Its funny how things effect you. Waking up sunday to find that Whitney Houston had died just left me with a particular sad feeling. I currently don't own any Whitney stuff and i don't listen to any of her material (unless it appears on a radio) but that was not the case 20 years ago.

I wouldn't say that back then i was a massive Whitney fan or anything but her anthemic songs and pitch perfect vocals ran deep in the sand of my teenage years. Didn't we all grab a hairbrush and screech out those high notes imagining for a moment that we shared in her incredible gift and talent. Those boppy numbers like 'I wanna dance with somebody' had us all up dancing in our white stilhettos at the youth club disco and those wonderful ballads sent boys and girls alike flying to the safety of the wall at opposite sides of the hall waiting for someone to make the first move. 

I heard someone on the radio talking about Whitney's roots and how she came from a gospel background, singing in church and dazzling the congregation. They probably knew back then that she wouldn't stay, that greatness was calling her. That in fact maybe if she had of stayed she may have been spared the crushing unhappiness that seemed to slowly snuff out her life glow. 

I remembered seeing this film a long time ago (probably if im honest because Denzel Washington was in it!) and thinking those songs that she sang as the leader of a gospel choir were so uplifting that just being in that church would have lifted your soul and sent it soaring round the chapel with her astounding voice. 

see if you can clock the serious A lister who appears towards the end 🙂

Summer time last year I did a guest post on potty training. I found myself reflecting on it over the past week as our three year old still has some 'poo' issues with her potty training! Sometimes there seems no light at the end of the tunnel. But i looked at this post and reflected on the fact that i actually have successfully potty trained 3 kids already…eventually!

Thought id link it up just in case anyone else wants a read and a bit of a giggle at my 'caught in a book shop with huge turd in potty' story

:0)

Happy monday.

A while ago I noticed on twitter a recent mummy and supremo photographer asking for any guest posts and I jumped at the chance, especially when she asked for funny stories and one particular story came to mind.

You can read about it here: http://www.icarriedawatermelon.co.uk/blog/advice-on-potty-training/

And if you are here from julia's blog. Hullo to you. Come be my friend on twitter: twitter:@apartyofseven

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*