Welcome to My House

A couple of months ago I wrote about our uncluttering adventure. I think I probably made it seem like we live a spotless existence in a very clean house, but actually it's just the opposite. Our house is pretty messy. The only thing that is its saving grace is the fact that we don't have a ton of stuff, but because it is so small (880 square feet), it still feels to me like we have too much.

One of the things on my to do list is to deep clean the house before Burt Reynolds comes. You know, I'm just going to come out and say it. What a joke. It makes no sense to clean when you have a toddler tornado ripping the house to shreds right behind you. It's not just Charlie, though; it's Roy and me, too. We're too tired to clean sometimes. We'll keep our house above a hazardous level, but that's pretty much it. Poor Burt Reynolds!

I thought I'd share some pictures of our house in its current state. Maybe it'll make some of you out there feel better.

Living room/dining room:

(I hate our couch upholstery.)



(The only thing that keeps this room from being a complete disaster is that there isn't much in it. What you can't tell from this photo is that there is peanut butter cereal from Trader Joe's all over the floor, which has been there since this morning when Charlie decided to dump it all over the floor. Someday I would like to get a real dining room table and chairs and put it in this part of the room. We do have a little fold-up table and chairs that we sometimes use. Yes, I realize that we are living like college kids instead of mature adults. But it works - and gives Charlie more space to play.)



Kitchen:




(The counters aren't normally this packed with stuff. Since I am planning on going into labor sometime before the end of 2010, I have a whole stockpile of food to eat in the early stages that's sitting out, waiting to be packed. I also have all of Charlie's snacks out. Okay, and there are some dirty dishes, too.)



(The kitchen floor. You'll notice Charlie's shoes, a whole bunch of cat food, some avocado, and some cheese decorating the floor. Yes, all of this will probably still be there in the morning. Yes, I do realize that I could be cleaning it up instead of writing this blog entry.)



Hallway:

(For now, we're keeping our hamper, which is normally in our room, in the hallway. See how there are dirty clothes on the floor mere inches from the hamper? That's just how we roll around here. It's just easier.)



Our bedroom:

(I never wrote about this, but back in the spring, Roy and I moved Charlie into our much bigger bedroom and we moved into his smaller bedroom. Since then, our bedroom has been the biggest clusterfuck of all time. We just don't have enough room. It looks particularly bad right now, you'll notice. Perhaps it would help if we made the bed.)



(This is the small area at the foot of the bed. Burt Reynolds might sleep here in the pack and play, but we aren't too sure about that. Maybe we'll skip the pack and play and just put him in that cardboard Philips box or our empty laundry basket. This is where I pause as you all dial the number for CPS.)



(Our closet. Do you see Woogas?)



There are a few rooms that aren't shown: Charlie's room (he's already in bed, so I couldn't photograph his room), the laundry room (boring), the bathroom (boring), and the office (boring). I say those rooms are boring because they are mostly in good shape.

There it is, the house where I sit and think up all my genius posts for this blog. It's covered in cat hair, toddler snacks, and lots of little odds and ends that don't always get put up right away, but it's home. And as much as the mess frustrates me at times, it's a sign that our little home is lived in and loved, which is exactly what homes are supposed to be.

And it isn't always this bad. When we do pick up and clean, which we do try to do every day, it doesn't take very much time for our house to look pretty well put together. It also doesn't take very much time for it all to go straight to hell again.

Thanks for coming over! Next time maybe I'll even offer you a seat.