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!

Thanks lovelies. Yeah I know it’s not personal really - before lockdown we’d meet up at the drop of a hat. Frustrating though as it’s bringing up some past stuff that I’d worked through really well earlier this year

I’ve retreated upstairs to finally finish my book

Enjoy the read in peace lane
Foxes totally get how you feel.hope the peace whilst DC help sad clean car helps
kT maybe I should deliver,the zoolets all liked it
That I didn't notice,but on reflection they do look a bit like snowmen 🤣
Meg bathroom and toilet are fastest as decluttered but turn my back and they are fetid in blink of an eye looks pointedly at ds.

Calming me,colouring,or walking in nature I think.pottering in garden, reading come close second

Finished the book. So I can start my book club one (much quicker read) later today or tomorrow.

I’ve decided to try and go out for walks in the morning. May not be warm enough to sit in the park and read or draw that early in the day but at least it would mean I had a reason to get up and out IYSWIM.

🍨 for everyone feeling down today, we all have those days.

We've just had a hot walk out to the river bank and actually ended up seeing my parents there too (the river is half way between our houses so was bound to happen eventually). No hugs obviously but it was really nice to spend a little time with them. I normally see then three of four times a week and miss being with then a lot.

What centres me - a bit twee but honestly prayer and reading the Bible are a massive help to me. I just find that I always get what I really need, whether its comfort, courage or a bit of a head wobble. And being outside in nature. Everytime, even in awful weather.

Not many ta das today but thought I would list my regular excuses/reasons for my ta-didn'ts instead, just for fun:
😴 I'm tired
😴 period is due
😴 period is here
😴 feeling sad
😴 it's a Saturday/Sunday
😴 it's a bank holiday monday
😴 one thing didn't go according to plan so now I don't want to do anything
😴 it's too nice outside to be indoors cleaning
😴 I'm too cold to emerge from out of the blanket
😴 I was productive yesterday so now deserve a treat day
😴 my book is too good to put down

As far as I'm concerned they are all legitimate reasons not excuses Fluffiest.

Have had a lovely day in the garden (well we're still there). Salted caramel cookie dough thingy turned out fab and has been shared out with neighbours too.

Dinner is in the slow cooker so not much else to do other than a bit of ironing which probably won't get done.

Drooling at salted caramel cookie dough thingy Miss.

Fluff they are all perfectly legitimate reasons not to bother. I’d like to add
😴 there’s no point, it’ll be a mess again in 30 seconds

I attempted the gardening. Got my trowel and gloves out the shed. DD then announced she wanted to go to the beach and that was that. A lovely couple of hours splashing and making sandcastles. Hope you enjoy your beach evening Expletive.

Ta da:
✅ hoovered up sand from the hallway, stairs and bathroom.
✅ kitchen and dishes done after tea
✅ cleared hotspot in hallway
✅ general tidy downstairs
✅ uniform, bag, breakfast and lunch ready for tomorrow.
✅ attempting bedtime with a very overtired toddler. She’s almost asleep 🙌🏻

Well after a lovely day in the garden we've had an awful evening. DS1&2 took iPads to bed and I caught them playing them at 10pm so they were banned.

Caught DS1 again so I told him he could go to bed and get a good nights sleep instead of watching the film. Sat watching the film for about 20 mins and DS2 went to the toilet came back said DS1 was not there. Searched the house and he had gone.

After checking with friends and family I ended up having to call the police. So we've had about 8 police cars outside and countless more looking plus about 50 people out in cars and on foot looking for him. We might not live in the poshest area but by god people come together in a crisis.

He was found about and hour and a half after he went by a neighbour who brought him back. I immediately burst into tears and cuddled the life out of him which probably hasn't helped him realise how serious it was but I'm just so glad to have him back safe and sound.

✴️went through a lot of DD1’s google classroom - submitted photos of work she’d forgotten, listed work to do etc.
✴️LOL
✴️supervised chores
✴️finished book
✴️emailed therapist asking for earlier session
✴️20 mins bike while I had the TV to myself
✴️finally sorted pill box for the week (it starts on Sunday so this is rather late)
✴️another page of my picture quiz
✴️wrote more haiku quiz questions

So a day of trying to do relaxing things and not much else. DD1’s school stuff was really draining! She won’t get much of a half term but she needs to get a lot done (and to be fair actual term time seems to be very relaxing and fun at the moment hence her getting less done there!)

Just saw your post (I’m so behind on the thread). Oh my gosh awol that’s so scary 😣 must have been the longest time of your life. Glad everyone helped and found him quickly!

Oh you must have had such a scare! . So pleased he’s back home safe and what good neighbours you have. Of course your first instinct was to cuddle him. You can make him understand the seriousness later when you’ve had time to recover from the shock

Dear Lord Littlemiss you must have been out of your mind with worry. Ds did a disappearing act at a sports centre when he was almost 4. He went to the bathroom without telling me and brought another child with him but we couldn't find them. DH and I drummed into him later that he must always tell us if he needs the bathroom and not to just disappear. After that, in the middle of the night he'd pop his head around the door to tell us.

LittleMiss how old is he? What a fright you must have had. So glad he is safe and sound.

Lane sorry about the meet maybe they were having a crap day and forgot. Great list.
zoo what a list and thank you for recipe I might make those tomorrow.

Well I had a surprise text late last night to say that D the man was coming today. So we cleared everything out of the hall and I tidied a bit upstairs. I hadn’t listened to the latest news but he said he was allowed back to work. I wasn’t sure but DH decided it would be fine. So he has been and took off remaining tiles and plastered the wall. He is back tomorrow to start tiling. It is good that we can open up and not have him anywhere else. I disinfected all the door handles and the bannister.
We might have a shower by the weekend. Yeah!

I made a roast dinner yesterday so just made a tray of med. veg for tonight. Easy. With black currant and lemon pudding and ice cream.

I painted the door after clearing the hall today. Then
LoL x2
Fed cat and meds.
Fed chickens
Vacuumed
Wiped worktops
BIt of decluttering

Going to post before I fall asleep.😞

AWOL that's scary! I'm glad he got home safe and sound.

Sorry no other personals, been too busy at home to get on mn the last couple of days.

Saturday I prepped the walls in DDs room (after she emptied a lot of it) spent the day painting, 3 walls light grey, 1 dark grey. ILs came over for dinner, although FIL cooked so was relaxing. I had made dessert though, apple crumble and custard. I was so excited I found a container of birds custard in my pantry!

Sunday I finished painting DDs room (2nd coat) although DD insisted on doing trim so got a bunch of paint on the ceiling- so next job in there will be to paint the ceiling, along with the other trim and skirting boards- once we buy the skirting boards. We had replaced flooring in our room and DDs room last summer, but haven't replaced the skirting boards yet. I sanded her chest of drawers ready for a coat of paint. I made dinner last night for ILS since it was a long weekend.

Today I repainted DDs chest of drawers and replaced the knobs on it. I also decided to repaint the picnic table, I just have the benches to do tomorrow. I'm tired! We ordered food in, MIL and SIL picked it up.

Tomorrow is my normal day off and that's a pretty full day. My hair appointment is in the morning, followed by DDs. While she's getting hers done I'll work on the benches/ grocery shopping/ pickup. We have a dentist appt tomorrow too.

AWOL what a day you've had.ad he was found safe.
Fluffy love the reasons I didn't
Bower a shower soon.whoo hoo!

Tonight's been light dozes,no proper deep sleep AT ALL,am wired and awake but body's exhausted.need food shop today...

DDs chest of drawers. I forgot to take a before picture. The top is chalkboard paint. I'm pretty proud of that! It's been in my family a few generations.

Well done on the decorating hazel! Would love to get some done around here!

AWOL that must have been very scary

That looks so cool hazel!

I’m about to wake DH up (normally only has a lie in one day in the week so we can get on with home ed but obv it’s half term) so I can go for a walk. I’ll take my book club book which I started last night.

AWOL that must have been terrifying, so glad he was located safe and sound. Of course the first thing you did was cuddle him. I hope a nice chat with a stern-but-kind policeman will have persuaded him never to do it again.

Hazel, what a busy weekend, but the chest of drawers looks amazing! That reminds me that DS3 has my grandmother's chest of drawers from the 1920s, that needs some attention. She persuaded my grandfather to "update" it with thick, white gloss paint in the 1950s 🤦🏻‍♀️(it's pretty, carved darkwood underneath) and it needs a bit of love and attention (and an appointment with some paint stripper).

Last night's ta da was a full kitchen clean at 10pm because everyone else had shoved off to bed. I am considering a total sense of humour failure.

To dos for today
😈 DW done while waiting for kettle to boil
😈 S&S
😈 LOL
😈 Scrub cloakroom
😈 Get last night's boil wash of kitchen cloths on the line
😈 Sort and hand out clean washing
😈 Walk hound
😈 Finish piece of client work
😈 Review freezer for menu plan =>
😈 What's for muffins? (This is a question DS2 asked when he was about 3; muffins was actually the answer he was seeking! 😂)
😈 Try zoo's oat cups recipe
😈 Finish building chimera for art with DS3 🤬
😈 Build OT file for DS3 and work out what this week's homework is
😈 Try to get to the bottom of why DS3 is suddenly regularly panicking and saying school feels really stressful and horrid. Suspect it's these bloody open-ended end-of-year projects, which just absolutely paralyse him. They really do not suit ASD rigid thinking.
😈 Hand-stitch more of the bunting I'm making, just because I have scraps to use up and we all need pretty things in our lives
🤬 go for 30 mile drive with DC in car to test my eyesight . Nuff said!

@Lisette, we're getting quite close to this thread being full - do you want to start a second one, or shall I take over June early? Happy to do what suits you.

🍒🙋 to everyone, off to walk the dog (once I've changed out of my pyjamas!).

Baby step 26-we are not behind here

Tuesday: plan and play.

Zone 5 - living room detailed cleaning here

KCC - if you had a gap year now what would you do? Money no object.

Can't put images up as on app.

Morning all. Cherry wing flaps to all and sundry.

Will go for a run walk at 11.15 with ds.

I'd live in my favourite cities for chunks of the year. I'd take all sorts of classes to learn how to do stuff properly - swimming, languages etc.

Build up my confidence

Ooh, excellent KCC question. Money and childcare no object? I'd start by spending some time in the part of France I studied for my PhD and get a real feel for the geography; maybe do the second half of the research while I'm there 😁 (only been saying that for 15 years!).

Then, back to the UK for 2 things: a tour of the Anglo Saxon monastic centres I studied in parallel with France, trying to get a feel for the medieval landscape; then, I really really want to tour the UK on the old coaching roads, in a 1920s roadster, with a leather suitcase, a cute cloche hat and 21st century beds and broadband 😂.

Right now I don’t actually care where I’d go, I’d just be glad to escape responsibility for a year and I don’t even work!

(Yes DD1 is being a massive PITA over schoolwork AGAIN and I am pissed off)

Oh dear, Lane, I can't offer helpful suggestions but I send huge sympathy, and ! DS2 is my Tedious About Schoolwork child and up to a point I've decided he stands or falls by his own efforts 😢.

Ta das (yes, some are double counted from earlier!)
♥️ DW
🧡 S&S
🧡 Wiped all the hair and beard clippings out of our bathroom (mutter)
💛 Properly scrubbed cloakroom
💚 LOL
💙 Dog walked
💜 Keto elderflower cordial-making started
🖤 Melted and re-wicked the living room candle.
♥️ DS3 showered and dressed

Time for a second coffee then up the bank.

Lane i feel you. But also suspect i would want to come back within about three days!

Ta da

❤ me and dc up fed and dressed
💙 first wash load on
💛 washing on line
💚 pots washed
💜 dcs lunch in

Thank you both! Feeling slightly calmer now as managed to get her doing some simple art HW and I’ve sent her upstairs to do some fact finding on Queen Liz - that will mean that both history and art are fully up to date (assuming she has actually finished her Anderson shelter drawing as she said she did last night )

In a more positive reality a gap year would preferably involve Japan! I would love to tour all the shrines and temples, spend the time drawing and learning to paint (I can draw, I am crap at painting)

DS is typing up the story he started the other day :)