I posted this photo on Instagram earlier this morning:
If you follow me, you know that every once in awhile I post little peeks into our house. This particular shot of the top fo the piano was sharing my new Katie Daisy print, and the $2 estate sale find pedestal that I plan to spray paint yellow. An acquaintance of mine commented on the photo, "Your house must be the cutest place in the universe!!!" And, while I would like to think she was making a genuine statement about the house photos I have posted, I have a feeling that her comment was actually written with a bit more sarcasm than the average person might realize. I don't know that for sure...just speculating. ;)
And so, like any self-respecting internet junkie...I felt compelled to write a blog post about it. Why is it that I only share little bits and pieces of my home? You might notice that I rarely post an entire room. Just select scenes. Well, because the rest of it looks like a bomb went off - not a joke - imagine a grenade that spewed forth toys as it exploded - or laundry - or crumbs...that would be my house. (Seriously, how many times can one sweep the floor in a day!!!) I don't mean to say it's dirty and nasty. Well sometimes it is...it's just a far cry from perfection. This morning when I posted the photo of the little vignette (Is that even the right word? I am so not hip to the home decor terminology), my kitchen looked something like this. Okay not something...it looked exactly like this:
Yup. That's last night's dinner dishes + this morning's breakfast dishes all waiting to be put into the dishwasher, which I hadn't unloaded yet. And what you can't see is that on the floor there was a sock, a muddy shoe, a pair of sunglasses, a stack of legos, and a Weinermobile Christmas ornament. What that? You don't believe me?? Proof... ;)
Yesterday I posted a photo of my laundry for the Madison Mom's Blog photo challenge. It looked this:
Cute, right? Look at all that perfectly folded laundry and that adorable chunky baby! Well, the rest of the room, the part that is next to and behind me??? Not nearly as adorable...
And finally, that photo I posted this morning...I totally moved all the junk from one side of the piano out of the way to take the photo. The other side looked something like this:
Yes that's a Viking helmet in a basket of egg decorations that I still haven't put away from Easter. So. what is the point of this all? Well, did you like looking at the photos of my messy house? I know I didn't. In fact, I'm willing to bet a lot of money (like 5 whole dollars) ;) that if I took a poll, every single person reading this would choose the first photo as their favorite...or maybe the one with the baby, because who doesn't like babies. But it's not reality. It's a snippet of reality. I don't live in a perfectly decorated always clean home. I don't make gourmet dinners ever night. My kids aren't always clean and perfectly dressed. And sometimes I like to look up from the mass chaos that is my everyday life and see the little bits of beauty here and there...like my Katie Daisy wildflowers or my yellow chevron curtains or my newest fun Craigslist find, which is why I choose to share those things on Instagram. I really, really hope I am not propagating an unrealistic image of myself out there...because dudes...I am like the realest real person you are ever going to meet. And like all real people - I like to hide the crap and focus on the good. My house is definitely not "the cutest place in the universe" - it's probably not even the cutest house on the block. But it's filled with a lot of love and a lot of happiness, which on most days makes up entirely for the mess. ;)
