Is this real life? Blog living v actual living

There has been some conversation between some friends about how much pressure we all feel to live in a house that is magazine ready at all times. The pressure seems to be worse when you love to look at home/living/organization blogs.

I grew up in a house that was neat only b/c my folks were never home to make it messy. Same thing goes for my cousin who I adored in high school - spotless house but her family was never in it. Then I see my neighbors homes and they all seem to be spotless, except for their kids' rooms. And it makes me feel like shit. Like I don't have my shit together, that I am living in filth and that cameras from Hoarders could show up at any minute.

But then I think I have to cut myself some slack. I have a three year old that has to be asked 10000 ways from Tuesday to pick up her room. I have a baby that is *still* not sleeping through the night. I go to bed at 8:30 for christsake.

In short, I think we all need to relax a little. To know that no one is perfect and that while I might talk a big fucking game about my house being clean and organized all the time, the fact is, life gets in the way.

And like standing in my underwear in front of a crowded bus stop, I present the current state of my home:

The blog version of my dining room:

and the real world version:

The blog version of my living room:

And the current state of destruction:

Nice, huh? Lived in. Normal, I would think. A house with two kids under the age of 4. The house of *gasp* a working mom.

There is a bag of dog food in the dinning room that needs to be put away. There is a box of Christmas wrapping paper under the coffee table in the living room. There are towels and toys everywhere in the living room.

And wouldn't you know that when the house is most often in this state is when my neighbor with the magazine ready home shows up to talk about a neighborhood yard sale. Or my other neighbor with the clean house stops in to drop off the casserole dish she borrowed.

I think for the next few years this might be my life. And it might just be ok.



Want to weigh in? Tweet with me and make me feel better about the current state of my house: @thegoodwifeblog