As I said, I’m going to do a little getting real here on this ‘ole blog. I figured I would start by inviting you over for a visit. I am a visual person. I like to see things, and when I can’t…I create pictures in my head. When I meet new people I always wonder what their home looks like. If I’m talking on the phone to a friend, I want to be able to picture where they are sitting. My kids are the same way. Every time we pull up to the house of someone new, the first question out of their mouths is…”Can I go in?” or “I want to go see what their house is like.” Are we weird that way or is this normal? Don’t answer that!
We are a very open door family…sometimes a revolving door even. I will often open the door to see a friend out and find someone else walking up the driveway. I like it that way! I would love it if my house was in tip top shape for my family and my friends all the time. I spent a lot of years trying to keep everything in it’s place and make sure each room was just right. Finally I had to accept that we LIVE here! I still like to get everything spic and span on a regular basis, and I have a hard time sitting down to relax when things are out of place. It’s been a long road for me and I’ve come a long way. So come on over, I’ll pretend we’re old friends. We’ll have a cup of coffee and chat…and I’ll show you my real life house. [honest, I walked around this afternoon snapping all these pictures]
Welcome to my home!
If you came over this afternoon, this is the front porch that would greet you…along with very loud barking from my fierce (meaning, he will lick you to death) Golden Retriever, Baker. I would most likely open the door holding onto his collar, apologize, tell you to ignore him and promise that he will calm down in a few minutes…and he would. We’d walk through my entry hall, which is nice and tidy most of the time (unless, of course, you look at the bottom of the stairs where this is almost always a pile of randomness waiting to go upstairs).

We would end up in our family room/kitchen/eating area…basically the heart of our home, where we all spend the majority of our time. Which explains why today you would find these ridiculously tall skyscrapers of folded laundry on the coffee table and those scattered papers and projects on the kitchen table and the relatively small mound of dishes in the sink.

*I must confess that there were three more skyscrapers in this laundry city but I had each of the kids take theirs upstairs while I was taking photos.


We would find ourselves a clean mug and pour a strong cup of coffee. I would leave myself room for a generous splash of Italian sweet cream flavored creamer. Then I’d try to convince you to do the same, since I believe it’s the best stuff ever! We would walk past the laundry room, which is a rare gem today…nice and clean after finishing all those loads of laundry!


I would invite you to sit in our cozy old green chairs in the front room where there is lots of light and not much mess. We would chat about kids and school. I would admit that I have not been the most patient mother lately…nor have my kids been the most obedient children either. Not a good combination! I would confess that I have raised my voice at them alot lately. Then in the next breath I would tell you how much I love being their mom and how much joy they bring into my life. I would probably joke about how many years it has been since I was able to go to the bathroom without a kid or two banging on the door and asking me questions…which would get me rambling about kids and their incessant questioning. We would laugh at the stories of my extremely chatty five year old and discuss polite ways for me to tell her to shut UP! My goodness that girl has a lot of words to cram into her 13 waking hours a day. I would ask if you had any wisdom about pre-teen girls…I’m pretty sure this is just the beginning of a long road! Then I would smile and tell you how easy my son seems since he’s sandwiched between these two crazy girls! We would talk about my church and the children’s musical I’m helping direct…strange project for me since I do NOT sing! I would tell you I’m exhausted and feel like I’m pulled in a hundred different directions, but that I don’t know how to slow down and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I would ask you about your family and how life is going for you. I’d go pile our empty coffee cups in the sink with all the other dishes. If you asked to go upstairs, I’d cringe a little, but gladly let you see the rest of the house. And this is what you would see.

*the kids workspace in the hall upstairs

*my unmade bed and one more basket of dirty laundry

*Isaac’s spooky spiderwebbed room! He and the neighbor had a great time doing this the other day. Makes it a little tough to get in and wake him up in the morning.

*Eliza’s out of control closet and clothes…pretty standard scene in her room since she’s not quite old enough to put her laundry away herself.
I’d walk you to the front door and then we would probably stand in the entry way and talk for another 15 minutes. One of us would suggest that we do this more often…and then it will be 6 weeks before I see you again.
It sure was nice having you over though. Thanks for coming!
QUESTION: When I look at this published post it is all spread out and wacky. Is that how it looks for you? Hmmm, can’t figure this one out. Maybe this is why I haven’t blogged in a while…too much tech talk 🙂