happy monday.  this is the state of my playroom.  nothing unusual.   saturday i spent all day taking photos of my home for a home tour.  i worked tirelessly (with the help of my sister) to get every room in order.  styling things, a bit, and then snapping away.  i captured images.   some are light and bright and crisp and clean.  yet all are full of pure tangible evidence of what clean looks and feels like.  and, i have no shame in telling you that it made me happy to look at these rooms this way, both in person and through a lens.  but, almost immediately after leaving one room and moving onto the next the mess moved back in.  i’m still in awe of how long it takes to pick up a room and then how quickly it’s taken apart.  truthfully,  i started to get a bit depressed…..wishing that at the least my house could stay clean and “kept” for at least 24 hours.  but instead,  our 112 toy animals were scattered across the floor along with a snack someone snuck from the pantry without permission.

then, a dusting of flour covered the kitchen floor and countertops.  followed by chocolate chips falling onto the ground and into the mouths of chubby handed chocolate lovers.  soon, the aroma of fresh baked cookies and creativity were permeating the air.  and, suddenly, i sighed and took a seat and just embraced the messy and delicious living that was happening right before my eyes.  it was nothing that i could captured with my camera.  this snapshot had to be captured with my heart.

i’ve decided that when i get overwhelmed with the mess, which will happen five times a day or maybe twenty two, i’ll just pull up my photos and take in the, seemingly, clean space.  i’ll take it like i take in a deep breath.   then i’ll shut down the computer, try not to step all over the plastic animals and look for a few chocolate chips to sweeten my day.

do you get discouraged when your house goes from clean to crazy mess within 5 minutes?

p.s.  the one area that i cannot not seem to get control of no matter how hard i try  is:

 

 

the kitchen desk. it pretty much always looks like this, no matter how hard i work at it.  and, even if i stashed all of the papers, i have no idea how to stash the ugly radio and intercom system.  send tips or suggestions.  and i’ll jus send a warning to visistors  because this is the first thing you’ll see coming in the back door.