A Beautiful Mess

Happy Easter to everyone!!!

The beginning of this week I worked my tail off to clean my house, to wash the sheets on all the beds, to make sure all (7) of my towels are clean, I wiped down every surface, I cleaned up dog hair from every corner of my house (it gets everywhere and I love Dakota enough that it really doesn't bother me in the least), I cleaned the counter tops, and hid things in closets, my house was spotless as clean as it is every going to get. It was glorious and for about two hours I loved it. I relished in my clean house, a clean house brings me joy. (Seriously, I LOVE IT) And then family started to arrive.

My mom brought delightful baked goods, and bags of her stuff, my brother and girlfriend have their stuff strewn around my house, my father packs like he will be gone for six months when it is really only a few nights and his stuff is everywhere. My tiny bathroom has toothbrushes and hair brushes and other people's personal stuff everywhere. My couch has four blankets thrown about and not folded nicely on the quilt rack. My backdoor is over run with shoes (a small piece of heaven for Dakota - she would move every shoe around the house if we let her) that look like they could put shoes on everyone in a small country. My car is blocked in by three cars in my driveway and coats hang on the back of every chair in the kitchen. I am thankful for the hot water heater that tries so very hard to keep up with us all when we need to shower (note if you go last at my house the chances are high that you are getting a cold shower) I am blessed. I love it.

I can't imagine holidays any other way. We have played games, told stories, stayed up late, my brother and I have gone for a run together, and we have enjoyed our time together. It has been glorious. I am thankful for the mess in my house, I am thankful for the overfull garbage can and the stacks of dishes that need to be done and the piles of sheets and towels that will need to be washed when they leave. I am thankful for the footprints that will need to be scrubbed off the floor and the blankets that need to be folded. I am thankful for my family who is willing to drive up to spend Easter with me.


Did you get to celebrate Easter with your family?
Do you guys all pack into one place?
What does your family like to do when you gather together?

One room at a time.....

There will be no pictures with this post. My house is a mess.... it is driving me nuts! I have a couple problems going on, one my kitchen will remain a mess for a while due to the demo that is happening and I need to learn to be okay with that, every other room on the other hand has no excuse. Naturally shortly after I start demoing my kitchen winter arrives, while we don't have much snow we do have the nice bitter cold weather that I have been anxiously awaiting.

Confession: I love a clean and organize space. I love everything to have it's place and I don't love excess stuff sitting around.

Confession #2: my house is not the way I want it... it is semi gross in fact. While it isn't dirty or anything along that line, it needs some serious organizational help.

So I am going to do it room by room until it is clean. I cleaned/organized my bedroom last weekend and now I love being in that space, so given that I love clean an organized why can't I get it that way and then keep it that way!? Seriously!?

My next room that needs to get done I think is my kitchen minus the tiles that I am ripping out and then I need to work on my craft loft space. I am really excited about that space but I now need to work to make it practical and useful.

I also need to go through things like my books and get rid of the stuff that I just do not need any more. Why in the world do I feel the need to hang on to stuff? Get rid of it! Thankfully a couple Christmas' ago my dad got my brother and I each a kindle (which I LOVE) and that has massively helped cut back on my books that need to go on shelves. Now to go through all the old theology and other such books from seminary and undergrad.

I also massively need to catch up on my photobooks. I LOVE looking through them and I sit down and page through them all the time, but some how I have gotten so far behind that the task is now daunting. Must catch up!

I have however kept up on my photo a day project and am finding it lovely. I even have started the photo book and am updating it each weekend so that at the end of the year it will be ready to have printed. (I love shutterfly.com for making photobooks.)