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.

Mc- i am sorry too to read this. There should be a book that warns women that after having a baby the other half will be brilliant help or turn in to a twat. I wasnt lucky. Things did get alot better once the dc could walk and dh could take them to the park on his own. Big turning points are when the dc realise daddy can push me higher on the swings and faster on the roundabout....then its daddy, daddy, daddy. On holiday my dd aged 4 just wanted daddy for swimming as he is sooo much fun and makes them laugh.
Dont know if thats any help. My mil kept saying things will better when the kids can walk and he can interact with them more, and it was true.

Willow- gosh you have done soo much! 🤣 car rusts its self in half 🤣
Hope you get some well deserved sleep.

🍒👋everyone

Dancing that is such a good idea hope the tutoring goes well too. Love the idea of reading in the park. Such a lot of children will have fallen behind it would be so different reading in the park and perhaps a story session just listening and enjoying a story. I bet the library would love you to offer to go there in the cooler months.

Hills have all the people gone on holiday together or is your son home still. It will like being on holiday for you. Cold brew fruit tea sounds lovely.
Sing you sound so busy.

Merry good to hear from you. We had a bbq too and I had two Pimms. Lovely.
Up I bet you are feeling it in the heat.
🍒👋🍒👋🍒👋🍒to everyone else charge is about to go on this.

Thank you for your thoughts and well wishes, everyone 😘
You've all been so fabulously busy flying, I'm very impressed. I'm hoping to join you in that shortly!

ds has been with his father for a while. And yes it will be like a holiday from people for me. Just with a giant to do list.

I have to go into work today. There has been an emergency and whilst I didn't need to go into work last night, they need me to pop in today to sort a couple of things.

But first i need to high tail my butt into the garden to plant some seeds and plants before it get to be 100 billion degrees outside again. I also need to water up the 2nd half of the garden that i was too tired to do last night.

Morning.

Officially on holiday now. Spent much of yesterday sunbathing and reading which was nice. Feeling ready-ish to start getting on with bits today and glad to see we're back in the bedroom as I never did finish properly in here and new mess has accumulated.

Going to start with a po3
-get all of the recycling out of my bedroom (I've been tearing pages out of planners, sorting through worksheets etc and just keeping one copy per set) and all manner of end of term jobs that have resulted in piles of paper around my bed. For some reason no matter how I try to change the habit my bed is my desk.
-deal with the piles of dirty crockery that have amassed in the kitchen whilst I've taken a couple of days off (cheers ds you filthy peasant)
-a lol I guess - have had a couple of days off of that too so no doubt it's accumulating.

I've skimmed to catch up so sorry I'm not responding to personals - a lot to take in. I'm back on the bus now though and determined to make some progress in this shit tip!

honeybadger yay on officially being on holiday.

dancing how wonderful that you can use your skills to help your neighbour. Reading in the park sounds like a great, fun idea.

Mc Hope your DH stops being weird and goes back to being supportive.

IWill what a busy day. I was exhausted from just reading that description. Phew!

merryhouse is Black Widow a Marvel film. I'm all out of sync with the films and I watched a Spider-Man film recently and I had no clue what had happened to Tony Stark and the others and was totally confused. Might take DC to see it this week.

sing you are very busy. When do you relax?

Yay indeed yup

I've rotated dw, sorted the piles of paper and filled the washing machine as much as I can but from the suspiciously empty laundry basket I think there must be loads in ds's room so I'll have to add to it when he gets up and then switch it on.

Bit of coffee and chill time next but then I need to start clearing my bedroom floor, finding places for all the piles of school stuff and dealing with generally taming chaos.

Oops posted too soon.

The last couple of days ta-da:

4 lol
Took DS out to lunch
Bought 2 massive plastic boxes
In the process of sorting out DS bedroom. He let go of his Minecraft toys, most of his Roblox toys and started putting his Lego in the 2 boxes but have run out of room. That's on top of previously boxed up Lego. So 5 boxes so far. Need 2 more boxes.

Got rid of rubbish from DS bedroom.

Today to-do:

Shopping list
Shopping
Make raspberry muffins
Clean plant pot and plant herbs
LoL x 2
Deep clean of DS bedroom
Water plants of an evening
Visit parents at some point

Right, breakfast calls. Have a good day everyone. Keep cool 😎

Oh and DS said goodbye to 18 of his cuddlies. We washed them - they looked so cute drying on the line - and hopefully they will go to a good home and be loved.

He still has tonnes left but the fact that he let go of so many plus his toys is a miracle.

ta da
20 plants planted
8 lots of seed sown
cover the whole lot in netting (swear at said netting)
garden water
bread dough put on to rise before heading into garden
check email
i am about to clean up and started on inside stuff, but after making pizza for breakfast because i am not going to want to make it for tea. so i will do a back to front day on the meals

Yay honey so glad you’re finished for the term!

Hills woohoo for people-free time! I know you have loads to accomplish but PLEASE by order of the Fledglings make sure you have some time to just be - enjoy the peace and quiet in your own home!

Red the library is a great idea for dancing - at ours we had volunteers come in to help with storytime etc.

I’m hoping today is Book Sorting Day. Although I did get started last night, I am aiming to go through the rest. I’ll get the Caglets to pull everything off the shelves and put vaguely into categories (it really is an absolute mess with everything shoved in any old how) and then we can go through them. It is difficult being in between ages but much as I want to keep lovely things for Cagletini to use as she gets older (whether or not she ends up home ed like the other two have been) I need to be realistic about how much we can store and use vs the need for space and a bit of cash!

DD1 isn’t up yet though and DS only just came down so that’ll be later.

po3.1
❗️Fill DW
❗️Bit of BRC sorting upstairs
❗️Move DH’s stuff into a bigger box

Mc

Enjoy the peace and quiet Hills.

Yup I long for the day Dd can be persuaded to let go of some soft toys, rather than bringing another one back every time she’s with MIL

Fab news on the tutoring Dancing!

I’m exhausted at the thought of your Saturday Willow. Hope today is a more chilled one.

We had a fabulous day at the beach. DD was in the water most of the day, she’s getting really brave lying down in it now rather than just wading. I spent most of the day watching her splash about from the comfort of my camping chair in a breezy spot. Stupidly forgot suncream on my scalp though. I never learn.

I did accomplish most of the to do list yesterday although I decided rather than sorting the bedrooms I would just shut the door on them . It means the house isn’t too bad this morning although we do need to clear the beach stuff from where we dumped it in the hallway last night.

Today we are thinking barbecue and paddling pool out as it’s another scorcher. Should probably start packing too as we are planning on heading off early tomorrow morning as it’s a bit of a drive.

Morning!

Hills, what Sing said - take some time to just BE, in the silence.

Yup have you struck carpet in DS's room 😂? We too are awash with lego.
Honey good going. Remember you've got to rest too!
Dancing how lovely that you are tutoring and your ideas for reading support are excellent. I wish I'd been aware of such things when DS2 was hating learning to read. You will be really good at it, I think.

I was supposed to get up and go straight back up a ladder, but I've had breakfast in the garden instead.

Red- the pims sounds so nice and cooling in this weather. Thank you lovely, i hope i manage to do it.

Sing- thank you lovely. I am sure my local library wouldnt be interested in me. They are abit scary here so we stay away. I should take the kids over the summer. Great you are sorting through more books. I must get motivated here to sell the silly happyland stuff. Its just got to go. Kids hv grown out of it.

Yup- weldone for cracking on and your ds for letting go of stuff - its must help the process.

Hills- fab you got the planting done.

Does anyone know of a dairy free and egg free birthday cake recipe please?
I have to be dairy free for my dbro who regulary misses out on cakes and now dd who struggles to breathe at night if she eats fresh cream. Now dbro partner has given up eating eggs 🤦‍♀️.

Klaxon
I have put the 1st load of a million and put the washing machine on!

Po3
Wm on
Breakfast
Shower dressed

Breakfast

Morning all,
Another lazy morning here (holiday), just pondering what we are going to do today, I think a quiet one, mooch around the town, down to the beach for a bit. Apart from DH none of us are real beach lovers especially not in hot weather but as we are at the seaside we will go for a bit. DS hates sand, I like the sound of the sea and the views but hate the lack of shade and DD just thinks they are boring. So, if its hot we tend to go in the evening for an our or two instead of during the day. We do like crabbing and rockpooling though.

Just caught up. Yup well done for doing so much! Do I sound busy? TBH I spend far too much time sitting around and faffing about on my phone. I do seem to be doing a bit less of that now, which is having a good effect on my MH (and vice versa), but I still feel like I do it far too much!

I haven’t even started on my power of three yet. At least DD1 is up so I’ll get the Caglets to crack on with stuff once I’ve done the DW

Yup yes it's a Marvel film - Black Widow is the character played by Scarlet Johanssen who has fabulous ninja moves and a special relationship with the Hulk.

Massive things happened in Infinity War and End Game which closed the story arc with Tony Stark etc - including Black Widow actually but this film is set a few years previously just after Civil War. The Spiderman: Far From Home film is I think the first one set after End Game so that Tony is recently gone and all the previously-zapped-by-
Thanos people are recently back.

Every time we watch a Marvel film I realise I've forgotten half the details of the previous ones. Sometimes it's obvious, other times it comes out when the others are discussing the - ah - finer points of the plot

Did all of yesterday's to-do list (including the crying, mostly at Fear Her which I'd forgotten was so blatant).

TaDa
got up promptly despite headache (about 5 units in beer and 2.5 units in Pimms)
made tea
took ibuprofen
ate breakfast
made coffee
rang for service
sent BiL my mobile number because I have Facebook only on the laptop

ToDo
wash up
H to make lunch
discuss dinner timings with S1
walk into town to meet BiL and friends at A Pub
persuade everyone that they want Mah-Jongg tonight (I can enjoy playing without having to think too hard)
spend five minutes pondering kata (I can remember it...)

loads of stuff involving emails and laundry, most of which will almost certainly not get done today

DS is a hoarder by nature so the fact that he let go of some things is a huge deal. Every single item is given emotions and personality (personification?) by DS so imagine how hard it was for him to give up actual cuddlies. I didn't know this but personification is a form of Synaesthesia. Huh, who knew?

Dancing BBC good food website has some vegan cake recipes. We're lucky where I live as there are quite a few vegan/gluten free cake shops.

the silence and the dark is amazing... also when there is noise (radio/tv/streaming) it is at a low level (think level 4 vs the 15normally) it is amazing!

Pizza was made and eaten
bread had second rise and cooked
soak in bath done
sorted out what i need to do when i am in the office
shopping list written (might as well do a food shop in the same go)
sort out the order of the plan of action
put the recycling out
composting stuff out
put some drainage holes in tubs
15mins hotspot work in kitchen

right office, food shop, maybe garden centre home for a nap

Enjoy your Day ED

sorry to only be flying through today.

Wow I had no idea about the personification either. I used to be fascinated by synaesthesia though (I don’t have it myself)

I think DD1 might be the opposite - she never even named her teddies and never really got attached to any in particular! Her doll was just called Baby. 😁

I’ve done some BRC sorting - as I’ve progressed in the last couple of months it’s got more and more difficult and slow, as the easy stuff is obviously sorted first.

Need some lunch now but then I will have to start sorting the books that the others have piled up on the floor.

KLAXON - DH has actually chosen to get rid of some books 😱😱😱

Sing- i find synaesthesia very interesting too. (Going off to reseach it again as i lie in a darkened room, hiding fron the sun. My face was sweating its so hot in the sunny front room.)

Up and Williow, sorry crossed post from me this morning.
Up- thank u lovely. I love the chair at the beach idea. Hope you have a lovely bbq today.

Willow- thank you. I havent started yet...just going to get house slightly more organised before i meet with the kid next door. I also told his primary aged sisters we can do painting in the garden together. Lol 🤦‍♀️ Breakfast in the garden sounds bliss!

@SingToTheSky

KLAXON - DH has actually chosen to get rid of some books 😱😱😱

Woo-hoo 🎉

(My DH would NEVER).

sing D's has some instances of that..sight of the words pumpkin,the sea and popcorn all create strong smells of said items

I need drag my sorry arse back here
No improvement on the personal front
Place is starting to slide,so I need some thing to keep me accountable

I have read back a bit,not absorbed much,sorry everyone I've three things to add quickly from what I read thru and will just attempt shuffle back aboard

Dancing schools often took parent readers,there's also a reading volunteer program that goes into schools.i cannot for the life of me remember what it's called.if it comes back to me will post it for you.
Hills please do chill in the quiet.you need that💞
Sing go D's and his decluttering if books