Life, Love and Dirty Dishes delivers award winning funny tales from the parenting front line delivered with humour and heart. We're all in this together.
Life, Love and Dirty Dishes is mainly about parenting. Living life with small people and the situations we find ourselves in. Life refers to the funny stuff. If becoming a parent has taught me anything, it’s enjoying simple pleasures and having a sense of humour about things. How else would we survive the poonamis and the tantrums? If you’ve stumbled into this category I hope these posts make you laugh and brighten your day a little.
At Christmas we caved and got my eleven year old his first phone. I say caved because 90% of me thinks kids having mobile phones is utterly ridiculous. But I’m learning during these tween years that quite often I have to give in. I don’t want him to miss out because he is the only […] Read more…
We are all aware of the kinds of the children of the nativity, the nose picker, the flasher and the waver to name a few. But what about the parents of the nativity? All huddled together on tiny chairs in big coats watching their little star be an angel, wise man, donkey, or chicken. Image […] Read more…
So they take a bit of getting used to. It can take a while to find a shape that you find comfortable and that doesn’t try and jump down your throat every time you breathe in. And us Brits like to moan don’t we. There has been a lot of moaning about face masks. But […] Read more…
I don’t believe those couples who say they never argue. I mean we all do from time to time. And when you become parents the rows change, not just the hushed tones and muttering under your breath, but the things we row over. A parental row. Sometimes over big stuff, sometimes over silly things. Sleep […] Read more…
I’m an organised person. But there’s something about the kids going back to school after the Summer holidays that always puts me in a spin. Even when I start preparing by buying the t-shirts in July, at the end of August I start having the same panicked thoughts… Back to school thoughts… Where did I […] Read more…
The moment you announce you are expecting a child people start to give you little warnings about the things you can’t do when you are a parent. “Get some sleep now because you won’t have any for the next 18 years” Said with a hearty gafaw. But most of the warnings revolve around sleep and […] Read more…
When I was a kid we used to pretend the shed in the garden was our clubhouse. Inspired by our love of the Secret Seven books, my friend and I declared the shed as the base for the Red Indian Club. You could only come in if you knew the password. Only the shed was […] Read more…
When lock down first started I found myself suffering with lock down envy. There was lots of talk of people being able to do all the things they never have time for normally. Individuals starting new hobbies and realising ambitions from their own four walls. All amazing lock down achievements. Between taking care of the […] Read more…
Since becoming a parent I have spent a lot of time becoming acquainted with the floors of my house. Prior to kids, I very rarely found myself on the floor. Maybe one or two times, when over indulging in alcohol led me to believe that the wood floor was the most comfortable of places to […] Read more…
As we enter the third week of lock down and working from home, chances are you have taken part in some kind of video conference call. And chances are if you are a parent, a small person has interrupted that conference call with something of vital importance to say. Conference calls with kids around require […] Read more…
My son’s Primary school is an old Victorian building, very similar to the primary school I went to. My eldest came home the other day with a very detailed story about the toilets and how they were haunted. It made me smile because the toilets at my old school were haunted too! But whilst some […] Read more…
My eldest child is hardly ever ill. My youngest however gets everything going, and always gets it to the extreme. However at the end of last year we had a really bad run with the two of them. Tonsillitis, sickness bugs, ear infections and raging temperatures for no apparent reason. For a good two months […] Read more…
A Spa break is something I enjoyed before I became a parent. But now I am a parent I think I appreciate them on a whole new level. Why Mums Love a spa break… 1. We can recharge from the chaos Sometimes my life feels like a whirlwind of after school clubs, homework, birthday parties, […] Read more…
I always think a parody is a good idea until I am half way through and loosing the will to live. Which is precisely why about half way though this parody of Sleigh Ride, is where you will need to start crow barring the lyrics in. In my defence I don’t think I’ve ever heard […] Read more…
When it comes to Christmas we all do it a bit differently. Some of us have Yorkshires with our Christmas dinner. There are some that leave Father Christmas a G&T. Some of us watch the Queen’s speech. And some of us write Christmas lists. It wasn’t until I somehow stumbled into an AIBU forum on […] Read more…
Charlie has been in our lives for 18 months now. And we couldn’t imagine him not being part of our family. So much so that on our recent holiday to Australia, both the boys shed tears because they missed the cat! Until Charlie I have never owned a cat, and before he became part of […] Read more…
I am what some may refer to as vertically challenged. A short arse. In fact I am shorter than your average short person. It is rare for me to be taller than any other adults. There have been a few. Mainly little old ladies. In fact at 4-foot-10-and-a-half inches (that half is very important) I […] Read more…
Tomorrow my first born turns 10. That’s a whole decade of being a parent, and a whole lot of sleep lost! There have been many many lessons learnt in the last 10 years. There were ridiculous intentions at the start, and a whole host of unexpected things along the way. But if I could go […] Read more…
You wouldn’t think it would you? With their chubby cheeks, big soulful eyes, and smiles that can melt the coldest of all hearts. And if the smile doesn’t do it, the bear hug will. But toddlers are petty criminals. Mastermind law breakers. Evil geniuses in the making. At some point your toddler would have committed […] Read more…
If the movies are to be believed you know when you are in labour when: a) You wake up with a start because you are having a contraction and rush to the hospital immediately. b) Your waters break somewhere public and you start having agonising contractions. In reality it’s normally nothing like that. Knowing when […] Read more…