I’m sorry, but how is it Monday already? This weekend flew. While we did manage to clean out the garage so that both cars are back inside, we did not accomplish much else around the house. We tore up the to-do list and played with the kids. We spent hours outside pitching, catching, batting, and running. Both kids have taken a liking to baseball and so we enjoyed the beautiful weather and played. And we played a lot. And you know what? It was both refreshing and invigorating. And instead of being up tight about what I wasn’t getting done on the inside of the house, I was fully aware of what I was accomplishing outside. This got me thinking. From the outside looking in, it could appear that a blogging house is perfect, or near perfect. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Do I have a head swimming with ideas and do I like to share them? Yes. Do I love to decorate and enjoy making our home comfortable? Yes. But we are a real family and I am a busy mama who spends the majority of the day making sure my children and relationships come first. So I thought I would confess 10 naked truths about the blogger behind the blog.
ONE | My laundry is always all over our upstairs hallway. I can’t avoid it. I do two loads a day and sometimes I fold it. Sometimes I don’t. And regardless of how on top of it I am, it sits outside the laundry room in some state of incompleteness every. single. day. It drives me bananas and I have not figured out a solution.
TWO | There are always piles on my stairs. Always. I wrote an essay about Pile Blindness a few years back. Four years ago, to be exact. See, I am convinced that men and children suffer from Pile Blindness and no one seems to want to seek treatment. They can’t be helped unless they admit they have a problem. See where I am going with this? I am screwed.
THREE | I despise grocery shopping. The only time it goes well is if I have meal planned. I avoid grocery shopping like the plague. So much so that I am ashamed to admit Amazon Fresh and Blue Apron have been employed a few times around here. I need to get over it and get friendly with my local grocer. I just don’t like it.
FOUR | I have some sort of undiagnosed ADD. I really believe that. I can barely sit still to watch a TV program. When I do, I may be looking at the TV, but you bet your bottom dollar I am either staring at how the lines of the chair across the room play off of the symmetry of the banister or I am plotting and planning my next room renovation. Or I am going over my lengthy to-do list for the next day. This drives my husband insane. He, like most men, is quite capable of unplugging and being in the moment. I have a brain that does not like to unwind. I wish it did. The only time it seems to is on date nights and that is one more reason why those are crucial.
FIVE | I let green stems that I have cut from my garden stay in their vases much past their freshness date. Like to the point where my son will say, “Why do we have dead plants in here?” Yes, son, why do we? Oh, because your mom can’t stand messes but has no problem with dead greenery. It’s just weird. Of course once it’s pointed out, I do toss them. Rest assured.
SIX | My email count is somewhere around 10,000. Or so I thought. I was having lunch with my girl Danielle Oakey and she saw my text count was 30. She asked if it bugged me and I said, “Nope.” I followed it up with, yeah, I think I have like 10,000 emails in my account. She looked down at my phone and saw the number count next to the mailbox icon. “No, actually you have 27,873 emails.” Indeed I do. Pretty embarrassing. But here is the deal, I am afraid I will delete something I need down the road. Then there is the fact that email is my nemesis. Organizing it, that it. If there is an email hotline to help people like me, I should probably call it.
SEVEN | I have failed in the photo album department. This one actually makes me really sad. I was so on the ball with creating an annual Shutterfly album for our family. We have over nine of them. But the last one I created was for 2012. Ugh. I am so behind and at this point I am not sure I can catch up. Not cool. I think I blame this one on blogging. I deal with heaps and heaps of photos on a daily basis and the last thing I want to do is sort through more and create a photo album. Having said that, those albums are priceless to us and I need to get back on the ball.
EIGHT | I am a bit clueless with technology. While I can edit photos and blog like nobody’s business, don’t ask me to do anything else. A spreadsheet? Not a chance. Well, I can do anything if I have my IT guy next to me. I blame my husband for my ineptitude. He is more than happy to help me with my technical issues and I am more than happy to bat my eye lashes and say, “Honey, can you help me?”
NINE | I need food. All the time. If I am not fed, I get really cranky. Like super cranky. My husband’s go-to line now when I start sporting an attitude is, “How about we talk after you eat something.” Smart man. While our children were young and I had the baby bag filled with snacks for the kids, he would secretly slip snacks in it for me, too. It is what it is!
TEN | I cannot go to bed if the living room pillows are not fluffed and karate chopped. The rest of the house may be a mess, but I need my living room to be picked up and lovely so that when I come down stairs in the morning it greets me with a big, “Hello, let’s have a great day” type of look. I can’t be the only one who does this, right? I mean, I am sure there is some obsessive compulsive thing going on, but drinking hot coffee in a visually clean room is just so much better.
I adore my blog. I adore my readers. I adore the outlet this blog affords me. So while I may be messy, behind on daily tasks, and technologically challenged, I will happily accept all of that if it means I get to keep blogging. Bottom line, our home cleans up well for photos and at the heart of it, I am efficient and organized when it comes to many things, certainly not all. But let’s face it, life is messy and disheveled. And at the end of the day, it’s what’s happening within our family dynamic that is most important to me. Paramount, really. It’s playing Clue, dancing to Taylor Swift, cooking together or playing family baseball that makes our world turn. None of this life is picture perfect, but it’s ours. And that makes it perfect.
Care to share a truth about you? Let’s hear it? I would love to know I am not the only crazy one around here.
OMG!! The OCD is me is freaking out about your emails – do you have the little red number on your mailbox on your phone?? That would kill me! I would fly to you to organise your email inbox 🙂
x
Oh, where to begin! I too have to have my living room straightened up before going to bed – I have thousands of email messages, all on 3 different devices (and if anyone knows how to mass delete on the iphone please let me know) – I love to grocery shop and cook, but hate dishes and I do not have a dishwasher. I love techie things though just like Ry – Itotally lose track of time when I'm near a computer. Oh, and if I recall, I diagnosed your ADD years ago! LOL
LOVE this and hearing how life isn't always "picture perfect" – makes this mama feel a lot better. And I alwya have laundry upstairs too, can't go to sleep with a messy kitchen, and piles are always on my stairs – you're not alone my friend!!
With you on so many of these. I grew up with pile blindness and it's still an issue today! My kids laundry sits in a pile at the top of the stairs, really need a better hamper solution. And my OCD is crazy ove ryour emails too. I can't have any alerts on, I have to clear them!
Your email confession really hit home. This month I have been trying to get it somewhat cleaned out, but like you I have so many email I think I might need. When I worked in an office the IT department complained to me all the time that my email was clogging up the whole system. Embarrassing!
I like to grocery shop so much that my small pantry is overflowing. Why buy one package of muffin mix when you can buy four packages to "have on hand." And on and on.
I love, love, love this! Don't we all have secrets we don't share on our blogs? Mine? My closet. It's such an embarrassing mess and I'm not sure I could ever do a "Look at My Closet" post. I sort through clothes every couple of months, but the mess and disorganization just build up over time. I can't seem to keep it under control. Ugh. Real life.
I am the same with the pillows! It drives me bananas to leave the house with the sofa looking a mess!
All I have to say is : twinsies !! I heart your beautiful messy not really messy self…xo
All I have to say is : twinsies !! I heart your beautiful messy not really messy self…xo
I am a relatively new reader to your blog and I have to say that this post is so great!! You are DEFINITELY not alone and you are just the right amount of crazy. 🙂 I to understand the conundrums of pile blindness, dead plant syndrome, and hangryness. Glad to know that I am not alone either. I love that you decided to share these secrets. 🙂
-Sonal @ greatninja.com
haha! I love this post! Your truths are nothing compared to mine. My garage looks like a tornado hit a hoarders home. #notkidding My laundry is never done either. It's so bad that last week I actually bought my son a pack of new white socks because I knew there was no way I was going to get whites done in time for him to have clean socks. ha! It's so sad it's funny!
Laundry is my nemesis. My sweet husband automatically goes to the laundry room to get his socks out of the basket. Sometimes I will get them folded and into his drawer just to keep the mystery in our marriage! Bahahaha! Thanks for sharing today. Nice to meet real people. ????
Thank you so much for sharing a tidbit inside your world and letting us know that it is ok that we also have laundry lying around. PS If kitchen is not absolutely perfect (even if the rest of the house is a mess) before bed each night, the whole next day is shot. You are helping women everyone realize that it is ok to not be absolutely perfect all of the time, bloggers or not. Thank you again for sharing.
THANK YOU for this! It can be so easy to follower a blogger and assume that everything is always perfect. This is a sweet reminder that we normally share the happy, clean tidbits of our lives. It's important to remind readers that we're normal humans with real lives and real messes. Living with three boys, I say messiness is creativeness… just go with it. 😉 Thanks again for sharing! <3
-Jessica
Happy Here Still
I hate grocery shopping. Sadly, I have not gone to the grocery store for 6 months. My husband goes. "I love that man. I am also unable to sit and be in the moment while watching TV. When I do, I have not a clue what is going on. My mind is going 90 to nothing. My 2015 goal is to "Be Still." It is so hard!! And…Every pillow needs to be chopped and perfect in my living room, my kitchen needs to be spotless and the floors need to be clean before I could ever think of going to sleep. Some habits are hard to break especially if you have had those habits for so long. Like you said, "it is what it is."
Okay so we obviously have lots in common…but I absolutely HATE grocery shopping. So much so that I am thinking of using the online ordering and pick up at our local grocery once these babes arrive. Only $5 for someone else to do my shopping! Yes please! I am also very cranky if I don't get food. My mom use to send me to friends houses with a pepperoni stick just in case I got grumpy or hungry. So now the joke in the family is "just give her a beef stick and she'll be fine!" Oh I love being real with my readers and this post just made me thankful that we are real people with real problems! Have a wonderful week girl! xoxo
I loved this! I actually have a post similar to this on my blog calendar for February. Great minds 🙂 The pillows thing before bed….yep. Have to do it, too. Or anytime I walk out of the door, really. McCann doesn't get it AT ALL. Ha!
Love all your "secrets"! It drives me nuts if things aren't picked up – my household has three generations, myself and husband, our 6 year old daughter and my 80 year old Mom. Mom basically has ZERO mess but the husband and 6 year old, oh Lord! Probably my husband is the worst. He thinks our kitchen table is his office desk so he'll leave out his calendar and the bills so then I have to ask him to move it to which he then moves it to a banker box that is also in the kitchen. Mind you, we just moved to a big house (we went from a 1600 sq foot townhome to a 2300 sq ft home with the same size finished basement) but yet, he still can't make an office in this new large home. Then there is our 6 year old – she loves doing her crafts and I enjoy and appreciate her creativity as well. But she doesn't need to occupy TWO rooms in the house to do these things, does she?? She has a huge room with a big alcove that holds a table, chairs, and her arts/crafts supply. She rarely works in that alcove but she has no problems going to our sun porch or family room. As the youngsters say, smh……………….
I LOVE your blog too!
Love this Courtney! Thanks for the honesty. I despise grocery shopping too but find that doing a monthly meal plan and trying to only do 2 big shops for the month once a fortnight is the best way to avoid it!
Ummmm, I'm pretty sure you are my long lost sister!! LOL!
Thanks so much for sharing this! I am totally with you on #4 and #7. I can't seem to just let my mind go and not be thinking about 5 different things at the same time, the hubby though has no problems zoning out. I am determined to catch up my boys' photo albums this year. I think I am close to two years behind, it's crazy how quickly those can get so far behind.
You are too funny. And so real. I love that about your blog and writing style Courtney, you have a beautiful home and great projects but clearly your family is the center of your world and not your house (and by the way I do the same thing with my living room before I go to bed, no matter how tired I am. I can't face the next day when it starts as a visual mess 🙂 )
Love it and thank you for sharing! I am totally right there with you on #10…I love coming down the stairs in the morning and at least the living room is picked up, I can tackle the rest after my morning cup of coffee. And for the laundry, I leave a load in the dryer all the time and re-fluff it a 100 times like that is making a difference!!
Pile blindness in men and children? So true!! And I am with you on the grocery shopping! I try to barter chores with my husband to make him go. I even offered to fully take over lawn duties if he fully takes over the food shopping! Sadly, no deal.
Loving the point about the living room pillows, it just drives me crazy to wake up to an untidy sofa. I too hate grocery shopping, I hate parking at the store, getting inside and fighting the crowds. Oh well, I am glad I am not the only one with those feelings. 🙂
I can relate to almost every.single.one of these!!
I can't tell you how relieved I am to know that I am not the only one with emails in the thousands, strange-can't-sit-even-one-TV-show ADD and yet can still need to have my living room "neat" before I can have coffee in the AM. Phew, I am so glad I am not alone 🙂 XOXO
Amy
Are we long lost sisters? What I love most is not only did I shake my head through the entire post, but it seems that many others did as well. I adore that people who love to clean, organize and decorate their homes, still have daily, real-life messes (which is GOOD!). Beautiful post Courtney! Now, if you ever find a solution to the email dilemma, call me asap! 🙂
It is good to know you are human. I am a pack rat and both my husband and I have piles of stuff everywhere! If I organize I seem to be unable to find a thing so I guess piles are just a part of our life. As I have gotten older and realize there is more important things in life than a clean house; I confess there is seldom a time when every room in my house is clean and tidy–that's why rooms have doors!
We have never met but I could swear we were separated at birth! Seriously, there were only two differences in the whole email, 1. My husband is just as clueless as I am when it comes to technology therefore computer problem = screwed. 2. I try to do the living room clean up every night and agree it's so much better to wake up that way but I also fail myself in that department regularly. Stay at home mom = another new mess 5 minutes after the sun comes up and I often surrender to the fight. I would like to let you know that my husband also packs snacks right in my own purse though sometimes! I'm hypoglycemic and it hits hard out of the blue and I turn flaky on a dime. When it hits and we're talking he can always tell and will say his code words to me do you have a bar?' which actually means please eat something and stop the madness until you do! If I could give you a hug on any of them it would be the common feeling pit in my stomach feeling about dropping the Shutterfly book thing! It DOES feel to late to catch back up now! FYI 2012 is the exact year I dropped mine too! My 3rd baby just turned 1 and I officially felt like trying to work from home and swordfight my way through the laundry in the hallway and struggle through grocery lists, etc was enough to keep up with. I'm buying us both a beautiful bouquet of flowers to make us feel better in my mind right now and when they're a week past their prime I will take comfort in knowing I'm not alone! THANK YOU for this post!
We have never met but I could swear we were separated at birth! Seriously, there were only two differences in the whole email, 1. My husband is just as clueless as I am when it comes to technology therefore computer problem = screwed. 2. I try to do the living room clean up every night and agree it's so much better to wake up that way but I also fail myself in that department regularly. Stay at home mom = another new mess 5 minutes after the sun comes up and I often surrender to the fight. I would like to let you know that my husband also packs snacks right in my own purse though sometimes! I'm hypoglycemic and it hits hard out of the blue and I turn flaky on a dime. When it hits and we're talking he can always tell and will say his code words to me do you have a bar?' which actually means please eat something and stop the madness until you do! If I could give you a hug on any of them it would be the common feeling pit in my stomach feeling about dropping the Shutterfly book thing! It DOES feel to late to catch back up now! FYI 2012 is the exact year I dropped mine too! My 3rd baby just turned 1 and I officially felt like trying to work from home and swordfight my way through the laundry in the hallway and struggle through grocery lists, etc was enough to keep up with. I'm buying us both a beautiful bouquet of flowers to make us feel better in my mind right now and when they're a week past their prime I will take comfort in knowing I'm not alone! THANK YOU for this post!
I hate grocery shopping too! But I love to cook. And I believe in pile blindness as well. I think it's contagious because I'm beginning to get it! Please send me some of your overly organized karma because mine is lacking and it's kinda driving me crazy. Let's also throw out our dead flowers together. 1…2…3…. Love your blog and your honesty!
What I great post! I can relate to so many of these. Thanks for sharing the human side of blog life 🙂
Oh my.. Thx for sharing this. Love connecting to total strangers like that!! The laundry, the piles on the stairs, can't relax and unwind like a normal person? Me! Thank you for being honest and a real person. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only person in the world with these issues 🙁 love your honesty :):)
Okay, so no one else got a kick out of the split title, "Ten naked truths about the blogger behind?"??? Heehee, please, take no offense…it just had me giggling. 😉 LOVE your blog. (And your behind is cute, too, I'm sure!)