Housekeeping has never really been my strong suit.  I can always seem to find something to occupy my time instead of doing housework until it MUST be done.

Since we moved into the Miller Manor, my perspective on housework has shifted.  We finally had a place of our very own, that we could nest and decorate and paint exactly how we wanted.  Keeping a newly decorated room clean is easy – it’s actually fun.  Then the weeks of waiting to have our kitchen remodeled turned into months –  without a dishwasher.  At first we used paper plates and plastic spoons and tried not to have any dishes to clean.  After a while though, I found a stillness in handwashing the dishes.  I felt a connection to the simple life that had always been lived in this house.  We are just the second owners of this home that was built in 1950.  The people before us lived their whole lives without a dishwasher and raised 6 children in the walls of our tiny home.  I would imagine her hand washing day in and day out.  I began to love the life that was lived in this home and hoped we could make our lives a little more simple.  So I would wash and dry with appreciation for our beautiful simple life – happy to have children to eat off dishes and a busy family of 5 to prepare the next day’s meals for.  I also swore to myself that when we got a dishwasher I would never complain about dishes again – and so far I’ve held strong!  

We also got quite dark wood floors in our kitchen that we hope to carry throughout the rest of the home eventually.  This also means that every speck of cereal or crumbs from a sandwich or left over glitter from an art project shows up perfectly.  I sweep at least 4 times a day and usually it’s about 203 times a day.  This seemed like an annoying task to keep up with while construction dust was still consuming our life, but soon I was sweeping up messes from memories made, delicious meals had, and a busy little baby leaving a trail everywhere she crawled.  I have found something so calming and rewarding about sweeping my floors.  I love that I have this life to sweep up after.  Being a mom is all I ever wanted to be, and specifically being a mom to girls just like my mom was.  As I sweep the left over glitter from the art projects, and the bits of afternoon snacks before I start supper, and arrange the scattered shoes into a pile to be put away, I am whole.  I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing and exactly what I always wanted to do.  

The living room is a very central room in our home.  It is where you can watch TV, enjoy a dance performance on our fireplace “stage”, take care of various baby dolls who need sitting, and relax on our pillow-like couches.  It is easily one of my favorite rooms in the house – especially when it’s clean.  Two times a day I pick everything up, straighten the pillows and fall back onto the bed of pillows on the couch and siiiiiiiiigh.

  I love life at the Miller Manor.