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!

X posts!

Well done for run Fluffiest!

And thanks for reassurance over chocolate bar Megiddo and everyone! I was just so annoyed with myself about it being on day one! Interesting info about Noon, thank you. There's a new thread about it in weight loss ATM funnily enough. People are saying it's quite American in tone/ with regard to foodstuffs. I will avoid Our Path thank you again!

I'm part Irish and fwiw think Leo is doing well! Plan quite similar to here! And funnily enough Lisette we didnt have a gov when the outbreak happened either and a new pm (not as experienced as Leo) was hastily put in place who has really risen to the challenge.

Good luck with the mat based exercise Lisette! (My joints are so crap ATM I'm not entirely sure I could actually get up from one without a winch currently, never mind do exercises! )

Omg the boys dropped a pen when they were colouring, toddler got hold of it and has drawn literally all over upstairs. Must add magic sponge to shopping list 🤦‍♀️

Thank you We3kings! 👋

Mahoosive storm here ...there goes the last of the lilac blossom ... .

Oh see schools aren't really opening properly until Sept in Ireland. Probably a good decision on reflection. So difficult to judge the consequences of easing in different EU countries when they all started from a different base point ie in Spain they are only just being allowed out to exercise for first time, in Austria hairdressers are opening now, in Sweden (despite less rigorous lockdown initially overall) there is apparently more social compliance. So very tricky one to judge and probably wise to wait a bit ... .

Hi everyone, we've done our family fun and had a lovely bike ride this morning and dd finally learnt to ride without her stabilizers - she is so so excited and it was a lovely moment ❤️

Ta das
Daily routine half done

To do
Put some washing on
Finish upstairs daily routine stuff
15 minutes decluttering shelving in dining area (have an aim to sort out a box of random paperwork on the shelf)
Change bed sheets

Oh, how lovely, foxes. Hope DD is proud of herself!

Ta das
♥️ Bed stripped and in the wash
🧡 Hound walked
💛 5,000 steps achieved for the morning!

foxes aw that's lovely.hureab to stabilizer free ddfox!!
SC does she actually have "gastric issues" or just pain?I ask as lil zoo get horrific bouts low pain.all obvs stuff ruled out.stress is official blame as a type IBS/abdominal migraine?she takes buscopan to ease cramping a little.warmth on it helps and she only wants eat very bland things but us advised keep eating some fruit to "keep things moving" like slices of apple or pear

How exciting for your DD Foxes

Zoo shame you still aren’t sleeping and you had a nightmare shopping. I did mine at 7am and it was dead. Have you got a shop near you that opens early?

SC hope DD is more comfortable soon. Could it be some sort of food intolerance? Sounds similar to when I go overboard on dairy. Noom is quite American but I’m finding the daily articles make sense and are changing my approach to eating. If you decide to do it be warned that they take the money out on day 14 so remember to cancel if it’s not for you. I can see that it might be difficult to follow with allergies etc Megiddo.

Sorry DC are sabotaging your flying We3. Hope the pen comes off!

Bower your garden sounds lovely.

Hazel that sounds very spooky! We used to have a ‘spooky room’ when we were in an old part of the hospital. I used to hate being in there and had a few unexplained happenings. We are now in a brand new building and I don’t miss that room at all.

Fave birthday memory - surprise birthday party for my 30th. I never thought anyone would do that for me and was amazed that DH could pull it off, including getting friends and family from elsewhere to come.

Ta Das

✅ early supermarket shop. Was tempted by some lovely new bedding and decorative bits to the make the boudoir look pretty
✅ fridge cleaned, shopping away
✅ LOL including mattress protector after DD woke up weeing this morning. Bless her, she woke up and stopped herself and ran to the loo. Mattress is 2 weeks old so I’m pleased I invested in the protector!
✅ S & s upstairs and down
✅ downstairs dusted, hoovered, floors mopped
✅ under sofas and the skirting boards hoovered
✅ living room and dining room windows cleaned
✅ stairs hoovered
✅ LOL in dryer and new bedding in WM
✅ DW emptied, breakfast and lunch things washed
✅ finances looked at
✅ meal plan
‘Quiet time’ now ie DH dozing, DD watching Peppa and me MNetting. Unfortunately it looks like we’ve missed the best of the weather but hoping to get out for a walk, and planning a blast on the exercise bike before dinner.

Afternoon all! We slept in until 7!, so hopefully we are getting back into out normal routine. It’s shopping day today so DSF will be along soon with some shopping for the week for us. It’s the highlight of the kids’ week:

we3 I’m still feeding DS3, and DS2 once a day. So I suspect if DS3 is like his brothers I’ll be feeding for another year and a half. I can’t wait to get bras when it’s done, I’ll need a proper fitting though.

lane I struggle with maths too. It’s good that it’s clicked for DD, is she finding it easier to understand with you or is it easier for her at school?.

bower I wish I had an interest in my garden, I keep the grass trimmed but that’s it. The deliveries from the local garden place sound great. There’s not many places like that near me, it’s more big chains, but I’d love to support a smaller business.

Very spooky hazel. I’ve had a few things like that happen in my house, which is weird considering it was built in the 70s so not old at all!.

Sorry you didn’t get much sleep zoo

They’re adorable we3! When that happened to us I was treading on coco pops for weeks.

Well done on the run fluffy

SC sorry you hear DD isn’t very well, I hope you can get to the bottom of it!.

Well done to your DD fox!!!

Ta Da:
Fed myself and the sprogs✅
Did some reading with DS3✅
Sorted out the cupboard upstairs with the boiler in✅
Did Andy’s exercise✅
Meditation with the boys✅
Painting✅

It isn’t much but it’s the first day in a while I’ve had the energy to do activities with the boys. That makes me sound like a crap mom, usually we do a lot but my MH has taken a knock since corona so I just haven’t had it in me, but I’m feeling much more positive now. The boys enjoyed painting their feet and hair more than the paper😂

Hi all!
Just spent 20 mins on exercise bike which flew by because I was catching up with the thread!

:o at earth suffering from CHAOS :o

Totally get you on the problem with calorie counting etc meg - I tried MFP but the anxiety it caused was huge because I didn’t know exact numbers. I know people who do well with macros and all that but it would just do my head in sadly. I am trying to just make most of my decisions good ones - this was working really well earlier in the year but has definitely been harder in lockdown!

Very well done getting the paints out I’ve still not been brave enough :o despite having bought things for activities that require painting!

Sitting in the garden atm. It’s very muddy. Cagletini is playing with a hockey stick as well as chasing her shadow around.

Birthdays - that’s a tricky one really as they were a bit of a contentious issue growing up, my parents never really did them (or Christmas). I think probably the best one was my 30th, when for the first time I actually arranged something - just asked friends to meet us at the ice cream parlour during the day. It took quite a lot of confidence to do that without convincing myself nobody could possibly want to hang out with me :o but actually lots of friends did and it was lovely to think wow, I actually do have a great bunch of friends now (this was a couple of years after entering the local home ed scene) :)

⚠️Possible stupid question alert⚠️
Can you use a hoover on hard floors? We’ve only swept the wood hallway since moving here, would it be pointless to try getting the worst up with the hoover (high traffic area so constant leaves and grass etc from buggy)

Oh and very re the maths I think it does help having me to explain it, she was very very behind when she re-entered school though. Because we’d had to spend such a huge amount of time going over and over and over the basics. She’s very likely dyscalculiaic, but also has visual processing disorder so everything just gets mixed up and she can’t hold info in her head at all.

And school - even in the second lowest set (they didn’t put her in the very lowest because they thought the horrific behaviour in there would be worse for her) - just moves so fast with maths, there were issues with the homework never being what they’d done in lessons etc. So I’m grateful we have more time again now, BUT very very pleased that the work is being set by someone else not me IYSWIM - while DS is perfectly happy with mum and dad teaching everything DD1 prefers the approval of others and us as a back up!

She has agreed to do a bit of extra (not set by teacher) maths next week with DS though - we are using Smarties, Millions and jelly beans to do averages and maybe probability :o

Thankfully maths is my first love :o so it’s not an issue to help. DS is still missing bits from the KS2 curriculum for sure (he’s y6) but - and this sounds awful and I’m mainly saying it to point out it wasn’t my awful teaching that caused the delay honest 😳 the irony is before toddler arrived I was tutoring other home ed kids in maths too!) - since DD1 went back to school he is catching up and overtaking with the maths and has done some KS3. I felt really bad when I realised how much we’d been holding him back due to DD1’s difficulties! It was so hard to balance the two of them as I was always worried about DD1 seeing herself as the stupid one :( she’s really not, she just drew the short straw with multiple learning difficulties. I’m glad the school is setting so much work as we don’t need to go back to that.

Well done for the exercise bike lane . I consider my movement done for today , we have been out for two walks today (shh don't tell anyone promise we usually stick to one!) and spent them running up and down next to dd on her bike and ds on his bike and then his scooter.

I'm worn out tbh!

I stripped all the beds earlier and dh is putting sheets back on. This is a good job for a Saturday I've decided as dh is around to help, I hate putting sheets on beds! I also decluttered a box on our shelves and dusted the shelves too.

Just hung the washing up and discovered a tissue explosion but gold star to me I haven't ranted at dh about it 😇(it was all his stuff in there and we have the same argument every time, I say check your pockets before you put things in basket he says check pockets before you do the wash!!!!)

Dh is making pizzas for dinner 😋

< reminds to leave some pizza in naughty corner to foxes!>
Lane I see no reason you couldn't hoover a hardwood floor if has adjustable head
KT most stores here do vulnerable shoppers only from 8-9am,having opened at 8..

Didn't get a nap
Girls laundry baskets are EMPTY!til they get in showers late

DS laundry basket has only couple vests in

Lil zoo bed was washed as had cat fluids of some kind on it

Towels going in now

Starting organise zoolets helping tasks better
Other than bed making,try keep rooms tidy they have tasks each- D's keep hall tidy/sort shoes at least once a day/helping simple tasks
Lil zoo poo pick litter tray mid pm/helping with laundry loads
Dd2 putting bags rubbish in big bin outside,help shopping as necand various other tasks as and when asked

lane I have been putting it off but they loved it. I will probably do it again soon. They need a good scrub tonight though. I really struggled with maths because the class sizes were so big, I ended up being homeschooled and then I got it because there was more time to focus on things and I wasn’t distracted by the class. Also I think it depends on your hoover.

Erm. Zoo. What does adjustable head mean (I really am clueless!)

Fantastic about the helping schedule for zoolets! We are only two weeks in but it’s going well so far, they are definitely responding better to it being written and up on the wall, there’s no uncertainty etc.

We have the exact same argument in our house Foxes. Took me ages to get him to remember to take his belt off his trousers before putting it in the basket

Lane I hoover the hard floors. Mine has a hard floor setting although the old one didn’t. I sometimes find a dustpan and brush is better, like for the little stones that get trailed in from the pebbledash out the back - the hoover just seems to spit them back out.

Continued ta Das:
✅ LOL 2 in dryer, number 3 in WM
✅ made biscuits with DD
✅ hoovered again due to flour and sprinkles
✅ out for a long walk. Was about to go on exercise bike but DH has just informed me both that and the cross trainer are inaccessible as he’s been “sorting” stuff in the garage. At least I’ve hit my step goal

I also struggle with calorie counting. I don’t stick to the limits rigidly on Noom, but it gives you ratios of certain foods to aim for and I try to get that about right. Like you Lane I’m just aiming for good choices. Talked DH out of a takeaway earlier and he’s making us a Chinese fakeaway. I always feel I should have immediately shed half a stone making decisions like that

That’s rubbish Zoo. Ours is NHS from 6 then 7 full opening. Hope next trip is less unpleasant. for empty laundry basket and task delegation.

Appreciate all hoover related thoughts btw! (Also for any pedants like me out there, I am allowed to say hoovering not vacuuming as this one is a Hoover brand :o)

Forgot to say earlier lisette I love the meme - it is far too easy even at times like this (perhaps especially when there is so much pressure on everyone to “make the most of lockdown”) to focus on what we still aren’t managing to do. But when I think about it I can be pretty proud. For example our schedule - no we aren’t sticking to it perfectly, it was pretty ambitious but we are managing the main bits of it, for example DD1 is managing to get up earlier and thus sleep earlier, I’m getting more exercise even if not quite as much as I hope to, they’re doing the chore chart well, we’ve done decluttering even if again it’s not quite as much as I’d hoped yet.

In discussions about having a takeaway today - I don’t feel remotely bad about that as not had one for a few weeks, we’ve agreed probably once a week now. It’s a bit tricky with DH’s coeliac and caglets being fussy though!

My favourite birthday moment...probably my 5th birthday, we had a little tea party with all the family and a bouncy castle in my garden. Every one thought I was really cool because I had a bouncy castle

Ha, mine is not a hoover, and I went through a phase of making myself say vacuuming, but it takes too much thought about how many ‘u’s and ‘c’s and hoovering just rolls off the tongue far easier. Mine is a shark and I love her. I could say ‘sharking’ I suppose

foxes I'm completely on your side regarding tissues in pockets, although I am the most guilty person of doing it in our house

I haven't hit all my to do list goals but I did shine the sink, go for a really long uphill walk with the family and made one of my favourite meals: lime and coriander chicken wings with homemade sweet potato fries.

Special birthday: for my 21st my parents took me and my brother to California for two weeks. We did LA, Joshua Tree National Park, Laguna beach and Disneyland. Never done a holiday as extravagant as that before (or since) and it was really special. I still remember the pancake towers at the diner in Laguna beach, and how eerie and strange an environment Joshua Tree felt.

Favourite birthday memory my 24th when my now dh proposed 😍

Your chicken dinner sounds fab fluffiest and I'm also guilty of leaving tissues in pockets but I'm a hypocrite

Awww foxes that’s so lovely 😍

I ordered two takeaways. Because the first got cancelled! So the upshot was I got my KFC after all :o