here in the real world

I was reading a comment online today where a woman was lamenting that some mom bloggers out there try to portray their lives as nauseatingly picturesque. Everything is in place in every picture and things are just unbelievably sweet in every post. Now, I am teased by many of my friends for being over-the-top paranoid about people seeing my house dirty. It's true. I have a closed-door policy. The funny thing? When I married, I was determined to have that house where anyone could stop by whenever they liked. So here's my post kicking off my personal Open Door Revolution! This is my house at 4 pm on a regular day. We aren't perfect, but I promise we're sanitary and it usually smells like pretty candles (depending on when you arrive in relation to the last time one of the kids, well, you know...)