Neat house confession

This post is dedicated to my friends who "think" our house is always perfect, you know who you are, the ones who I tell to stop by unannounced someday to see what we really live like.  Here is the proof that our house is NOT always picked up.  :)

One of my goals is to have a welcoming home.  A home where people come to and feel loved, and welcomed.  A place where our boys feel safe and where kind things are spoken.  Sort of a NEST of our own.  When we were first married I had this same desire...and we hosted friends over all the time.  We loved having people over.  We still enjoy it, it just doesn't happen as often with the busyness of life.  We love to have friends over.  I KNOW the boys love to have friends over.

But ONE thing I have noticed myself doing is always trying to make it "LOOK" like our house is always perfect when in reality it isn't.  More days than not the beds aren't all made, there are clothes on the floor (my mom is shuttering right now with that comment), there are toys on the floor, my kitchen desk is cluttered, the island has paper piles and the garage not in order.  I really loved reading this last week from a blog I love.    Sometime last week I read this about keeping a clean house.   I loved how she walked around and took pictures of what her house really looks like, NOT what she usually shows on the blog.  I find myself strategically taking photos where I know the background will look picked up, or making the boys slide stuff to one side of the island so it will "look" like a magazine was just here shooting pictures.  Well friends, that's NOT reality, at least not mine.  So in going with being real I just stopped typing long enough to take a few pics of what is around me right now...YEP the real deal.  What our house looks like at this moment.

 Drew was making cupcakes after school

 Family room floor where Max was playing

 Island with everything from cough medicine, to bibs that need to be put away, some bday gifts of Scott's, a camera lens, some ribbon from wrapping a friends bday gift today...

my desk with piles of paper, books, gum,,,cords and more cords.

I feel like I have just shared with you my real weight...not my drivers' license weight.  :)

Oh how I would LOVE to have things neat and tidy all the time.  But it just isn't reality.  I don't want to make our boys feel like we can ONLY have people over when it is like that.  Yes, I am SO guilty of telling them they couldn't have friends over since this was a mess, or that was a mess.  And really...do you think 13 year old boys CARE what a house looks like?  All they want are some warm cookies and some fun with their buddies.  It's ME that has the issue.  So for the past couple of weeks I have been consciously trying NOT to freak out about the house, trying to remember that HOSPITALITY is so much MORE than what your house looks like.  It's the LOVE and WELCOME people feel in your home.

I know I have a long ways to go.  I have ALWAYS loved to decorate, always LOVED to make things look pretty.  And it's a struggle for me to just let it be and let stuff go.  Of course I won't ever be able to really "let it go", but for me, allowing it not to be perfect and NOT stressing about it is as close as it will ever come. :)

Susan


P.S.  Then I read this from the Nesting Place today.  I also can SO relate to it.  SO much truth in the buying and decorating habits of mine.  I LOVE to find neat new things, then I have so much extra.  Trying to pare down and simplify.  I have been using Craigslist and ebay this winter and LOVE that others are getting to use some of my fun finds.

NOTE BELOW COMMENT ADDED:  This came from my almost 90 year old Grandma today via email.  She gets the blog via email....cutest comment.
"How cute.Reminds me when all 4 of my children were home and dear aunt Vivian & Bill would drive in the  yard for an  un-announced  visit. They had no children so while I hurriedly put on a clean apron only to see Vivian in another new outfit. Teenage girls always have an ironing board  put up,lots of preparation stuff in the kitchen etc but we loved them & they came often to “just visit”..As Dean says “I like a home that looks lived in”.. Love you, Grandma"