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.
~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~:~
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.

Random Thoughts and Pictures

Taking lead from Julochka's at (Moment's of Perfect Clarity) post from last night--->
I am listing my own random thoughts with random pictures from the North Shore/Duluth, MN / Lake Superior.

1) There should not be a humming bird frozen to my pine branch because it is cold and snowing in May

2) I hate house work, yet love the way it feels in the kitchen when I actually wipe things down and under things....instead of just a brisk wipe around.

McCarthy Beach State Park
Minnesota, North Shore

3) Groceries are getting so expensive and the kids are eating more, we will just have to give up something --like eating, then hey, no cooking which means no meal planning!

4) On the idea of groceries.... I have to shop at Walmart despite the fact that they are Satan - when I buy 20 yogurts at a time and they are $0.50 in Walmart hell vs $0.77 at local grocer. Same goes for all other things - a difference of at least $50 a trip - sorry, open the gates of hell, here I come!

Ship loading docks
At sunset
Two Harbors, MN

5) House work wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so quickly reversed, or if it wasn't unending. A logger would quit his job if every time he cut down a tree it jumped back up on the stump and affixed itself only for him to have to cut it down again and again.....

6) Did my neighbor cover his tomato plants he put in two days ago (far too early for this area) since it froze HARD last night? I told him......

7) How long can dearest keep up this unbelievable schedule and not a) crash (b) end up going a bit crazy (c) completely lose it and throw someone in the lake (d) get sick

Grand Marais, MN
Lake Superior
Family shot

8) Whom ever made my new land line phone aught to have their eardrums pierced due to the annoying ring tones they put on there - what is wrong with an old fashion ring? I don't do tunes or computer notes -ugggg!

9) Where has my time management gone? Or is it my motivation. I wish they sold it, I'd buy some!

Rock climbing in Esko, MN -
at tree top level, stuck on a "ceiling"
I did make it up...

10) I have commitment issues. I follow far more blogs then I am "following". I routinely follow each and every blog of people following me (once every other week I suppose) and go to the same blogs over and over - this does pose problems in finding the same people again and again. I know there are some blogs I used to really enjoy and have forgotten about them now, because I couldn't commit to clicking on the little follow box. I can pinpoint exactly who and where these issues came from....damn them! At the same time I have a hard time un-following a blog. sigh But, now you know.