Fledglings bolt into Spring! Fresh air, fresh flowers, fresh sheets – No fledgling left behind…

[BeanAnTae]

Thread starts on 1 February, but you are welcome to land and say hello until then
Thank you to Hills who has given us a tour-de-force thread for the deepest, darkest days of January when we were all flagging. We all know you are really busy and appreciate the time you took to go in depth with the baby steps.
Welcome to Flylady if you are a newbie or a regular fledgling– it is a zone based cleaning system, spread out over 4-6 weeks (depending on how the month falls.) The zones cover different areas of the home so we concentrate on a particular zone in a given week. But there is also a weekly hour of cleaning (can be split into 10 min segments) to make sure the bins are emptied, main areas hoovered, sheets changed – you get the drift…
And each day of the week has a focus – Thursday is errand day for example.

So , today is Tuesday 1 February – the first day of Spring if you are joining us in the North Hemisphere or Happy Autumn to those in the South. This thread brings you right up to Pancake Tuesday which is 1 March 2022.
Flylady site
This week we are in 2 Zones:
Zone 5: The Living Room
Zone 1: The Entrance, Front Porch and Dining Room
February Habit: Decluttering for 15 Minutes a Day

Monday – Weekly Home Blessing
Tuesday – Plan and Play
Wednesday – Anti-Procrastination Day
Thursday – Errand Day
Friday – Clean-out your Purse and Car Day
Saturday – Family Fun Day
Sunday – Renew your Spirit Day

It is plan and play day on Tuesdays – I usually plan menus and things to do on Tuesdays but the system is customisable to what works for you and your life.
Feel free to jump onto the thread and post your To Do list of household and family stuff achieved and, if you like, post your Ta Da list when you’ve got stuff done. We all encourage each other along and we all have different lives, pressures etc and we are not at all precious about the system – it can be used as you see fit. For example I don’t clean my dining room in zone 1 as it’s part of my living area so I do it in zone 5.
There is a general mantra of ‘No fledgling left behind’ which basically means you can’t fall behind in the system – you just start up again. So there’s no need for a massive Spring Clean – you just jump in.
Some jargon has evolved over the years, for example – cherry waves was an autocorrect of cheery waves, the pointy stick ---> is sometimes requested if you are having particular problems with procrastination and the naughty corner which is where we collapse to take a break.
As well as ‘To Do’, I’m going to try ‘To Be’ because I’m a Human Being not just a Human Doing. So my aim is to be more present (on the thread and in my head!) and more positive. I live far north in the UK so it is pretty dark here at the moment and I am SO looking forward to more daylight. And a shiny sink!

[Exit stage left pursued by a child]

You’ve got this bean

Maths done. Computer actually behaved itself when I switched over from phone. Yay!

po3.3
❗️Scan and upload/email marriage certificate to two places (for uni/loan)
❗️Email senco/temp HOY re DD1
❗️Look through rolling to do list notes and see what can be eliminated or delegated etc

wassail

I finally read my JKR book that has been on the shelf since quite possibly 2012 (given that the paperback came out the following year). When I've finished the current TBR list I think I shall get hold of the Strike books. H watched the tv adaptation and I thought it looked interesting.

Met a new karate person last night - she recently got black belt but is coming to our class because something else is clashing with her usual one. She has very similar issues to mine (speed, thinking ) so although we both ended up feeling very positive after the partner work I'm not sure we developed that much... However I did manage a technique to prevent the "run-up" to a roundhouse kick stopping halfway through, so that should help.

Bit of laundry. Moved a few things off the floor in S2's room, some of it even into rubbish and recycling. Finally remembered to add the bit of Leftover Curry in the freezer into yesterday's cooking. Today's is slow-cooker drumsticks and couscous.

Must sort out birthday present for H, and ask the boys if they want me to wrap anything. Still got 2 weeks to go but mustn't fall into the trap of thinking I can leave it till the day before.

Well done merry the partner work in karate sounds good to me!

Feeling really anxious this afternoon but need to push through. Will crash tonight after meeting.

po3.4
❗️Pay chemistry invoice
❗️Reply to dance teacher
❗️Brain dump list of work tasks that need doing

I quite enjoyed the TV adaptation of strike but haven’t read any of the books yet. Will try them.

Merry which belt are you? (That doesn’t seem grammatically correct but my brain would construct a better version that sounds right )

Hurrah for well-behaved computer Sing!

You’ve achieved lots today Bean. A shining example of a leader . BabyUp is doing really well, packing on the pounds (she’s over 9lbs now) and we are getting lots of cheeky smiles.

I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself for not concentrating on what you are “supposed” to be Fly. What you have done is still good progress, and you’re likely to do a better job if you’re into it.

I’ve managed to clean another quarter of the bathroom floor, (I’m making it sound huge, it’s tiny!) empty the bathroom bin and swap it for the new one I’ve bought as the old one was broken, and also empty the bedroom bin. I did 5 minutes sorting cot sheets etc in DD2’s room too.

Yay for smiley baby!

15 items on my work list. Most are very small indeed.

po3.5
❗️Get phone charger, diary and most importantly CHOCOLATE from downstairs
❗️Do at least 5 small tasks from the list
❗️Update diary with some upcoming stuff and also timesheet info

8 items done and made a good start on the 9th.

po3.6
❗️Meeting
❗️Move laundry into dryer and put on a new LOL
❗️Unroll new mat and let Cagbunny explore!

Fly thank you for the Strike info, i love that series and have a major crush on Tom Burke as a result of the tv series!

ED I'm so envious that you are reading HP for the first time! They're a wonderful read (well I listen to audio books) many, many times over.

Today has not been too bad due to a lovely playgroup that allows all ages so I had time for an actual cup of tea that I managed to finish!! Baseline cleaning is the most I can hope for (but rarely achieve) during the holidays.

Today was the first time I've had a moment at my bf with regards to blended families and navigating the many minefields it seems to throw up. No argument or anything but I just feel a bit meh, suddenly really tired and that I want to shut the world out (which is extremely rare for me). So doing bath time early while practicing some escapism on my phone with you lovely lot and praying for an early night trying to pretend I've forgotten about the batch meal I promised myself I'd do every night this week

Not much going on here. Think I'm suffering from lack of daylight and it's doing things to my motivation Or perhaps I'm just feeling overwhelmed, who knows. I'm not getting anything done, I've even failed on the basics today.

Fly deffo go for the council house. Even if you don't try to actively get one yet, when you get to retirement age and find you can't survive on the state pension in private rental, you'll have been on the list so long that you'll get something quicker. How long you've been waiting is one of the deciding factors in who it goes to, after current circumstances have been considered.

Wassail sorry about your friend

I'm off to do the tile grouting with toilet bleach just so I can say I Have Done Something. No idea if it'll work, but whatever.

swallowed blowing a hoolie with added rain. But no one said I left the comfort of my car. It's warmer in there. And snacks, and blankies.
Reasonable progress was made. I am happy with it.

But now I am tired and about to crash out and sleep. Night all.

Frankie - hope you get the early night, I'm audio-ing the HPs too, we have them on DH's audible account. DD has been falling asleep to them for many years and knows them inside out.

Thanks everyone for encouragement and thoughts on life, council houses, cleaning and all.

Hills - I hadn't considered you'd sit in the car. Had images of you with hills right on your doorstep and walking from the house. Car sounds far more sensible.

Somehow ended up having a long conversation about sex, condoms, consent, female pleasure, drugs and who knows what else with ds. Smiling baby and weigh ins sounds lovely and very far away from tonight's conversations. Ds was a teeny baby once - it seems a lifetime ago and just ten minutes ago simultaneously

I managed to clean the bathroom mirror, empty and clean bin and do more laundry jobs and make a dr's appointment for ds's migraines. Must get onto sorting his passport tomorrow but also taking parents out for lunch.

Super tired already so I will say goodnight too.

www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-16/ baby step 16 is about reading flylady's (many) emails if you've signed up for them.

Flight plan. Anti-procrastination day on Weds www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=0

Yes we've done similar with ds who is 12 swallowedafly. Thomas the tank engine seems very far away now.

Swallowed that totally happens in the summer and i will spend all day out on the hills hiking. But even in summer the car comes with me for study days. Too many books, snacks and other gubbins.

Being out of the house means i step away from interruptions and the guilt/distractions of not doing other things. cafes etc don't work for my adhd too much other stuff going on around me results in lack of focus. In my car on a hill I can get done in 3 hours what would take me 4 or 5 else where.

wait til you have the I'm not/am having kids conversation with them. You just feel very very old. ds is of fixed mind. He is unlikely to change it. And his reasons are ridiculously sound. So it would seem i will be spared the luxury of grand babies.

Wassailing so sad that you have lost such a wonderful friend that you went through so many milestones together. Hard for the family with such young children too. In time you will be able to talk to them about her when she was younger and help them keep her memory alive.

I have been out with BF today she just called to see if I was free for a run out. I don’t what I would do if I lost her. We had another friend who was lovely and we spent a great deal of time with(me more than BF) who died of cancer about 15 years ago. I still find moments that I think wouldn’t she have loved that. I have a painting she did of me in the kitchen it had a sage Aga we bought a Sage Everhot. It didn’t click until the kitchen fitter wanted to move it and I said no that has to stay then realised the stove was the ‘right’ colour! And we had DDs cat. There was a cat in the picture. It makes me smile as it has a caption and the kitchen is a bit of a mess.

Ta da
Cleaned shower doors and shower tray.
Cleaned window sill- where shampoo, shower gel and salt scrub sit.
Cleaned shower head with old toothbrush.

Then DS2 arrived. Had coffee. Had lunch then BF phoned. Went out with BF.

I had made bed as well and a bit of a tidy.
Vacuumed sitting room.

I was hoping to do all the bathroom today so I could do some of another room. Tomorrow, tomorrow...

Wassailing so sorry to hear about your friend. Sounds like you have so many lovely memories but it must be a terrible blow to you and her loved ones. She was so young

Swallowedafly I know what you mean. Seems like yesterday I was pushing pram with smiling babies and now they are all grown up and moody.

Everyone apologies, always feel terrible for not saying hi individually. Got a bit lost trying to catch up. Waves. Hope you are having a good week

TaDa Mon/Tue 🎉*
*
deep cleaned family bathroom
cleaned cat bedroom aka landing
cleaned en-suite
hoovered upstairs
cleaned upstairs windows
bought middle kiddos birthday presents
took eldest shoe shopping
top up food shop
trip to local dump
helped eldest panic clean her room for her friend arriving. She waited till 1hr beforehand to even start, so we were both sweating at the end. I was annoyed as I'd been reminding her for days.

It is so true that you don't know what you've got til it's gone. I thought she would always be there. I am trying to gather the strength to write to her parents, her husband, her children. I want the children particularly to know she was more than Just Mummy - if not now, then later, when they are older. I treasure the letters I received when my DDad died, and the stories his schoolfriends told us about when he was young.

I also discovered last week that someone I was at University with was widowed very suddenly and unexpectedly in late January. 2022 already absolutely sucks in that regard, and I'd like to start again, please.

Any way. Deep breath, big girl pants hoiked up to eyebrows.
YesTaDa
❤️ Brisk and efficient morning routine, all done by 8am. DH dare not stand still too long for fear I will clean / declutter him
🧡 Properly bottomed the study, as a prelude to making it my space
💛 Lots of little fiddly bits of admin - rang the butcher's to check if their new "paper" bags are recyclable (no. So why bother?); arranged the MOT on the Big Car; contacted the pest controller re: our ratty friends; ordered new blackout linings for DH's new office; ordered two black frocks to try on as I seem to have a raft of funerals to attend
💚 Had a sudden message from an old friend from primary school who was unexpectedly in the area for the day, so went out to meet her. Was lovely.
💙 Spent too much time trying to work out how to make the study work.
💜 Some actual research

Today, I begin the process of emptying the study, à la Stacey Solomon, and then only bringing back in what I actually want in there. Apply your tin hats, please!

Morning all.

Ta da:
-Got up out of my warm bed
-Walked dog
-Reshuffled clothes on drying rack
-Finally did some shredding -bit more still to do once I sort through another lot of documents
-Tackled the kitchen dresser and managed to clear one of the shelves inside. Might move all tea making herbs and potions and tea pots, infusers etc into there to free up a small cupboard that isn't best used but not a job for right now.
-Wrote lists and priorities on the 'one and done' list
-Managed to decide upon a venue and time for late lunch with the parents

MUST have a shower and wash my hair and make myself presentable sometime soon. Will also need to wake the boy in a couple of hours and get his grumbling don't wanna go arse in gear.

Should - do more in the bathroom - at the very least a good scrub around whilst I'm in the shower oh and MUST apply for ds's passport for which I need ds to take a photo of him!

Wassail I find the prospect of emptying an entire room like that to be totally terrifying! This probably means I have too much stuff.

Hills I'm the same with the car using it as an extra room and somewhere to get some peace and quiet.

ED I bought a set of Harry Potter books last year. Everyone had gone on about them so much I felt I had to know what all the fuss was about. I was surprised at how good they were.

I rinsed the bleach off the bathroom tiles this morning. It's had zero effect on the black spots on the sealant but after a wipe with a cotton wool ball the grouting looks almost white so I shall consider it a success.

I'm beginning to notice a difference with the FlyLady system. Even on my worst days I'm getting laundry and washing up done because I've started to think of them as integral parts of my morning and evening routine. Writing down my morning and evening routines has been a game changer, I don't know why I never thought to do this before. It's taken the thinking out of it all when I'm too distracted to remember what I'm supposed to be doing. Then because I've got into the habit of consulting a list twice a day, when I found myself unmotivated and distracted in the afternoon I checked another list to see what needed doing and actually did something. Instead of flapping around trying to do everything and achieving nothing or wasting time pointlessly scrolling social media.

Morning. My day is not going to plan, but that is because i was reminded of things that i needed to make priority for but had forgotten.

Where has today gone?

Washed away in the storm Hills We've got horizontal rain here, luckily I haven't had to set foot outside all day.

I organized the bathroom to make it more aesthetically pleasing.

Then shifted things around to make better use of the space so the messy corner is less messy. This has taken several attempts. It's just a normal corner in need of improvement now.

Clearing out almost all the excess cardboard recycling (as much as would fit into the empty recycling bin) freed up that corner for the plastic recycling (it's gotten on top of me lately), leaving me with a bit of spare countertop.

Hope everyone's day was ok.

I don’t know Hills but if you find it let me know.

A few weeks ago you mentioned how one job led to another and how we can get distracted by noticing other jobs and then go off track well I have had one of those days.

So I cleaned the shower screen again.
Took everything off the shelves dusted or washed them.
Wiped shelves.
Put everything back.
Cleaned and polished mirror.
Wiped sink.

I was going to finish the bathroom but got distracted when I went to put something away in a. Cupboard next to the fire. Ended up tidying the whole cupboard, vacuuming, wiping shelves and re organising everything then putting some back. Still good job done.
Using up some of the candles and have some of them ready in case there is a power cut. It is extremely windy. Bit worried about the large oak and beech trees on the green considering how many trees uprooted in this county this winter.

DH made lunch chicken sandwiches and tea sausage, mash, onion gravy, cabbage and broad beans.

Started a new scarf this time for sis.

Forgot to do my anti procrastination damn.

🍒👋🍒👋🍒 to everyone.

Red I'm exactly like that with work too. I do one thing and instead of prioritising the next thing, I just finish bits that I've noticed. I'm going to have to think about how I use my time.

Okay - no flying done today. I'd a day off work but had to work anyway as pressed for time and needed to get things done. It's half term and poor ds was left to his own devices. Anyway work is more manageable tomorrow and Friday and I'm guarding my time tightly.

DH and I are making an effort to get fitter and lose weight so I organised the fridge and hid the biscuits 😁

To do
Self care: nails and shower.

Ta da
Bins out
House tidy
Organised for work tomorrow

Thursday - errand day

We are in zone 3 bathroom and one other room. I hate cleaning the shower. I actually prefer cleaning the toilets!

To do tomorrow

Work to early afternoon in work
Get fruit and veg
Get a walk.
Get hair cut at 4pm

www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-17/ think about the time you go to bed each night

www.flylady.net/c/fp.php?tzm=0 flight plan