What do you mean by that?

Ever try to put a round cabbage in a square fridge? This mama would not in the fridge. My solution: let it wilt for a few days and then it will. Just kidding.

Gluten-free bread, epic fail. Here is how my first homemade bread machine version of gluten-free bread turned out. Isn't it a mess? At first I was disappointed and then I remembered it would fit great with my beautiful mess theme! It tastes gross too, but I'm still eating it.

Putting shoes away is a constant request on my part. The other day I said, "Please put your shoes in the shoe closet or at least make them look organized. This is what I got.

Cute, guys, real cute.

Boxes upon boxes of toys. We look at them and think, "Too many toys! We have to get rid of some of these toys." We're working on it. But then I think what a blessing to have too many toys and a home with air conditioned and heated rooms to keep them in. It's a beautiful mess.

Laundry Kwikwash Laundry

Years ago I lived in a neighborhood with a laundromat on the corner. For a year I thought the sign said, "Laundry, Laundry, Laundry." One day I noticed it really said "Laundry, Kwikwash, Laundry," and I couldn't believe I had been reading it wrong every day for a year. But doesn't life feel like that now? Laundy, laundry, laundry! (Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.) I'm thinking about doing a whole series on laundry. 

I didn't take much time editing this photo, I think the color is off, but I've been lazy with my photography lately because, well, I have too much laundy (cubed).

Minions

This was not beautiful. Not by a long shot. The mess is not beautiful, and the photo was not beautiful. This was before I took my photography class, although even if I had been the star pupil it wouldn't have made this shot nice. This is embarrassing, but I promise I did not make it. It is beautiful that everyone was still alive after this mess happened! It was actually a gift from God that I had a friend over when this happened, because if she hadn't been here I'm sure there would have been tears and worse.

True story.

I am struggling to find beauty today. I am a mess. Here's a beautiful shot, my messy kitchen. It's beautiful to have food to cook, a family to cook for, and a little hooch to help. Except that I'd rather photograph it than drink it.

My next photography goal is to do more post processing, but that may have to wait until our messy little beauties leave the nest.

The Big Spill

Today was a messy day. I pretended to embrace the mess by taking a lot of photos of the messy areas in my home. But I wasn't seeing beauty, I was seeing my failures. Until this happened. Isn't this a beautiful mess? I didn't handle my domestic stress very well today. I was a crazy person. I wanted to tidy up, not sit glued to the couch in front of My Big, Big Friend with a toddler who decided not to nap and to cry all afternoon instead. I had laundry to fold, dishes to do, surfaces to clear. Then I remembered the scripture "Do all these things as unto the Lord" (Colossians 3:17 paraphrased) and decided that I would better serve by holding my distraught little toddler and giving her endless affection and soft cheek kisses. So that's what I did.

Enter this crayon mess. By the time this happened I was more ready to find the beauty in the mess. Aren't these colors gorgeous? Thanks, I think so too.

Elmo sees you!

Scary, right? I was taking a self portrait for a website today and used Senor Elmo as my model until I figured out that my new camera remote could autofocus. I'm not sure how this fits my beautiful mess theme, but this scratching post sure is one. It's pretty gross but dresses up nicely with a sheet draped over it.

Who wears swim goggles to the zoo? My boys! My older son ended up wearing a straw hat and swim goggles out of the car, and I just went with it. Who cares? His headwear selections? A mess! But it's beautiful that kids don't care.

Also a mess is my younger son's front tooth! It has been hinged in his mouth like that since Thanksgiving.

Life with boys is messy.

Luckily this was an easy clean-up. Just shut the drawers! This could have gotten a lot messier - injury-wise at least.  This is a pretty clean mess.

Day 2

She's beautiful, playrooms are always a mess!

My new photography blog.

My life is a beautiful mess! Here is Day 1 of my photo series "Amy's Beautiful Mess." I love yarn, I think it's beautiful. And this table? A mess!

Let's see what the messiest room or surface of my home looks like every day in January! I shall embrace my mess and yet strive to clean it up. Ish.