The camera does not lie, or does it?

Kind hearted people keep asking "How are you doing?" in that polite, hushed tone usually saved for funerals and cancer diagnoses.  My old unenlightened self would have answered "Fine" but my newly 55 year old, tell it like it is self generally answers "Tired"!  I still have not reconciled with the VOLUME of  merchandise, display items, projects that could be awesome if you just worked on them, jars full of pens and just plain stuff that is still loitering around my house.

I DID reach my self proclaimed goal of getting the storage pod out of  our driveway in 30 days.

I HAVE sorted, donated, packed and stacked goodies so that parts of our home look positively normal. I posted a photo on Facebook about my mantel's uncluttered horizontal surface and was teasingly busted for that fact that MY uncluttered surface still had a dozen items on it!

But LOOK- my house looks better than it has in MONTHS.  Unless of course you pan past the camera viewfinder and look in my dining room and basement. How is it possible that I have done this business without a garage????

The scariest part? There are piles in not one but TWO homes! (Ignore those nasty valances from the 90's I have never taken down in our cottage...) God bless my husband and children for not setting fire to it or even making comment.  When I apologize for the chaos I hear "Mom, you can't clear out 10 years in 10 weeks".  I love my kids.  What a fine Mother's Day gift they both are! Even more astounding to me is it doesn't stop them from having people over.

When I hear stories about teenagers that simply can't function unless they have a particular car or even a specific brand of make up, I count my blessings when I realize that we have raised "kind, strong and smart" kids who would rather do their homework and pile in to introduce the Son to "Beyond Thunderdome" on a Wednesday night then worry about what craziness their mom is getting up to with a mid week trip to Delaware to restock her one fifith the size shop and she comes home with more than she left with.  They unloaded the car with nary a comment. 

Of course I am running out of room, so if you see something you want, just let me know!

I am writing this while literally waiting for paint to dry, You see I signed up to participate in an art show next weekend so I will "have" to paint.  

It's the Grand Opening of my friend and teacher Alexia Scott's Studio & Gallery. Hope you can stop by and see what I am up to. Details are here.