as always you can rock over to Mammasaurus blog to view some more. 

what a truly inspiring title for a post. But i get asked a lot about Laundry….

yes..hold tight to my everso exciting life!!

Im guessing its people wonder at how i manage a large family load of laundry. This is what i have thunk about this matter so far. 🙂

1. My kids get out of their school uniforms as soon as they get in from school. This preserves the jumpers, ties and shirts from all sorts of yuk and gets a couple of days out of them. 

2. Whatever they choose to put on after school gets put back in their cupboard at bedtime and not in the laundry (unless its dirty)for use another day. The exception to that is undewear. 

3. I am a bit 'free and easy' with the coloured/whites thing. I have, in the past, washed a rogue black sock with the pale clothes and it has turned out okay…not grey.. But having said that i do wash darker coloured together and lighter coloured together but i can say with complete certainty that i have never done an entirely WHITE wash.  (you still awake?)

4. I don't take clothes out of the washing machine unless i have time to fold them up. There is a reason for this. If you fold and flatten and pat then it decreases the need for ironing. I say decrease i suppose you could actually insert 'eliminates' in there. I rarely iron stuff. Life is too short IMHO

5. I tumble dry a percentage of our clothes but not all. Tumblie categories are underwear, socks, pj's, sleepwear, sheets, towels, bedding. Essenitally anything i don't mind shrinking a bit and i mind the kids and our proper outdoor clothes shrinking. Yes the underwear etc tends to shrink a little. My little way round that is to buy a size bigger. Say for my just 2 year old i might buy 3-4 year old. 

6. Once folded and patted clothes have been left flat for an hour, its important to leave them for a bit so they can…um…sink into it or something like that. Then they are hung up somewhere. I do have a washing line outside..my problem with this is that if i hang a wash outside and it is not warm enough to dry all the clothes in the time before i have to bring everything in, i then have to hang everything up all over again. Thus hanging up the same load of washing TWICE…and thats lunacy. 

7. I use softener probably way to liberally. 

8. I don't use powder in my washing machine. Someone once told me that it is a sure fire way to block your machine and give it problems in later life. I need my washing machine to stay working for a long time!

9. Clothes get folded and put away – eventually….this is the thing im the worst at. I have tried involving the kids in putting their clothes away but this to them = stuffing all their pile on one shelf so it really is false economy. 

10. I use fairy liquid on stubborn stains and it always works pretty well. I try and run a boil wash once a week, apparently thats good for the washing machine too.

Thats it, for goodness sake, ten points about laundry. Someone kill me now! I bet there are loads of you out there who have some laundry bits of gold advice. Why not share. Go on 🙂

This is not what my lanudry room looks like….*sob*

Dear house,

One day, my friend, you and i are not going to have a continual wiff of poo. Yes it seems unlikely right now. But it will happen and im may just do a little dance.

potty training purgatory, Sx

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Dear Women's hospital planners, 

Just curious to know why there are in fact TWO new mummy and baby spaces outside the hospital now. Im thinking 6000 babies a year we may need a few more than that. 

nightshift working nurse, Sx

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Dear skin on my hands, 

Dont break up on me now, i need you. Spring is on the way. 

handcream loving, Sx

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Dear half term, 

you can't get here quick enough. Seriously. 

done with the school run, Sx

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Dear Larger toddler of mine, 

What happens at 4am in the morning that makes you come and get into our bed, on my side, with your freezing feet? huh? Can we do something about it so you stay put for just a few nights.

trying to think its cute but failing, Sx

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Dear darling daughter of mine, 

sitting on the toilet when your parents are in the shower and putting the phone onto movie mode is so not funny! Stop doing that. No-one needs that sort of shock when scrolling through photos. 

must lock my phone ALL the time, Sx

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Dear weather,

Could you please just either snow or get lost with the freezing hail/rain type stuff. Its boring to do life in that sort of rubbish precipitation and no fun if you are a little kid with a sledge. 

how very british, Sx

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dont forget to pop over to Kat's blog for some more. 

over on the fabulous Bodfortea blog while its ever-so-lucky author is at the business end of FUN in DisneyWorld.

A little reflection on this crazy business of being a working mama…

this week Tara's challenge was to find a picture that told a story…a family story. So got me thinking, the one about the vinegar on sprouts? the 6ft2 rugby playing brother who had a brief flirtation with the delicate art of ballet? or my strange love affair with those bat wing coats *shudder*

Nope…i found this picture and it made me think of a lovely story..

This sweet blondie doggie is Josh, he was my parent's second golden retriever. He is a puppy here obviously and he is with my mum. We had a dog called Ben when i was a child and he died when i was in my 2o's. My mum refused to ever have another one but i knew if i could get her to see some pups she wouldn't be able to resist and so the onslaught began 'go on, can we, you know we need a dog, please!" (honestly i have no idea where my kids get their persistance from!)

and she caved finally and we went and chose this little fella. He was a tiny 7 week old pup when we got him and i was still living at home. Yet to set off for the North west to begin my own family story. 

He died a couple of years ago at a grand old age, not before he had jumped around my parent's garden with three out of five of my kids, the little ones never got to meet him properly. My kids, who growing up in a city, are a little wary of dogs but not Josh. They loved on him like crazy and my son broke down in great big hiccuping sobs when we told him that Josh had died. 

and thats a little bit of my story…