Somehow, I have gotten a reputation for being the Mom that can do it all. I can blog, make my own bread, play with the kids and read a zillion books a week, visit parks and museums….and keep a spotless house. Let me dispel the myth for you a bit:
There…feel better now? This is how my kitchen looks right now; it is 1:21pm and the breakfast dishes are still on the table, the laundry basket is in the middle of the kitchen and I haven’t been home since 8:30 this morning. In order to write this blog, I had to dig my laptop out from under the mountain of papers on my desk. If you could see inside my mind, you would know that I am the most disorganized, scatterbrained person trying to make it all work…feeling hopelessly overwhelmed by the emails I haven’t answered, the drawers I haven’t organized, the books I have only half read, and the games I forgot to play with my 5 year old. Oh…and the Christmas decorations I still haven’t packed away. As much as I want you to think I’ve got it all together; I don’t. In fact, though I want you to think I’m managing this three ring circus quite well, I find a great deal of pressure from those who expect to see an orderly house when they come over. SOOO, I am posting this photo so that you will know how I live, in real life. And if you drop by unexpectedly, you will expect this kind of chaos…so there is no pressure to live up to higher expectations of perfection. THE PERFECT WOMAN IS A MYTH! I DON’T have it all together! I’m just as overwhelmed as you! You can’t do it all…so just do what is important. And let’s face it; a clean house doesn’t last forever…or even for five minutes. And I am tired of feeling like I can’t have someone over for a playdate until I can learn to keep my house clean every.waking.moment. I am the type of person that has no problem with spontaneously deciding to go to the zoo, leaving the house full of dirty clothes and dishes. If the four walls are closing in, I will load up the kids and go to Target, the park, the Museum, or wherever with no concern for what I will face when I come home. But I hope that this gives you the freedom to do the same. Expect nothing great from me. Just like you, I worry that I spend too much time cleaning house and not enough time with my kids. I too struggle with whether or not I am doing enough towards enriching my children’s lives – spiritually and educationally. I have guilt. I feel like a failure. I AM NORMAL!!! Let me close with this quote I saw once:
“This house is clean enough to be healthy, and dirty enough to be happy” That sums it up pretty well 