Friday, December 2, 2011

The Challenge

I do not own a house, I am lucky enough to be owned by a home. A home where we live, love, play and create. With such a joyfully creative clan, I choose to encourage their masterpiece rather than worry about their mess. This becomes a bit of a hiccup in two instances.

Sometimes my mind has had enough of the clutter and needs some clarity at which time everyone pitches in and cleans, cleans, cleans.



Once in a while I do something completely erratic like host a home party. It is then that I feel the real chaos. Not the chaos of my home. My home is not filthy but it is most certainly lived in. When someone ropes me into a home party I feel the need to present my house as something it is not. Picture perfect. Magazine spread ready.


I'm hosting one of those events this evening. Ugh! Why oh why does the word "no" escape me? So I'm stressing away about my house and all the preparations for the "perfect" evening. Bah humbug. I don't like perfection. The stress over making my house seem like something is not has been weighing on me. This morning I decided that rather than presenting the perfect house, I will present a loving home. In my eyes, it is the better of the two.

I looked up some quotes on housework. Then, I created one of my own!


Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing.
~Phyllis Diller, Phyllis Diller's Housekeeping Hints, 1966

Our house is clean enough to be healthy,
and dirty enough to be happy.  ~Author Unknown

We labor to make a house a home, then every time we're expecting visitors, we rush to turn it back into a house.  ~Robert Brault

If the shelves are dusty and the pots don't shine,
it's because I have better things to do with my time.
~Author Unknown
 
One cannot create a masterpiece 
without first creating a mess. ~Lynn Retzlaff








9 comments:

Robin said...

Love the quotes!!! Don't forget this one:
"Boring women have clean houses!"
The photos are amazingly beautiful! So much creativity spilling out of your home!!
Pretty soon your party will be over. No one will notice what wasn't perfect. They'll just be appreciative that you had them over!! Hugs to you. I can already FEEL how good you're gonna feel tomorrow!! Make some time for yourself!!!!

John said...

Great post, love the quotes and the images. Every house is a house, every home is a labor of love!

John said...

oops! And good luck with the party!

Elena said...

Love your quote as well as those you pulled. Awesome creations by the talented lil ones. Have fun tonight; don't worry about anything and give yourself some pampering time tomorrow and for pete's sake repeat after me
"NO" "NO" "NO"

Jan said...

Great quotes, I shall have to write them in my book, including yours. Around here we call it living the lie;-) when we clean house for presentation for visitors. I half cleaned this morning but that fizzled out because the sun was shining. Instead we went out and cut a load of firewood! I much prefer that over housework.

Good luck with your hostessing duties today. I'm sure it will have its own rewards that you will appreciate afterwards but still, work on that little two letter word!

HaHa! the veri word is emesse!

Glenn Stenson said...

You have great eyesight and I am postive your home wreaks of love.

Jennifer RIchardson said...

oh yeah...that last one is my favorite!
And those photos of the FANTASTIC
bits of beauty are my favorite kind
of ART!
Relax and be your sunny self
and let people feel the peace
of home.........it's treasure!
Cool runnings,
Jennifer

Jess said...

Oh, so so true. Every word. And why do we all feel that we have to present a clean and tidy house when we all (or most of us I think) actually do spend our time in well-lived-in homes. *sigh*

Ann Marie said...

love these quotes!!! hope your party went well. i too have to practice saying "no" more ;)

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