Real Life

So you think I'm living in a spotlessly organised home because I sometimes come up with revamped clothing ideas, make my meals from scratch, sew, knit, and homeschool?  

You don't?  Oh, well. 

Here are a few photos, anyway, to prove you are correct in your assumptions.  Most of the creativity that emerges from our home takes place in these two rooms.

Pocket-sized, tidily messy kitchen...

I'm so thankful the photo below only shows the outside of the fridge, as the amount of grime present inside is positively frightening.  Just waiting for the moment when our Safety First consultant suddenly clocks all the hazards in there!

Below is the dining room.  I'm standing on a chair in the far corner near the back door taking these photos.  That illustrious bookshelf contains many of our learning materials, but is one of four bookshelves in the house. I'm still hoping to eliminate one or more of these with the help of 30 Days of Clutter Bootcamp.  Not this one, though!  

Pictured above is our table.  Pencil gouges [mostly non-accidental] pock the surface, and it's a tight fit for six -or seven or eight, depending on who's joining us- around the table for tea when it's pulled into the middle of the room.  However, it's just right for four people to sit comfortably for studying, writing, and art projects.  Directly across the room from that shelf is the door into the back garden.  These rooms are so full of light, even on grey days.  Our garden is bordered by friendly neighbours at the sides and a high fence at the back with trees growing on top of a retaining wall behind it, giving us a pastoral view right in the middle of the city.  I love our location and wouldn't trade it for another local house twice the size of our own, in a better neighbourhood, with no view!  

Any machine sewing takes place downstairs at the table, but I store my sewing machine in our bedroom.  Fabrics, wool, crafting necessities, and some art supplies are in our bedroom wardrobe on a shelf above the hanging clothes.  This photo also showcases a little space I call my own...

My own mess, that is.  The black and white box is full of scrap-booking materials, the stack on the right side of the dresser is an amalgamation of photos and frames waiting for attention, the two shiny bags at the back are ageing birthday and Christmas cards that might someday be sorted.  The remaining detritus is generally composed of hairpins, lost and found buttons, bits of ribbon and coloured paper from various hastily completed handmade cards, items waiting to be mended, and Coo's consistently rejected hair decorations. 

Someday maybe I will write about minimisation and how we've squeezed the life of a large family and community into a small home.  Now is not the time for that.  

This blog is my sane space.  Here I can retreat and make orderly sense of the havoc of my days.  For a person like me who communicates so much more concisely through writing, this is a life-saver. Some people appreciate being able to vent, ringing up a friend on the phone to verbalise the insanity of a disorganised day. I've practised something similar in times gone by, and found it wasn't healthy for me.  I personally find it more helpful to sit down and write about the things that were organised and the people, events, and creative moments for which I'm thankful.  Maintaining a thankful attitude in a prevailingly cynical culture is not one of my strong points, but this is something that I am working hard to change.

I'm hoping that someday I will be able to adequately express our havoc, too, in a positive way.  Because it's real, wild, and often funny.  

For now I just need an uncluttered space in which to breathe and remember who I am.  This blog is that space.  Please read and enjoy... but know that my real life -my everyday- is just as crazy as yours.