The Only Girl in the House

My Utility Room of Dreams | John Lewis AEG Washing Machine & Tumble Dryer #AD

My Utility Room of Dreams | John Lewis AEG Washing Machine & Tumble Dryer #AD

One of the things I love about being a blogger is the weird and wonderful stuff that comes into my inbox; from offers of lube reviews to can I make pet insurance an exciting content matter? (The answer was NO!) But sometimes, some brands just ‘get me’ – get my blog, my family and come up with a collaboration that’s so god damn on point even I recoil in amazement. When John Lewis asked if I’d like to try out their new AEG washing machine and tumble dryer, it was as if all my parental dreams had come true! Needless to say, a family of 7 gets through a shiz load of washing and for anyone who follows my insta-stories, you will only be well aware of the drama it causes when one of my trusty washing steads fails me.

For a long time, as a family of 7, it’s been necessary to have two fridges, two lounges, two bathrooms (even two houses in the beginning) so it seemed almost a natural progression to upgrade my domestic goddess-ry to two washing machines and tumble dryers. I’ll be keeping my old work-horses (for now) as it seems a travesty to be loading the new shiny machines with muddy football boots and questionably stained bed sheets!

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Trend-Led Threads from John Lewis for 8-14 yr Olds

Trend-Led Threads from John Lewis for 8-14 yr Olds

It’s no secret I’m a John Lewis obsessive. What’s not to love? I’ve lost many an hour perusing their swoon-worthy kitchenware, caressing their luxurious towel collection and drooling over their skincare ranges. Their staff are off-the-scale amazing – Sarah in the Horsham store intervened, with perfect timing, when my parenting was critised (by a fellow shopper) post-tantrum as I wouldn’t let Cas grapple the Wedgewood display. Bravo Sarah for spotting a speechless, teary mother in despair. And that, right there, epitomises everything that’s fabulous about the lot behind John Lewis – they just seem to know what it is you want/need.

With this in mind, it seems they recently read my mind. Trawling through their website one evening, having lusted over some tribal cushions and hankered the Hush collection, it dawned on me that John Lewis had considered everyone in my family except four of the loudest, most obvious members of the crew, the 8-14 year olds. That was until NOW!

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Getting Cosy | Matalan Sheepskin

Getting Cosy | Matalan Sheepskin

It’s come to that time of year when Mr Only Girl and I start to wrangle over the thermostat as my inner hibernator craves to whack up that central heating and surround myself with cosiness. Heading into autumn harks the beginning of log fired evenings, lighting spice-scented candles by the dozen, throwing on my much-loved grey cashmere hoodie and convincing the kids it’s bedtime a little bit early, just because it’s dark! Nothing screams cosy more than natural sheepskin rugs – nature’s answer to a warm hug, so when I found this double Sheepskin ready for Autumn, I did an inner-jig at all the styling possibilities.

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Star Wars At John Lewis | Boy Gift List

Star Wars At John Lewis | Boy Gift List

There are certain things, as a mum of boys, that I had little interest in/didn’t have a clue about just over 10 years ago – oh, how my world has changed. I now have a wealth of knowledge on the latest football boots, how to acquire FIFA points and the epic saga that is – Star Wars. There seems to be an intrinsic link between Star Wars and boys – as though the love of lightsabers, the dark side and Jedi aspirations are woven into their DNA*. But there’s varying degrees of the force – some kiddos prefer to watch, admire and perhaps don a Darth Vader costume come Halloween, whilst others go all-out and opt for a full-on Millennium Falcon bedroom theme.

*This is a mama proven theory, not yet scientifically researched/published.

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Housework Sucks | Oreck Hoover Review

Housework Sucks | Oreck Hoover Review

Being the domestic goddess (ha!) in a house of 7 humans and 2 dogs, doing a silly amount of hoovering comes with the territory. I find myself lugging the overworked sucker from the cupboard at least once a day for a quick whip round – then there’s the extra outings it gets treated to when someone explodes a packet of crisps, upturns their croissant plate at breakfast or the mother-in-law’s popping in! So when the team over at Oreck got in touch and asked me to give their Oreck Magnesium a whirl, whilst it might not have seemed like the most glam of opportunities, on my scale, it rated it pretty highly. After all, I was the gal who actually got excited when she received a hoover for Christmas (it wasn’t feigned excitement either) and anything that runs the risk of making my life a little easier (yes, contraception would’ve been easier) is a bonus in my book.

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