Do you ever feel like no one is listening to you? Well in my house it is actually the case half the time. I think it’s only natural in a busy household that people need their own space and when people can’t do it physically then they need to find other ways. In our case we like to disappear into our own little worlds.

The world created by my children last night

My youngest daughter loves to play with dolls and characters. She has a great imagination and would make the toys talk to each other before she could talk clearly. I love listening into the conversations her characters are having. It's like having my very own episode of The Secret Life of 3 Year Olds.  

My eldest daughter loves to create little worlds with her toys too, but she is just as likely to get lost in a book or listen to music on her iPod. When she is listening to music I always know where in the house she is because I can hear the jumping around and singing. Even if she was quiet I can see the headphones so I know I need to get her attention before I stall talking. 

My partner chooses to escape by listening to podcasts. I fully appreciate he might need the escapism living in a house of crazy ladies (that's me, my daughters and the cat), but he uses in ear earphones and I generally only discover that he has them in (and can’t hear me) after I’ve been talk to him for a while and I'm wondering why I’ve had no response. Sometimes I can tell him a whole story before I realise!

I get frustrated with the earphones because he is accidentally ignoring me, but even worse he is always losing them too. The little earbuds come in a small box for charging and he never knows where he has left them (or if a small person has moved them). It feels like he has to buy new earphones at least once a year. 

Those darn earphones

The amount of time I seem to spend looking for lost earphones, iPods and dummies is definitely too high. It’s not like I lose anything. Except my glasses every other morning (why I can’t leave them in the same place every evening I don’t know) and my iPhone, but Find My iPhone saves me on that. Did you know it can make your phone ring even if it’s on silent (which mine normally is). Some of the places my phone has ended up or been left accidentally in the house I would have never have found it otherwise. At the weekend I left it in the shed, but I’ve also found it in the loft, down the side of sofas, on random shelves and in bags I didn’t even know I put it in. Impressive for a device which rarely leaves my side because it's my escapism (thanks Instagram).

Maybe you could say that our house has too many people and too many things, but I like it this way.

Except every time something goes missing.

***Disclosure: This is a collaborative post***