The Message in the Mess
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It’s Reality Check Party Time!

4/27/2011 Hello! If you’ve found your way over from Hyphen Interiors thanks to Kristy, I really hope you like what you read and will consider following me via Google Friend Connect, RSS Feed, Email, Feedburner etc. You can find the links on the right side bar. Welcome! 🙂 And yep, you can still enter your reality.


Edited: Anne @ Confessions and Scrap is so awesome! She created a button for me! You can snag one on the left sidebar! Please visit her blog. You will die of envy when you see her rubber stamp collection!

Got a Redneck Yard? Pop over to The Borrowed Abode and link up your post about your Redneck Yard and you could win a $25 Home Depot Gift Card! I’m posting my balcony!

Hey girls!

I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for a few days. After being on vaca with The Hubs a couple of weeks ago I got off of my routine and have finally finished digging myself out. I really, really thrive on routine and it takes me FOR-EV-A to get back on track.

So as promised here we are. My first ever link up party! I gotta admit I’m really intimidated and a little afraid no one will participate. Hold me.


Remember, this is all about your reality. I know it’s super fun to check out hot before and afters; I’m a B&A junkie too, but sometimes they get me down you know? “Why can’t -my- house look like that?” Sound familiar? Please tell me I’m not alone.

So here are the rules of our first After & Before Reality Check Link Party:

1. Please link directly to your post, not your blog’s main page. Your post can be new or old – doesn’t matter.
2. You must show us what your life really looks like before you stage tidy up show off your beautiful “After” photos. (Honestly though, if you have a kick butt post about how your reality is and it -doesn’t- contain pictures…please link up anyway. This is all about supporting each other through times when the “before” takes over.)
3. Your post must include you keepin’ it reals (sorry hehe).
4. You can link up as many times as you want.
5. I don’t have a button but I would appreciate it forever if you would link to me in your post or somewhere on your blog page (not a blog roll).
6. Bonus points for you if you decide to promote my little linky party, but it’s not required (just really, really encouraging!)
7. Encourage someone else who linked up. Remind them that when life gets in the way and things look like a tornado ripped through that they are most definitely not alone.

And without further adieu, my “real” Before:

Sometimes when you enter our apartment, this is what you see:

To the left is a giant pile for Goodwill that hasn’t made it there yet. To the right you can sort of see my teeny tiny kitchen. To quote Peggy Lee, “That’s All There Is”. Told ya it was small.

This is what greets you on those days. Unorganized organizer? Check. Half eaten box of candy? Check check. HUGE box of K-cups we don’t have room for in aforementioned tiny kitchen? Triple check.

This is what usually greets me on Monday morning. I personally like the two or three fast food cups on the side table and the two dog blankets rumpled in the middle of the sofa. Here’s the deal – I don’t like to spend my weekend cleaning. Hubs works long hours and I literally see him 3 or 4 hours a night on weeknights. Weekends are sacred, so come Monday morning I do a lot of tidying. But it’s worth it.

Ah the dining room table – covered in crap from my purse, a few plastic shopping bags and some dry cleaning. Awesome.

Here’s where I’m *ahem* creative. Anyone else have a pile of unfinished projects?
And last, but certainly not least…I’m ratting out The Hubs. 

That is Hub’s shirt. In it’s usual spot – the floor beside our bed. He swears is a “guy thing” and that he’s going to wear it again (um…ew?) Does anyone else have that reality to deal with?
So there you go. My reality. It’s not always that way. I do work hard to clean daily and keep things neat and tidy. Sometimes it actually does look like my “After” pictures. But sometimes life gets in the way and things don’t go as planned (like say, when you go out of town for 5 days)…and that’s OK. 
I really do hope you’ll link up. I’d like this to be a time of commiseration for all of us; something we can giggle at and move on ready for more Afters.
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6 Comments

  1. Anne Alagna Reply

    I linked. I really appreciate your invitation. I would like to make you a button. If you send me the graffic file that you used for your facebook profile or something similar, I can write the html code for it… you cant have a party and not have a button! HUGS!

  2. The American Homemaker Reply

    Anne totally rocks 🙂

    I’ll have to take some pics of my craft room… It’s a MESS since I just moved and I’m in the process of trying to unpack and organize it.

  3. Kira Reply

    Fun! I love people who keep it real because perfection can be depressing. Thanks for the invite, this is my kind of party 😉

  5. Dee Reply

    My husband does that same thing! What’s the deal with that? He keeps his shoes and belt under his side of the bed and a little pile of clothes that he rewears. Ew is right! Great party 🙂

  6. Anonymous Reply

    My hubs does too and even when I put a hamper exactly where his shirt always is, it still “some how” misses the big opening to the basket and is on the floor.

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