sorry you're feeling so crap bower hope you manage to feel a bit calmer today

Meg good list so far! And good news ds is back to the land of the living!

I'm a bit unmotivated today, Friday feeling I think...

Ta das
Two loads of washing
Dishwasher on
Kitchen sides wiped
Played guess who with the kids
School work with dd, phonics games and a maths challenge to weigh objects, which got silly very quickly , a bit of writing too
Tidied living room (not that you'd now notice)
S&s bathroom but deep cleaned toilet as ds I think has been weeing all over it again yuck!
Decided what to have for dinner tonight - veggie chilli with nachos , I'm already looking forward to it!

To do
Tidy upstairs
Some more school work with dd
Make lunch
15 minutes decluttering in bedroom
Clean window ledges / door frame in bedroom

I hate master bedroom week. I don't know why I just never seem to get it fully tidy 😣 all our life admin paperwork is in there at the moment and I really think that's what I need to tackle today, I've got an empty box waiting for it to go into...

I do listen to the radio Bower but I can't hear well so it's just for background company while painting really!

Friday is declutter your bags and car and the baby step about procrastination is here: here

Last day in Master bedroom zone tomorrow. then on to living room for the last week.

morning all

KCC two memes. My spirit animal brings you Friday...

Also I find the second image is true in my house...

Lovely grandparent stories here. It's a pity we haven't provided interested grandparents for ds but at least he has relatively good parents to make up for it!

Also everyone is doing really well with their ta das. I am struggling through work this morning and will have to make up time this afternoon. House is not all that clean but I'll crack on over the weekend.

Bower I'm thinking of your little cat at the moment.

Thank you about the house, it lasted all of 5 minutes until DS2 decided he wanted to come inside and play. Oh well!

fluffy ouch! I hope she’s felling better today!

I’m sorry about the anxiety bower, it can really make you feel crap. I hope Dcat is better today.

I’m sorry DS is struggling zoo

Everyone’s got great lists you’re all putting me to shame!

Ta Da:
Breakfast (we had scotch panckakes and fruit)
Did some self esteem yoga with the boys
Made all beds
Put washing on line
Andy’s excercise
Made lunch
Cleaned from lunch
Now about to go for our walk

Hello all!

Wonderful memes today Lisette!

Bower YY to being similar and I look forward to when we can meet . You can come and inspect my fabric stash and dusty pictures any time

So sorry about the anxiety. It's not my place to say but many people are reassessing their jobs/lives atm and if the thought of school is anxiety-provoking, could you be kind to yourself and take a different path, like helping parents with home-tutoring? There must be even more demand now. It wouldn't be entirely stress free but at least the stresses would be more under your own control ifyswim. I know these things are much easier to suggest on here than actually do though so apologies for wittering on, I just don't like the thought of you being so distressed over such a long period of time .

Megiddo yes yes to decisional paralysis! That's exactly it! So sorry you had a reoccurrence of panic the other day which must be distressing having put so much work in to overcome it. Please don't assume that you are heading back down the same path though, as these are very exceptional and testing times for everyone I used to get panic attacks during which my feet felt so heavy it was as if they were stuck to the floor. [Not being facetious, but I think the paralysis has now moved up to my head! I feel so dull and slow ATM.] Anyway, once I was able to overcome the panic attacks (which are indeed miserable), it gave me the confidence to know I could again ifyswim (except on planes but that another story!).

Wow I would like to see your "flat out" list Foxes if that's what you do when unmotivated ! Bravo! And that's so bittersweet about your Grandfather.

So lovely to read about all of your grandparent stories in fact!

Your list is epic as ever Zoo and I hope ds enjoys his photography!

Going to post 'cos tablet going funny!

That school have directed us to the oxford owl website for books and then he does Ruth Miskin videos on YouTube and some of those are reading.

I had quite the traumatic start to my day. I'm absolutely terrified of birds. Went to the loo this morning and a bird starts flapping round the room. So there's me fleeing the room with my knickers round my ankles screaming like a banshee for DH to come and save me. This has caused much amusement for my household for most of the day.

Not many ta-da's
S&S
Rescued paddling pool from the wind, bleached and put down.
Made a Freakshake cheesecake with DS2 (pic attached)

Now just sat supervising schoolwork with older two. They're both doing factors so easier to help. So much else I could be doing but if I move they'll stop.

FGS knocked post before I put the pic on. Try again

littlemiss that cheesecake is phenomenal. Do you need someone to help you eat it?

DD is fine today after her fall. We are all feeling a bit lazy today. I've got gammon roasting in the slow cooker, washing up and laundry is done.

What we really need to do is wrap up some parcels to go out. But what we are actually doing is messing around on tablets and Daddy.

I'm drinking a hot chocolate and then I am going to get moving. Maybe I could tempt DD to do some baking with me.

I hope you are leaving that in the naughty corner it looks yummy.

Thank you everyone. I dreaded getting up today and i was awake to dozing from 5.45am couldn't face getting up until 8am and after dressing to shoes but no make up (blah) I went down to find DCat in her basket. Due to the concern over her leg and the sofa maybe part of the problem we shut her in the kitchen where everything she needs is. Although not keen to get up immediately she looked quite happy so meds down the throat for both of us and tea and toast on. She wouldn't eat her food but I wondered if she had just had some as it had been disturbed. Then she got up and wandered through the chairs under the table and to the sitting room where she got on the stool and I helped her onto the sofa. She enjoyed her toast and i then relaxed a bit with tea and toast. She has definitely hurt it but is almost walking properly so she stays put for another day thank God. Must admit I did say a prayer for her before bed. She has been up and down several times since so we suspect she has just jarred it when getting down. She didn't even miaow when I touched it this morning.

Zoo I remember you having the girls back and forth was it scoutcat. Love the name. We had five once but i said to DH last night No more Cats! I do love cats although more a dog person. Not sure if I can cope with one now though. I wanted a black cocker as my Gran had one.
Loving the stories about the grandparents what a good question Lisette
Jigolo I have had the normal butterflies before and often pushed myself to do things/be brave but nothing like this. It is really awful.
I think I might like to volunteer to support people now I have experienced it.

Our teachers are doing an amazing amount apparently and if I leave I don't think I will work with children again. Something happened which started all this anxiety. It was badly handled. I am having counselling.I am still signed off work through ill health. I can't say why.
Thanks and it does help to know other people have experienced severe anxiety. I do think that is why it is so lovely in our corner. I am sure it helps some to say they have experienced similar problems/reactions. The anonymity of this group means you might say things here that you wouldn't say in real life.

I haven't procrastinated. After breakfast I contacted the bank and although it took two goes I have now set up telephone banking and I was able to send my sister some money. I then phone her to tell her. Several hours later ( i haven't seen or spoken to her since last April.I thought it was last August /September but she reminded me it was my birthday. So we had a lovely chat. She isn't working at all now but is quite upbeat as her daughter has just got engaged on her birthday this month.She is a lovely girl full of fun.I haven't met him as it is nearly three years since I saw my niece. They all live in the north of Scotland.

Some fantastic lists from lots of you. I hope others feel better as the day goes on. I find comedy sometimes helps me or music.

Loving the MEMEs Lisette. We used to have red squirrels across on the green. They used to sneak through the gate or over the wall and run along the path past the glass kitchen door to the bird feeder or to bury their nuts in our garden. One was killed and the other 3 must have died.
Talking of doors I have two lots of gloss to paint on.
Thank Crunchie it's Friday! I could just eat one now damn.

Glad to hear she is ok Fluffy Don't they put the wind up you sometimes!

Phew it is so hot and sultry here!

Bower so sorry that it's all so stressful for you and its utterly crap that you havent been supported properly

Good to know that dcat's paw is ok.
I agree about this thread! 💚

Fluffiest yes meant to say earlier I am glad your dd came through her fall ok with no lasting ill effects Yum to gammon!

Wow to cake LittleMiss! Argh re: bird incident!

didmyhouse sorry tidiness didn't last long but you know it is clean underneath ifyswim! Your list is very good btw. Hope your wisdom tooth/gum less painful today.

That I hope you can catch a break over the weekend

Your multi-coloured list is amazing Lane!

I have done naff all today except make a few patchwork squares and faff about. Bad case of CBA. There are half finished tasks all over the house tbh [so ridiculous!] Did speak to lovely friend on phone though! And did draw out a plan for a perennial cottage garden type corner bed.

I would love to do some painting but my paints are lost in a sea of crap in home office. This house is going to pot tbh!

Positive news: dd had another doorstop visit from an lovely ex-ballet friend who had v kindly made us some lovely masks! (They are mandatory here in certain situations so it's good to have plenty.) And they nattered for ages. I so want to say "Come in, sit in the garden" to dd's friends but dh says it's too risky yet and against the rules, and I doubt their parents would be happy if we broke lockdown restrictions either.

Dd has heard she doesn't have to sit a physics exam! She is very happy about it!

As expected, dh was too exhausted to do much yesterday. He slept most of afternoon as he was really tired. ( Even under lockdown, we are out of sync! ) He's right back at it today of course!

I really admire his work ethic but boy it's hard to live with sometimes. I remember going to a cocktail party with his colleagues way back when we were engaged and one of the senior bods there said to me "be prepared to only see your dh at weekends". Today, frankly, I would be grateful for even that!

Heigh ho and where's the gin?

[Makes note to self to stop twittering on about everything but housework on a Flying thread ]

Forgot KCC : lovely memory of playing the game 'Frustration' (when it had just come out in the 70s and was a huge novelty) with my grandfather. And him spreading marmalade on his toast with the back of a spoon. And how he always wore a tie and waistcoat in a weathers! We have a beautiful lithograph of his portrait in the hall here.

Btw are any of you managing to do any serious decluttering during lockdown? I was late to start at the beginning, then got in to the swing of it and managed to clear under kitchen sink, and a good few cupboards and drawers, and I've ground to a halt again now ... .

I've done a bit sc but no charity shops to take stuff to and I hate just chucking perfectly good stuff away, so kids toys and stuff I won't do any decluttering until I absolutely have to (probably when it's ds birthday!) But we have been doing clothes as dh decided we should wear everything in our wardrobe (not all at once obviously!) and any time something is uncomfortable or doesn't fit right we chuck it there and then. It's working well! Got a whole bag ready for the charity shop or eBay or somebody once we can do all that stuff again!
Well done on your decluttering - sounds like you were doing the jobs nobody wants to do, I hate clearing out under the sink!!!

The only thing i have decluttered is biscuits

When I say decluttering of kids rooms I generally mean binning random objects made from twigs or in the case of this morning a bowl of pistachio nut shells (in dd room???) rather than actual decluttering of toys...

that we are doing a great job decluttering our alcohol cupboard!! Found some Pimm's we'd forgotten about!

Ha That Decluttering biscuits and alcohol I can definitely do with great efficiency!

I like the sound of your dh more and more Foxes! Dh is sentimentally attached to old jumpers with holes in. Mind you, old twig sculptures would probably be my downfall ...

No I did the school bags twice. Thinking I might go for a third visit. Had a small basket load of clothing. 🧺 I need to do the (cough,cough)craft room .
DCat is curled up fast asleep next to me. Ahh! Having a lovely cup of tea. Just finished painting. So the door now has first coat of gloss on the outside of the 🚪 another coat tomorrow then the inside the next couple of days assuming it dries by tomorrow.

Tea easy pasta and tomato and basil sauce with whatever veg left - peppers, courgettes, mushroom. DH ate stew last night I had nothing after we found cat not walking properly. She has got herself up on the sofa twice today so guess it was just jarred thank goodness. She is not going to be allowed in sitting room at night or when we are out of the house. So backto the kitchen basket.

SC I have holey jumper and cardio I keep saying I am going to patch them with felt. Haven’t got around to it yet. They are pure wool and bothhave dark unusual shades and are light weight but so so cosy.

I just have one twig type sculpture. It was from a very good ( even if I say it myself) series of art lessons I did years ago. The kids were so switched on and motivated and we were so successful. I photographed some of the work and one child didn’t want hers and said her mum would just throw it out anyway so I had really liked it and she was thrilled when I ask her if I could have it. I still have it. The work was on Andy Goldsworthy. He has some within 60 miles radius so I went one day and photographed lots of them. He is now world famous. We then made our own miniature version on paper/ card and one of the follow up lesson was using foil and mod rock and paint if they wanted to do so.

I agree I have no problem decluttering biscuits, wine and gin.😆

Foxes that is a good idea of DH with the clothes. I have some I love
That don’t fit. If I stopped decluttering biscuits they might fit 🤣 I have lost some weight.
Not sure about wearing long evening dresses while painting though😂

Hehe tbf sc I think in the 15 years I've known him this is the first time dh has made a decluttering suggestion 😂

My dd makes things pretty much every day so I have to be quite ruthless or we'd be over run with strange creations made of, to be frank, rubbish . We have a cardboard laptop, a "pet" box , a sock puppet collection made with twigs as well as socks , a "bottle head" man and a picture frame made of a box and toilet roll tubes...and that's basically just this week 🤦‍♀️

I’ve managed some decluttering in lockdown. Not nearly as much as I’d like, or as much as needs doing! But it’s something. It really feels impossible when trying to keep the home ed/school work going though - you’d think I’d be used to it now being a seasoned home edder, but I’m finding it really draining ATM! I’m really hoping we can use half term to give ourselves a kick start - to be fair we do normally manage more on weekends so it should be possible, and we did a fair bit in the Easter holidays.

Another thing I’m thinking about is trying to get as much printed as possible for the rest of term. We have so much routine stuff - a couple of sheets of maths a day, person of the week, now the word of the day stuff too - there’s no real reason I can’t at least get all of that sorted over half term (especially since I tripled our instant ink printing allowance). Doing that plus gathering exactly what books we want to finish by the end of term might help a bit. But then I do want to maintain the flexibility that has really benefited DS in lockdown 🤔 it’s a tough balancing act.

I’m just grabbing some quiet time as feeling a bit stressy - DS has his first online scouts meeting at 7. Hopefully he’ll manage, it’s just a half hour zoom meet, but it was a bit last minute and we didn’t plan dinner etc. That’s making me think too TBH - clubs are creeping back in (tap may have finished actually as teacher is due next week 😍 need to check dates in case they’ve got a substitute) and I can already see how that stuff is making it difficult to stick to the schedule! It’s like the more we access the outside world the harder it is to keep a routine, and the quicker chaos descends. What with DD1’s unexpected return to school I’m already thinking we need to redo the chores again as the morning stuff isn’t really working. Still at least this is sort of providing an even more gradual return to real life so we can adjust.

Sorry for the waffling/venting. It’s amazing how affected I am by a little bit of change

Basically I am just sulking about everything not being perfectly predictable. 😳

Bower we had an Andy Goldsworthy book as a wedding present 21 years ago that I still look at. The pictures are hypnotic, I find! Glad DCat is getting on a bit better.

Lane, totally understand wanting the world to be completely predictable and run to plan. It won't however, so the best we can do is teach our DC to deal with that better than we do. You are doing brilliantly ♥️.

Foxes oh god yes, the creative endevours. They're enough to drive you mad all on their own!

Fluff, glad DD has regained her equilibrium. Hope you have too!

Feeling a bit flat today due to events stirred up by counselling that have their anniversary tomorrow. And DH has had an ideological disagreement with his schoolmates over whether men are ever to blame for failed relationships or whether it's those nasty feminists turning women's head. This is because his best man has recently been divorced on the grounds of being a self-centred tit for 15 years. DH is trying to gently suggest that centring only yourself in your marriage is probably not healthy. The divorcee and all the others are citing Jordan Peterson and it all got very ugly and DH is very sad that people he's known for 30+ years can be so blinkered.

Nevermind. I have some carb-free prosecco to open and a really rubbish computer game to play.