Places Where Pride and Perfection Go To Perish......

I have the very best of intentions....I do. I want to delight in a spotless house, an immaculate garden, and even, just maybe, a clean oven.

Our back dumping grounds, note the beautiful overgrown weeds,

I gave up on that plot of land back in July

I begin my day with prayer and bible reading (well, for the past week...thank you, Sara from Kansas City for the much needed inspiration). I make a list in my mind of what I must do for the day. It often includes cooking, cleaning, playing, laundry and other various household tasks.

Under the TV cabinet

Yet somewhere in the midst of cooking, picking up, playing with the kids and all the rest of it something gets lost. That sense of urgency that I might have felt at 5:30 is replaced with an attitude of just wanting to sit. The sense of importance that was attached to a certain task is now replaced with the desire for complete silence and stillness. The sense of having to do a chore is replaced with the sense of having to invest in my children, the reason I am at home.

And let me be honest, lest you think more nobly of me than you should...........there are novels to be read, the occasional TV show to watch (how excited am I on Wednesday afternoons now that Parenthood is back on!!!), a blog to write or read..........how I love my down time........

Now most of these pictures you see will be things that I will deal with in the next few days and they won't be quite so awful. However, the garden will still run amuck, the laundry inevitably will pile up again and sorry to say, dear Shawna, that oven probably will never get cleaned.

More apples, pears, beans, eggplant and tomatoes

What I am trying to say is that I have let my pride and perfection perish just a bit in the last few years. I have learned that dust, dirty ovens, weeds, laundry and all the rest of it will always be there. The only thing you get from running yourself ragged is a clean house with a grumpy husband, stressed out self and whiny kids who aren't allowed to touch anything, eat anywhere or use scissors, markers, crayons, playdough, glitter in any room but the garage.

More peppers to can

There are better things to do with your time than run around trying to prove to everyone that you can do it all and do it with a smile on your face. I can't do it all. I'd rather just admit that right now and move on. Move on to my next novel or game to play with the kids. And sometimes, well, you would just rather pick the lint out of your belly button than clean that dang oven.........................