i read other ladies blogs..i visit friends..i see the look on visitors faces when they step into my kitchen. i know the truth. my kitchen table is not normal. it is not like most kitchen tables..as i sit here writing, i survey the surface and there is a pumpkin, my coffee cup, thomas the train,a roll of craft paper, a copy of "to kill a mockingbird", a bowl of googlie eyes, a pipe cleaner spider, a bag of crayons, and a small quilt i am finishing up. seriously. listing all these things, one would think that we have one of those 6 ft long farm tables..where everyone has a seat and has room to spread out and do their thing..or hold hands around the table before a meal...but no.it seats four people..unless you are little, then it can seat five or six if we squeeze.
every morning, i sit here, drink my coffee, read my emails, my facebook,cnn and tmz (in that order. and yes, i just admitted to reading a useless, trashy site...we all have our vices, mine are tmz and sheeps wool...that's a whole nother story) this is where most of our home school happens, even though we have a designated spot that we rarely use. the kids make things here, glue, paint and markers rule the space most of the time. river squishes playdough here. fable stands on the chair and watches the chickens in the rain or snow. she worries here. i pay bills here, so at any given time i could be sitting writing out checks, stamping & addressing, and maybe even shedding a few tears, trying to figure it all out.
there are times, more often than not, that we are ready to eat and the table is full of chaos. its those moments that i want to pull one of those "crazy lady" arm sweeps across the table, pushing it all on to the floor. i envision myself placing the plates on the table, maybe even lightng a candle, sitting delicately at my spot and enjoying a meal....with all the crazy on the still on the floor. i have never done that, and i probably wont.
as i am sitting here, fable is asking me what i am writing about..i said "our kitchen table and what a mess it is." she looked at me in confusion and asked "oh, are you asking other ladies for advice? like how do they keep it clean?"
i laughed. no, i am not asking for advice. i am thinking about our times here and how THIS is the heart of our home. our hub. "where the family magic happens", so to speak. are there ways to declutter our lives? i'm sure. and i am even interested in how that could be done. but to me, this cluttered kitchen table is not only a tribute to the fact that i am domestically challenged..but it is also evidence of our happy,crazy,messy life...and even though its a mess, i think its a mess i am happy to live with.