Listen, I’m gonna be honest. I haven’t posted many pictures of the house lately (inside or outside) because we’re walking a fine line of being the next Clampetts. In the house we have our almost all predominately second-hand furniture (assuming we have furniture) that has been with us since the beginning of time. I’m still getting my clothes out of a box because we’ve never owned a bedroom suite though that’s because (and total first world problems here) we’ve always had plenty of closet space. Outside we have overgrowth and unwanted trees coming down faster than we can haul away; children’s toys are littered about; there is lawn equipment under the front porch because we don’t have a garage and the shed we bought is bursting at the seams. So, while improvements have been made very little is worthy of snapping a picture and sharing (although with that said I really need to share the basement with you).
It also occurred to me at some point recently, probably when I was wiping down the muddy side door for the millionth time or during my weekly use of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on the smudges on the walls, that we are not meant to live in a newly renovated Victorian. Our children are a mess, our dog is a mess, I’m a mess (mostly mentally), and Marcus is the worst offender of all (mostly because he’s an adult and should know how to not drag dirt into the house). I feel as if we are squatters who have moved-in and are simply just trying not to burn the place down.
I blame a lot of the mess situation on COVID-19, obviously. If it weren’t for COVID all four of us wouldn’t be in the house all of the time. If the kids were in school (though they would be done by now anyway) I would at least have a fighting chance to keep-up with the mess. As it stands, the messes are made with such speed that I kind of give up at a certain point in the week with a mental vow that starting Monday things will get straightened up again.
And just like that, with a little bit of writing, I feel as if I’ve had an epiphany! Maybe this is my niche? Maybe, just maybe, people would like to see the true life rather than the picture perfect, Instagram worthy home…I’ve been searching for my place in the old home renovation world and maybe this is it? I would include my great sense of humor along with pictures of real-life (for example the newly muddied bathroom wall I just found upstairs) . We’ve brought Sligo back and now we’re living in it and life has returned and it isn’t perfect but nothing is.