Fledglings are Flying into April, there's no fooling us.......

[EventuallyDistracted]

Welcome fledglings old and new, to April'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 Flying Lessons. 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

KCC - we don't do so many of these now, but these are little stories, photos, memes, off-topic questions, just to keep us all distracted from the general tedium of lockdown life. Feel free to chip in.

Thanks to Up for guiding us gently through March .

And off we go into April.

waders - i was going to post - i love your plant! Your list is amazing weldone!

Dh is alive. No, I didnt roll up the Cv and stick it up his nose- although I did read and have a good chuckle.🤣

Ta das
Stayed in bed till 10am
Breakfast
12pm dh tells me sort Cv 🤦‍♀️😬🔫 Dh rewording my awful sentance structures.😬
(I am very grateful he is doing this as he is very, very skilled in writing.)
So I made myself useful-
•dried uniform
•Fed ds
•Cleaned kitchen
•Cooked jacket potato for Dd and fed her
•While I looked over points Dh had made for me to revise on my Cv.
•Cooked rice
•put whites in dryer
•Bath kids and myself dressed all.
•took all dry school uniform upstairs
•warmed up lunch for dh
• Made kids sch lunch sandwiches while i waited
•Ready to tackle the jobs and achievemts sections of Cv
•I managed to type stuff! I remember stuff I did when I worked!
•Kids kept interuppting at all points.
•Dh did final checks and formatted the whole thing- I skimmed read it.
•Then submitted the damm thing!
Yayyyy! I dont care anymore.

Said athank you to Dh for spending 6 hours re- wording my terrible sentances and reformatting the whole thing so it looks pretty.

I took my kids to my brothers house, who played trains, cars and hide and seek with the kids. They had a lovely time and I was soo happy to be out of the house. Next is interview prep, been out of interview stuff for a long time...so I should read up on it.
I could dance a jig knowing I dont have to work on my Cv anymore! 💃

Night everyone!

Evening all,

Well, that was the busiest weekend I've had in a long time.

Friday night - DD to swimming, 10 miles away, nice drive out.

Saturday - got up, despatched DS on paper round, big baking session (sourdough bread, crumpets and pizza dough). Into town for a few errands, back again and off to the allotment for an hour before watching PP's funeral. DH went off for a long cycle ride and I took the DCs off for a walk in a beauty spot about half an hour away which was lovely, then pizza from the pizza oven and off to the pub with DH and DD, which was also nice. DD prefers her own company a lot of the time now so for her to come out willingly twice in a day is pretty rare.

Sunday - got up and went out with DS to take part in a litter pick in the park, home for lunch, a bit of shed sorting (most of the contents were still on the lawn after last week's painting), took DS to football, went for a run while he played, chatted to other parents, home for dinner. Then it all went a bit pear-shaped. DH went out for a cycle ride to the pub with his mate. Just plonked myself on the bed thinking I would finally catch up with the jewellery programme when DD wanders in asking for her summer uniform (short sleeved shirts) which was all crumpled from storage. Sounds a bit stressed. Meanwhile DS wants more help revising for his exam this week, spend an hour on that but he seems to be really upset about something, what's the matter, he's worried sick about the new European Super League and the ramifications for his team / English football. Gets through that and calms down. DD wanders in, also very upset, worried sick about a Latin test today, spend an hour doing Latin vocab with her. Both calm down. Shirts still crumpled. Give up, have a shower go to bed.

This morning, more Latin vocab. Back with links shortly.

Monday

Flight Plan is here. We are in the master bedroom (or bood-wa as one Fledgling used to call it)) and our mission is to declutter under the bed (I badly need to do this).

Monday is Home Blessing day, good luck with that.

Morning 👋

ED- you have done so much! With the bread baking? Its lovely your Dc come to you for reasurrance. How was your pizza? Is there a special recipe you use for the base? Do you use 00 flour? I can never find it at Sainsburys here.

Pizza was nice thank you Dancing. I use pizza/pasta flour from Wessex Mills, I get it at the local deli, it's more expensive than normal flour (about £3) but we get three lots of 4 pizza bases out of it so still works out pretty reasonable.

Wow ED you're going to need a couple of days at work to get over your weekend! How lovely that DD came out with you twice, although I'd have been less keen on Latin vocab just as I was trying to go to bed .

Dancing , really glad you got the CV submitted; hope DH is not too disappointed if it doesn't come off. How lovely that you got to take the Fraggles to your brother's house to play, sounds like they (and you!) had a lovely time just being somewhere else.

I am counting myself as let off this week's missions due to building work in our bathroom and spring cleaning (ish) the boudoir yesterday. However, this week is for getting everything that went by the wayside during the Easter hols, done.

🧚 Plan menu
🧚 Empty and reload DW, run again
🧚 Washing. Always washing
🧚 Financial stuff - business accounts
🧚 Sweep and mop kitchen floor
🧚 Pilates for me?
🧚 Client stuff - review and action things. Start with a list of where things are at
🧚 Planning. Lots of general planning.
🧚 Get DS3 to do homework
🧚 DD has physics exam at 12
🧚 DS2 must do lateral flow test today for school return tomorrow.

DS3 has now talked at me for 35 solid minutes during breakfast so I am going for a shower in the quiet!

🍒👋 and happy Monday everyone.

Morning all. A new term. I am trying to get Cagletini into a morning routine now the evening one is fairly sorted, the idea being that she’s completely ready other than shoes and coat before she goes downstairs for breakfast. Ideally I’d also have time for a shower first thing but one step at a time. The idea generally is that I will do the morning nursery run but frankly I’ve only even left the house a handful of times in the last six weeks and I’m not sure how capable I am right now.

I had two things to do yesterday - plan DS’ week of learning and work on my presentation - I managed neither. 🤦🏽‍♀️

ED hope the DC are ok today

Slow start for DS, just had to hunt for a pen 😂 he’s starting one of his regular weekly things (twinkl has “sixty second reads” which he reads aloud and then answers comprehension questions about, I printed and comb-bound one for every week of the school year) as I’ve not done the plan yet. I also got him to choose a board game to play this morning as we haven’t been able to over Easter.

I need some inspiration.

PO3.1
1️⃣shower, teeth, dressed, vitamins
2️⃣towel LOL
3️⃣write a rough home ed plan for the week

sing I could prob kill plastic plant also🤣🤣
Waderscan I come live be fed at yours?😋😋😋😋
Ed nice had some time DC,not so much with their worries
Made own crumpets
DancingI wish I could just give you a confidence boost lovely.you are much more able in all things than you give yourself credit❤️

Living room
Clean windows
Wipe cat tree of fluff
Clean TV unit,put away random cd/dvd
Wipe mantlepiece,discard random crap
Wipe around fireplace
Pull out sofa one sweep behind
Pull out sofa 2 sweep behind
Sweep under table
Wipe bookcase
Wipe dining table
Wake zoolets
Make toast mountains
Wash in drier
More in
Boy dungeon
Wipe windows
Wipe surfaces
Spray bed with freshener to eliminate bot smell

You lot are lovely.

Zoo- have you been at the tic tacs again!
How do you get so much done in the morning! (Damm i forgot to buy tic tacs.)

Sing- brill you hv cracked the evening routine. Pens go and hide on the first day back...its the rules.

waders'- hope you get a chance to do some pilates! You have inspired me to menu plan this week.

ED- that does sound really lovely- I will have look online shops.
Tadas;
-Kids sch
-8.45am- Alidi shop- 3 loaves, 3 packs of finger rolls and lots of milk and other essentials. It soon added up.

I feel 'normal' (not likely to collaspe) for the first time in 8 years!
I think socially distancing, not going to the supermarket is helping me.

I wrote on my Cv- 'proud parent to two children'- i had to remove at my brother said it made him want to 🤮.

Have you ever had to remove a line you were going to write?

Oh, that's tricky on CVs. I think it's absolutely fine to put something like "career break for family care reasons" but it's a fine line. I once had a CV to review which stated that the writer was having to go back to work because her H had left her for someone else, there was quite a lot of detail around the circumstances and yes it showed determination and strength but it was a bit "too much information".

Pens disappear every day here! I still need to paint the little set of drawers for all our pens and pencils etc. And decide what I’m going to do with my nice art ones which are just shoved in a box. They basically don’t leave my room.

DS has got on with work pretty well (probably because he couldn’t find his phone 😂) and we’ve played a game (World Monuments), now he’s doing some maths corrections. I’ve done my first power of three but I’m procrastinating big time over what’s next as I am getting quite anxious about the presentation

Right. I’ve had a little vent* on the anxiety thread and also explained the power of three rule. It really is helpful.

So. Absolute baby steps now as I’m getting so anxious about Wednesday.

PO3.2
1️⃣send zoom invite to friend (from DH’s account as I need to use his tablet) so she can help me practise tomorrow, and WhatsApp to let her know/check it’s still ok
2️⃣have a quick go on PowerPoint on his tablet and set up a file for the slide show
3️⃣relax with an episode of parks and recreation!

*vent kept autocorrecting to bent because I’m posting so much about bent coppers on the line of duty threads :o

sing - you will be ok, great you are practising it. Can you stick some very large words on the wall infront of you...just incase you forget anything. Dont worry, just be yourself and you will be great.
I like that boardgame!

ED- Goodness, I might not write in that much detail.

Thanks dancing it’s just so new to do this on zoom. It’s weird talking about myself in this way! I’ve done a presentation before as part of my apprenticeship - I did a short talk about banned books. So it was quite easy to think of what to put on the slides.

DS is struggling with physics so hopefully he can get that done before DH leaves to get Cagletini!

Oh and yes, I agree with ED it’s a fine line on CVs (hark at me sounding like I have experience here - I don’t really but am just going on what I’ve read over the years). It’s hard looking for work after being a SAHM. It sounds like the right thing to remove the line you said. I need to think about how I’ll word it too. And my health stuff as well. Argh.

Just realised I haven’t done my actual homework for training either! It’s not difficult, but I’d asked for a screenshot of the document to fill in as it wasn’t showing up right on my phone, and I never got sent one, so I’ll just have to draw it out.

I’ve set up the zoom link and the slide show file, that’s enough for now.

dancing I start strong then fizzle out quickly
Tada
Another two loads washing dry,folded and put away
More about to go in shortly
Took D's over local nature reserve for a walk as it's so nice out.felt weirdly exposed without a coat/thick jumper!

To do
Plan week ahead
Menu plan
More laundry

Feeling very tired again now,which is hard cheese as I need to get ready to take lil zoo into school in about 40 minutes,then come back and do lunch have about 40 mins tops before go pick her up.oh and dd2 fancies a walk but won't go alone/join lil zoo school run so that'll be once lil zoo is home

Lunchtime check-in!
Sing I understand the nerves, but you're preparing, not winging it, which is key. It will be fine. I really like Dancing's idea of key words in big letters stuck to the wall behind the screen, that's genius!

zoo I can never fathom how you get so much done! You must be some kind of whirling dervish. Is it, perhaps, time to put to DD2 that there is not that much Mum to go round and if she wants a walk she has to come out with Lilzoo? Otherwise, you are going to collapse.

Ta Da:
🧚 Plan menu
🧚 Empty and reload DW, run again DH did this, but I'm claiming it!
🧚 Washing. Always washing 1 LOL on line, 2nd LOL in machine
🧚 Financial stuff - business accounts
🧚 Sweep and mop kitchen floor
🧚 Pilates for me?
🧚 Client stuff - review and action things. Start with a list of where things are at
🧚 Planning. Lots of general planning.
🧚 Get DS3 to do homework
🧚 DD has physics exam at 12
🧚 DS2 must do lateral flow test today for school return tomorrow. - he says he will do this after he's finished cleaning his room. I am sitting down with a coffee to deal with the shock!

Right.
🐒 Pilates
🐒 Lunch
🐒 reading my book
🐒 Lidl, or there won't be tuna burgers with lime and watercress for tea
🐒 tip, with garden waste from the weekend
🐒 DS3 into science lesson at 3pm
🐒 Speak to the electrician about extractor fans and bathroom power sockets, when he appears.

DS has done more work and I’ve done my power of 3 and had lunch.

PO3.3
1️⃣move laundry on (and get DS to put a couple of his things away)
2️⃣make some price labels to play shops with Cagletini later
3️⃣write up last bit of presentation script

@Dancingtomusic well done on getting the cv completed. That is a shame about the paw patrol tops, what ages/sizes are your kids? There was a website called truffle shuffle that used to do 'kids' t shirts for older kids and adults. Not sure if it is still about, I will have look later today and get back k to you. We might be able to find something on the web! I love a challenge....
Today I went food and clothes shopping with my two youngest for the first time together and it was actually fun (see what a year of covid lockdown on and off does.. it makes food shopping fun...wtf?!) I have unpacked shopping by chucking it into any old cupboard and will sort it out properly tonight. I purchased some small boxes to allocate my children their laundry they can put away because my eldest DD was moaning that not everything was in her drawers. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that everytime I leave the two DD they are being grumpy, unreasonable and occasionally spiteful with each other (mainly the eldest but the youngest isn't completely innocent) oh no... so later in the week I can instigate the next stage of independence and life lessons! Excellent! Hope you all have a lovely day.

That’s great re laundry ice - mine started putting theirs away from pretty young, we gradually got them doing more of the process and now they completely manage their laundry themselves (with reminders about actually doing it 🙄). DH irons uniform when needed though. I also need to get the entire family better at actually putting dirty laundry in a basket without prompting! 🙄😂 But they do wash and dry it themselves which is great.

Zoom meet with friend confirmed for tomorrow. I’ve written the rest of the content but TBH it is a mess and needs to be edited a lot. I’m possibly overthinking just how structured this thing needs to be. DH is resting now so I’m just going to try and relax for a bit. DS got plenty of work done this morning so we’ve not done any since Cagletini came back.

Also had the good news that ballroom dancing is back on from Saturday so I was able to write that straight on the board. However she needs to take the trophy back too (she won pupil of the year 2019 🥰obviously there was no ceremony in 2020!) - any recommendations for silver polish?

Hi everyone, I’m sorry I haven’t been on. We all got a stomach bug on Friday and are just recovering today. I hope you don’t mind if I just jump back in from here, I have read through your posts but there’s a lot to catch up on I don’t think I could reply to you all!.

Ships- hiya 👋, oh no- hope you guys are recovering ok!
ice- my ds is 6yrold but wears clothing in size 9 year old boy. 🤦‍♀️ that would be fine but they dont do paw patrol for a 9 yr old boy.
Sing- thats brill your kids put away their own clothes!

Tadas

• kids to park
• home then put darks lol on
• dryer clothes out
• put 10 pairs of my shoes onto the rack

-pick up junk in hallway -sweep bits of hallway

• fed kids
• food for me

Glad I managed to do something as my batteries were running low- as it was too hot...so hiding in the shady kitchen diner.

@Dancingtomusic checked out truffle shuffle, just adults retro clothes now. What about searching for an adults one and if they do it get it in an xs or s size? Will be baggy but can be grown in to.