martha's got chocolate on her sweatshirt

You know what is the only thing that makes me tolerate Martha Stuart and her perfectionist image? Picturing her at home, with dust on her shelves, dirty dishes in the sink and her donning sweat pants with a hole in the knee and mismatched socks and eating Ben and Jerry's from the container. It makes it easier for me to be kind to myself with the fact that I am far from the "perfect homemaker" as you can imagine. I attempt to be organized and cleaver with things, but it just does not happen.

I began packing this week for the move. Not in any kind of methodical way, not in any way that makes sense, I just dove in. Books with shoes, big piles of semi-organized stuff to go through, a vague plan of what order to do thing......and I like it that way. I do not want to stress about things. It will all get done. It always does. I have become a master mover over the past five years. I look forward to settling down in one place for a few years and saving up to buy our first house (our "Ikea House" if you will). And even then, I will be an Ikea Homemaker. Making it look good on the surface, while knowing that, underneath, things could be done to a higher quality. And I will be okay with that, knowing that things are good and somewhat together and neat in it's own way. And in my world, shoes and books co-mingling in the same cardboard home is perfection.