whatever

Cathy - Thank You… I feel right at home..

Danny - “The pretty-pretty is not real life.” What a perfect way to sum it all up. Thanks.

H-Mama @ Family Team - ‘Real’ posts are the best posts. Love this! 🙂

Josie - Your art projects are so very cool. Your house is beautiful, as is your family and this blog. With this post of actual life YOU are the BEST and you are now book marked on my computer to check in to aww what fun things you have created. BRAVO. You are awesome!

Melissa - I just found your blog… And THANK YOU for this post! It makes me feel NORMAL! 🙂

katie - Thank you! Thank you! My house looks very similar to this and I always wonder how everyone else keeps such a well kept house. Awww a breath of fresh air!

Cheryl - What a great post! I just found you as I was browsing Blogland. Thank you so much for being REAL. It’s true. It’s easy to get caught up in the pretty, pottery barn style photos that I see and sometimes I do think,”geez, what’s wrong with me that I can’t pull of that style?” So thank you. Have a Merry Christmas. Peace and health to you and yours.
Cheryl

Kristen @ More Than Mulberries - This is my first time visiting your blog and I already love you. I’ll keep coming back for sure. Thank you for posting this, a well lived in house is true perfection really. What’s the saying, “Women who have a clean house are boring.” Ha!

Angela - I just found your blog and luvah it!!! Reading this post I knew this was the blog for me!!! I just finished tackling the 52 millionth dirty dish and putting the trillionth load of clothes in the dryer. Real life and the chaos that goes with it, albeit frustrating at times, is the true diamond in the rough, it is not the perfectly mounted diamond ring!! 🙂 I can’t wait to go thru the posts, etc, consider me a new and will be a long time follower. Take care 🙂 Angela

Tara @ Tara Being Tara - I just found your blog from 320 Sycamore, and I’m already hooked. Isn’t it amazing how we all worry about what our homes look like, when in reality, they look like everyone else’s? I hate our floors – they are old, cheap laminate that are chipped in a hundred places. We get more compliments on how lovely the floors are than anything else. I’m your newest follower!!

Sarah - I love this post. I’m always amazed when I go over to people’s houses and they are perfect. And I run around like crazy trying to make my house presentable when someone is coming over. I guess they probably do the same thing. But sometimes it feels like i’m the most disorganized, gross person in the world when I look around me. *sigh*

aubrey - My favorite post. I’m relieved. I’m not the only one with the same problem. I thought something was wrong with me. I thought it was because I have four kids and we live in 1000 sq. feet. I guess it happens in big houses too. Of course, your messes are more colorful and have a much prettier background–or underground. whatever. And I’m so painting our big filing cabinet red. That’s awesome–except that I though I actually had an original idea to use ours as a dresser too. 🙂 Messy or not, I love seeing pictures of your house. Old houses are the best. (On the surface right? Ours is oldish too–but only 50 years.)

Kim - I actually stopped reading your blog for a while because as much as I loved it, I just felt so inadequate afterwards. 🙂 I was just sitting here and decided to come visit you again and saw this post. You really are real! You’ve made a believer outta me again! Thank you!!!!! You’re even more awesome than before!

Maggie B - It is so seriously, refreshingly welcome to see a little honesty out there! I just adore ooohhing and aaahing at all the beautiful, retouched and drool-worthy photos on all these gorgeous blogs I enjoy reading, but it is so nice to know that at least someone out there also has a bunch of messy kids, laundry, dishes piling up and the wherewithall to realize that this is what life is all about! Make the most of it, dirt and all! Thank you for the beautiful post!

loniann - Thank you Thank you for posting this side of life. Too often, I beat myself up about not having that model looking home.
I love your blog. Read it often. Keep it up!
Loni
Texas

Farmers Wifey - THIS is what I love about blogging..the reality of it all. I love that you did this..it makes you more loved and more human..and it makes me feel Normal.

Richelle - Meg – I have been reading your blog for a while now and have always loved it. This is my first comment. Tears are streaming down my face as I read this post. Thank you. I really needed it today. I am feeling overwhelmed and insignificant and just not good enough at anything. I love my Lord and Savior and I know I am His precious child – which is enough. But you are right – you read blogs, people’s facebook status updates, Christmas card letters, etc. and you start to look at the lives of others and measure yours on the two dimensional view you have of theirs. I can’t thank you enough. I think we all need to be more real in our lives – it does more for others than we could ever imagine. Blessings to you and your family.
In the words of my 9 year old – You ROCK!
Richelle

crystal - These are the prettiest picture ever!!! Am I sick to say that they make my heart feel happy???

Lori - Makes me like you even more!!

Sarah - Meg, this is awesome. You really have a way of making us all feel that we’re in the same boat.

elisa - Thanks for this 🙂

Jeannie - …but with humility comes wisdom.(Prov 11:2b) And from where I am sitting, you are truly wise. Thank you for your humility and your words of wisdom and encouragement each day. It is a blessing looking into your world each day, no matter a perfect or messy scene. All your pictures just give a glimpse of how much love you shower on your family! A messy home is a cozy home–at least that is the excuse I use! So, off I go to clean up a house that looks like yours right now, but at least I can smile and not feel alone:)

Amber - Thank you. Simply because now I don’t feel quite so overwhelmed and incompetent with my own home.

Carol - Hahaha! Now, you’re going to get emails asking you what you do all day since obviously you’re not cleaning the house! Thanks for keeping it real!

Karen Gerstenberger - This is one of MANY reasons that I love you & your blog: reality & fun. Real life is MESSY, but it’s totally worth it.
I love a tidy house, but a bit of PERSPECTIVE: now we are empty-nesters (since David is away at college and Katie is in Heaven – she would have been a sophomore this year), and believe me, I would love to have a bit of mess, if I could have my girl back! Thank you for keeping it honest.

Julie - I heart your messy house!!!

Quinn - Don’t worry too much about not being able to keep up with all the work pouring over you; it is what makes your house, your house. No one’s house looks like the perfect house we think everyone else has, and yet we are all striving for the perfection we see in magazines. I swear it is just the media and commercialism coming over us. Almost like a vicious cycle… Your house shows creativity, the fact of real life. So please don’t fuss over the small things, as much as we all love a clean house!

Leslie - I just let out a big sigh of relief . . . thank you! I think I’m cutting myself some slack today knowing my life is just as REAL as others out there.

Monica Huete - Thanks for the shots !!! I have got three children and … it is not easy !!! You spent the whole day trying to clean and organize things and in only “FIVE” minutes kids arrive and the “mess” is there again, hehe. I just decided to take it easy, there are more important things to live for than a fabulous cleaned and organized home.
Thanks again for sharing your experiences !!! … ^__^

Cassy - That’s why I love you… You are awesome AND you are real. Thank you.

Melanie - What a fabulous post. I never think that blogland is perfect. I know that some of the girls that are doing projects and blogging all the time have let something go in their lives. I know that if I go off every day, my house gets a little messy. (I only have one son and he is 16) The girls in blogland are letting the laundry go, the closets go, etc. It is not perfect. I have always told you that you are a great mom. A fun mom that does things with the kids. Lets them do crafts etc. I am not that mom. I have to have a clean and organized house and that is what Caden will remember when he leaves the house. We just have to be ourselves and not try to be something we are not. I am orderly and neat and I can’t change that to be something different. Praise yourself for being a good mom, a Christian, a testimony to others. You have a lot of wonderful qualities.

Michele - Thank you.

Rebecca - Thank You. You don’t know how much this means.

susan - I love you Meg!!!!! thanks for keeping it real!!!
god bless

Jennifer - I agree that you are even more awesome for showing reality. Thank you. You do appear to have it completely together, and it’s not that I feel better about myself for your short comings….that’s not it at all. It’s good to know you are human as well! x0x0x0
My living room is Littlest Pet Shop hell as well. 🙁

Jen R - Oh my…THANK YOU so much for this! Sometimes I sit with coffee in hand reading the blogs I adore – every one gorgeous & perfect. Then walk into my family room where it looks like a bomb went off – immediate shame. 🙂 Thank you, Thank you for being a REAL person. I love your Blog – the pretty & not so pretty! 🙂

katie - i want this post framed in my house.

andrea - and….that is why i love reading your blog

Lisa - You are so awesome for sharing these photos, and so BRAVE! I would never want to post the pictures of what my house look like MOST of the time! Good to put things in perspective once in a while, but of course who wants to look at messy pictures all the time, we like living in our little fantasy world that everything looks good 24/7!! lol Plus, it we take pictures when it’s all clean and neat, we can freeze it just like that!
Now…off to decorate and CLEAN!

Ana - Thank you. so. much.

Heather - I have more respect for you now than ever before! One more reason to adore you and your blog. You have made me feel so much better about myself. I am constantly struggling with the feeling that I just don’t measure up to the “superwomen” I see on other blogs. Now I realize that we all have our dirty little secrets- aka laundry piles- laying around! 🙂
Thank You Meg!
Blessings,
Heather:)

the whyte house - i always love the “keepin’ it real” posts. 🙂 it looks like everything is unpacked from your trip, though! takes us like 3 weeks to do that! 🙂

April Driggers - I love you man! Thanks for keepin it real!
Now.. clean that $hit up! Bwa ha ha ha ha ha! (just kidding)

Beth @ Dirty Laundry - Instead of Littlest Pets in the Foyer, it is Matchbox cars parked on the foyer rug, because there are lines on the rug and they are, apparently, perfect parking spaces. Also, the sun shines in the front door in the morning and it is warm and sunny and the best place to play and park your 500 Matchbox cars (and sometimes army guys). And I am always frustrated by it, stepping all over those cars. But you are right! You made me feel better about them, and someday I will miss those cars. Thanks, Meg.

danielle - amen, sister. my life everrryyday. and i only have two!

Karen Lehmann - you have NO IDEA how much better i feel after seeing those photos. thank you.

Alexandra/The Empress - oh, well, of course you have 218 comments on this post.
Of course you do…your home’s loveliness still shines through.
Thanks to Dana, I’m here.
My house is a true mess. yours is a pretty mess.

Andrea - Amazing. I see the same “just stepped out of” pants on the floor of our bathroom every night. I see the same piles of clothes, open drawers, dishes (mine are not as cute) every day. This is why I want to be you: because you are so real, yet so inspiring.

cathy - BABIES DON’T KEEP
Mother, oh Mother,
come shake out your cloth,
empty the dustpan,
poison the moth,
hang out the washing
and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house
is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery,
blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little
Boy Blue (lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done
and there’s nothing for stew
and out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
but I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
The cleaning and scrubbing
will wait till tomorrow,
for Children grow up,
as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs.
Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep……
~Author Unknown ~
a beautifull life

Dina - Thank you for being so real! This is why I love your blog. I have a HUGE phobia of people ‘popping in’. My tiny house which includes 5 humans and 1 dog, is ALWAYS a disaster and I’m a SAHM! I beat myself up everyday that I’m really sucking at this current profession… but the reality is, those people that ‘pop’ in could care less about my mess. They seem un-comfortable if they happen to see everything in a perfect state.
Why do we do this to ourselves? REAL is the way to go… thank you:-)

jaz - Oh my gosh, 210 comments – that kind of sums it right up there.
xoxox

Alice - In the craft room picture, what is all over the “M”? I have an “a” and I am not sure what to do with it and I love yours.Thanks

September - This just what I needed to hear today! Thanks!

Amy - I absolutely love this. It’s nice to see that someone else has an imperfect house like mine. And I don’t want to spend every day trying to make my house perfect. I want to try and enjoy every minute with our 4 kids while they are still kids!! (oh, and just curious….what program do you use to put the text boxes on your pics like that? They are super cute!!)

Lora - Thanks… i feel better.
:O)

Rach - My favorite is “the teenager’s room.” It reminds me of when I left home and my mother had to figure out what to do with all of the road signs I had “acquired” on some rowdy weekend adventures.

Kristin S - I absolutely love this post.
Any woman who would let her kids’ feet hit her head for 30 hours is a hero in my book.
And honestly, I think most of us have messes. While I don’t want to end up on “Hoarders”, I’m OK with some mess and clutter but still get frustrated that I wonder what others will think. Thank you for giving me the freedom to LIVE in my home.

julia - Simpletruths - *sigh*
Thank you. This is just the motivation I need to do two very important things
1 – clean a little something
2 – not think I’m a bad person because only half of the dining table is visible at any one time 🙂
Cathi I love that quote “A clean house is a sign of a misspent life”
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE!!

Christine Ishmael - Hey Meg…love this post…I’m in the same boat as you with 6 kids! The one question I have is why do the kids NEVER close the drawers of their dressers?? How hard is that??? And I JUST got home from Costco and the box of 50 chips has already been halfway eaten….aaaagggghhhhh!!! This is why Moms drink so much diet coke and shop for hours and hours on end…see? I just justified the shopping I’m about to do…

Kimmie - Thank you! 🙂

Sandy - Thanks for being so real Meg!!

steph - thanks… i needed this today. knowing others are in the same boat, makes me feel less alone. now i need to go clean! ha ha!

Aimee - Thank you for this post. Thank you for making me feel better about my messy house and reminding me that I am not the only one!

jodi - And this is why you are my favorite blogger. We are all in this together- You are always “keepin it real”!

barb c - you rock!

Kori - OK. This is rad! I love your house even more now. Everything looks as it should and does make me feel less together. Every post I read makes me wish more and more that we were neighbors and friends!! Is that weird??
I hope not.
P.S. I CANNOT let my son see the pics of your boys’ room!! I am forever on his case about his books and magazines littering his floor and his clothes not being put away properly! He’d NEVER pick anything up if I let him see other boys rooms looking like he likes his to look!!!!!

Belinda - Relief floods the blogosphere. Mothers cheer aloud infront of their computers. We are not alone! xx

Courtney Walsh - Yep. Here too. Not proud, but it’s reality.
I’ll have a clean house when they’re all married…but I’ll miss them more than anything.

Stephanie - Thanks for keeping it real! I have a sign in my kitchen that says
“A CLEAN HOUSE IS A SIGN OF A MISSPENT LIFE” and I truly believe this! We’re all in the same boat!

Laura Phelps - love the daisy bowl in the sink
lets start a weekly posting in blogland
“real life at 10 am on Friday”
take a picture
post it
everyone feels better
love you
mess and all

Suzette - You ROCK! And so do I!

Ana Hogan - Thank you for this post. 🙂 I have to admit, I walked around my house this morning and thought about you and your house! I thought, “why can’t I get it together like Meg?”. I still think you’re an amazing woman and I’m happy to know that it’s normal for a house to look like this…especially when people are actually living in it!

Jacci - Meg – this is good stuff. GOOD stuff! I *know* you honored God with this transparency because your post was a word written according to the need of the moment. You gave grace to those “hearing” you 🙂
Praise God He’s sufficient, because *none* of us are!
~Jacci in Ohio

Kellie - Oh, I love you! Your are real. You make every mom out there feel ok. Thank you!!!!!

Jen - This made me want to cry. Not kidding. Thank you.

Danielle - Awesome! I love this post, this is real life! I have six kiddos and my house looks exactly the same way all the time. I must admit though I’m a little disappointed in that I thought it got better as they got older, but apparently not as you have teenagers. My oldest is nine so I guess I should just give up:)lol Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing your life with us, your blog has always been an encouragement to me. You live life and you live it to the fullest, you are truly blessed. And I love that you honor
God through it all:)

Amber P - What I see is a woman who is SO present with her kids and that is WAY more important than having a put together home. To me, your home is full of warmth, love, joy, and FUN! I am reading The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson. Sally states “But it’s the way I respond to my children in everyday moments that gives me the best chance of winning their hearts. If I have integrity and patience in the small moments of heart, then I have a far better chance of influencing them in the larger and more critical issues of life.” We cannot do it all. Something has to give somewhere. Time invested in our kids is more important than having a gorgeous, organized home. I admit that I struggle with this very thing – being present for my kids, being a slave to ‘getting things done’. In reality, it doesnt’ matter if my home is clean & beautiful or if I have all the laundry done. (Which I never do!) But I can let go of the guilt of not having it done! I really admire you Meg ~ for the kind of mother that you are.

midwestmom - this is why your blog is my favorite. my first click of my day. everyday. thank you so much for this post day!

karen - Thank you so much for posting this. There are so many blogs out there that only show the airbrushed pictures of…well, everything in their life. I stopped reading them because I was starting to feel inferior about…well, everything in my life. But my sister e-mailed me this link and simply wrote, “Good post.”
I couldn’t agree more. Thank you.

Megan - Kimberlee and I have had this conversation before–about blogland and deceiving perfection. When I walk into someone’s house I always feel more at home if I can relate to them…and sometimes it’s seeing real life and not a neat and clean house! LOVE this post…and my house looks likes this too 99% of the time…

Karen - Posts like this are why you are so loved!

Brook - Thank you for this post!! Life is messy. So are houses. I have 4 kids and it’s IMPOSSIBLE to have my house clean all at the same time or for any length of time. It always makes me laugh when someone comes over for a party where I spent hours cleaning and thinks it looks like that all the time. Hilarious and impossible. Thanks for keeping it real.

Janelle - Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There are so many times that I just ask myself “WHY CAN’T I KEEP THIS HOUSE CLEAN??

linda - love ya meg!! thanks for keeping it real!! your house shows how comfortable you live…where your priorities are…and that your house is filled with love…and thanks for the pep talk!! 🙂

Mary Craig - This just made me love you EVEN MORE!

taniawillis - oh meg…….how i love you.

Jeannine - I think you’re amazing!

Cris - Oh my Meg…
Thanks for “keeping it real”. This is why I LOVE your blog. No one wants to read about a perfect wife, a perfect house, and perfect kids. We want to read about someone who is normal, just like us. The other stuff just isn’t reality.

Valerie @ Chateau A La Mode - Meg, if I could I would high five you right now! That is how my house looks, well 90% of the time. Thank you for letting us know you are one of us! Yea!!!
Valerie

Diana Thompson - I love it!!! I have been following your blog for awhile now, and I don’t think that I have ever commented. I truly admire the mom that you are, you are awesome and that is what is important!! Who cares if the laundry is not done, or dishes in the sink? Your kids are loved and that is what matters!! I think you are such a great gal and this post just reitterated that to me!!!! LOVE your realness!!! (is that a word??)

Keri ~ Forever Folding Laundry - You’re so right – no one has it all together! Thank goodness we’re all in the same boat! My house looks the same – and I only have 3 of your 5. 🙂
And on those days I’m feeling the most grossed out by my house I try to tell myself that I’m doing my best and I know someday they’ll be gone and I’ll miss the mess. Thanks for being fabulous – and real – all at the same time. Win. 🙂

Becky @ Farmgirl Paints - great keepin’ it real post Meg!

MGF - breathe taking to know that everyone is not perfect.

Kristin Hayne - THANK YOU AND I LOVE YOU!!
I am turning to you daily to get inspiration and truth!! 🙂 I know a lot of people look up to you and admire you… thanks for showing us the pretty things in life and also the UGLY little things in life. What I truly see when I look at your pictures is a lived in HOME!!! It is frustrating to constantly try to keep up with it all but the daily reminders (though a bit much at times)really make my heart happy. I love seeing a messy house… that means there are busy little, happy people that live there. Thanks for sharing the the cold hard truth!! You are a gem!!

Kim McCoy - The BEST post I’ve seen in blog land in a while. Makes me feel normal. Thanks for sharing and being honest.

Lindsey@ Piecefully Home - i love honesty!! i hate messes, though! 🙂 and my house is a great big huge mess, but having three kids I’ve learned to let that go. we have laundry piles, dish piles, little people piles, barbie piles, wii game piles, lego piles, shoe piles….

Shauna - i really heart you.
you are loving and brave.
i am smiling at you, right now.

Stephanie@Geezees - Oh how i LOVE this post! It’s good know that i am not alone with the laundry and dishes that never end! Thank you Meg for posting this!!

Esther - Oh Meg….in all honestly I could not survive at your house…lol. I can’t deny the connection of an orderly house and an orderly mind, when all is clean and free, I think more clearly, get more done. I had 3 kids at home and ran a business from home so I do know….my concern is for the kids, I believe that being organized is a very important skill for their future. I run a very large corporation now and my #1 problem with the younger employees is that they are so messy- and have problems finding things, and their paper trails are always at lost, which in the business I am in it is extremely important.
I am just saying’…..

Jessica - Love this post! Thanks for keeping it real…

kathleen - I just wanted to tell you how much I have been loving your blog, I just look forward to it. My friends told me about it a couple of months ago and I loved it right off. As everyone else does!! It takes time and lots of heart to faithfully blog, especially the good, meaningful stuff, and I so appreciate it. Thanks so much!

Holly - I live the same battle too. Funny thing though. I actually woke up this morning and there was not a single dirty dish in the house! That never happens!

Tanya H - And this, Meg, is why we love you. 🙂

jennifer delossantos - That looks like my upstairs. The main level stays pretty picked up because I have a home day care and so people are walking through everyday. Everyone assumes that the whole house is that way. WRONG. The upstairs has clothes everywhere, the beds are never made, the dresser drawers are always open. Kate throws everything out of her dresser, daily. Life is messy. But we are all happy. Oh, and Kate has the same polka dot sheets as your little girls!

Chiot's Run - No worries, you need to remember all those studies that say dirt is good for kids, keeps them from getting asthma & allergies, so you’re really doing it for your kid’s health 🙂
Those kids are getting old enough to start doing some chores. When was in 4th grade my mom taught me how to do laundry and I’ve been doing my own every since.

Mindy W - This is just plain really good.

www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1498998191 - Pokadots still make your house look cheerful! Maybe I don’t need to clean just throw in more polka dots!

Debbie Smallie - Just what I needed this morning. Thanks for keeping it real!

Brianna - thank you for this. I don’t feel so alone anymore!

bobbie - The pictures of your kids clothes on top of the dresser instead of in it and all over the floor is my life. It drives me crazy but I just shut the door and walk away.
Someone once told me there will be a time in my life to have a clean houst (when the kids are all gone) but this just isn’t my time and I need to learn to enjoy it.
Thanks for sharing!

Routhie - Thank you. It’s easy to forget what is important, esp when the house is a mess and you’re overwhelmed. I feel like I am drowning in laundry, clutter, and to-do lists, but so is everyone else. Now, I am going to ignore my housework, shower, and help make Christmas cards at my daughter’s school, which I know has made this week pretty awesome for her and her class. Thanks again for keepin’ it real. 🙂 <3

Michelle Whitlow - thank you for sharing!!! Boy, you’re brave!! I never try to be perfect on my blog but man my house looks like a tornado most days!! My husband comes home from work and gives me ‘that look’. Ugh…

Shana - If it helps…I have a friend who’s house is spotless – however…her kids can’t sit on the furniture, walk through with food, eat certain things (like food), or have shoes on inside.
I think you are living LIFE – which means too busy to worry about the trivial stuff – laundry, dishes, etc. Play, have fun, and enjoy!
Love you

Amy - Thanks Meg. That’s why I love you. You are so humble and can tell the truth even when it’s not pretty. And my house looks at least that bad or worse most days. I have 3 under 5 and it is tornado city. I get discouraged and feel like a gross pig. But then I put up the Christmas tree instead of clean. So I know a lot of it is just my personality. I would rather have fun than clean. Anyway, thanks for being honest. Love ya Meg!

Maria - Thank you!!!!! I’m a mom of three who works one full time job and MULTIPLE part time jobs and I can NOT keep up with the house. Your pictures made me feel normal again! My house may not be clean, but my life is pretty darn good, otherwise!!! So no complaints from me!!

Karen H. - I didn’t think it was possible to love you any more than I already did – and then you posted these pictures!!! Some days I think “What is WRONG with US???” because our house can’t stay clean!!! And I love the Littlest Pet Shop town in your foyer… I have the same thing!!!

julie - Thank you for posting these. As a home school mom to 4 girlies I have recently started to feel like an absolute housekeeping failure. Even thought about writing a blog post about it today but hopped on over here instead. So glad I did. I am not alone:) BTW…L.O.V.E. your blog, your photos, your craft Thursdays, your decorating style……this just might be my favorite blog!

Toni :O) - Whoa….I love the honesty but I think I’m a neat freak in my own house and I’ve created two more after seeing your photos…sigh…my kids never have clothes on their floor…laying other places instead I guess. What I’m not good at is trying to keep everything clean, I’ve given up trying to dust, vacuum and mop as often…working 45-50 hours a week outside the home just doesn’t give me the time to keep up on it all. I’m glad to see we’re all in this mess called life together! Keep being real, keep smiling and keep those colors coming, cause it’s a breath of fresh air to see your posts every.single.time! Especially cute Waffle…love your dog almost as much as my own!

Jen - Thank you! I do not feel alone.

Flower Patch Farmgirl - You rule the school.

Nicole - Thank you so much for this! I have 5 kids myself and with activities and just everyday “things” I can’t seem to get it all done! I know, I should stay off of the computer! haha! I needed this today as I look at the breakfast dishes on the table, trash ready to go out and a downstairs bathroom that seriously needs a good scrubbing with 4 boys in the house! Thanks for a great blog! You rock!
Nicole

Julie M - I can soo relate!

Janelle - I’m reading your blog instead of cleaning up my house. I have my Daisy troop here this afternoon and I am supposed to clean up the house for them! Its like inviting a heard of elephants into your living room! Thanks for keeping it real!

Mindi Slone - Thank You. Thank You. Thank You.
You just validated my home’s existence today. I might have to share this with my hubby!

Jessica - Inspired by you, I posted pictures of MY messy house on my blog! http://www.pinkpeanutbutter.typepad.com

Christie - Thank you for this! I found you not that long ago and am hooked. You feel like a long lost friend in the way you are in your life and I love that. I’m a full time working mom of 2 little girls and all day I read about these so called “perfect, have it all together” moms who blog, do so many things I want to do with my girls, decorate their house, thrift shop, cook and bake, and most of all craft. So thank you for showing us that you don’t have it all together and you do what you can do to what you love and sometimes the house looks like a tornado. So what, right? That’s what I try to do with my family each night and weekend, put aside the crazy mess and do what we love. So thank you for this honest post.

Vanessa - Love it! I’m not the only one!!! Thanks for sharing your “imperfect” life with us 🙂

Annie - Thank you, thank you, thank you. As a young married sans children, I read a lot of blogging moms (like yourself) who have such pretty homes, great kids, time to craft and cook like Martha, and I look around my little apartment and think: NO. WAY. I am struggling with just one other person to take care of! What a relief to know it’s a struggle even for those with years of experience. Your blog is always such a fun, honest place to visit, and today was no exception. Thank you for letting us know that while life is beautiful, the little messes do exist, and that’s okay.

Mary - Thank you for this!! Often when I see things in blogland I think “gahh! My house will never be that cute/perfect/awesome!” You are right, I WILL cut myself some slack today.
Oh, and I personally think you are doing a fantastic job!!! 🙂

Roberta - Opps, don’t know what a carobon copy is. Meant to type carbon 😉

jenn - Love it! But I must insist that you refrain from posting any further pictures of MY kitchen without my express wrtten permission! 😉

stacie - Thank you. I have five kids also and there is no way a house can stay put together all the time. I don’t have a craft room and I craft so you know what my dinning room looks like and I homeschool to boot. I’m showing my husband these pics when he gets home. Just so he knows its not just us. Thank you agian 🙂 stacie from rockentot

KTG - Thank you for this. My least favorite thing to do is putting away laundry for 4 people it’s never ending.

Kasey - It’s good to see what ‘real life’ is like, especially when most of us bloggers share the same thing. -I clean my house top to bottom… I spend the entire weekend [I work full time] cleaning and than by Monday night it is all a mess again. I totally understand what it’s like but ive gotten to the point where I will get to it when I can get to it. -I’m not going to make it a point to have my house super spotless just so I can show it off on my ‘Blog’. That’s not what life [and my blog] is about.
Thanks for ‘keeping it real’! 🙂

megan - Megan-
Love the reality check! i agree…reality sucks so sometimes it is nice to escape it…even if it is only momentary.
glad you keep it all in perspective.
still wishing you were my neighbor though…i would have some great laughs with you.
megan (in maine)

Kerri - This is my house, too!!! THANK YOU!!! I feel like such a loser sometimes…

christy - I could just give you a big hug right now! It is so refreshing to see messes in blogland! I’m so tired of picture perfect, because my house is not!! I have to boys 5 & 6 and they are MESSY!

Penny - I love your foyer! That built in bench (I think) is beautiful! Toys just add to the beauty. My two oldest are out of the house. Just a 16 year old here now. Her room looks much like Lauren’s room. And just the other day I was looking for my glue gun in the craft room. Never found it and was pretty disgusted with myself for the mess in there! Thanks for making me see it isn’t just me!

Samantha Lee - You are as refreshing as ever . . . even with the mess! Thank you for honesty.

Jen@thecottagenest - I love that you did this. It’s good for us to tell each other that it’s okay to not be perfect. Thanks for this today and during this season when I put so much pressure on myself!

BULLYMAMA3 - Thank you so much for your honesty…we all need more of that!! We live in a world (or at least a country) where everything is supposed to be perfect or it isn’t worth anything. I don’t know how you do it but you always seem to post things that really strike a chord with me at just the right time (maybe that is part of your purpose w/God??) In a way you really do have it all together because you are giving your kids a wonderfully fufilling life by doing all the great things you do with them and you are an inspiration to many women that really need it (among a lot of other things!) but those are the things that should be in the “having it all together list” not an immaculate house that doesn’t let anyone have an ounce of creativity. Thanks again for making my day (AGAIN!)

Ann R. - I just left a comment, but was laughing when I scrolled back to the pics (think I am going to share with hubby). I think sometimes HE thinks I am the only one…they don’t really know…but I had to laugh at the craft room – looks like mine with the target bags for christmas gifts right?

Julie - Thanks for keeping it real, Meg. I must say, tho, I now have kitchen sink envy ~ here’s mine ~ http://wristonsingermany.blogspot.com/2010/06/things-i-wont-miss.html ~ and I won’t miss it one bit when we move! Oh, and mine would look like yours if it could hold that much! We’re a family of seven too. 😉

visart-dali.com - Oh wow, so this is how it looks like in a real life! I love it, it is so relaxing and comforting to see that I am not the only one…
Thank you for that!

Angel/TaDa!Creations - Thanks for showing me that we are not so different. It’s easy to think that everyone else is doing life perfectly and I am the only one that can’t seem to get it together.
Oh how I wish I had space for a “family closet” right in or next to the laundry room. Then there would be no more hauling clothes to every end of the house only for it all to end up right back there. It’s the never ending battle that is so difficult to get a hold of. Most every day we are rifling through the clean-clothes-that-just-need-to-be-folded-and-put-away-piles anyway. Off to find my husband a clean towel before he gets out of the shower…I know there’s one somewhere.

lena - AMEN!
i know this season will soon pass and i will one day long for it to return. i pray to find the JOY in it all.
pax Christi – lena

se7en - I am speaking from vast tombs of personal experience here: If I were you I would head straight out the door and get some fresh air!!! There is nothing else more important to be done!!!

Meredith - Snap. Just like my house! Thanks for this Meg…I was starting to think it was just me. I’ll consider this post an early Christmas present from Blogland:) Meredy xo

Kirsten J - Godluvya for being real – my house looks much the same 🙂

Staisha - Thanks you for being so honest.

Ingrid - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for posting this! it is nice to know i’m not the only mum that isn’t on top of the cleaning every minute of the day!

Christina - I feel like writing posts like this…just to show what’s real. 🙂 I don’t have the following you do, and no one thinks I have it all together! haha Your transparency is great. And I feel your laundry pain. I might have to show my husband this post! teehee
I actually just wrote about something similar…the chaos that is life, that roars so loud that anything beautiful gets lost. But, then God brings beauty to light.
Love your blog. 🙂

beth eacott - Oh wow, that is awesome! I have been following your blog for months, and love, love, love it! The color, creativity, warmth, care, and down-to-earthness (is that even a word? – somehow don’t think so) of it continue to inspire and delight me! It’s my favorite way to start the day, a good cup of coffee and some whatever (while refereeing my 2 kids grade one and two while they take way……..too long to finish their breakfasts, we’re going to miss the bus again!…..blah, blah, blah) Have never posted a comment on a blog before, not once, not ever, but I just HAD to applaud your home, BLESS THIS MESS!!! From Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, warmest wishes, beth

Trish - Aww how sweet of you to show your house to all of us! You are such a sweetie and I just adore your take on life and how you write about it!

Dana@Bungalow'56 - I think the one room that drives me the most insane is “my” little girl’s room. They have drawers in their beds and they are always open and overflowing. We can barely keep them shut. I saw your girls room with the overflowing drawers and just sat here and smiled. We never do see anyone else’s mess… in blogland or in real life. We think we are the only ones.
Thank you.
I can go to sleep tonight knowing Megan has a messy house too. And for some strange reason, that makes me happy.
: )
Dana