In order for my house to meet the fantasy standard in my head-- organized, completely decorated, everything in its place -- I would have to have a serious daily cleaning and picking up routine. Not to mention about 1200 more square feet of space to keep all of the stuff that doesn't get put away because there is no place to put it. It's not going to happen, not until we move to another house. I'd have to give up working at the museum, making art regularly (or at least limit myself to one art form -- the horror!), riding weekly and spending any significant time at the barn. No. Way.
A couple of years ago, I got sucked into reading some 'Mommyblogs', most of whom I came to realize were written by stay-at-home Mormon moms who apparently live vicariously through their children. Impeccable homes, homeschooled children (four, five, even six or more kids!), homemade meals, all of that. At least, the ones *I* was reading were like that. Not *all* SAHM blogs are like that, to be sure.
It's enough to drive someone crazy, though, what with all the perfect.
But you know, I've given up on most of that kind of perfection, and my life is made so much easier. Happier, too. It's amazing how much better you can feel when you stop worrying about whether you measure up as a parent/spouse/friend/whomever, and just be happy with what you have and who you are. Anyway, sometimes I need to remind myself that I don't need to be better than I am at any of this. Sometimes life feels so overwhelming, and some days I can't believe the level of responsibility I signed on for, but I can handle it, and I do it well enough. My kids love me, my marriage is rock-solid and fantastic, we have everything we really need, and we are a pretty darn fun and interesting family who place a high value on creativity, geekery, history, and the arts. It's like living in an artist's colony 24/7/365.
I'll keep it.
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On the subject of art, I have been working on a few new ideas.
The Paper Horse Project was born out of a desire to find stencils of horses to use in other projects. I can't draw a decent horse to save my life, and I haven't yet developed "my own" drawing of a horse that I like, so I use stencils made from other images. Anyway, I spent most of yesterday afternoon cutting out paper horses while my kids played with homemade silly putty.
Liquid starch and white glue makes a goopy, sticky putty that is fun for all ages! It's even fun to make silly mustaches with!
My nutty children played with this stuff for hours yesterday. It was really fun to watch, and I was glad to see Kira get away from her Xbox even for a little while and hang out with her brother and sister.
I finished cutting out all the cardboard and paper horses, but then I got An Idea, and I have taken off on that for the time being. It involves the horses, but in fabric. I'll post about it when I get the New Idea to a place where it looks like something.
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