Confessions of a Craft Blogger
I am a craft blogger. This must mean that my house is super cute and perfectly organized and clean all the time. This must mean my kids are constantly sitting down with my undivided attention to do unique and creative crafts with me. This must mean that everywhere I go I carry my SLR camera with Huge Lens snapping amazing photos of my kids to blow up huge and frame on my gallery wall. Right? Right?
Nope. Well, sometimes. Rarely. Because I AM a blogger and I couldn’t actually post pictures to inspire others if I didn’t do those things sometimes. But most of the time, it’s not true or only about 10% true. If I am posting a picture of a DIY project in a room, there is a good chance that most of the dirty dishes, crumbs on the floor, toys and papers will be shoved out of the way so all you see is the gleaming wood floor and the distressed shutters. And 99% of the time I don’t have the energy/brain space to throw together a super cute themed party for the minutia in my life (such as a Super Bowl party) or even decorate for every.single.holiday on the calendar (DIY this adorable reclaimed wood planter for Arbor Day!) And I have many failed attempts that you never see. I literally laughed out loud for like five minutes when I saw how horrible this Lego Cake turned out. Bwahahahaha! Nailed it!
I like to think of myself as a pretty productive person. Most days I can tidy up the house, have a quick workout, get dinner on the table, get my kids to and from school, and do a little bit of laundry. During the week I usually have a couple social visits, trips to the store, and random errands. And on the days that I don’t, I work on projects for this here blog of mine–and then I post to the blog in the evening. My life is usually a little above ‘Survival Mode.’
But then in the evenings, I go on Instagram–the Place Where You Go To Feel Bad About Yourself. I love Instagram, but I also hate it because of how I feel after. I get to see everyone’s vacations, home projects, blog projects (I follow a lot of bloggers), awesome kid activities, awesome date nights, awesome workouts, awesome everything. I love it when people Instagram real life things–the messes, the hard parts of life. But that’s not very often. Which is so weird because most of the time that’s how my life feels. Lots of hard parts with a few good parts sprinkled in.
Women have always been passive-agressively competitive with each other. It drives me crazy. And yet I sometimes fall prey to doing the same thing. There are occasionally times when I bake a cake with my kids. And then I think, “I’d better document this on Social Media for all to see so as to prove that I can occasionally do something fun and domestic with my kids!” So I post it on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook and then I realize I am joining in on the Life of Lies. At least I hope it’s a life of lies. Because if everyone’s lives are really as awesome as they claim to be on Social Media, I really suck at life.
Of course you don’t want to post the crappy things. And that is why I post to Instagram about twice a week. Do you really want to see the loads of laundry I leave sitting in my living room to be folded at an unknown date? Do you want to see my kids doing something cute with all the mess of my house sitting behind them for all to see? Do you need to know that I pretty much watch TV all evening while sitting on my computer? Didn’t think so. And that is why I suck at life because I can’t even fake like I have a cool life most of the time.
Ahhhh…lack of energy. You know me too well.
Not to sound ungrateful because I am VERY grateful for all that I have. I wouldn’t trade any of it. But I’m calling it like it is: raising young kids is exhausting and hard. And I want to know, really know…does it really get easier? I have my doubts. I think it probably doesn’t get easier, it just gets different. Less tiring, more emotional? Not sure. I know some parents have very difficult teenagers and even adult children. But after the last few weeks of 24/7 screaming tantrums, it would be nice to have some teenagers for a bit. And thus it remains a mystery to me how anyone ever does anything extra. As for me, I will remain living my Life of Lies while telling you all the truth…my life is just as out of control as you always suspected it is. And next time you see a cool post, just rest assured that it took some serious staging to get that beautiful picture and the rest of my house is a war zone.
Heidi,
As a mom of 3 children ages 14, 12, and 10 I can you tell that it does indeed become different. Raising a child to be a productive member of society doesn’t ever get easier. The good news though is that as they get older, they become capable of taking on different responsibilities in the home and understand that everyone needs to do their part in order to make the house run so that we can all do the extra-curricular activities they enjoy so much. Is my house always clean? HARDLY! It’s usually full of strewn papers, backpacks, socks, shoes, and sports gear. Instead of waking up in the middle of the night with kids, you stay up later each night worrying about whether you are doing enough, too little, doing it “right”, giving the right advice for the situations that you knew were coming but would rather pretend aren’t there such as dating, turning down someone that wants to date you and you aren’t interested, guiding them in time management, etc. Just remember in the end, the kids don’t and won’t care that they lived in a house of chaos, they will remember and care that they lived in a house full of love where they knew they were accepted for who they are.
Great advice–thanks!
I just want to say that you are one of my favorite bloggers. I love reading about your life, and all the creative things you do. I also love hearing about the real things that go on in your life as well. You have helped me a lot in many ways. When you wrote about your struggles with breastfeeding I felt like such a better mom, because I was having major guilt issues at the same time about bottle-feeding my baby. I admire your honesty. Thanks for sharing this. I won’t feel as bad now when I take an iPhone pic of my kids and there is a mess all around them. It is likely how every mother is.
Thats so great to hear that my posts have helped even just one person. You are a great mom and are doing awesome!
One of my favorite quotes is, “don’t compare your behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” I fall prey to this all the time, too! I see my friends who are living in beautiful homes with well groomed children going out to the zoo and park and having play dates and pinterest worthy birthday parties and I’m still living in a 900 square foot apartment that is sparsely decorated with my kids running around crazy and dishes piled in the sink. I have to remind myself of all the wonderful things that I have been blessed with though, and how much I really love my life. And I have to remind myself that those women (hopefully) have days where they don’t get ready and lounge in yoga pants and their home isn’t always neat as a pin, and their children are making messes and watching more cartoons than they should. And that’s just fine. Because we are all human and we are not all perfect, despite what our instagram and facebook feeds may lead you to believe. I guess what I am saying is, I totally identify with you! 🙂 Don’t worry, we’re definitely not all as awesome as we profess to be on social media 😉
I loved this post! I love that you admitted that your life is normal. I don’t blog or even reply much to things I read (I do enjoy reading the different blogs that people write). You really touched me with this. Every thing looks so perfect in people’s pictures. You opened my eyes that most people are like me with a life of things to do.
Thank you!
I have to say I think we are twins! Everything I just read in your post is exactly how I feel every single day! Same thoughts while browsing Pinterest and Facebook and then when I’m done I have a list of “I want to do’s” longer than I can’t count with a stack of fun kids activities I want to do by the next holiday that honestly I’m lucky if I get one of those out of the stack of 10 done! I have a small craft room I barely use 🙁 and have such hopes of creating beautiful pages with! I have frames on the walls that I haven’t been able to fill with pictures because I haven’t had the chance to print them off yet! I work full time and have 3-1/2 year old twins and I feel like I can’t spend enough time with them because I work Monday -Friday and my husband works super early Friday thru Monday. On the weekends I think oh going to do all these adorable projects with my kids and I end up trying to clean the house, do the laundry, and do it all over again the next day because it looks like a tornado just went thru again 🙁 but I still try to do as many crafts with them as I can and then I have those projects laying around drying :). I love my babies and my life and I am very blessed to have two healthy beautiful children! I’m glad I’m not the only one who goes thru the same day to day struggles! Whewwww I feel better now! Thank you for your post!!!!!! It makes me feel like I’m still a good mom even without the perfectness of Pinterest activities! 🙂
I love that saying “May your life someday be as awesome as you pretend it is on facebook!” This is precisely why I don’t spend a whole lot of time on brag sites. Better to focus on being the best you, not the best of everyone else!
This is so funny and true. I’m definitely with you about the survival mode day-to-day living with young kids (and I only have two). Some days taking a shower seems like a major accomplishment-lol!
Ashley, I love that quote and will be posting it in my craft room:-)
Ha! Not to make your “Pinterest fail” worse but Kelli & I just LOL’d at your lego cake for 5 minutes, too! 😀
You are a rockstar mom- if you’re doing the things that REALLY matter (scripture study, family prayers, fun home movie nights and playing with your kids, blah blah) you do have a cool life. A life that’s full of the important stuff. Blogging is fun, (free crap, cool trips, etc.) but being a mom is amazing and blogging is still just a hobby, ya know? 😉 Keep it up, sista! xo
Haha–I can always count on your guys’ honesty. That cake was ridiculous hideous. 🙂