Of Homes, Grime, Me & Contradictions
I am a creature of habit, a fan of home, a doer of every day tasks. I like change, flux, and spontaneity.
Sometimes the dishes don’t get done until morning and sometimes we just take a week off of school unplanned.
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Sometimes I plant 100 seeds and only one germinates.
Sometimes the tasks I claim to loath the most are the ones that transform me and bring me peace.
Sometimes I write something slightly controversial and spend the rest of the week wondering if I should have hit publish. I pretty much avoid controversy at all costs in "the real world".
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Sometimes I create kitchen work spaces in our living room. It doesn’t make sense, but it works for me.
Sometimes when I see people who keep a really neat home I think that they are as pulled together as their living room. Our home is full of dirt and grime and clutter and a bundle of imperfections and contradictions. When the bathroom is clean the bedroom is not and if the dishes are done the laundry probably isn’t.
Yep, I am like my home. When you see the living room freshly vacuumed you can only imagine what filth you might find in the hamper.
Ah, perfection… so unnecessary. Who needs perfection when imperfections give character? I like all your posts. Even if I don’t agree with what you said, I appreciate your boldness to put your convictions out there. Courage and character. You must have quite an awesome home.
I can totally relate. thanks for being you 🙂
Finally! I’m not the only one! I love your posts and remember anger belongs to the individual for reasons only known to them. Don’t take others’ anger personally, it has nothing to do with you.
I love it. You are so inspiring to me and to others even when being ordinary. I too have a home just like yours. Keep it up.
Beautiful pictures, even more beautiful words. You really hit the nail on the head. This is exactly the way I feel about my life in so many ways. Thanks for sharing.
I really love this post. It reminds me of some very wise, sweet advise a dear Christian sister/friend shared with me when I was really struggling with not being the mom and wife I knew the Lord was trying to help me become. She told me that God doesn’t do a clean sweep, He starts one room at a time. And as He cleanses us, we start see more and more of the dust, dirt and grime. But we have to remember, only He can make us truly clean. I know this might be a bit of a theological stretch here on what you are sharing, but when you compared yourself to your home, it just made me remember these sweet words of my dear friend. They sit in my heart and remind me that we can only find peace and joy (and purity of heart) when we let the Lord lead and shape us. Blessings to you, Kelly
Thanks for posting this. I’m happy to find another homemaker who is just like me. 🙂
thanks for being real.
Yes! Yes! We have eight children and a farm and we homeschool! Our kitchen is caught up maybe (just maybe!) once a week from all the gallon milk jars (we have a cow), kombucha jars, water kefir jars, bone broth pots, sauerkraut mess, dehydrating mess, soaking nuts, etc. I always joke that a starving person could live another day off what he or she could find on our floor! We, too, are impulsive and will leave the dishes every time so as to play a family board game or talk about God over a hot drink on the front porch! The bad thing is how apologetic I am about it to other people, b/c I’m so afraid they won’t understand and will judge me. This is a stupid pride problem.
And I will tell you a little secret……it doesn’t get any better with age, or with kids grown & gone or anything else. Accepting my “getting it done” or “not getting it done” has been at times difficult, but what I am doing in the meantime is usually much more important. Blessings on you all.
Ditto, ditto ditto! I feel so much better! (I love that you posted photos of your unwashed dishes!) Thank you for that.
I only know a small (and I mean very small!) handful of people whose homes are perfect where you could literally eat off the floors, and they are abnormally ‘clean’ with germ and dirt fetishes, with a cleaning rag in one hand and a can of Lysol in the other. I don’t want to live that way! Like you, my house is rarely ever 100% clean, though it is not filthy, and I’ve often let things go and gotten back to them later. Dishes, laundry, dust, it waits on you and never tires of the waiting; it is always there.
Life is short. There is nowhere in the bible where it talks about how important it is to keep a spotless home. However, the bible does talk about our inner and outer body cleanliness, and how important it is that we keep our minds pure. God will judge me one day on the imperfections of my heart, soul, and mind, but never on whether I kept a perfect home.
My grandma always said if your beds are made, the dishes done, and the floors swept, then your house is clean enough for company. The only amendment I’ve made to these wise words is to also make sure the bathroom is presentable! So I’ve tried to always make sure these things are done daily, and I know that those who love me and are real friends will overlook the small piles of clutter and the dust. If not, well, they don’t have to come back. I often tell people to leave their ‘John Hancock’ in the dust as a reminder to me I need to dust, but if it truly bothers them, well, the dust rag and Endust is under the sink for their convenience! So far, I’ve only had the Signers of the Dust who have graced my furniture with their signatures. These writers have gotten a real hoot out of being able to do so, and we’ve all had a good laugh!
Our home is a busy place! We have 8 kids, 15 grandkids (and counting!), and a revolving door of people in and out most of the time. I would do nothing but clean till I expired if I let all that dirt get to me! I live within the realms of my grandma’s wisdom and have a lovely open door policy for family and friends alike, and our home is the ‘hopping’ place to be on our block, where life is always busy and fun, with people in and out, including many neighbors. The door is always open, there’s always something to eat and drink, and plenty of company most of the time. If I’m busy with laundry or cooking, well you can follow me around and help me hang out clothes or stir the pot, but no one ever gets turned away because I *need* to clean house or the house isn’t *clean* enough. Nah! Come join in the chaos and be part of who we are!
I’ve never tried to keep up the facade of having a perfect home. Real people live real lives and fight real dirt. I love the humanness and the truth you’ve shared. Keep it up.
God did not create us to be perfect, nor did he create us to be perfect housekeepers 🙂
I am sure that the person who has an extremely emaculate house has something(s) that is/are not emaculate.
Always remember that there are not enough hours in a day to do it all, and to keep a smile on your face 🙂
http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/
Thank you for this post. I am glad that I am not the only one and I see from the comments there are a lot of us out there.
Amen! I also have kitchen ware in my living room, and the guest room too. You make me feel normal!
I loved this ode to your home. We all understand the feeling – I like the pictures to coincide with your statements.
I love your honesty!
Have you ever heard, “A clean house is the result of a sterile mind” ?
It sure helps me if I keep that thought in the forefront of my day. If for no other reason than to give me a little smile to myself.
You’re awesome! This might be my favorite post of the year so far. Love your honesty; I can wholeheartedly relate to all your confessions.
Thanks for your inspiring words!
I really needed this after the weekend I’ve had! I WOTH, I have 2 boys (14.5 months and 6.5 years) and DH happened to be working all of this weekend! You can imagine how much I got done…. and I’m on GAPS which means more cooking than usual. I try to keep certain areas of the home cleaner than others: kitchen, bathrooms, floors. I despise dusting – I only do it when I “have to”. But I absolutely love my home!! I wouldn’t change a thing.
Oh, you totally hit the nail on my head with this one. (Um, and by that I mean I’m the same way.)
“When the bathroom is clean the bedroom is not and if the dishes are done the laundry probably isn’t.”
My biggest frustration since I began blogging over 3 years ago is that very thing! If my posts are ready to go, then my laundry is still unfolded. If I take time to play with the kids (which I try to do a lot since I know how quickly it all goes), then the project on my list for *months* still doesn’t get tackled. If I have coffee with a hurting friend, then dinner becomes something from my “fast food” meals list instead of what I had planned, and on it goes. Over and over I’m reminded that I can’t do it all!
Thank God I have a patient husband who is happy to help a lot around the house, even though he works all day, too! 🙂
Kelly
I always think if they don’t like it, they don’t need to come back. When I was growing up, on a farm, we were in and out all the time. Kids tracking stuff in and out, making forts, creations, adventures, setting up big villages of Fisher Price and GI Joe. Our house was never perfectly clean. Now, all the kids are grown and when I go to my Mom’s, it is spotless. She says she misses the mess in her now too quiet house. Moral of the story: embrace it. Do the best you can. If you drop dead, do you want to be remembered for having a spotless house or being an awesome Mom?