It's July, Fledglings are Flying towards Freedom (hopefully!)

[EverythingDelegated]

Hello and welcome to the July 2021 Fledgling Flylady Thread. Thank you Willow for an excellent pair of June threads. Welcome to one and all, old hands and newbies, lurkers and longtime posters and anyone in between. This thread keeps us vaguely on track with Flylady and is where we post our Ta Das and Yes Ta Das (what we did yesterday 😁), our To Dos and To Didn'ts, and discuss anything that comes to mind (often not housekeeping!).

The beauty of Flylady is that you are never behind, the whole system repeats every month, just jump in wherever. The aim is to gradually get into good habits and regular routines that keep the house ticking over rather than having a huge blitz on it.

To help you with this I'll be posting links to Flyady's Flight Plan and other useful parts of the website, which is updated daily, it's also good to go in and have a browse (some of it is a bit twee though). Do NOT sign up for the emails, you will be inundated.

The system divides the house up into weekly zones, then in each zone there will be timefor decluttering, a small daily task (the Mission) and each day of the week has a theme too (eg Errand Day). You can switch things around to suit your circumstances, there is a weekly Sneak Peek page to help you plan ahead. There are also 31 Babysteps, small daily habits to adopt (eg wearing shoes around the house if you'd rather not). Finally Flylady wants you to make time for you and your family, so weekends are more relaxed.

Jargon
Flylady (and the thread!) has a little bit of her own peculiar jargon it can help to know:
S&S - swish and swipe - a quick go round a bathroom or cloakroom to keep it acceptably fresh
LoL load of laundry. We are not collapsing into hysterical laughter over the state of our washing baskets
Hotspots any areas that tend to collect clutter no matter how often you clear them - mine is definitely the corner of the worksurface by the kitchen door, and the bookshelf at the bottom of the stairs
5 minute room rescue a quick whizz round any room to create a semblance of order
Weekly Home Blessing (often Home Bleugh here) - an hour a week to keep the house acceptable. I think this can only be done in an hour if you only have one bed in the house to change, so take it with a pinch of salt. I spread mine over the week as I cannot get it down to an hour and don't have an hour to give to it either.
Ned and Ted - imaginary friends often draughted in to assist with washing and ironing
BRC Bag, or box, of Random Crap
(D)LMS (Didn't) Lose My Shit - often a necessary acronym around spouses and teens!
Naughty Corner - the thread's imaginary space for rest and recuperation when it all gets too much. Often stocked with soft cushions, blankets, drinks and snacks. May or may not have a free bar, fire place, sunloungers, hot and cold running barmen etc.
Cherry waves 🍒👋 - lovely type for cheery wave that stuck!
All Fed and No One Dead - a good outcome to a busy day.

The beauty of Flylady is that is can be adapted to any household setup - lots of DC or just one, or none; a partner / spouse, or ex, or those going it alone; those working within or outside the home; shiftwork, you name it.

Our motto is No Fledgling Left Behind, so if you are a returner or a lurker, welcome on board, there is always space her for more Fledglings.

Argh also just realised there is still too much stuff on the bed.

po3.2
❗️Clear bed (gathering last few games I’ve not sorted yet)
❗️Bring down last few bits of clothing for the rag bags and tie bags up
❗️Heat defrosted soup and eat it

Almost on annual leave as few things to tidy up tomorrow.

Ta da:

🐝wasps' nest sorted (by pro)
Ironing done
General tidy up

To do tomorrow:
Work related stuff am
Fit new smoke alarms
Walk with family
Lamb for dinner

To do today -

In office, finish filing.

Check MrTidyHouse's to-do pile for urgent.

Look with "new eyes" for anything that has been overlooked.
Check house for random paper.

Start on LOs' school paperwork in living-room.

Keep their jotters, etc, in living-room, and everything else goes into office. No culling possible unfortunately. Stacks of reports and plans but very little put into action. Try not to be bogged down by reminders of wasted years.

There is a large crate of papers, photos, etc in the office from a project of MrTH's. If I can, I'll see what's in there. It's from years back, before his work was on computer. Perhaps some can be decluttered and the rest can be scanned.

Good thought on scanning there, MrsTidy. I think I am going to scan lots of work papers on the loft then I can shred them instead of filing.

Hazel hope the headache has cleared and you haven't worn yourself out. Did the nap help?

Zoo thinking of you, lovely.

Sing well done on loads of sorting.

Hope trust that work stuff is out of the way quickly this morning and annual leave may commence!

Dancing hope you have survived the end of your holiday - when are you due back?

Today is busy in the Willow House. DD went to work for 6am and DH is about to walk the dog then go and join the queue for Record Store Day. I am still in bed MNing with tea, but I will shortly be up and wallpapering the music room. I must have been bad in a past life! It is as least paste-the-wall, though, so less of a faff than it might be and I won't need the pasting table.

🍒👋 to ED, THAT, Up, foxes, Honey, Yup (hope your days off are allowing recharging) Hills, merryhouse (sorry the interview was rubbish, could you ask for more targeted feedback?), Red, Mc, SC and anyone who's temporarily fallen out of my head.

Morning all,

Well, yesterday was a long day, up at 6.30 to finish clearing the kitchen and packing, stuck around to see the builders get started and off on our way. Arrived mid afternoon, food shopping and unpacked, then went for a nice evening walk up a hill, down again, along the seafront and back through town, I crashed out by about 10. Now having a cuppa in the garden, the sun is just breaking through a sea mist.

I've still got the Flylady page open in a tab so I may as well post some links.
flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=-60

Saturday is family fun day. Not sure what we're all going to be doing, just going to scroll back up and catch up with you all.

Hope you have a lovely holiday ED!

Red “dust the hens” makes me smile

Sorry about the interview Merry. Which fitness tracker did you get? I have a Fitbit and it doesn’t seem to struggle when my heart rate goes up mostly when I huff and puff up the 5 flights of stairs in the work car park

Willow alas no sign of 2nd trimester glow yet, and as it never arrived with DD I’m not holding out much hope. Hope DM isn’t too poorly.

Scary about the mountain fire Hazel. There were forest fires when we were in Greece once, and the smoke was awful. Hope it’s out soon for your poor eyes.

🍒 👋 to everyone else.

Yesterday was my last work day for 9 lovely days. Off for our final little holiday on Monday. Today we are planning a full day at the beach with some
Friends, however I am going to have to summon the energy to do a full home bleurgh this morning as our house will be used for toilet trips. I’m using your triumph the other day as motivation Willow!

Ok. I’ve had breakfast, DH has taken DD out for a walk. I have no excuse not to get started .

Action plan:
🏃‍♀️ LOL
🏃‍♀️ make beds
🏃‍♀️ straighten DD’s room and shift pile of clean clothes from doorway of dressing room
🏃‍♀️ s&s x 2, clean bath and shower and bathroom floor
🏃‍♀️ tidy hall
🏃‍♀️ wipe kitchen benches
🏃‍♀️ hoover everywhere
🏃‍♀️ mop

Up- goodluck on the home bleugh. Its lovely you will get to spend time on the beach with your friends.

Willow- congrats on completing your home bleugh! Yay!
How is your mum? Is she ok?

I am back home Willow, we got back at 10pm last night.
Yesterday we spent the day at the beach and bumped into Dh family (he was trying to avoid them and told me not to contact them.) The kids had a beautiful time playing with my nieces and nephew i hardly ever get to see.
Thanks every one, the bed rearrangement worked mucb better, my ds slept without crying but dd kept waking up with with nightmares 🤦‍♀️. I did get more sleep night 3 and 4.
(Willow i rememeber you asking- yes I sleep in the kids room on a double bed with dd and ds is on his single bed. I got kicked out of my bed when dd was 1.5 yearsold and 2.5years as everytime dh was waiting for operations- i cudnt turn in bed with dh screaming in pain- so i thought...sack this shit...i am going to sleep in the kids room- cos if i dont get some sleep- i will die. Dh is normally ill, has asthma so struggles to breathe, gets boiling hot, leaves windows wide open, likes it freezing cold, happy to hv every spider, moth, bug in the room with him. Watch stupid videos loudly in bed. Has insomnia so he is awake till very late. I need to sleep at 9pm. So i prefer to hang out with the kids reading stories and going to sleep in peace. )
I listened to all you guys and let Dh handle more of the cooking and washing because i was quiet frankly drained. I rested more and that gave me the energry to do more things like swimming with the kids. I enjoyed the holiday more then.

ED- have a lovely holiday!

Sing- you have done some amazing sorting and clearing- where have you go the motivation from?

Yup- thank you!

Hazel- the full body massage sounds amazing. You deserve it after all the hard you have put into your new home. Hope the smoke stops soon.

🍒👋 everyone. Back later. Missed reading how you all are doing. Silly isnt it, i have never met you guys but want to know, you all are ok.

Sorry if i have missed lots of personals...brain not in gear yet...

I have so much coming up....

Need to make smoothies to kick start healthy eating.

Going to tutor kids next door....so excited. But scared. Eek

What to start a summer reading group with the primary school kids from my ds school. Just read in park for 5mins. I would love that.

Morning all :) just been catching up on the thread in between helping Cagletini with her new activity books (very exciting post this morning :o)

Hazel gosh I’m sorry about the fires, does that happen a lot on the mountains? :(

Having something of a slow start today though, my Saturday pupil is back in her native country for a month or so now, and when I woke up I sent DH back to bed to catch up on sleep.

Dancing wow I didn’t know you’d be tutoring too! That’s so exciting! You’ll be amazing, you really seem to intuitively get kids and their needs 💐 is it a particular subject?

I’m not sure I’ll get much decluttering done today, will see how we go later I guess. Need to carry on working through my admin list though.

This heat can fuck off.
i mean i don't mind heat but seriously the big temps in temp kill me every time.
heat stroke.
Again

This is why i don't go away to fancy holidays.

ta da
move pots about in the garden
bug pick the kohl rabi
get covered in mud discovering the pot without drainage holes
make quiche
assist the people getting ready to leave for their holdiay
sort through the seeds for planting later
water the peas
discover my leg hurts because i cut it and it is bleeding (?!?)
start collecting laundry and washing up
start making the to do list
try to figure out if i can set up the incinerator in the garden
start making the list for online shopping

I am about to take a short break with a coffee and a book.

to do
Wave goodbye to the people
start laundry
washing up -non dishwasher stuff
load and run the dishwasher
sort out the study for putting the books from the lounge
hoover the lounge
clean the kitchen
move the table from my room elsewhere
take top part of book case down
ironing
Collapse into an ice bath to cool down

Hope you all have far more sensible plans for the weekend.
Have a nice holiday ED

It’s not too bad here thankfully. Hope you’re ok hills are you all done with study for now?

I feel very very stuck again and haven’t managed anything yet.

po3.1
❗️Eat something and drink another cup of water
❗️Put some recycling in the bag
❗️Put two more things in with the tip stuff in DD1’s room (only 8 days till tip run yay)

po3.2
❗️Check a few more games
❗️Check course website to see if my tutor has actually marked ANY of my assignments yet (I’ve done 3 out of 5 ffs) - if not, find an email address to contact
❗️Write necessary purchases list (including things I need to find out/measure etc)

Hills- wish i could incinerate most of the toys and my general excess junk here.
Are you going to do a dance of happiness the people are off on holiday?
I hate the heat too, thats why i dont go aboard. I am hiding in a darkened room.

Sing - you inspired me 😊 to be open to different ways to teaching and doing something you love and passing on skills.

My neighbour had mentioned in the past i should look at teaching homeschool lessons...i just brushed it off as i have no idea how that stuff works.

Last week her son, who i going to start gcse was chatting alot about worries and concerns and then mentioned a particular subject and i told him i used to teach it. He looked shocked and so happy as i said i will help him. (His teacher that he loves, is pregnant so all lessons have been through zoom and not the same.)
So i told his parents i will guide him if thats ok. There is alot he can do during this summer holiday to get some really strong background on his subject. They were happy.
I have all the bloody books on the subject and was considering burning them in fustration of not being able to teach my subject. I dont think its anything i will get paid for but I dont mind, i am happy to use my brain teaching 3dArt as the family next door are so lovely, caring and thoughtful so i am happy to do anything to help.

Primary school reading-
I really want to help primary kids enjoy reading. I heard a mum say her year2 son is really struggling making progress reading. His reception aged sister is reading more difficult books than him- so its affecting his reading confidence. His mum is really worried he son will slip backwards on the progress he has made so far. I felt like saying i will will help - once a week - meet in the park - go over the phonics/blending then read for 5mins - then play in the small park.
Then maybe do some shouting reading (i did this with my ds and it made him let go and read.)

I survive the heat by keeping indoors, mostly. Have just hung out a not-very-big load of washing and needed refreshment when I came back in. We're having a barbecue but not till 5 so I should be ok (Pimms helps).

I have a Xiaomi Mi5 which got good reviews for its heartrate monitor so that's very annoying.

Walked into town Thursday evening to see Black Widow (loved it. Mind I am easy to please). Got a freebie A4 poster On the way back realised that I had walked up the Very Steep Hill without dropping behind the others, which is something of a first. Fitness classes are obviously doing something...

Need to do some ironing (getting to the stage of no basket to empty the machine into) but even with the back door open I think it's too hot. On the other hand, those hanging gis ought to be moved before we light the barbecue... bugger. And H is making bread too so the kitchen will also be hot. Oh well, just have to eat ice cream and drink lots of water. (Which I should be doing anyway, according to our new scales which also measure body fat and water percentages. I need to investigate properly but my measurement appeared to be significantly outside the booklet's recommended level. )

ToDo
ironing (at least the gis)
coffee
serve ice cream
soak kebab sticks
defrost prawns
potato wedges
put sunscreen on
mushrooms and tomatoes on kebab sticks; prawns on kebab sticks; prepare salad; dish out crisps and dips; cut rolls
mix up Pimms
collapse in heap
watch 4 episodes of Dr Who, cry probably

thermometer is showing almost 40C in the garden?!!!

Surviving.
No happy dance here, just swearing at the fuckers
working on getting spaces tidy so that i can enjoy a tidy house later in the week.
Seem to be sitting down about every 15mins for 15mins atm though.

I have a vat of cold brew fruit tea in the fridge that is brewing and I am looking forwards to that later.

Yes finished studies for now. One more year til i am done done though.

Stay safe people. And remember bucket of cold water for feet is very useful to help keep cool. As is a cold wet tea towel around the neck.

Dancing that’s awesome!!! I’m really happy for you. I understand if you don’t want to ask for payment but hopefully it will give you a good confidence boost and if you decide to offer this as a paid service to others you’ll have a reference from them 🥰

Glad you’ve got a studying break for a bit hills

DH and Caglets have sorted the garden a bit. I’ve done a few admin tasks.

The stuck feeling isn’t really going away. I feel like I’m pushing through treacle with my brain.

po3.3
❗️Clear out bag and coat pockets (yes it’s a day late but oh well)
❗️Sort my meds for the week and get DD1 to do hers
❗️Sort cuisenaire rod set to sell and take broken box it’s currently in outside with the tip stuff

Sing- thanks lovely 😊
I understand the stuck feeling as i have done nothing today. Its too overwhelming with piles of holiday washing needing to be done. So i watches victoria wood on tv instead- i so relate to the episode called 'staying in.' I am taking the kids to a bbq. Dont want to leave the house ever after the holiday but must for the children.

Sing you are doing great getting on with stuff.

Hills i feel like chucking the bucket of cold water over my head. Just because.

Managing to get stuff done but 🥵

po3.4
❗️Put some seasonal stuff from BRCs into correct bag/box
❗️Amalgamate cables from BRCs
❗️Move stuff from BRCs into one I started specifically of DH’s stuff so he can go through it when full

Wanted to carry on sorting stuff but DH needed to read Cagletini stories for bed and I’ve been sitting on the sofa ever since 😳

Technically we are finally ready for the big book declutter but now I’m looking at the shelves I can’t see much to get rid of 😳😳😳

po3.5
❗️Start pulling out books to get into categories as that might make it easier to ditch stuff
❗️Put aside some to put in the selling box
❗️Gather some recycling from the shelves (loose papers etc)

Right. Must get on with it. 😩

So hot all day that I stayed in all day except for quick trips to the bin. Got up really early and spent a couple of hours in the office, ploughing through the files. Dealt with two important items by phone. One other issue must wait until phonelines are open again on Monday. Apart from that, all the business is straightened out and under control, as far as I can see. The crate of mysteries can wait.

Tomorrow, start on the LO paperwork. Check lever arch files for anything needing attention. Highly unlikely, as these are no longer current. But must be kept safely locked in the office.

Then on to the ring binders of school, health, clinics. List everything that has been postponed over the past eighteen months, so that I can start phoning and emailing for advice and appointments. Probably best to keep those in the office too, and stop stressing myself about them every time I see them on the living-room shelf.

Hoping it will be slightly cooler tomorrow.

It has been weird few days. My gran is unwell (not covid), my ma is struggling (we are not particularly close, so I am lost how to help), DH is constantly with his nose in the phone or rolling his eyes at me at every little thing.

Currently away from home at ma's house. First time traveling with a baby, going better than expected, but DH is being weird.
I need a game plan, but I am not sure where to begin.

I'm sorry to read this MC. Is DH finding it stressful being with your family or is it just a funk? At least you are home given what's happening with your gran.

Hope thank you. DH has been like that for the past few weeks. He says he is stressed, which I have no doubt he is, but he needs to get a grip/find a better way of dealing with it. I am not going to tolerate him criticising every little thing I do or say in that 'how stupid are you for saying this' eye roll tone. He is on annual leave now, so if things don't improve in a weeks' time, we will need to have The Chat.

Oof, sorry Mc, that's tough. Hope your gran rallies soon.

I am so tired. 8 til 2.47 I spent running up and down a ladder wallpapering. I hate 10 foot drops, they just make life so much more complicated. 2.48 I flung myself through the shower to wash the wallpaper paste off. 3.05, we went to test drive a car because mine is 18 years old and about to rust in half. 4.45 we got home, in the middle of a very complex conversation about finance options.
6pm we did birthday online with DS1 then fish and chips because I was too tired to cook. It was my dog walk (8pm), then DH wanted to write a Tesco list, for the love of god.

Now it is suddenly twenty past eleven and I don't know where my Saturday has gone!

Oh mc I’m sorry :( hopefully it’s just a brief phase but I’m glad you are keeping a close eye and aren’t going to tolerate this long term 💐

I’ve gathered some books into categories, and then sorted 28 to add to the selling box. A few undonatables plus some paper/magazines etc in the recycling. Long way to go still but I didn’t want to start what I couldn’t finish tonight.