August already?! Time keeps flying like the Fledglings!

[SingToTheSky]

Hello and welcome to the (slightly early) August Fledgling Thread! Join us for housework chat and a ridiculous amount of non housework chat too.

We follow (supposedly) the FlyLady system, which helps you gradually build up a set of routines. This month I won’t be putting regular links on, but there will be regular references to whatever the current zone and daily focus is. Please ask if you need any further info!

Here are some links to get you started (but don’t sign up for the emails as you’ll get inundated!)

www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/ - a set of little tasks to gradually add to your day - some are a bit twee so pick and choose what you want!

www.flylady.net/c/sp.php#missions - this updates weekly with a set of five specific tasks for the weekly zone - worth checking for ideas! I will try and remember to remind us what zone we are in. It changes on a Sunday and we will be starting with Zone 1, the entrance/porch/hallway, and dining room if you have one.

www.flylady.net/c/lp.php - this contains links for most other things so is a good place to check if you don’t know where to start

It looks like the focus of the month for August is LAUNDRY - getting into the habit of a full load washed, dried and away each day.

Also I was bored a while back so I put together a little glossary of the many weird and might-seem-a-bit-cliquey terms. We have been going a long time but we always love newbies - hopefully this list will help you settle in.
KCC - the Keep Calm Corner, invented by our lovely Fledgling SC back in March, where the OP posts nice diverting links, memes, questions etc to distract us from the pandemic.

Ta Da - instead of a to do list (which is of course welcome too) we often post our achievements, with accompanying jazz hands, in order to celebrate the positives, however small they seem! Sometimes if we want to share an embarrassed giggle/commiserations we also post a ta didn’t - the stuff we didn’t get done. Oops.

BRC - Bag/Box of Random Crap. These are usually formed when we are panic tidying and shove anything in “to sort later” which is also known as a stash and dash.

Power of Three or PO3 - the idea that if you’re feeling really unmotivated/overwhelmed by your to do list, you just choose three things to do, and then post when you’ve done them.

Cherry Waves - borne of a typo of “cheery waves” this is now - to the extent my autocorrect just changed it again - often how we sign off. You may also see it in emoji form! 🍒👋🙋🏻 (😷 for socially distanced waves!).

Haughty Corner - this is from a typo of the naughty corner - the virtual hangout spot where we hide from housework and eat virtual snacks.

Future Friend or FF - the idea (apparently coming from The Organised Mum Method) of doing something to make life easier for yourself in future. Includes things like choosing clothes for the next day, getting bags ready etc.

DLMS - didn’t lose my shit - in other words, somehow stayed relatively calm despite a stressful day!

SS/S&S - Swish and Swipe - this is one of the key parts of the morning routine, a quick once over of the bathroom.

And a few basics:
LOL - load of laundry
WM - washing machine
TD - tumble dryer
DW - dishwasher
HSL - hallway, stairs, landing

And finally, for any Fledglings old or new who are trying to lose weight in lockdown, here’s our new body clutter banishing thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weight_loss_chat/3975886-Body-Clutter-Be-Gone-The-Fledglings-Weightloss-Thread?pg=1

I’ll stop waffling there. Welcome one and all, a huge thank you to KTCluck for steering us through July while also working, and away we go for August! 🍒👋

Definitely not brief that - feels like more than I’ve done in several days! ⭐️

I am so bored but too sleepy to do anything useful or fun 😳😂 I think it’ll be a very long day especially as DS woke up when Cagletini did and he will get bored if he uses up his gaming/YouTube time too quickly.

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Saturday - family fun day (nope I refuse!) and it’s the last day of 8 in zone 1! So if anyone wants a last tidy in the hallway or dining room now is the time. I have done no zone work at all.

KCC - since I had lots last night, do you remember your dreams, and have you had any weird ones lately?

I don’t remember mine as much now - I tend to remember feelings from them and fleeting images rather than whole stories. From last night I remember something about DD1 doing history work and we were sort of travelling around collecting stuff. And we were looking at statues on a building in London and they kept moving and pulling funny faces. 🤷‍♀️😂
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Morning!

DH is handing back his (I’ve grumpily ripper it off his shirt). A ‘few pints’ after work resulted in a midnight return in an absolute state . I don’t mind the odd blowout now and then for a stag do or whatever, but we are supposed to be going for a day out at some local woods/family park place (had planned to be leaving in an hour) and it just seems ridiculous for a random Friday night when we have plans. He’s brought me a cup of tea up and is currently pottering about and whistling cheerfully pretending he’s not in the least bit hungover . The trip has not been mentioned and I’m not sure I want to go as the faux cheerfulness act cant be kept up for ever. But then maybe insisting we go might be suitable punishment . I’m going to get up now and shower, get me and DD dressed and blitz the morning routine to see if I can get out my funk and salvage the day. It’s glorious here.

Cleaner we have a nice week planned - DD’s belated birthday treat which involves a train ride and overnight stay mid-week, visiting some family, and then I have a day with DH at work and DD at nursery. Bliss!

Love clean all the things! Can’t scroll back to see who posted, merry I think.

Sorry phonecall was tough Bower

Look after yourself Princes

KCC - a proper night out with all my friends with lots of cocktails and laughs without having to worry about social distancing.

Dreams - I very rarely remember my dreams, it’s been ages. However I did have a very weird and unsettling one where I discovered DH was in fact a prolific serial killer. I woke up confused about whether it had really happened or not, and whether he knew I knew and if I was in danger . I couldn’t look at him for most of the day! Poor bloke was probably wondering what on earth he’d done!

Right I’m moving

I should add that he wasn’t at the pub, it was a bbq in the yard of his work with the other 5-6 blokes in the office that obviously got a bit messy. So I’m not massively worried about increased virus risk as he’s with them all day anyway but I have no doubt social distancing will have gone by the wayside

Morning all!

KCC - do you remember your dreams, and have you had any weird ones lately?

I never remember my dreams unless I'm woken unexpectedly. In the last dream ds 11 cut the hair of a neighbour's little girl into a very short bob using a blunt scissors. I woke just as I was about to tell the neighbour!

As for the heat - Indeed the whole country will have tropical weather. There will be thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday so plan ahead accordingly. 37 degrees in London 🔥🌶️

upholder there was similar twatish behaviour here and i was woken up as it couldnt find its key. Again. 🙄

Yes i agree. The man child in this house often turns into an arsehole when the sun is out 🙄 good job its not a frequent things round here

Morning everyone! ☕🥐

Today I am actively planning no housework and actually will try to stay off my phone, and attempt to spend gadget free quality time with DH. Nothing grand planned, just roaming around the house/garden, going for a walk, etc.

KCC usually I don't remember my dreams, I tend to be quite a deep sleeper who would normally sleep through anything. Now, since becoming pregnant that has changed massively (hello, random bouts of pregnancy insomnia..) and the dreams became off the wall crazy. Every. Single. Night. I can't remember the last time I had nice, deep, dreamless sleep. Got used to it now 😬

Have a good Saturday everyone! 🍒👋

Ah yes, pregnancy dream craziness!!! Fun.

Hope you have a good day upholder - I’m pretty sure the MN verdict would be that DH needs to take DD out himself and give you the day off :o but that doesn’t work if you were looking forward to the day yourself, or if DH isn’t below the limit yet (I don’t know how timings work for that). 🍻

Feel a bit more human having had a filling breakfast, and I’m enjoying some nostalgia watching the original BFG film :o I really can’t be arsed to plan or do anything. I haven’t felt “right” for days, physically, and it’s getting to me a bit, and definitely affecting my motivation to do even the stuff I could actually manage 😣 the house is approaching hovel status and I’m behind on the studying that actually does have deadlines (I need to finish the whole thing in a month or so). Gaaaah. I need a plan. But first (when the film is over) I am going to write that list of all the stuff in my head. It’s not even a to do list as such (I have those on my phone which I then ignore) it’s more just analysing all the aspects of life I need to somehow get a handle on, and that I worry about all the time in one way or another.

I did my list as a mind map. It kind of reminds me of scenes like in a beautiful mind where he’s written all over everything. Or this popular meme.

It’s a full page of scribbles and lines and the word “GUILT” as an offshoot appears multiple times. Parenting is the busiest bit, the house would be if I’d divided up the general housework stuff further.

DH said what on the list can I control but TBH the reason it’s all there is because as parents we need to handle all of it. It’s not like I’ve got stuff like weather on there!

And I can’t really see much that we can delegate. We honestly aren’t tidy enough for a cleaner yet even if we could afford one. The education stuff isn’t possible to pass on to someone else either - a tutor would maybe be affordable for something but that sort of thing seems to involve extra work in the end so I’m not sure how workable that is. Plus it is something (with DS anyway) that I actually do find easy and fun most of the time and TBH it feels like the only thing I’m actually ok at and doing to a decent standard! 😳

Looking at it I’m not sure if I think I can now make some plans as it’s all on paper, or if I might just cry instead 😳😳😳

Hi everyone, so sorry for being so absent recently, I'm trying to cut down on my smart phone use and have been busy this week trying to get out and about with the kids are they are very energetic at the moment!

Sing I love the BFG, the kids started watching the new one the other day but got too scared. I'd love to watch the original version again. I'm reading the book to dd at the moment and forgot how wonderful it is, it was my favourite when I was little.

So sorry for any twattish behaviour that's going on at the moment! Dh is absolutely fine but the kids have been a handful, especially at bed time.

We've had quite a productive morning here, dh washed the car with the kids. I made hummus which I've been meaning to do for ages (it was a lot of trial and error but it's pretty good, a tad too much cumin perhaps). I've put corn on the cobs in the oven for lunch and am simmering a beetroot. It's making me feel quite happy all this nice healthy food cooking away although dd declared the hummus disgusting and ds wouldn't try it 😂

So productive cooking but the house is a mess (nothing changes). Getting our delivery of Kallax for the kids bedroom today which I'm so looking forward to! I think Kallax has been raved about on this thread before

Cherry waves for now 🍒

Ooh yay happy Kallax day foxes!

I still need to decide with DH about our ikea order.

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I made a Kallax. No idea if it’ll come up right when posting though 😂

Thank you I knew you guys would understand my excitement

My mum didn't know what I was talking about!

But are you getting baskets? They have more interesting ones at the moment.

DH is going to asda with DS soon, not sure if they should take Cagletini (in the buggy) as she is stroppy but jeeeez I need a break 😳

I’m so unmotivated I can’t even be bothered with a PO3 😳

Ooh now I was looking at those pegboards meg - please report back :o

I’m glad DH’s account is healthier than usual as I feel like I may just order the entire shop.

sing yes we have got baskets , I can't actually remember which ones we picked! I'll post photos later. Ds has some drawers in his too. Dd also getting a desk and chair. She wants a pin board and white board too but need to see how much space she actually has after all this is set up...

Meg hats off to you for painting your nails, I'm always very jealous of people who have lovely nails, I'm too impatient!

Also, chickpea flour flat breads sound interesting!

zoo YANBU, I went to Stratford yesterday with the kids and a friends family. We still socially distanced but it was absolutely jammed with people. Loads weren’t following distancing. It’s just insane. We’re very lucky to be allowed to do so much I think and I think so many people are ruining it!

Sorry you haven’t got much sleep sing. There’s some great things in the cinema by me, they’re showing loads of old films for £5 a ticket. You’ve reminded me to book it!

that I hate the heat for clothes. I struggle with clothes anyway, I like to be comfortable. But adding heat into the mix is a nightmare, on days like this I don’t want to wear anything!

upholder my ex would do things like that, it’s so annoying isn’t it!. I’d insist you go out as punishment. Your plans sound lovely especially the DH and DC free day!

Sorry about the twatty behaviour all! I do agree the heat impacts it as everyone gets a bit drunk!. It’s generally quiet on my road (as I described off the main road and nobody really knows it here) but there’s a big block of flats that can sometimes be the source of trouble. There was a party there last night with lots of noise going on!

I hope you enjoy your gadget free quality time day MC! Pregnancy dreams were insane with me, I have quite vivid dreams anyway but they got even worse with pregnancy!

I love the BFG sing we watched it at school and I just adored it!. I might have to watch it with the kids they’d love that. I’m sorry you’re feeling so stressed, is there anything DH can help with? Or maybe that the DC can do for chores?

foxes you’ve been very productive! we don’t really have space for a kallax here which is annoying as I love them!

meg I wish I could paint my nails but I’ve started biting them in lockdown! I need to grow them back as they were lovely before.

KCC I have really weird dreams, my weirdest (and also probably my worst nightmare) was when I fell through the tv into the Tracey Beaker house. Everyone was hiding in cupboards as there was a sort of zombie apocalypse where people’s eyes turned into rotten veg. It shitted me right up!

✅Made beds
✅Morning skincare routine
✅Kids and I dressed
✅Made fry up for breakfast
✅S&S
✅Washed up from breakfast, dried and put away
✅Cleaned kitchen surfaces
✅Washed car
✅Cleaned inside of car and decluttered
✅Mowed Front and back garden
✅Prepared picnic for today (by prepared I mean shoved a few sausage rolls and some cheese sandwiches into a bag)
✅Drove to the beach which is a lot less busy than I thought it would be
I’m thinking of booking a holiday, maybe a camping trip this month and then a weekend in haven in September time. Just feel like I want to get out a bit more having been cooped up for so long!

Well we went to the woods. I just didn’t mention anything to him and announced to DD her bath was ready and we were leaving soon. To be fair to DH he kept any whinging in and while I know he must have been struggling in the heat (there are some quite steep paths there) he said he’d had a lovely morning. It’s a huge place with a good park and lots of random hidden bits and pieces for kids. It was very busy before we left but there is so much open space that it was really easy to socially distance. We had a beer garden lunch and now he had taken DD along the beach for an ice cream while I have a cuppa in the garden.

Flying wise I have made DD’s bed, stripped and washed ours and hung it out on line, emptied the DW and done some putting away of crap. I’m
leaving my normal home bleurgh for tomorrow morning as we have nothing else planned. Will do some weeding shortly.

Sing sorry you’re struggling at the minute. I get you with the mind map thing. Remember though, you just have to keeping all the areas roughly ticking over, you don’t have to be on top of all the things at all of the time. If you have a few days where a few areas slide that’s ok. None of us are keeping all the plates spinning at the same rate. I also love the BFG and will have to introduce DD.

Cleaner that sounds like a lovely day. I’ve found having a few outings booked or at least planned has really perked us all up.

Foxes enjoy the new kallax!

Can I join, please? I'm on the decluttering thread too with Sing and Meg and HungryHazelEyes. I'm currently trying to do the decluttering weekly zones with FlyLady and I keep falling off the wagon. I have little ones, too much stuff and not enough storage.

Meg My DD would love the board, she loves princesses!

I also remember the crazy pregnancy dreams.

Everyone keeps recommending robot vacuum cleaners Sing (if you couldn't get a cleaner).

Yay alex welcome, lovely to have you with us!

Do you have to be super careful about picking stuff off the floor for a roomba as that may be an issue 😳 I would like to get one, and a cat to ride around on it. 😍😂

Pegboard looks fab meg! I still need to read up on the other types of clutterbug actually.

Cat or alex?welcome

Sorry for twat men and heat issues
That I've been in slouchy vest t and pants,zoolets in pants and vest/bra top

The weirdest thing happened earlier. We were wrestling the toddler into the bath - a rare occurrence as she really screams the place down 😳

She still hated having her hair washed but then partway through the bath she suddenly declared she likes baths and merrily spent ages playing with the water and not wanting to get out 😱 WTF?!

I am of course now having to resist Buying All The Things so she can have more fun bath toys 😳

Not got much else done either.

And I realised that I’ll have to get a taxi back from yoga on Tuesday because DD1 has her first meeting half an hour after it finishes. FFS. Really need to dig the diary out. (And add “keeping track of various appointments and meetings” to the mind map which bizarrely I forgot earlier.