Stepping out on a limb...Yikes!

  Ok, so there's a neat little saying I've seen floating around Pinterest and facebook.  "Don't compare your movie to someone else's highlight reel." That will someday be referred to as an "old adage."  But for now, it's relatively new to our society.
  Facebook is a fantastic place to share stories, both the positive and the negative.  I, of course like to be optimistic, so a lot of my fb posts are, well...positive.
  I love to post fun things I do with my kids.  Crafts we make, special things I do for A to make her life easier, things we do in home school, things I do with/for my babysitting kids, things I do with my nieces and nephew, etc.
  But the truth is, that is totally just a snapshot of my life.
  My motive behind those posts is not to say "look at how awesome I am!" Rather, it lies in wanting to share the cool stuff we do and show us having fun.

  A honest, typical day in my life?
  Here's a brief run down:
  Since we started home schooling A, I frequently find myself struggling to get up in the morning (there's no bus to miss to motivate me).  As a result the kids get up late.  We are then running late.  Neither of my kids have a hurry bone in their bodies and being rushed stresses A out.  So then my morning is filled with me constantly nagging them about eating breakfast, getting dressed, getting coats on, and getting out the door.  My focus is poor, so nothing gets picked up before we leave the house--it's all I can do to just to get us to Leave The House!  We haven't been able to get school work done lately because I have been adjusting to ever-changing babysitting schedules.  When we get back home (we go somewhere almost every morning, even if it is just to take Bug to preschool on Tues/Thurs.) I feel like I have two choices: housework or doing school with A.  Unfortunately the 2 year old I've been watching interferes a lot so nothing really gets done.  I frequently feel like I'm in a daze when I fix lunch for everyone, since the feeling of being overwhelmed gets stronger as the day progresses.  Miss Alexis always takes a nap at rest time, so there goes another 2 hours (I'm being honest...don't judge!).  By the time I get afternoon snack and find something to occupy the kids after rest time, it's time to start thinking about dinner.  Of course the evening doesn't slow down until the kids are in bed since there are kids to entertain/play with, disputes among them to help settle, baths to take, pajamas to get on, teeth to brush, etc.

  Point being?  The vast majority of my days are not spent doing bead work with the kids.  Or making home-made play dough.  Or doing science experiments.  Or holding hands with the kids and singing Kumbaya.
  Sure I have days like that occasionally...those are what I post about!

  I say All of that to say this:
  I am starting a new project.  I am willing to step Way out of my comfort zone in order to help others out there realize that we are not failures if we don't cook everything from scratch, feed our families strictly organic foods, sew our kid's clothes, make elaborate costumes, or sell pies or crocheted/knitted/hand-made goods in order to bring in extra income.  We are human.  Another phrase I've heard that I can totally relate to: "Comparison is the thief of happiness."

  My project is simple, I will take pictures of my kitchen (one of the hardest places for me to keep clean...even though I feel like I spend half of my day in it--shouldn't it be easier to keep nice?!) every day and post them on here.
  Some days it will look fantastic!  Other days (ok, who am I kidding?--most days) it will not be pretty.
  Again, I want those of us who try our hardest every day to meet the demands of our families, but who still at the end of the day, have something big that was left undone (whether it's laundry, vacuuming, or some other "mommy" job) to realize that we are still amazing.  We are not failures.

  So, here goes.  Picture #1:

  ~Alexis