It's February - Fledglings are Flying (let's face it there's not much else to do).

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Here we are on the February 2021 Flylady thread - this time last year we were just starting to realise that the world was going to change in a big, big way. The Fledgling threads have pulled us all together and been a great source of comfort and distraction from it all.

This is a friendly housekeeping thread based (loosely... Extremely loosely sometimes 😂) on Flylady's housekeeping system . Welcome one and all, lurkers and long-time posters alike. Join in, hang out, but above all remember you are not behind, just jump in where you are.

The beauty of Flylady is that you don't have to flatten yourself trying to get your house clean to begin the routine upkeep; the first - and only - thing she asks you to do is to shine your kitchen sink. Routines - morning, afternoon and evening - are built gradually through her Baby Steps. To those, you add a Daily Focus and a weekly area to concentrate cleaning on. By the end of a month, your whole house will have had some attention. If you miss a bit, never mind, it'll come round next month!

For this month, I'll be posting daily links to the Launch Pad on the Flylady site so you can follow the daily focus and cleaning missions. You can sign up to receive emails from Flylady, but we suggest you don't - she sends masses, which will clog up your inbox and drive you insane into the bargain.

Because this thread has been running a while, there are some acronyms we use to make life easier
S&S - swish and swipe, round the bathroom to keep it acceptable daily
LOL - load of laundry. No, we don't find washing that funny!
Ned - born of a typo, a mythical being who assists with laundry mountains
The pointy stick ----> to motivate people
PO3 - Power of 3, if you can only face a few tasks. People often find groups of 3 tasks stack up over a day!
The Naughty Corner - where we head when it's all Too Much. Usually stocked with fresh coffee, fluffy throws, delicious snacks and the opportunity to sit quietly with friends or build a blanket fort and sulk in it if you need to.

During the Pandemic, we have also been using the KCC or Keep Calm Corner, invented by long-time poster / thread leader SC. This is a regular dose of memes, questions for discussion, random trivia etc to distract us from the rest of the world. All contributions welcome!

Remember - No Fledgling Left Behind!

ta da continued
🍎printed out info from CAMHS
🍎got DS to scouts
🍎bagged up loads of old clothes
🍎got DD1 to stash and dash in the hallway upstairs (a mess thanks to Cagletini)
🍎put the first teddies LOL on
🍎moved BRCs upstairs
🍎chucked a few random things
🍎got DD1 to put toys in cupboard
🍎art challenge
🍎put washed toys out on towel as too late for dryer

Can’t sleep again. I’m like Cagletini - I get tired but then if I still have stuff to do I push past it and then am awake for hours 😂

I've missed so much! Between worms, German toilets, excellent test scores and you all being productive (& everything in-between).
Sing my DW has a heat-dry setting, we turn it on at night right before we go to bed, and everything is dry by morning, other than if water gets pooled up in rims etc of items.

A couple days ago a house popped on the market, DH mentioned it as a joke because it was cheap, but it really actually has potential. Our realtor was scheduling a viewing for us when she found out 2 cash offers had already been put on the property and one accepted, within an HOUR this market is insane. It must have been an investor 😡

Anyway, the search is still on, but we have things to do around the house still so I'm not in a hurry yet.
DC did home bleugh today, other than that nothing has been done.
Tomorrow I need to make chocolate covered Strawberries for someone who bought them as a gift and DH is taking me out for dinner. We're not sure yet as we're supposed to get 2-4 inches of snow tomorrow, but who knows 🤷‍♀️

Tomorrow we're going to buy the skirting boards that we need to finish our room, as well as the boards for DSs room, as his room is a mess. That way we have it on hand.
I'm now on a 4 day weekend! I plan on trying to get a lot done on my days off.

I meant to say we're not sure where we're going to go eat yet 🤦‍♀️ ugh, it's been a long week 😑

Hazel wow, that's a fast moving market! Withing an hour, that's insane. Have you found any other houses you like?
Find some time to rest in your 4 day weekend, look after yourself.

Red evening by the fire sounds idyllic.

Sing you are on fire! Hope you managed to sleep.

Hazel enjoy the rest
red we resort to a fire on you tube,such a lovely relaxing thing
Sing you got so much done!

Well I've had another crappy sleep
Cats are fed,attacking D's boy dungeon whilst he's at dd1.so far I've done under the bedthis includes sorting the now quarantine gifts I'd got the zoolets for valentine's Day.dont usually bother,but we all need something to celebrate at the mo!

Hmm thanks guess I did manage a decent amount still! I spent an awful lot of time on the sofa too though 😳

Yikes hazel that’s so fast and frustrating. Mmmm chocolate covered strawberries, I should make those.

Meds taken, tempted to doze a bit longer even though I know that will probably keep me up late tonight again.

Better jump back on this wagon before I completely lose all track of what day it is. So thankful for the snow as LOs love sledging, and the rest of the time is rain and grey skies. Now the front room is hoovered and some toys tidied away for a few hours at least.

Will read from beginning of this month to get back in the groove. Only just realised this is half-term. Everything has blended into muddle and survival mode. Got mixed up with supermarket order this week. Fortunately everything can be stored for weeks, but it shook me up to think I hadn't even noticed when I went to the checkout and got the confirmation email.

I am so thankful for HALF TERM!

Zoo- i love your idea of hearts for each child, each day....and I think valentines gifts are something lovely to look forward to.

Tmi alert...possibly....for the morning...

When I was a teacher on a exchange trip, I stayed in a lovely German teachers family house - hand built by her husband out of wood. Made with love by him for his wife.
It was a beautiful house, everything was natural wooden timbers. I could see exposed joists beautiful.
Upstairs had big kids rooms, but downstairs was the next floor, sitting room, dining room, kitchen lovely rooms.
Downstairs was called a den/snug room... views in to the private garden, fire in the middle of room, lots of lovely soft throws. The couple told me there bedroom was down here. I told them its a beautiful snug/den.
I flushed red - my face got redder and redder out of embrassment, as it was definately the couples private chilling out room. My friend laughed and said ' You English people have problems with seeing the natural forms why is this?'
I didnt know what she meant.
She explained me that, if we went to the swimming pool, I would see half naked women, possibly half naked men, and I truely would be shocked at ladies armpit hair and bushes (dont know how to say this part.)
I told her I have no problem with ladies hair and being hiruste women myself, I am happy that women are not pushed into feeling like a freak and having to shave all the time. So I personally dont mind but their are many, many people in the Uk that would be horrified at the thought of armpit hair on ladies and natural bushes.

I thought about the armpit hair no problem, then women with no swimwear - mens dangly bits out while I was sitting by the side of the pool... 😳.
(I imagined myself as a 18th century 'ladiee', with my blouse buttoned up to my neck. Yep, that was me.) I didnt want to go swimming thank you. 🤣
I would like to come across as cool and sophisticated but I am sure my full body would flush, red out of embrassment- and give me away. ☺
The couple laughed at me for being such a prude. 😂 Thankfully, they did not suggest going swimming while I was there. I would have died of embrassment.

Dancing 😂😳

MrsTidy I hear you on muddle and survival mode!

Also very glad it’s half term that I’m glad there’s no more new work for DD1 to worry about and she can focus on catching up any outstanding stuff (I think a lot of it is stuff that she did but then lost the file etc too, she is finding the system itself quite stressful).

Had a nice hour just relaxing but I’d best get up.

Morning all I’ve just caught up on the last few days.

Very well done to DD Waders. They must be delighted after all the stress! at Mum’s housekeeping friends.

Dancing I’m still doing my oats but yesterday left them sat on the stairs so DH took them and I had to suffer a cooked breakfast from the canteen The research thing is just a random one-off Covid test. I think it’s to see the prevalence of undiagnosed cases in the community. I was randomly selected. I think they do batches of them regularly as I know a few people who were invited previously. Sorry you’re still having trouble with tech, but it sounds like you’re settling into a good routine with the homeschooling.

Sing you’ve been so busy! Sorry about the worms thing. I’m dreading it happening here.

Zoo DD insists on singing “Wokey Pokey” instead of Hokey Cokey. She will not have it that it’s wrong. Clearly Mammy just knows nothing . Love the cat pic.

Glad you got to enjoy some snow Foxes. I was a terrible mother and had not bought a sledge. We are lucky here as it is quite easy to find somewhere decent to sledge without crowds. There’s been families at the best places but it’s never looked overcrowded. I’ve seen some photos from nearby bigger towns though where it’s looked far too busy.

Hills sorry things are still stressful for you . Have no knowledge re GCSE options but it sounds as if DS at least has insight that there is a problem. Fingers crossed he manages to pull something out the bag (teens do like to prove everyone wrong don’t they?!)

The housing market in our town has gone crazy too Hazel but two offers in an hour is .

I managed a few tadas after posting on Wednesday I think - flicked a duster round upstairs, wiped and tidied the fridge but didn’t even read the missions . Been at work since then but have stayed on top of the kitchen and the laundry basket isn’t quite overflowing yet. Had a few dodgy journeys to work but stayed on the road and the snow is melting now.

DH got up with DD this morning but I’m getting myself up now and off to hunt out some breakfast.

Oh and re DW Sing. Mine beeps when it’s done and everything is cool and bone dry. That seems to be quite a while after it stops actually washing but I don’t know if it’s actually doing something in that time, or if leaving an hour or so would have the same effect with any DW?

Dancing 😆😳😂 travel broadens the mind and the vocabulary. I don't think I'd be comfortable in a 'let it all hang out' environment. I'm very fond of curtains and the ability to create privacy but apparently in other countries they aren't as bothered about drawing curtains or even having curtains.

Morning all,

Sing - with our DW it depends what cycle you use. The eco ones tend to leave everything wet unless you leave it all to dry, the non eco ones are dry when it beeps. We tend to put ours on after dinner then it stays full and closed overnight to be emptied after dinner the next night when we really can't fit any more stuff on the counter on top of it in the moming.

Hazel - wow, that is fast. Hope you find somewhere soon. Chocolate dipped strawberries sound good!

Dancing - your German experiences have made me smile. Eww to dangly bits in the swimming pool.

MrsT - I had to check when half term was about a week ago too, it's all a blur.

Up - they are planning to set up mass testing across my county from mid-Feb, our district test centre will be just up the road from us, so I have put my name down as a volunteer to help up there, I could do a shift a week on my day off. Still subject to funding approval though.

Tada!
Got up to help DS with his papers and sent him on his way (DH had already gone to work, hardly seen him this week).

Baked sourdough bread made yesterday, I love having the oven on when it's so cold n the morning, makes the kitchen very cosy.
Just sorting out the online shopping order for tomorrow.

Thank you for DW ideas! One model did have a thing about a residual heat dry setting but I’m not sure ours did (there wasn’t much available). I have been leaving it open overnight if not on though, to prevent smells, as I do the same with the WM since reading it online.

Managed not to go back to sleep at all this morning even though I didn’t get up straight away so really hoping that helps me sleep earlier tonight. Just having a rest now and wondering what decluttering to do next. Flooring should be here in the next three hours or so. The cupboard it’s going to be held in is about as good as it’s going to get realistically, if we pull more out of it it’ll just cause more mess. Need to focus on what’s the trofast unit is now basically full of BRCs 😳😳😳 although most only have a handful of bits in them. But we’ve got rid of so much last year that what’s left seems to be mostly things that are harder to decide on and I just have no clue where to store some things. Having three kids with wildly different interests, plus home ed, various hobbies etc we use pretty much everything. Cagletini plays well with everything there is (and some will come into their own more when she’s older like geomag etc). But it’s all so jumbled. A lot of it is building toys which means lots of pieces.

We did have most of Cagletini’s toys in the Trofast on the landing. I’m sort of thinking even after the living room is done it might be better to keep most categories in the downstairs cupboard. The idea of them being upstairs was that we would then bring one thing down at a time. This does work to some extent but it does mean the landing is often a mess if she plays up there and it’s a pain to keep on top of that. Those of you with similar stage DCs (big enough to play independently but not big enough to choose one thing rather than just pull loads of stuff out... or maybe they never leave that stage 😂) what do you do about toy storage? How much access do they have to everything?

Oh x post that’s interesting about the eco setting thank you. That’s what we’ve used so far as nothing has been super dirty (although I was wondering if that was really enough for a roasting tray? Obviously you wipe the fat out first but there would still be a greasy film which I thought would need hotter water?) - will experiment with hotter washes too.

Dancing i would not want to swim with other peoples naked bits, thats basically sharing a bath with strangers isn't it!

Glad you like my German experiences. Its a truely beautiful country, with a family that were so kind.😊

Sing- I put toys in boxes into the wardrobe. They now go in there and help themselves to the boxes. Twice last week i heard crashes and I ran upstairs.
They wanted the trains but the box fell. So dnlms....as i thought its lockdown....they want to play...its my fault...i need to think of a better way to putting the toys away.

I like the idea of under the stairs as you can get them...but the kids cant empty the boxes.

Going to look up trofast.

We have trofast downstairs now after i had a change around post xmas, the one year old cannot get to these, 4 and 7 year old have free access

That- sorry xpost
Yes thats what I thought too, swimming around with everyones bit flapping around... free...😳 obvs I didnt go to the pool so I dont know if its just the drying off process people are naked in....which makes sense.
When we were allowed to go to swimming pools, many years ago......in the far past........there have been a few times I have nearly fallen through the tiny changing cubicles, with thin shower curtains...trying to dry myself as quickly as possible.

In France men have to wear budgie smugglers I think, so as not to have bits flapping about under loose swim shorts 😂

Sorry, tone lowering again.

I was meaning to get up and crack on with stuff ages ago but got caught up in a messenger chat and somehow at least half an hour disappeared. There is plenty of easy stuff I could and should be getting on with!

I am trying to work out what to use the trofast on the landing for if the toys end up being elsewhere. Possibly bedding for some of it actually - that’s currently in our wardrobe thing which has big wire drawers. I guess it could be used for towels and flannels as well, our bathroom isn’t massive and doesn’t have much storage really. The hooks outside the bathroom are only over the door ones and are swamped since a friend gave us more towels!

I feel like once we are more decluttered we may actually have too much storage now, but we are definitely not in a position to get rid of any yet. The house is like a massive Rubik’s cube crossed with Tetris and a thousand piece jigsaw 😂

With ds we had a toy rota. Some boxes would be stored under the bed, some in the lounge, some inaccessible. I would set up 4 or 5 play stations around the long lounge and he would flit between them. BUT if he wanted something else out he would have to help tidy up everything else and it would be a box switch. But i had a child who bored easily and was already reading and trying to write at 3 so this was already being phased out for more sitting and reception type activities child driven. So he would get sent into the garden with a clipboard and pencil to make a mark next to the pictures he found, or he was sent on a treasure hunt with a map in pictures. Bloody hard work that one due to lack of independant ideas for play that were actually a good idea. PLay stations gave him the opportunity to flit and play with more than one thing at a time but control the extent of the mess to those max 5 boxes I put out.

It is not for everyone and ds had a friend and their mum round. She was horrified that there were boxes tipped out in 5 locations and there was mixing and match of play with the contents with no putting away between activities. It is just sometimes you want to dress up and role play whilst you are having a major incident of a car stuck on the railway line and the other cars are trying to rescue the car. And of course you need the hospital stuff out so you can treat the injuryed...

I miss the wooden railway building... not sure people would appreciate me pulling it out and just building railway though.

Also I led you all astray it is barnwood builders not barnyard builders. It is on DMax and another channel. I know i can get it certain times on free view and more often on the cable.

So far this morning i have had a lie in. and put the bread i left cold rising into the oven to cook. I should probably actually move and get up. the kitchen is a disaster!

I know it is not relevant know but make sure you are on top of activity days etc around you. There are various places around here that do viking re-enactment days, civil war re-enactment days and there are always things for the kids to try on/do etc. Some are more affordable than others so i was lucky it was just me and ds but we have had some amazing memories and pictures.

Mine always built massive train tracks and then wouldn’t particularly play with them 😂 in fact DS used to build them all the way round the nursery room every day too, they just let him crack on :o

That’s the thing I definitely want her to be able to mix and match to some extent. I used to marvel at the massive worlds the big two came up with using various types of toy. But I think I need some less accessible. ATM her bed is still in our room, until pandemic is eased off it’s more important that DD1 has her own space as she doesn’t have freedom. So no Cagletini toys in there yet. I’m thinking the toys out of rotation would be better off in the downstairs cupboard. We have most board games in our room now so hoping not to add toys permanently!

Gaaaah we just have so much stuff.

I love hearing about what DS got up to! I was an early reader but did not have such an engaged parent as you were ❤️ So was mostly in front of videos when not reading - I was quite static physically because reasons. Really don’t want Cagletini to have that life (not that her being too static/passive is likely to be an issue 😂) and need to give her actual stuff to do, but I struggle when everything is such a mess TBH. Ideally I will have the various things for the tuff tray in the long cupboard downstairs too as that will make it easier to set something up. ATM it’s all been in a big box in our room since I collected it and I’ve not had the energy or brain power to use it. It’s useful for little categories of toys that don’t need their own bucket though, eg DH got a load of tiny My Little Ponies that would get eeeverywhere, so this way they can be brought out now and then. Last time I used some past its best brown sugar and made the ponies a beach 😂 but that sort of thing is few and far between because the rest of the house is such a mess.

Sorry waffling 😳