Friday, April 8, 2011

Fearless Friday: A Daring New Truth

So the other day as I was cruising around the blogisphere I came across a truly beautiful blog and was instantly sick to my stomach.  No, I'm not pregnant, what the problem was is my seeing 'perfection' on this blog knowing I will never live up to it and that was making me feel horrid.  I quite gather that was not her intention and I did try to find a photo that was shall you say more revealing of her true state…but to no avail.  Now I am quite certain that the proprietor of said blog is a wonderful, sane, lovely, and in all other cases a quite human woman*.  

Though upon pondering such things for a decent amount of time, shall we say ten minutes or so, I realized that we all do that.  We tell or in the case of a blog show, all that is right in our lives.  We don't take a picture of the piles of dirty laundry (which I'm more than certain most of us have) to post, nor do we show the stack of dishes that are overflowing on the counters and in some instances the table and stovetop either.  No, we show our perfect and rather recently cleaned, scrubbed, and organized craft room, laundry area or living quarters.

Yet, to be frank, I'm not perfect.  Yes I do try very hard to keep a tidy home, really I do.  As it is right now my house is not the gold standard of cleanliness but I will say that I would not be embarrassed should someone decided to come over all of a sudden.  I have five small children, who do their very best to clean up after themselves but truly do you know how much toilet paper a 2-year old little girl needs when going potty? No less than half a roll I say!  I am quite certain that 98% of that ends up on the floor  and should it all go into the toilet…well let me just say I have become quite adept at using a plunger.

So what shall I do about the perverse parade of perfection among the internet?  Shall I continue to perpetrate such a narrow view of my life?  No!  While a part of me relishes in thinking you might consider me perfect, the better part of me knows you do not.   So without much more of an introduction I give you a new series, of sorts.  I shall put forth great effort to post at least ONE picture of my life in all its glory…yes a true picture of what raising five children in a small place does to a house.  I may at times be inclined to write bit of a description of the picture though most Fridays I imagine it will be just the picture itself.

You may use these pictures to give yourself a pat on the back for knowing you would never allow your house to stoop to my level.  You may decided that you are very much satisfied with one, two or no children upon learning how incredibly messy they are.  You may find validation that I am human and not some super mom setting up an unreasonable standard.  However you take my pictures please understand I do this with a bit of trepidation and do hope you will be very gentle…if you want to come over and clean send me an email I'll gladly allow you the pleasure.

What I wish my kids bathroom looked like all the time:
{Source DistroArchitecture via Pinterest}

What it really looks like:
This is the truth, hard and messy as it is.

Well, now you know where to find…my kid's bathroom cleaning up :)

"The only advantage in not being too good a housekeeper is that your guests are so pleased to feel how very much better they are." - Eleanor Roosevelt, "My Day" Syndicated Column (June 7, 1939)


*In keeping with my resolution to be completely honest I do not feel ill towards those who are capable of doing more than I can.  I do understand that some people can keep house amazingly well and I really do not fault them for this illustrious quality.  The fact is I do not have it, nor do I really wish to seek it out.  I am not in anyway trying to make someone feel bad for being a good housekeeper, or for posting whatever they like on their blog, it is your blog such as this is mine and we are allowed a freedom of sorts.  As is the case I won't disclose the blog I saw, fully admit that there are other blogs who have shown such pictures of imperfection and do not assume that I am the first to admit to this.  Still, it is what happened to me this week…along with a lot of Jane Austen books.


Please comment should you like to as I very much enjoy reading your delightful insights and such.  If you have any great cleaning tips, please share as you can see from above I need them ;)

1 comment:

  1. Hey, that's not bad at all! 5 kids and it looks that good? There is just my husband, myself and a friend living here and our place most often looks worse!!

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