Do You Live In Your House? Keeping it real.

Keeping it real.
I saw this on a blog. I am so sorry, but, I was in my fog (it was around the first day of school) so I have forgotten which of you lovely bloggers did this first.
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If you call me and tell me you are coming over now for coffee- as long as I have 10 minutes min. I can pull my house together and have it looking half way decent. But, if you were to just pop in unannounced you would find "reality". Real life. We live in our houses, that is what houses are for after all. If we spend every moment of every day keeping it up to Ms. Stewart's standards we would go batty.

So in that light I would like to show you my house- to keep it real. But, because I am human - I feel like I should tell you that these pics were taken after three additional children were here for play dates. But trust me, it doesn't take long for my kids to reek this much havoc on our house in a short amount of time.

Lincoln logs, Imaginext, Star Wars, Hot Wheels, Dinosaurs
We support them all

This mess is from the boys primarily.

Breakfast still on the table, clean and dirty dishes waiting to be put away,
the bread drawer exploded
More toys
This that and everything collects in the kitchen/dining room

I don't even want to know what they were doing downstairs
with all of those pillows and blankets?
cannon balls of the couch possibly?

This girl knows how to play. Of all the kids in our house she uses
everyone of her toys and has quite the imagination.
However she is not so good with the clean up.
Yes, my girly is the worse. However most of her fallout stays in her room.

While my house will never be worthy of a magazine shoot I find I don't care. When we were first married and didn't have any kids we kept our house as though it may be photographed at anytime - but guess what? they never came calling. Back then how things sat of the shelf mattered to me, and the fact that one thing was out of place was a problem. But it wasn't comfortable. It was neat and clean and the fact that there wasn't a disaster around each corner was nice. But there was a different pressure. The pressure to keep it that way.

Now days we clean the house. Every night before the kids go to bed, everything is back in it's place and the kitchen is cleaned - but in between, during our "living" time- that is what we do, we live.

How To Time: Raspberry Jam

Some of the raspberries are ripening! I am so excited. The best thing to do with raspberries (in my never to be humble opinion) is to make freezer jam to enjoy on the cold winter mornings on hot toast.

Freezer jam is easy and takes under
1/2 hour if you know what you are doing.
See instructions below:

flowers in pic from here

Prep Time:

30 min

Total Time:

24 hr 30 min

Makes:

About 5 (1-cup) containers or 80 servings, ...

What You Need

2 cups prepared fruit (buy about 2 pt. fully ripe red raspberries)

4 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl

1 pouch CERTO Fruit Pectin

2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Make It

RINSE clean plastic containers and lids with boiling water. Dry thoroughly.

CRUSH raspberries thoroughly, one layer at a time. (Press half of pulp through a sieve to remove some of the seeds, if desired.) Measure exactly 2 cups prepared fruit into large bowl. Stir in sugar. Let stand 10 min., stirring occasionally.

MIX pectin and lemon juice. Add to raspberry mixture; stir 3 min. or until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy. (A few sugar crystals may remain.)

FILL all containers immediately to within 1/2 inch of tops. Wipe off top edges of containers; immediately cover with lids. Let stand at room temperature 24 hours. Jam is now ready to use. Store in refrigerator up to 3 weeks or freeze extra containers up to 1 year. Thaw in refrigerator before using.

While I am working on this quick project I have left the sprouts out in the garden to pull weeds - oh the weeds are plentiful as the complaints (about weeding).

This is a good day

I have in a tin bucket -
new baby carrots
yellow baby potatoes
and the sweetest onions I have ever smelt

I am listening to my wee one #2 and 3 make themselves a salad
with the lettuce they picked themselves. They are excited - pretending they are farmers.

I love gardening. Maybe I should pretend I am a farmer too.

I am about to mix a drink and make supper.
Maybe I should pretend I am a chef.

I have just finished hours of shoveling - filling back in a ditch that provided a spot for the electrical cord to go for my/our new lamp posts that now line the driveway.
Maybe I should pretend I am a handy-man (no need to pretend here)

This is a good day.

Foundations