Monday, September 25, 2006

Taste, time and talent

Don’t you just want to plop yourself down in this house with a good book and a plate of cookies? I left my pigsty (as featured in my last blog entry) to do a story on this woman who loves to decorate her home. The place was so charming and warm and inviting I tried very hard to stay for a long time. But she showed me everything and showed me the door long before I was ready to leave.
I have big plans. I even have four gallons of paint sitting on my living room carpet, hidden behind the sofa, waiting for me to get the time, or the wild hair or whatever is necessary to paint my living room.
Maybe the visit with Mrs. R was the kick in the pants I needed. Maybe not.
The house got me thinking about taste, talent and time. Some people seem to have a limited amount of it, others appear to have it in spades.
My time and talent is spent taking photographs and playing in paper. Mrs. R frankly admitted she doesn’t have many photos of her children. So who is dong the best thing for her family. It is impossible to say. My children may have piles of books illustrating every moment of their life. (Or they may not. I didn’t get any photos of L yesterday when he was ordained a deacon.) They might love these books, or they might resent them because they took so much of my time.
Mrs. R’s children may have memories of a warm home, or they may remember playing outside in the rain while their mom was on top of a house putting on roofing to meet a deadline.
We all try so hard, in our own way, to make our taste, time and talent work for the family. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we do not. There’s no way of knowing until after the job is done where you have made mistakes.
But this beautiful home has reminded me it’s time once again to turn my attention back to my house and work on making it a home.

6 comments:

~Jamie said...

haha sounds like me... my poor daughter is currently navigating boxes from the last paper shipment that came to my house so she can play in her playroom! But, every kid loves to play with boxes, right?

Anonymous said...

you had a little epiphany - things like that make me stop and take pause, just as you have done. But you know... I am so sure that there is great love in your home that I don't think other things matter nearly as much.

Anonymous said...

You have touched on just the same thing that my VT's and I talked about yeaterday. We are not "perfect people living perfect lives". We're just imperfect people trying our best and helping each other as much as we can. It is not the perfect system, but it's the one we're stuck with. The fact that you agonize over these things means you are not in danger of being a fanatic that is stunting her children.

Keiauni said...

cool house...interesting musing. I have GOT to see more pics of this house!
By the way, your home has a warm spirit, and two happy boys inside of it...who could ask for more?

Anonymous said...

OK it has to be said. Who lives in an all white house? And you think you could curl up with a book and a plate of cookies? Get real! If you lived in this house you could only curl up with a bleach pen and a vacuum cleaner. Where do you go to comb your hair or put your feet up or walk?! My VT also said her mother-in-law (whose house looks a lot like the pictures you posted)told her son before she went on vacation not to mess the house up and he put paper down to walk on, is sleeping on the floor so as not to mess up the bed, and is not eating in the house. Yeah! Thats a liveable home!!

Melissa said...

that room does look inviting and love the style..but I am sure she has to do extensive amounts of cleaning and up keep.(at least thats what I tell myself so I dont feel too bad. lol) :)