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!

We have some very very brown bananas. Was thinking of using them up in some kind of cake. Preferably including Nutella :o

i have a jar of nutella. and the teen has a jar of milk free chocolate spread. But its' a secret.

The cake sounds lovely!!!

So have I Sing I sometimes just make a Victoria Sponge and add two mashed bananas folded in after the eggs and before flour. DD uses banana as an egg replacement for this type of recipe. Good if you don’t have enough eggs. I am hankering after Orange and Polenta cake so going to check if I have enough ingredients for that.

Oh yes I need to get more knowledge around replacing ingredients etc. I just have so little experience with baking so atm I stick to recipes as is. Have found one that I think I have all ingredients for :)

DS has done his taekwondo class. DH is making dinner while keeping an ear on the briefing

Hmm might not manage the baking. 😴

How’s everyone feeling post announcement?

Fuckity fucked sing
Lil zoo has disordered eating.school will see her stop eating and drinking again til 430pm.she excels at home.if I don't send her
Dd2 cannot manage wear masks long periods with her anxiety.she can't cope thought be exposed to it either.plus the repeated tests EVERYWEEK
DS hasn't set foot in a school in 21/2 years.if council announce his forever school I'm screwed now.hes been too long out,don't think ever get him back in
I cannot afford the fines promised to non attenders
I don't drink alcohol on groundsi have form leaning on food itemswhen stressed .I can however,drunk myself figuratively under table in naughty corner and drown my sorrows....

Ds needs to be in school so he can escape school long term.
I have issues as i am not classed as having pre-existing conditions despite having pre-existing conditions.
It is like ripping a band aid off and not expecting there to be pain in the process and risking the wound reopening.

Fuckity fuck fuck from here too.

(actually the real words are far far far less polite and venomous - what fucking idiot came up with this plan?!?!? Lock down for by autumn And i say that with mind to New Zealand having to have more lockdowns DESPITE their GOOD record on covid control, our govt is enept at best, complicit to significant unnecessary deaths and economy destruction at worst)

Where has today gone?
I think DS is going through a growth spurt, he is cranky, fussy, and quite snoozy today, which is not like him. Otherwise he seems OK, nothing else seems wrong. On the up side, lots of contact naps, but I do worry about him.

Ta da:
💥Upstairs and downstairs dusted
💥Whole house hoovered
💥Bathroom blitzed
💥Kitchen cleaned and DW rotated
💥Dressing table was actually OK, not much to fix there.
💥lost the will to live

Early bedtime today.

How old MC? sorry i barely keep track of my own name these days

Hope he’s just having a short term grump mc - growth spurt seems likely! I was never able to keep track.

I don’t know how I feel really. I don’t relate to the cheerful “it’s almost over” threads though. I’m just resigned to it taking ages I think. I’m glad for DD1 that she can go back to school properly (and potentially this means home ed groups can continue). I thought they’d stagger it though.

We're still waiting to see what happens up here sing. I'm fantasising about someone bringing me a latte in a cafe. Sounds like a growth spurt MC. Unless, Teeth?

Sorry I hope you hear soon hope I hadn’t watched the announcement myself - just had a quick skim on BBC news - so I never know what bits apply to where 😳. In some ways I’m not even bothered about all these dates, I’ve become so used to every day being the same I’ve lost all concept of time 😂 if it’s not Right Now I can’t be arsed to care.

I’ve been falling asleep since dinner, so DH has ordered me to go to bed!

I thought they’d stagger it though.

This is the thing that i have a big problem with this.

We really are in an abusive relationship with the press and govt. Promising the earth, moving goal posts, being told that it is our fault they screwed up. I know how I feel. I am angry. And wondering how the hell they can keep getting away with this, and have been doing so for so long.
(and yes that is surface scratching on this but trying to avoid being too triggering in the post. Sorry for being so blunt as it is)

I'm completely confused most of the time sing!!

Thanks Hope and Sing he will be 4 months in few days. No sign of teeth yet, but he is a drool machine. I shall weather on, this too shall pass, as they say.

I really want to get around to making blondies tomorrow!

Blondies sound most excellent MC. I have ordered strong white flour. Might make bread. I just want daffodils and tulips for the house. I love tulips.

I only heard of blondies when I first tried one of my fave Ben and Jerry’s flavours.

ta da continued
✊loaded and ran DW, finally
✊set some reminders for various appts
✊had chat with DS about Thursdays appt and how his attention/fidgeting etc feels for him
✊caught up with a few chapters of Northern Lights (where DH and I were taking turns reading aloud to DS I’d missed bits and it’s many years since I read it properly)
✊had Discussion with DD1 whereby we explained there actually is a link between not getting enough sleep and being tired. I know, it’s revolutionary, I’ll contact The Lancet tomorrow.
✊woke Cagletini up from her nap in an attempt at damage control... will still be a late night
✊got Cagletini’s clothes ready for tomorrow
✊changed wax melt and gave warmer to DD1 in the hope a strong scent helps her focus (thank you waders for that tip)
✊changed screen time automatic limits again - ten minutes earlier each day for both Caglets, will probably move it again at some point soon
✊bugged DD1 repeatedly about getting some more work done

Having been lying in bed finishing the episode of a crime drama I am SO tempted to watch the next one. But it’s an hour long and I really need the sleep! Night all!

had Discussion with DD1 whereby we explained there actually is a link between not getting enough sleep and being tired. I know, it’s revolutionary, I’ll contact The Lancet tomorrow.

I'll be watching the Nobel announcement for the prize in medicine or physiology in October 😉 If you do win the entire family gets to travel to Stockholm and they put on a limo for you. I'd pay good money to see Cagletini at the Nobel banquet.

Mc- cranky and fussy babies- Try sticking your fingers over his gums and have a feel if they feel harder. We might not see the teeth but it all preparing inside the gums to make teeth, it might hurting him.
Try rubbing gently, his arms and legs in a little massage motion and see if that helps.
Try also big round gentle circles over his tummy, incase its a tummy ache. Very gently. (Sorry if you have already tried these things.) Sending Big hugs- hope mctiny feels better soon.

to everyone worrying about thier kids returning to school or not returning! I feel for you I really do.

I dont want my kids going back to school yet, esp if they are stupidly going to chuck everyone back at the same time! Ffs!

Scotland are doing it right by doing it staggered in stages. Why the f can we not do that here?

Has anyone here had gestational diabetes during pregnancy?

Sorry Half and Sing - crossed posts

Thank you for the tips Dancing! Will give that a go tomorrow.

Hope 😂 that’s given me the giggle I needed before sleep, thank you.

Dancing I had GD, diagnosed in 3rd pregnancy only but definitely developed it late on with 2nd (DS was fucking enormous even when considering he was late, and he had low blood sugar) and quite possibly even 1st. Am off to sleep now (honest guv) but happy to answer anything in the morning!

🍒👋

Heya sorry its such a late one. I planned to do the home bleugh after the kids had gone to bed thinking it would only take an hour even though you all said it took longer but I thought because I’ve got a little flat it wouldn’t take so long but I was wrong lol. How she manages to do that all in an hour is beyond me😂.

Thanks hazel I managed to get up early and I was dressed by 9 so I’m very happy with that. I’m really excited to doodle on my planner I’ve got lots of different coloured pens and some stickers for it 😊.

Happy birthday to your DD foxes🎉

Well done on the weight loss sing the chat sounds really exciting😊 lovely pics btw

That’s a shame about the laptop hills I hope you can get a new one soon🤞🏻

Sorry to hear about your crap nights sleep zoo I hope tonight’s better for ya.

Could he be teething mc? Oh just saw your post lots of drool and being sleepy/cranky could be teething. Bless him do you have any teething gel? It’s good to have just in case. I hope he’s better soon the poor mite❤️

dancing I didn’t have GD but a few friends did and from what I can tell they’ve all been told they need to shield/get the vaccine. But they weren’t told that’s the reason why.

I’m not sure how I feel about the new announcement. My 2 aren’t at school or nursery but I do think it should be staggered going back it seems silly to me to have everyone back at once. I’m also not holding onto any hope that everything will be back to normal when they say it will because we’ve heard it all before so I’m just going to take it day by day. The only thing that gives me some hope is them waiting 5 weeks I think between every stage so hopefully if cases rise then they’ll not go forward with the next stage and try and keep everything as low as possible🤞🏻

My first ta da list lol I’ve missed out the normal stuff like changing multiple nappies and washing up because I do it so often if bore myself writing it😂

ta da
✨Vacuumed whole flat except for kids room did that earlier in day before they slept
✨Dusted
✨Moped toilet and bathroom and kitchen
✨Changed bedding
✨Washed old bedding
✨Put bedding to dry
✨Took bibs out to the big bin
✨Cleaned kitchen counters
✨Unclogged bathroom drain🤢
✨Tidied my side table and tv table in bedroom didn’t realise how much crap I had

I shall invest in some teething gel, thanks everyone!
Naptune wow, you have been busy! Great Ta Da list! I don't know how she does it in one hour either.. I have to admit, home Bleugh is my least favourite activity day.
You reminded me I need to put some drain fluid in all my plug holes. Shall do that tomorrow (ie today, but at a more reasonable hour). Getting a drain catcher cover for the bathroom (the one that looks like a flat sieve and sits on top of the plug hole) has been revolutionary in eliminating the 'yak' factor in cleaning it and preventing blockages. I highly recommend!

naptime gets for yesterday.nice list lovely
Hills it agree all said,and quick look at BBC news this morning the rush to book holidays for summer has completed my don't even look at me or I will kill you theme for the day