Perfection Infection: No More Perfect Homemaking

When I quit my job as an accountant almost 2 years ago after Andrew was born I had this fairy tale kind of scene painted in my mind of how things were going to be. We were going to have this wonderfully decorated home oozing with Pintrest ideas (because I would have so much extra time to do things like this), Todd would come home every night to a fabulous home-cooked meal, and our home would be a revolving door of friends and family. I quickly learned that was not going to be the case.

When both of us were working Todd often cooked supper, during my pregnancy with Andrew he did all of the cooking simply because I didn't have the energy left in me to do anything. I was (and still am) so grateful for all of it that I wanted to repay him once I started staying home full time and got into a good routine with Andrew. I started doing the majority of the cooking in the house and I will be quick to admit that I wasn't that good at it right away, not having much practice.

I would end up crying and turning into a mess when things didn't work out as planned. I would get extremely frustrated with what I saw as a complete failure. Thankfully Todd would come home shortly (if he wasn't already home during the meltdown) and tell me that it would be fine and it didn't matter. After many times of this episode repeating I started to get it...it doesn't matter if supper doesn't hit the table at a certain time, it doesn't matter if a new recipe doesn't quite turn out right, generally all my boys (and myself) care about is if our stomachs are full at the end of the meal and it tasted generally good, there are always recipes that will never be made again. After reading this section in Jill Savage's book, No More Perfect Moms, my first thought was food is necessary but it isn't necessary to have a Rachel Ray quality meal every night; some days that just isn't going to be possible with Andrew attached to my leg or propped up on my hip. 

As for the house filled with Pintrest ideas, not so much. In decorating our new house I have been able to utilize some ideas but what was most helpful was using my friends and family to get opinions. We had a general idea of where most of our furniture would go before we moved it but not the position in the room. It was great to have the extra hands to help move pieces around and ideas of stealing pieces from other rooms. We purchased a few new pieces to help fill up the house and because of that I am no longer allowed to go shopping alone with my sisters :). Those ideas that I have all over my Pintrest collection but after looking at some of them again I realized that they really don't work for our family. 


As women we take pride in our homes and all the aspects of it. Jill Savage says that "women tend to be most insecure about body image and home image". That rings completely true for me (see more about that on my previous post Perfection Infection: No More Perfect Homes). Nothing is ever going to be perfect in your home and we need to keep realistic expectations; as long as it works for your family it will be great.