Wednesday, August 09, 2006

What's Behind Closed Door #1? An Expose on True Living

That's right, folks ... this is an expose (read: Ex-po-zay) on TRUE LIVING, because apparently, many of you did NOT believe me (read these comments) when I said I had a lot of disorganization, chaos, disarray ... whatever you may call it ... in my home. Well ... I've got it. Trust me.

Now, you showed me sympathy after this post, and it seemed as if you believed me, and offered me words of wisdom and even some consoling about my frustration with disorganization, but evidently, that ended after y'all went through the tour of my home, and it became quite clear to me from your comments that many of you were left scratching your heads and wondering about what "chaos" and "disorganization" I was talking about.

Well, of course, sillies! I only showed you the rooms we live in daily, and the ones I try to discipline myself to clean each night before I lay my head upon my pillow. After all ... did you really think I would show you the "yucky" rooms when there was a remote possibility (HA) that BooMama could possibly host more than the initial 20 people in her tour of homes (bwahahaha -- more like 241 people!)? I think NOT! That's worse than me sharing with you that I still wear my nursing bra (even though I could only nurse for 5 weeks, and Hunter is now 10 months old) because it's so darned comfortable! Good grief!

So ... in order to offer you proof of my disorganization, I am providing you with a home tour that no one wants. A special look behind SOME of my closed doors ... but not ALL of them (I do have my dignity!). And, just to refresh your memory, I had a get real post that showed my kitchen sink full of dishes, my family room a mess, etc. -- it's how we REALLY live, people!

Yes, folks ... this is an expose on TRUE LIVING at Casa GiBee. So ... prepare yourself for the horror. Send the children from the room. Shield your co-workers from the shock and revulsion. (And don't say I didn't warn you)

So, until I can come up with a better solution to keeping my house in order, I need to constantly remind myself of this: "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you even if your home is a disorganized wreck of a pig sty." (1 Peter 5:6-7) [yeah, it's all there in the Bible ... you just need the housewife's edition of the Bible to get the pig sty part of the verse]

So without further to-do ... Here's What's Behind Closed Door #1, #2, and #3:

Door #1 -- Our Living Room: Note the coffee table that we moved out of the family room for Hunter's walking safety that is neatly straddled over part of the treadmill, which the remainder is neatly scattered around the rest of the living room:



















Door #2 -- Our Den: Note all the papers scattered on the desk, the layer of protective dust, and the cluttered bookcases, and the stoic vacuum cleaner:













Door #3 -- The "Blue" Guest Bedroom: Note all the towels/laundry ... this is two loads of laundry, with a third in the dryer, a fourth in the washer, and a fifth waiting on the floor, ready to be tossed into the washer once it's empty:



Thank goodness my camera's batteries gave out at this point, because I wouldn't want to horrify you completely!

Well, that's MY real life. I encourage you to share pictures of YOUR real life, too! It's a very humbling and cleansing experience!

14 comments:

Addie said...

Bless you, bless you! Loved the tour. I could have made myself right at home! :-) On my tour, I had people comment "I love how you didn't clean up. You just left it the way you live." Well I got news for them ... I DID clean up. Ah well! ;-)

Heather Smith said...

Hey, get those towels off my bed! (Well it may be my bed when I come to your house!) Right now if I showed you "real living" it would mean showing you a very sparsely furnished house because I just moved in with my brother, and he doesn't have much furniture. I'll show you real living after living there a few months!

kpjara said...

Thankfully the cheapo digital camera I have has such low pixels that if I try to capture the layers of dust, it just appears as uber-pixelated photo.

I do have stack sof "stuff" in our soon to be blue room...and as I mentioned in my post...never look inside my closets without signing an injury release first!

boomama said...

So funny - it's the story behind the story!

And, um, that nursing apparatus you mentioned? I have a couple that are SOOO comfortable (she says, sheepishly, three YEARS later). :-)

Shawna said...

Ah, you are a brave one. I must say you have excellent taste in furniture. Now see, that's what I notice, not what you see at all, but I do the same thing when someone "drops by." I can barely concentrate on the visit, but I am getting "better."

Anonymous said...

You are GREAT, GiBee!

Donnetta said...

This would definately be a perfect time in my home to take the "real" photos. This week finds me leaving home about 8 in the morning and not arriving back home until about 9 at night. Of course the hubby and kids are here all day everyday. And don't forget my daughter's BDay party was only just this last Saturday night (a sleepover) into a full day Sunday. Living is REALLY happening here this week. I just might have to take you up on your challenge! (If I can find the time to snap a few pic's)

GiBee said...

flipflop -- I did NOT show you my own bedroom... Did you notice that? It's always the last to get cleaned, and by then, the bed looks so inviting, and it's always so late that I just.drop.into.it.

Addie -- I cleaned up too, because I do have "some" pride! LOL!

Heather -- I have two spare bedrooms, so you can choose which one you want -- the one with the TV, or the one without.

KPJara -- Stacks are a daily part of my life. Oh, how I hate the stacks! And dust! Girl, don't get me started!

BooMama -- Why don't the makers of those "things" make them in normal everyday wear styles? They really are the most comfy, aren't they???

Faith -- I might make you fold a load of towels before you take a nap!

Chappyswife -- Thanks! Most of my wooden furniture items has been in my family for over 100 years. I'm fortunate that I've inherited items along the way! It certainly has saved me money!

Shannon -- Great? No -- Brave? Yes.

Momrn2 -- have the hubby or kids snap away. They'll probably get the "real deal" better than you would, because they won't want to "straighten 'this' out a little" or "tiddy up 'that' a bit"! It'd be interesting to see their angle!

Heth said...

This is my kind of tour. I don't think it looks that bad.

Angie said...

Oh, I think it looks great! It looks like a home filled with fun and love, which I am sure that it is that! **hugs*

PEZmama said...

You can view my mess here.

http://pezmama.blogspot.com/2006/03/for-all-you-women-out-there-living.html

It is one of my favorite posts. (But it's long, so if you are going to read it, leave yourself some time... or just go and look at the pictures.)

Anonymous said...

Oh my EYES! They're burning, the pain. Ohhhhhhhh, the shock, the horror... I'm mmmeeeeeelllllltttttttiinnnnnngggg!

Laura said...

Hi Gibee! You crack me up. You know I get excited when I see pictures like these. Oh how I would love to jump on over and help you out. In fact I was thinking about the baskets we could do on your desk and that terrific shelving unit you have. Oh the fun we could have. Now this is a Tour of Homes that works for me! Thanks for sharing, I'm certainly glad you did!

Susanne said...

Sheesh and I thought dust was part of the finish on furniture straight from the store and desks were made to hold paper! Silly me! Bless your heart! Don't we all have that kind of thing in some room(s) or other! Notice most of us didn't show every room in the house?