Hospitality, Friendship, Encouragement

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Keepin' It Real


It's 9:02 pm on Tuesday evening, and it is still snowing.  It's been snowing for more than twelve hours.

These are photos from early afternoon.







As a lover of my home, part of the fun of home keeping is finding ways to make our space work for us at different times of our lives.
A hardworking tool I have in my kitchen is my Kitchen Aide.  It used to live on the counter, but was in the way when we weren't baking.  A month or so ago, I determined to do something with the space at the top of the basement stairs, that tended to have piles of stuff build up there including bags of potatoes, egg cartons, and so forth.  Sigh.  Not very nice looking or organized.  Frankly it was frustrating.

Rachel was looking for a project and so I thought of this old kitchen cart (it used to have wheels) that we've had downstairs doing nothing.  I bought a quart of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Emperor's Silk, let her paint the cart.  

It looks great and I moved a basket I had in another room onto the shelf to hold the potatoes etc, settled the Kitchen Aide in its new home.  It is a good spot for it with a handy plug.  It has allowed us to give ourselves space on the counter but also to reclaim this space for a much better use than it had.

In the interest of keepin' it real - you can see the the cat food in the jar, the dog treats next to the basket, the fire extinguisher, and my husbands lunch box, which is usually in front of the cart.

This photo shows what the kids occupied themselves with today while the snow came down, down, down.  After we did school of course!  No snow days for us!

In the background, also keepin' it real, are dishes in the sink, clean dishes on the sink, and a pan of freshly baked granola.  

Yes, we live in our house and sometimes it's messy.  Sometimes relationships are messy, as a wise friend mentioned to me.  That is so true.  Thankfully we have fresh mercies every morning and during the day too.

We've been happily listening to Tim read in the evenings, a book by E.D.E.N. Southworth, called "Ishmael."  I think we will finish it this evening.  Some of us are lobbying for him to start "The Fellowship of the Ring," by J.R.R. Tolkien next.

Keepin' it real again, I spent today wondering why no one had commented on the post I did last evening.  This evening I figured out why.  I posted it on the blog I keep to host my blogroll!  Duh!  If you'd like to read it, you can go here.  

Ah, life.  I am thankful for it, craziness and all.  

10 comments:

  1. Love the keeping it real aspect! We're in PA too and got about 10 inches so far!

    Stay warm my friend!!
    Leann

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  2. Your snow is so pretty! We can say that when snow is a once-in-a-while event, and not a regular occurrence, can't we? :)

    Keepin' it real here in Blogland can be a challenge. On the one hand, we don't want people seeing all our messes. On the other hand, we don't want to pretend that everything is perfect...no one believes that anyway! So it's fun now and then to get a peek at the behind-the-scenes stuff!

    Not-snow-days look like fun at your house! :D

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  3. Oh, the snow. It's so pretty, and I wish it would snow here, but it's not likely at this point. You will probably be tired of it before long.
    It's fun to find solutions for storage and efficiency. We all have "real" in our lives - it's great when we can show it once in awhile, amidst all the pretty stuff. Life is rather a mixture, isn't it?
    Stay cozy.

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  4. I love that your husband reads aloud to the whole family! I wish we had done that. Of course, with Sir Lotsa Hair gone during the week, it would just have to be a weekend thing. He always read to the girls, though, all through the chapter book years. He has just never read to me. I'm loving that!

    As to your red cart solution, I give it two thumbs up. I also love how you keep it real with the real life stuff in the picture.

    Because, well, the real life stuff IS in the picture!

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  5. Your snow pics are lovely! I like the keeping real also!

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  6. Snow? It's January! Toys? You have kids! Food? You feed them! Dishes? You don't make people lick from the table! All very good reasons for real life, messes. Ohhh, I love that you have a story time chapter book going in the evening.

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  7. I call this a beautiful"home" filled to the brim with "love". My Kitchen Aid mixer went out with a bang, , or should I say Spark, last week, am now saving for another, and like you have been trying to find a spot other than the counter, I like your new place. Thanks for always making me feel so at home!

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  8. I keep my kitchen aid on a vintage cart that I had found, it frees up my counter, tho they are still full with things :)
    I love the plate rack and plates what a neat idea. I found a rack at the Nada Barn sale and have it in my sewing room. I like what you did with yours.

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  9. I'm so glad you "keep it real"! I feel so at home here....

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  10. Yes it looks ilke you're having fun. Love your "new" cart! Great use of the space.

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