This is what my kitchen looks like right now.
Why am I showing you all this picture? I was inspired by my Relief Society lesson today. Our lesson was on Pres. Uchtdorf's recent talk about the forget me nots and when we got to the petal "Forget not to be patient with yourself" we spent some time discussing how others may seem perfect to you and that brings you down, because it is harder to forgive yourself of your imperfections then to forgive others. This brought my mind back to the problem that is out there that people find it so easy to put their best foot forward on their blog and weed out all the crap in their lives and just tell and show pics of the idealistic world they want to show and this is making some women feel bad. They read them and think about how perfect this woman's life seems to be and then they look at their life and you can't weed out the imperfections as easily when they are surrounding you. I've brought this up before on my blog, but after today, it seems worthy of revisiting. I don't want my blog to become that...... so there is my kitchen in all it's glory. (Lest any of you have been reading my blog and feeling bad about the idyllic beauty and perfection that is my life.)
Why does my kitchen look like this?
Well, that's simple (kind of). We moved into this house and my husband wanted to redo the cabinets right away, so I never did unpack my kitchen, just stacked the boxes of all the stuff I'd need around the table. Then life and months happened and the cabinet project is half done, out of necessity I have put some things in the cupboards haphazardly, and the kitchen has become a fantastic dumping ground for baby equipment and work stuff. The good news is Rob thinks he has progressed to the stage where I can load the cupboards and a little while after that (Saturday) I snapped and had it. I am organizing and scrubbing the cupboards one by one and getting everything in them and then am going to throw the boxes as far from my kitchen as they will go then I will find a place for everything that does not belong in the kitchen. At that point, we may not have doors on the cupboards, but we will be able to move around in there and maybe even utilize the table. We still will have that golden colored fridge that freezes all the vegetables I bring home, but maybe just maybe, it will inspire us to get the bigger nicer beautiful black glass fridge fixed that is standing unused and wasted in the car port at the moment. Ah, dreams........
Here is the view from the other side. This view gives you a peak at the matching golden oven that has only two (dubiously) working burners. It also shows the new computer I am typing on right now that never got moved to it's proper place in our bedroom.
All in good time guys.
Did I mention that my dog has emotional problems and sucks her paws?
9 comments:
Emily, you're one of the most real people I know. I don't think anyone would read your blog and think you were trying to be "one of those" women who want to portray a perfect picture of their life. Don't be offended by this comment because I mean it as a big compliment to you. It is very refreshing, I might add, to see a post like this, because most of us have times when houses seem to be turned upside down and are rarely picture perfect. I JUST got rid of my last box and hung my pictures after a month of moving in and quite a bit of chaos. It feels so good! I hope that you can finish this project soon and feel satisfied with having your stuff organized and in place. Half-functioning appliances are so annoying. I hope you can improve that, too.
Loved President Uchtdorf's talk, also. He's so great!
I can totally relate, Em. Thanks. I too have recently moved into a house that's been quite the challenge to adjust to. It's hard, but sure keeps you humble. I constantly have to remind myself to be patient and be grateful for what I have.
I haven't recently moved into a house and there are several rooms in my house that look very similar to your kitchen. I mostly just rotate the stuff around, so the room that looks like that may not be the same room from day to day. I like to blame it on babies, but the reality is that I'm a fairly disorganized person, and while I'd like to improve that weakness, I really don't feel bad about it.
And I agree with Amy, you are certainly one of the most real people I know too.
Well, zero progress got made on the kitchen today. >:( Today got devoted almost entirely to laundry and kids and we are going to the circus tonight. Tiny E's jumparoo finally went kaput this weekend and it has made her a little grumpy. Going to try a johnny jump up tomorrow and hope it makes her happy. I'll have to devote a post to the jumparoo, cause that is a sad loss indeed. The good news is that laundry will be done tomorrow, and Tiny will be able to jump a little bit, so I will hopefully have some time to devote to the kitchen.
Glad I am not the only one with house issues (I have one other room like this Ami, but it doesn't bug me NEARLY as bad as the kitchen- I spend a lot of time in there!) and if airing this picture makes just one person feel better about their house, then that makes me happy.
RIP Jumparoo. Sad indeed. I hope you can find some sort of replacement which can make Elles almost as happy.
Good for you Em! Way to show people what real life is. You are SO right about people making their lives sound so perfect and fantastic on their blogs. I'm proud to have a sister who isn't afraid to show the world a bit of reality. I love how there is a Ryobi box amongst your pans. Totally sounds like my house. Would it help if I took the girls off your hands for a day? I could do it next Saturday, (oct. 22). I work this Saturday. Let me know. I'd love to spend the day with them and take them to a children's museum or pumpkin patch or something Scout might enjoy. Let me know.
RIP Jumparoo! How is the Johnny Jump Up working out?
Thanks Sue- I've made some good progress on the kitchen this week and expect to finish it today (finish is a relative term, we still need to finish the cabinets and get some sort of hutch) but everything is in cupboards now and the extra table is going to take a hike and i am going to scrub scrub the floor.
That would be AWESOME if you took the girls for a while on Saturday. Next week Scout has Thurs/Fri off for that weird fall break/hunt thing and we have no plans to go anywhere, so an activity on Saturday would be very welcome.
Sweet, I'll considered it planned then that I'm taking the girls somewhere on Saturday the 22nd. That will be a much needed outing for Scout after being off school for two days. Is there a pumpking patch in Utah County? I need about 6 pumpkins and that day is probably the perfect day to purchase them. Any sooner than that and they would be bad by Halloween. Taking Scout to pumpkin patch to buy them sounds funner than taking her to Smiths. I'll think of a couple of other things to do with them as well. I'm excited!
I was just looking at the pictures again, and the kitchen really doesn't look all that bad. Yes, there is a lot of stuff in there, but it is fairly organized and in boxes. It's not like one of those kitchens on the show "Hoarders" where there are dead cats and things in there as well. It must feel fantastic to get most of it organized.
I'm glad you noticed! The boxes actually were fairly organized- one box was kid's dishes, one was paper goods, one for pots and pans, one for measuring devices, a chair for the crock pot, a box of canned goods, baking supplies......... etc. Without a little organization in that chaos, I would have blown my top long ago. Plus I was pleased that there were no dirty dishes and definitely no cat carcasses! that hoarder's episode was nasty (as they all are). My floor however was beyond bad. It had been rainy and I hadn't cleaned it cause I was working with soap and water buckets and cleaning cupboards, so I was waiting until all that was done and it was getting pretty messy.
I'm not sure about pumpkin patches besides Thanksgiving point, but I'm sure there are some that don't gouge you (like I'm sure TP does).
Post a Comment