Every once in a while I like to keep it real with my readers. I LOVE for my blog to be a place of inspiration. It is a happy place for me, where things are pretty and my house is clean, but I am afraid that sometimes it can leave others with an unrealistic expectation about what my life really looks like.
So, I like to take the opportunity to give you a real behind the scenes look at our REAL everyday life. We are just like every other family out there…busy and LIVING in our home. I try to keep my home very clean with little clutter, because it makes me happy and I function better and am happier in a clean environment. But sometimes it can get really messy with 7 people going in different directions with different schedules.
We are busy with homework, projects, sports activities, church responsibilities (I teach the music to the children ages 3 to 11 in Primary and my husband teaches the young men ages 14 and 15 which also includes a weekly activity).
I tend to get creative in spurts and my office usually reflects when I am in a creative phase and most often ends up looking like this! It can stay messy for a while, until I get so frustrated at the condition of the room (or a visitor is coming), that I clean it up. As a family we try to do a “10 minutes clean up” where everyone goes from room to room picking up and putting away as much as we can in that 10 minutes. It is amazing how fast we can pick up the clutter.
Sometimes, mornings come way too fast and I just roll out of bed to wrangle the kids before school. Sometimes I wear my pajamas while driving the carpool while silently praying I don’t get in an accident or a flat tire.
I am failing at my food allergy diet that is so strict it gives me anxiety to think about, let alone manage. With intolerances to gluten, dairy, soy, bakers yeast, peanuts, tomatoes, and corn, it is overwhelming at times…but I am getting better.
It has been difficult to feed my family and then feed myself. I am a work in progress. I am still struggling to fully recover from my foot injury 9 months ago and get frustrated that I was unable to run some scheduled half marathons this past year.
Our weekends are spent working on projects or following the kids around to their various events and activities. But we love it and we are really enjoying this phase in our family.
We tackle messes that seem to happen over and over again… The kids are either the best of friends or picking fights with each other… And the Barbies…they are always naked…always. And the buckets of toys…always dumped…always!
We seem to collect piles at the top of the stairs of random things. They stay there until I can’t stand looking at them for one more second.
Trails of Cheerios always seem to find their way back onto my newly swept and mopped floors…EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!
One or more rooms in my home are torn up again for one more project. But we are getting REALLY close my friends!! After 11 years of working on our home…we are getting close to being “finished” (I like to use that term loosely haha).
And…the laundry! Ugh…the laundry…piles and piles of laundry. A mountain of laundry that never ends.
So….just because I share a lot of the great things that are happening in and around my home, doesn’t mean that we are living a perfect life behind the screen. Life is messy. People are complicated. We have problems and worries. We make mistakes as parents and our children are not perfect. We are just like you.
I just prefer to have a peaceful, clean and happy place on the internet that I can come to that brings me joy. And hopefully, you are finding things here that you are enjoying too.
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Debirah K says
Thank you for sharing. It is good to know “perfect” homes aren’t so perfect. Well, except for one of my sister’s. For nearly 3 years, our house was more nightmare than home and it was depressing. When we move, a friend helped me sort through the mess and do a massive purge. It was liberating. I try to keep up better nowadays and blogs like yours inspire me.
Amy says
Thank you Debirah! Glad you were able to get some help! It can be difficult. Thanks for sharing that!!
Thanks for making my day with this honest post! I love this behind-the-scene-posts so much…!
Love,
iren
You are so welcome! Glad you enjoyed it! I need to do more of them.
Love “real” people and “real” families! We have 6 kids spread over almost 20 years, 3 still at home. Nice to see you are enjoying your family and the chaos that is life. Pretty rooms are nice, but happy families are nicer!
I couldn’t agree more!! Enjoy them while you can!
LOVE THIS POST! So nice to see a that sometimes life gets messy! Thank you for being an honest blogger!
I try to be and don’t want it to ever come across as otherwise…no one is perfect. Life is messy and fun!
Love this, thanks for keeping it real :)
You are welcome. Thanks for reading!
Thanks for the reminder that life is not always clean and perfect.
It’s really not! Only people who pretend it is! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!
I love that you keep piles of stuff at the top of your stairs! I do the same thing! Usually, it’s my hubby that carries the stuff down the stairs for me. I love this post and I love that you can share your everyday life with us! Even as a “real” person, you are an inspiration to me!
HaHa! Must be the sign of genius! ;) You are so sweet Connie! So happy to know you!
Thanks for keeping it real! I collect bags at the top of the stairs for things that need to be put away as well!
Ha! Glad to hear I am not alone! I figure I will do them all at once but then they seem to stay there for a while ;)
How in the world did you sneak in my house without me knowing it? I have to constantly remind myself that we live in our home and that it is not and will not ever be perfect! We do the best we can keeping it together but there are always those random piles, the laundry and such. So thank you so much for keeping it real for the rest of us! I love your blog and always enjoy seeing what’s new!
Thank you so much for the sweet comment! It is so true! I only want to inspire and not give the impression that we are living a perfect life over here! Thanks for sharing that!!
I’m so glad you posted this! It’s so true!! (Especially the whole naked Barbie thing! What is it with those ladies that they just can’t seem to keep their clothes on?!) I’ve actually been pondering how to do a post similar to this on my own blog because people are forever asking me “how do you do it all?!” And it is just not possible to do it all! If something I post looks awesome…something else looks horrible…and it’s probably my laundry! I love what you shared here! Thanks for keeping it real!
Amen! There is no way to do it all! We need to give ourselves a break and stop comparing our worst with people’s best!
I love that you did this Amy! You are amazing and I love you so much.
xox
Thanks Jen! Love ya!
The cheerios on the floor with the little socked feet actually looks like a really artistic picture. That would be darling framed and placed in your kitchen. Someday (so I’m told) you’ll probably look back and miss that.
I would love to hear some of your singing time ideas for Primary. I have the same calling, and feel like my creative juices could use a boost here and there.
Thanks Jana! I love this picture too! Makes me realize how quickly they really do grow up! As far as the Primary calling goes, I should start sharing some of what I have done on here! Have you joined the LDS Primary Chorister FB group? You really should! It is closed but if you request an invite they will add you. Everyone shares their ideas and links to projects and printables! It is so awesome and I use a lot of the ideas shared in there!! It has been so helpful! I can’t sing or read music (ha!) so it has helped me a ton!
Love the post! I laughed when I saw your tub. It looked like mine when my girls were little. It cracked me up!!
Haha! Glad I am not alone! I know someday I will miss having signs of my kids all around me!
Hahahahhahaha …. Naked Barrie’s unit! The best bath time play for my 6 yr old. Some times I can’t get in there, there are too many dolls.
Thanks for sharing and for all your clever ideas. I discovered your blog recently via Pinterest and have visited several time since. Good stuff!
Thank you so much Kelley! Glad you are enjoying your visits here! I love to hear that! And so glad to know I am not alone with the Barbie mess!!
Thank you so much for sharing this post. I really love this, that gave me a lot of relief to find I am not the only one.
You are so welcome! I honestly believe that all of us have similar situations and that it is just life! No one is perfect! Thanks so much for the sweet comment!
You just described my life to a T- only our house isn’t even started and it’s been 7 years! How bout you just come do mine after you’re “finished” with yours? :) Hopefully someday I’ll get to see your house. Love you! xoxo
Ha! Yes! Come and visit!!
I love love love this post……….. exactly what I needed to read this morning. Things pile up on my steps also except mine go all up and down on the left side until I can’t take it any longer. Haha…….glad to know am not the only one. I have four kids ( 9m, 2, 5, 14)and life can be pretty busy so thanks for letting me know that not having a super clean spotless house is completely normal.
I finally used fingernail polish and painted swimming suits on the Barbies, now they always have something on…
I have thought about doing that! Just need to get it done!