Why I don't have my $h&% together..and it's perfectly ok.

Tonight I made Shepherds Pie for dinner. It looked PERFECT. I snapped a quick picture and put a filter on it to brighten it a bit, and the background was my stove. The crust of the mashed potatoes were a golden brown that would have made the spirit of my 1940's housewife Great-grandmother proud! It certainly showed nicely. (Tasted good too,) but let me tell you what you didn't see in the picture. My sink was piled high with dishes from yesterday's dinner and midnight snacks. My floor was littered with a couple potato peels that my 9 month old daughter was "practicing her small motor skills" on (as pinterest would put it.) My 2 1/2 year old son was sitting at the table eating an entire bowl of cous cous with a banana peel balanced on his head, the kitchen counter was stacked with unopened mail, don't even get me started on how long the wet clothes in the washer have been there, and I'm pretty sure the TV had been on all day. But my golly did that shepherds pie look perfect!!

Sometimes I am floored by how simplistic and perfect my life looks according to the posts I have on Facebook. You would think that my children slept peacefully through the night from 8pm-8am, and that every morning I am greeted with "Oh hello mommy!!" and a big hug. (OK that part is usually true..unless he's peed through his diaper and I have to change sheets..then it's more like "Mommy I wet!!") Facebook has allowed us the mask of perfection, and pinterest is what sends it viral. I started posting pictures of my messy house on an Instagram hashtag called #reallife, where I let everyone see the behind the scenes of those "perfect" photos. Did I just post an adorable picture of my smiling son? Yes. Did you see the puddle of spilled sippy cup milk that he was sitting in slowly drain into the recesses of my leather couch never to be seen or heard from again? No.

Confession: I do not have my proverbial $h%# together...and that's ok.

Don't get me wrong. I love pinterest with it's many recipes calling for "only 5 ingredients!" or the post about how to turn random furniture crap into chalk boards (why do I want to accidentally scratch my nails on that again?) But it's time for women to stop comparing ourselves to each other and start showing the realities. Guess what...I wont judge you for posting a picture of your playroom with dumped toys everywhere. That's what a playroom is supposed to look like!! I laugh when I go to peoples houses and they have designated special boxes for cars, and special boxes for stuffed animals, and special boxes for blocks. Really? You make your kid sit there and sort all of that? Or do you just do it for him? In the words of Sweet Brown "Aint nobody got time fo that!!" I cant sit here and sort my son's army men! I need to go rescue my daughter from eating the foam letter my son just peeled off of one of his toys! If you find time to clean your house, cook immaculate dinners that are hot when your husband gets home, bathe two kids, feed them and have them dressed for bed by 8pm every day you my friend are a rarity. If you do all of those things AND work a full time job, you're a freaking GOD.

So to the women out there who put Mickey Mouse on while they cook dinner, who play with their children on the floor and smother them with kisses instead of washing those dishes right away, I applaud you. We are doing the best we can, and that is ok. Our kids won't remember the dishes in the sink, or the mail strewn about the counter, but they will remember that story you read, or that night where you let them snuggle in YOUR bed for 30 mins as a treat. Those are the memories that will last a lifetime. Your house can be clean when they move out to college...those days are coming faster than we think.