Fledglings are Marching into March (and tentatively inching closer to freedom): The March Flylady Thread

[StillUpholding]

Welcome fledglings old and new, to March’s Flylady thread!

For any newbies who have stumbled across us, we are following Flylady’s housework system which is based around routines and short bursts of activity to try to keep our houses and lives in order. (Sometimes we follow it more loosely than others). Feel free to join us, the more the merrier! We post our ‘ta da’ lists for motivation (no matter how long or short), and enjoy some random chatter along the way.

The link to Flylady’s ‘flying lessons’ is here . Have a read, and if you have any questions, just ask. You can sign up for emails but be warned there are lots so most of us rapidly unsubscribed.

I’ll be posting links daily to keep us all on track. Jump in wherever you are, remember you are never behind.

This is a long running thread and we’ve developed some lingo along the way:
LOL = load of laundry
S&S = swish and swipe, a quick daily clean of the toilet and sink
PO3 = power of 3. When motivation is on the low side or you’re overwhelmed just pick 3 things at a time and do them
DNLMS = did not lose my shit
Ned = our mythical mate who helps with the laundry (hasn’t paid a visit to me for a while)
Pointy stick —-> = for when a fledgling needs a motivational prod (we can be gentle if required)
The naughty corner = a relaxing haven where we hang out when motivation is low, we are on strike, or we need a rest and some TLC

I’ve just realised that it’ll be around a year since our lovely SC came up with the idea of the Keep Calm Corner (KCC) to keep us going in these strange times. I’ll try and keep the tradition going with little snippets of happy stories, memes, questions and distractions. Any contributions welcome as we enter what could be the final stretch to some sort of normality.

Thanks to ED for being a lovely thread leader for February and keeping us (mostly) on the straight and narrow, despite being very busy herself.

Right, quiet at the back there, have we got everyone? Let’s head into March...

Thank you for being so welcoming everyone. The weather is lovely today, I took the kids to the park after nursery and we had dinner outside when DH came home. I’m really looking forward to indoor swimming centres being open, DD loved swimming and I want to get DS into it when he’s still little.

double that’s lovely, our family love visiting us too, when it’s the summer they all flock over to our marina for days on the boat😂 I hope your DH’s results come back negative!

red canal boat holidays are really expensive, DH and I went on a few before we bought our boat to make sure it was the life for us but they definitely put a dent in our bank!. Your dads friend house sounds gorgeous, it sounds like there’s a lot of boaters in your family!. I gave up on a tidy boat years ago, I just aim for clean now😂. DD will be 2 in April and DS in 4 months, so still very little.

hazel it’s generally quite still, sometimes if another boat passes the boat will wobble a bit. In bad storms we have to make sure we’re moored really securely, but most of the time it doesn’t move much. We are moored, permanently, so we have a patch on a canal that is out ‘garden’, it has a Wendy house/shed and a swing etc for the kids. I think continuous cruisers can have issues when it’s stormy as they need to find moorings. Good luck with all your viewings!

Thank you up, I’ve gone the opposite way with clutter, I made sure the decor was very eclectic so when the boat is cluttered people just think it’s part of the vibe😂. It’s very helpful when random people walking by want to take a look in the boat and I haven’t cleaned for a week! I hope your coccyx feels better soon!

sing I love my mum uniform😂 I go for very flowy boho clothes and I joined the granny pants club when I was 17 and have never turned back! Well done on your training and job hunting! What sort of career do you want?

Happy birthday to your DS waders I love the bath balloons😂

I’ll post my tada’s at the end of the day, when I add it to my journal :)

Ships welcome! Boat life, how cool is that?! What set up do you have for electricity? A generator? And what about running water?
Waders happy birthday to your DS! How was it?
Sing gosh, I definitely have a 'mom uniform' now. To use Desperate Housewives analogy, I would love to be Brie, but I am firmly channelling Lynette Scavo...
Hazel I am keeping everything crossed for you, hoping everything will fall into its place with buying/selling.

Ta das (not much):
💥Rotated DW
💥Usual morning/evening routines
💥LOLx1
💥2 hour walk

Bath time for the baby coming up, then book time for me.
🍒👋 everyone

mc we have solar panels which helps with electricity, we also have 12volt battery banks so our tv and freezer etc can all run off 12volts. Running water is quite simple, we have a tank that you fill with water and that feeds into the water system. We have a calorifier for hot water. We a pellet stove and radiators for heating. We also use a casette toilet, which we have to empty manually every few days but it’s not too bad as there’s a disposal on our mooring, I definitely wouldn’t recommend it if you were a continuous cruiser!.

DH sorts out all the maintenance of the boat and I do all the cleaning, which I don’t mind because I’m not very good with engines etc. Sorry if that was an information dump😂

Ships thank you for a detailed answer. I am genuinely interested 😊

No worries mc! If you have any other questions feel free to PM me, I don’t want to annoy anyone talking about boats all the time but if anyone does want to know anything then I’m happy to answer :)

Really interesting ships!

I’ve not done much this evening at all. I’ve done lots of digital decluttering though - mostly emails plus some downloads/documents on my phone.

Tomorrow I need to phone shopandscan, phone carers support, get my prescription sorted, and do my OU disability declaration form thing.

Maybe some housework too

Noooo! Ships please do it is really interesting. All on dad’s side of the family great travellers. Grand parents were living abroad. Dad and his older sister went to boarding school in Scotland then Aunt went to billet in a castle during the war then five of them joined the Wrens and were sent to Gibraltar and Malta. She later lived in Africa for years and loved it especially Kenya.Dad joined the Merchant Navy as a cadet at 14. He sailed all over the 🌎 especially Australia, Philippines, China and Japan around the Cape and through the Panama Canal on a large tanker. I didn’t get much chance to sail but I went to the boat shows with him. There were a lot of clever and inventive people who had a real passion for the sea. Two of my sisters learnt to sail and my eldest son used to go out with dad when he was 2 1/2 years. I went the first few times but I was pregnant and a bit too much ballast DS1 was so into it he knew when to change position so dad took him out a few times but then got too busy with his pub he bought. I have been trying to get DS1 to go and have some lessons because I think he would love it. He is into Fell-walking now and has walked all the Wainwrights. He has started the Munro’s.
DD was at Uni in Bristol so I loved visiting and looking at the canal boats. She could catch a boat into the centre instead of a bus I thought that was great. We also had lunch on one of the barges and sitting out on a sunny day was bliss. She has the travelling bug now. Well I think she always did. Do you have some of the painted ware? DD has a small cupboard which is living in our Summerhouse at the moment.

Well girls I have had my jab. They were so, so lovely. I told them I had allergies and was told to tell the person injecting. He was excellent and actually checked my list and was concerned about the flu reaction years ago. I think he might have been a medical student or a young doctor and he went to his senior for advice. Did the injection and showed me where to sit as they wanted to keep me for 15 minutes. He checked on me after five then a young lass came and sat with me. Turned out she was a young teacher and had just left her job and had come home. Told me all about leaving her job. I really do think some teachers and schools are the bitchiest places to work. Yet they tell the kids they shouldn’t behave like that. I got two more visits and one from his senior too so I was really well looked after. I did get a headache within the first ten minutes so have gone to bed early and taken some paracetamol as advised.

Ta da
I did an hour and a half in boudoir mainly sorting stuff in boxes and BRC this morning.
Washed up tonight.
1 LOL

Red I hope your headache goes away soon. I'm glad they took care of you.
Good luck with the job search Sing

I have a little news.. we had 7 offers we had to look at tonight, and accepted one! We won't have to worry about replacing the roof, the buyer will do it, and there's not much for fees. Also we have heard the sellers of the house we are buying are going to either fix or credit us for the things we requested. They are moving out this weekend so we might end up moving sooner than expected. We are selling our house to an investor, which isn't ideal, so it will become a rental property. It was the offer that made the most sense to us financially.

Anyway, it late and I'm ready to take a shower and go to bed. I wish I was already there, it's been a long day.

🍒👋 to everyone

hazel wow that's so quick!all systems go now then(and scrubbing after muddy footed viewers would've took me over the edge)
Red how reassuring.hope you feel better today.i love your family stories❤️
Shipswe are a genuinely nosey bunch,please don't think we will get bored with your boat explanations!sounds like you have decent division of chores

I really really need pull it together today.joints bit less screaming at me,I need to get place straight as have teams meet with ED team at 10,in person for lil zoo physical pm(grateful dd1 fiance can take us as other side of town and she can't get time off as attended a funeral Monday)the home for virtual parents eve....

Wow hazel congrats! Yay! 🏡🎉😀

Awake till gone 1 then Cagletini woke me up at 6. Cheers kid. I’m cold and have pointed a small heater at myself 😂 🥶

Morning campers. I’ve only read half the new posts but I’m starting work in 5 so thought I’d better pop in with the links to motivate you this morning or for you to totally ignore

launchpad this way...

Will be back later to catch up and with personals 👋

More digital decluttering done (over a thousand photos/screenshots).

Emailed adult education about my next course (it wouldn’t send yesterday which is what prompted me to empty my phone storage a bit) and have left a voicemail with the clinic re my prescription.

DH is out getting fitted for an Easter bunny suit. Don’t worry, it’s for work. 😂🐰

Right I’ve also put a wash on, had a call back from clinic re prescription (they’ll post it), replied to email from carers support, phoned shopandscan to suspend our account since we currently have no computer.

Then was trying to start the OU disability form but had a complete faff with signing in and finding my student record etc - turned out due to a system change my account had been duplicated 🤦🏽‍♀️ but one long phone call later it’s sorted and I also asked about getting a qualification from the maths modules I did years back. So well worth it. I’m feeling pretty accomplished this morning!

Got some missed calls on my mobile while on the landline though - don’t you just hate it when there’s no called ID and no voicemail 🤬 it seemed important as they rung twice 🤔

Rang*

Glad it wasn't a gutteral reference about him being"like a rabbit" sing🤣🤣🤣🤣

Big clean up before the meet
Tada
Wash on
Bleach lav
Fed cats
Kitchen-
Clean surface 1
Wipe toaster
Wipe hob
Clean surface 2
Wipe kettle
Wipe cupboard fronts
Sweep floor
Empty bin/recycling box
Wash in drier
More in
Breakfasts

Living room
Tidy around cat tree(exploded cat toy/feathers situation)
Sort TV unit/put away stray dvds
Wipe
Wipe mantlepiece/fireplace
Tidy down side my sofa/clear hotspot
Clean behind my sofa/liberate cat toys
Tidy bookcase
Sweep floor

Meet was very upsetting as lil zoo cried throughout.
Am going to use my stress and upset to sort bathroom and dining table before we head out for physical assessment

Seems so beautiful outside..

Sing oh yes, that is really annoying. I had a missed call yesterday. No idea who it is from and returning call ended up frustrating as kept being engaged. Will try today. Yesterday I wondered if appointment was changed as mine wasn’t until 5:55pm. Didn’t get home until nearly 8pm we stopped for fish and chips takeaway.
Need to plan something easy today. It is a meat day so I quite fancy Shepherd’s Pie so DH can peel the potatoes and mash. We have a lot of sweet potatoes so might mix plain and sweet.

Hazel that has been a bit of a whirlwind for you. Great that new house owners are moving out soon. Then you can measure up for curtains etc and get that done first. Don’t envy you all the unpacking. Hope it all goes well. People always need to rent so some lovely family might move in and be glad to live in and enjoy your house. We rented for a while and the family were posted to Germany. Her daughter lives in the house now.

Planning to go down to Summerhouse and paste some recipes in. I will do the bedside tables first.

Zoo and Hazel thanks I had a great sleep. I took two paracetamol can just feel a thick head now but think I will take another today to keep it at bay. Hope you have a good day.

Aw zoo I’m sorry she found the appointment so difficult 💐

I am really sleepy 😳 I’ve done the writing bit of the form on my notes app but I need to find all the evidence/diagnosis letters. Will do that later, think my brain is at full capacity for the moment 😂

Also need to book up more tesco slots 😬

Just got back from getting the babies from nursery, we have lots of errands to run, I need to go to the bank, the pharmacy and the post office, but then I’ve ticked off a lot of chores. And thank you everyone for being so kind! I’ll keep talking about boating on here, I just didn’t want to annoy anyone!.

red that’s so interesting that so many people in your family travelled! Our family is very different, both mine and DH’s family all are in the West Midlands and haven’t travelled outside of it really. When we were about 16 DH said he wanted to live near London for his career and living on a boat seemed like the cheapest option, then we forgot about it until we moved to uni. The city we were in had canals and we’d walk down and see the boats and then started doing our research properly as we knew it’s the life we wanted. We moved into our boat last May, luckily we have a lot of tradesmen in our family who helped us make it our own. Then in November DS was born on the boat!. We have some painted ware about the boat, we also have a neighbour who does traditional painting and he’s painted some things on our boat, and our van. We have painted shutters too which are probably one of my favourite things on our boat. I’m glad your jab went well. I agree about bitchy schools, I’m a nursery assistant and the nursery I worked at for my training was awful, I spent my lunch breaks crying in the toilet. DH is a college lecturer and I think he has some very bitchy people there too!.

Brilliant news hazel I hope it all goes well🏡

zoo I’m really lucky as DH does a lot of work! I do the housework though as he is useless at cleaning but he does the cooking on the weekends and all the boat maintenance which is a lot more than I can say for some husbands I know!. I’m sorry your DD found the meeting difficult💐

Oh sing that’s rubbish! I hope you get a chance to rest at some point today. Well done on all the digital decluttering!

I’m currently sat in the car feeling extremely unmotivated but I need to get to the bank before 3 so need to hurry up!. The DC are napping which is good as hopefully will mean I can get things done quicker. I also realised I forgot to post my ta da list yesterday so will do that now.

🌻Made breakfast
🌻Wiped up DD‘s breakfast after she spilled it
🌻Showered and dressed
🌻Got DC ready
🌻Made beds
🌻Left for nursery/work
🌻Picked DC up from nursery
🌻Made DC snacks
🌻Washed up
🌻Sorted through shoes
🌻Made tea
🌻Washed up
🌻Bathed DC and put to bed
🌻Swept Floor
🌻Cleaned surfaces in kitchen
🌻Washed bath down
🌻Emptied toilet

I hvnt caught up as was feeling unwell and getting on with chores.

Ships i love hearing about boating!

Has anyone seen Gemma Oaten talking on Loose Women- opening up about her eating disorder.
She is really saying the way it is dealt with needs to change. Her message is so lovely.

Sorry you’ve been ill dancing

I’ve had a less productive afternoon but I’ve enrolled on my next course - went for one that wasn’t my top choice but it’s more likely to be useful for job hunting.

I’m really sleepy now. But I’m going to dig out my paperwork and scan it. I am kicking admin’s butt today. ✊😂

Red that is very true about people needing to rent. The sad thing here is that the majority of tenants destroy houses, it's hard to find a good one, but when you do they stick around for a long time.
I woke up at 3am not feeling too great, got myself a drink then couldn't get back to sleep properly as I kept having images of broken blinds and windows from tenants and it won't even be our house!!! Ugh. I'm trying to tell myself that once we close on our house we'll have a shiny new one to move into (not brand new, pretty old actually, but new to us).
Anyway, best be going back to work. I'll stop by again later 🍒👋

If you were a marriage certificate where would you be? 🤔

I have definitely seen it very recently and yet it’s not in the paperwork box. Also spent half an hour on hold to the GP for what turned out to be a pointless request 🤦🏽‍♀️ So I’ve achieved bugger all this evening really other than scanning a few letters

When you find out sing can you let me know as I also need to find mine and all of the kids birth certificates and a child benefit letter I'm not entirely sure even exists 😩

Today's ta-da's
🌸 everyone up, fed, dressed and back to school 🎉 DH got his negative at 6am
🌸 quick tidy round & sweep floors
🌸S&S
🌸 LOL x 2
🌸 trip to Tesco with a list, still forgot things 🙄
🌸 hoovered upstairs
🌸 did my student finance application (reason I need to find the above)
🌸 started packing as I have shifts tomorrow and Saturday so I'll be staying over
🌸 sorted my makeup basket and binned some lipsticks the DC must have been playing dressing up with
🌸 did my lateral flow
🌸 went to Aldi and spar for what I forgot in tesco
🌸 made chicken pasta for packed lunches
🌸made a cake
🌸 school run
🌸 my DGM came for a cuppa
🌸 made dinner
🌸 tidied up after dinner

Feel a bit sick now and like I could fall asleep any minute.