Life is a journey, a multitude of experiences which shape how we think, feel, & act. 
Our homes are our places of refuge, shelters from the storms of life, a place where we can rest, recuperate, and get ready, to go out and face more adventures and challenges. Sometimes, our houses themselves can be challenging. I don’t know about the rest of you, but sometimes I get too busy to straighten up at home. My house becomes cluttered and dirty. My husband says, “The three second rule doesn’t apply at our house. If food gets any where near our kitchen floor, the floor claims it. It becomes part of the floor.” I’ve read some books on organization. They’ve helped me try to figure out how to divide and conquer the messes in my home. I decided our house is a cathedral of joy, with its vaulted ceiling and skylights. My husband values space, so we have been trying to get rid of furniture and stuff. Snooty Fox, a consignment-like shop, is my friend. My husband likes St. Vincent de Paul, a place for donations. I insist we go out to eat after we make a drop-off there. Sometimes we browse the place for little treasured. I found a music box there that reminded me of a merry go round. I like merry go rounds, the music and riding the animals, up, forward, and back down. I recently went to luncheon at a friend’s home. I knew even before I stepped into her house, it was going to look nice. The front door entrance was swept, it had a healthy green trimmed bush to one side, and was decorated for the holiday. I was greeted with sensor activated music. Once inside, to me, everything looked picture perfect. No clutter, precision placed objects, gorgeous artwork on the walls . . . I was impressed! The dining room table was well decorated, set with a spotless cloth tablecloth, and sparkling silverware. As I went to leave her house, I notice several candy dishes filled with various chocolate treats and nuts. I was too full from the lunch or I would have tried some of them. When I got home, I told my husband about this lady’s picture perfect house. I decided I was going to make our house picture perfect. I googled “picture perfect house” and came across all kind of tips from interior decorators on how to decorate my home by fashionably dressed interior decorators. One of the first suggestions I came across was to remove half of everything in a room. Another person said to remove everything from a room, to start with a blank canvas. Setting things in groups of three is very popular, just like adding groups of three in a speech, i.e. mouse, house, oust. That reminds me, my niece has a game called “mouse out of my house” where the object is to oust the mice from your area of the game board into your opponent’s area. It also reminds me that a neighborhood cat left a mouse on our front porch the other day. I told my husband that was his department. I asked him to get rid of it. Something I’ve learned is that it’s almost impossible to have a picture perfect home. For pictures in magazines they use special lighting, filters, and such. Hallmark shows have a whole crew of people to make their scenes spotless and attractive. I recently tackled cleaning my master bathroom sink. I did the best I could, but finally gave up getting all the lime off the sink. There comes a time when you have to say, “Good enough.” One lady told me her grandmother told her “If a man on a galloping horse cannot see it, it’s clean enough.” Yes, tidying & cleanliness are part of a healthy lifestyle, but I’m going with almost picture perfect as my goal now. I wish you well on your life journey. If you aren’t limber enough to ride a galloping horse, try riding a merry-go-round or doing something else you enjoy. Tidying and cleaning will be there when you get back home.
