Just keeping it real

I wasn't going to post about this at first, and certainly not with pictures. I mean, my mother reads my blog! But I decided that I'd just be honest and show you reality.

I was horribly embarrassed the other night. Our pastor, who happens to be a cop during the week working the night shift, stopped by. I knew this was a possibility because he and Steven had talked about getting together at some point during the week to discuss Steven's part in the sermon illustration this coming Sunday. (Hint: It involves stormtrooper armor.) So, it's not like his stopping by came as a complete surprise. You'd think that would motivate me to have the house in tip-top shape, but no.

I clean house on Thursdays. That means all the major rooms get a thorough cleaning. Our house is usually in decent shape throughout the week, but the night the pastor stopped by, Steven had hauled a big, black card table into our living room to work on his new helmet. He's having to switch his fan system from his old helmet to the new, so there were stormtrooper helmets, a chest piece, and a billion little electronic bits and pieces everywhere, including the floor.

Here's a picture of how the living room is right now (he hauled stuff out again last night after I'd just cleaned!), but imagine it a billion times worse:



In addition to all his stormtrooper stuff, there were cat toys all over the floor and couch, my dinner dishes were still on the dining room table (quite visible from the living room), and the materials from the conference I'd attended over the weekend were still on the floor. I'd been working on our taxes right before he arrived, so financial paperwork was all over the place, too.

I was mortified that the pastor saw my house in that state.

To add insult to injury, he and his partner (they showed up in full police regalia and the cop car, so I'm sure our neighbors are wondering what's going on) wanted to see the Star Wars room. No biggie there, except that it's right next door to my craft room, and I'd accidentally left the light on. That means they could see straight in to this:



I might not have been so horrified, but well, I'm a SAHW, and he knows it. All the other SAHWs probably have pristine homes that are always company ready. But I sometimes get so busy with everything else that I don't always get around to dealing with messes. The craft room has been such a wreck that it's left me somewhat immobilized, not quite knowing where to start.

Oh, he even saw my bedroom in a not perfect state. A light was shined right into the bedroom, which had the ironing board set up, the armoire doors wide open, and a messy-looking dresser because I have an old towel on top of it with the humidifier. It totally looked like we live in disaster, and I don't bother cleaning our house.

Really, I would have loved for Jesus to come back about a minute before the pastor arrived.

The house is in a good state today, except for the stormtrooper bits and pieces that are now in the living room again. Oh, and my craft room. But the craft-room cleanup is #1 on today's agenda, and to keep myself accountable, I'll be posting the after pictures later. I've been shamed into actually cleaning it, as opposed to intending to clean it.