Keeping It Real

I love to check out Pinterest as much as the next person. I love all the crafty things that look so easy and I'm certain that I, too, can create a wardrobe for my daughter and wreaths for my front door for every season. 

I also get suckered into the various forms of social media that show all these women that do make seasonal wreaths, homemade valentine's cards for their kids, and delicious looking meals for their family...every night! All this while keeping an immaculate home for their perfectly behaved children. Oh, and on top of that, they have time to photograph AND write about all these wonderful things. I think gah, I should be able to do that...What's wrong with me?   

Then I tell myself, this is not real life. I mean, it is someones real life, but not their whole story. They are only showing me what they want me to see. The best. Well of course these women are only posting the good!! Who would want to share the bad and the ugly, right? They fear revealing their whole messy lives as much as I fear the doorbell of an unexpected guest when I have dishes in the sink, toys covering every inch of the house, and dust so thick that you can write your name in it. 

So, today, instead of dwelling on how long it has been since my last post and how I can't do a 'good' post because all my good pictures are still on my camera, and I don't have time to download all my pictures, and... 

I and my handy dandy smart phone took a quick stroll around my house. 

This is my sun room.  

It is hard to recognize as a sun room since my husband commandeered it as his work-from-home-glass-studio not long after we moved in. I've had to gate off the area to keep Smalls from playing with glass scraps and soldering irons. Sure the mess bothers me, but the truth is that I'd rather have him working from home than never seeing him because he's at the Studio until wee hours of the morning. 

(Never mind the fact that this room has to be completely cleared out in about two weeks so that I can host my annual Chi Omega Bid Day pool party for about 150 girls.) 

This is my dining room.

That's right. Look closely and you'll see a table underneath the piles of photos. I recently found that box of memories from my senior year of high school. I'm determined to get it out of that box and organized before our little class reunion in August. 

This is my little munchkin strategically placing pots and pans randomly around the kitchen. 

Oh, and look! Before I could even get that typed she decided to drag out a diaper box of toys to add to her display. 

This is my kitchen/office. 

I have to keep my laptop on the island so that I can actually type a sentence without little fingers trying to help me. I will also go on the record that it took me at least 3 hours to read and respond to an email this morning.  You may also note the child proofed (read: unfortunately empty) wine rack. Sigh.... 

What you can't see: crumbs on the counter, a pile of mail, un-mopped floors and some dishes that I haven't gotten around to just yet. Oh, and all the pots and pans and lids around my feet. 

So, there you have it. This is my life. I wouldn't trade it for the world.  I will not allow satan to use Pinterest, blogs, and Facebook to distract me from the many, MANY blessings in my life. My house is not perfect,  it is lived in! ...and the end of the day I'll give thanks for every pot, pan and toy that I will put away for the hundredth time and be even more thankful for the little hands that will pull them out again tomorrow. 

Now, if you'll excuse me, Smalls is currently standing at my feet, screaming her head off, and I can no longer form a complete thought. Much less proof read anything I've just written, so there you have it. Just keeping it real...