I have two boys who are ten and eleven.
They totally crack me up.
Lately, they’ve been choreographing detailed “wrestling” matches and performing them for the rest of the family.
Sunday, as they put on their scheduled pay-per-view (a penny per person) match during half-time of the Cowboys game, I used my fancy new camera to video them.
These are the shots a mother must have when she puts together a high school graduation video.
As I videoed, I suddenly had a moment.
A big one.
I realized I wasn’t moving all around and contorting angles to avoid showing a mess in the background.
And this was on Sunday afternoon BEFORE we officially cleaned up the house to have it ready for our church home group to arrive that night.
Other than a few things here and there (like the Costco-sized Parmesan from our football-watching picnic), the room looks perfectly fine. No humongous piles anywhere.
The formerly-perpetually-covered-in-clean-laundry loveseat was available for my 7yo to lounge upon while watching the show. (Though she REFUSED to boo for the designated bad guy because he’s her brother and she LOVES him!)
Y’all . . . this is big.
Really.
I can’t tell you how many times I used to miss beautiful moments because I had to shove clutter out of the way before I could let myself take a picture.
I still have plenty of days when this isn’t the case, but I’m going to enjoy the satisfaction from the fact that it happened.
P.S. Yes. I did draw a shirt on my child.
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Please make sure you check your spam if you are Sheila B! You won the Post-it giveaway, but I have to get a reply to the email soon (like a little over 24 hours after this post goes up) so I don’t have to choose another winner!
--Nony
I love this! Being able to enjoy family moments instead of worrying about the mess is huge for those of us who tend to have slob tendencies. And when the house is clean and neat, the family can enjoy things like wrestling matches and lounging comfortably on the furniture, too.
By the way, you’re not the only one who ‘fixes’ things in Paint (or my my case GIMP). I took a photo of Jack the giant pit bull (my baby) who was covered up with his blanket. Trust me, no matter how much you wash a dog blanket, after a few years, it still looks really grubby. But not THAT grubby until you take a photo that you want to post on Facebook. By the time I was finished in GIMP, that sucker was pure white white….and I spent way too much time adding the bumps and shadows so it looked like a real blanket. LOL…it was a whole lot of work for one little picture. Next time I’ll just pitch the blanket and buy him a new one. 🙂
That is hilarious!!!
Classic……I just crop and turn everything B & W (looks artsy), add a little blur to the edges and no one is the wiser 🙂
Love it!
It has come a long way since that crowded, messy e-bay room! Way to go, Nony!
Listening to your podcasts the past couple weeks has inspired me to stay in top of the mess and my house has been “not embarassing”. We had an unexpected meeting here the other day and all I had to do was sweep breakfast crumbs off the kitchen floor. I have all kinds of time now and when the kids want to do a messy project, I’m all for it because when it is done we only have to clean up the messy project – not everything else too.
Thank you for making a difference in my life and how I see myself!!
Thank you also for drawing a shirt on your son and then calling it out and owning it. That is so funny, and made my day!
What a great moment! Both the kids and the “aha”! I have so been there.
Oh Nony! I love you and I love your blog. You make me un-embarressed for having the piles. At the same time, you inspire me to get rid of the piles. Seriously, you are a gem in the world of mom blogs.
You do make me laugh, Nony – and cry. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – Been There Done That! when it comes to missing those great shots with the camera.
Bravo!!! to you who is conquering this Slob thing and giving the rest of us hope!
Oh how I wish I had video moments like that to show at the graduation events! And don’t forget rehearsal dinner…. You crack me up.
I love the idea for the halftime show! You certainly helped me remember the numerous times I’ve told my girls to please not show the mess in the background of the pictures they constantly take with their cellphones at home. Or the times when they were all dressed up and we had to take their pictures outside against the neighbor’s beautiful bushes, since inside was too messy. Ugh. Love that you had your big moment!
Great moment! And That PS. cracks me up!
My dad has been sharing photos with me from his childhood. My grandmother used to take each of her four children outside to take a picture of them holding their birthday cake on their birthday–in Wisconsin, in all weather. Although I never knew my grandmother, legends of her housekeeping live on. I’m pretty sure I know why they went outside for yearly snapshots. Apparently there wasn’t Photoshop in the 1940s. We’ve come a long way, baby–and yet, not so far.
That’s wonderful, I am still cropping the pictures on my phone to remove the clutter!