Reality check

A few weeks ago, Lila Tueller came clean about clean on her blog. In a moment of inspired bravery, she bared her sink full of dirty dishes and her messy craft/laundry room, and made a controversial blogworld confession: her house does not look perfect all the time. (*Gasp*)

From my cluttered computer desk, I applauded her for exposing the myth of perfection…until my elbow knocked a teetering pile of papers to the floor and I had to stop to pick them up.

I love to post pretty photos of my creative space, because I’m proud of it. But let’s face it – it doesn’t always look like it does in the pictures. Even with the most efficient of organizational systems in place, craft rooms get messy. It’s part of the creative process. And likewise, laundry rooms sometimes have heaps of laundry all over the floor, kitchen sinks often have dirty dishes, and family rooms have shoes, socks, toys, and even the occasional hairball from the cat. My house doesn’t look picture perfect all the time – far from it. It looks lived in. Very. And that’s okay. Or at least it should be.

I find myself holding on to an ideal that I have trouble living up to sometimes. I attempt to emulate the eye candy in home magazines and catalogs, and I read books about organizing and clutter-busting. I am always trying new methods and solutions, some of which work to an extent, but the reality is that 5 human beings and 3 four-legged friends live in this house and most of them seem to have missed the memo about order. In a perfect world, my husband and children would put the lunch fixings back in the lunch bin, which is labeled as such in the fridge. But in reality, they are not wired to care about whether the cheese mingles with the vegetables the way I am, and stuff lands where it lands. I’m lucky if they remember to shut the refrigerator after raiding it.

My main vice? I am a piler. Wherever there is a flat surface, I make piles of things that I intend to deal with later. They start out somewhat organized, but by the time I get around to tackling them they are usually wildly out of control and making me crazy.

So in response to Lila’s courage and Chelsea Anderson’s subsequent challenge, all my cards are on the table…along with my paper, fabric, mail, and a whole bunch of other clutter. I can either drive myself nuts with self-imposed standards of perfection, or I can remember that across the industrialized world there are other houses just like mine with disorder and chaos stacking up on countertops and tables. Messiness is a byproduct of creativity, and of life. So if you come to my house and see this…

 

or this…

 

or this…

or even this…

…come on in, have a seat on the couch, and enjoy your stay in the real world. Oh, but before you sit down? Watch out for toys between the cushions.