Validation!

I have never aspired to be Miss Domesticity.

Yes, I used to spend lots of time cooking--sometimes even liking it! I bake the meanest blueberry pie you have ever had. I also have almost 30 years worth of Bon Appetit and Food and Wine in stacks that I even sometimes took recipes out of.

Yes, I love to decorate my house, and even thought about being an interior designer. Except, if you saw my house, you would realize that unless potential clients love cookie jars, carnival chalkware and plaster bust Elvis lamps flanking their couches, they might not want to hire me.

But that aside, I am totally out of the closet when it comes to being NOT NEAT. And that is in keeping with things, since half of my clothes at any given time are also totally out of the closet--or drawers, as the case may be. The surface of my dining room table, the official dumping ground for all that enters the house, makes an appearance briefly just before it gets set for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, and then it goes under cover again until Passover when we host a big Seder.

I used to be a little embarrassed about my lack of interest in being Suzy Homemaker. Eventually, I realized that if you are raising three kids and also writing and illustrating, something has to give. In my case, it was my husband. He had to give up the notion that a house has to stay in order at all times. He actually had to give up that notion even before we had kids. I never believed it myself for one minute.

So now I have the New York Times to validate my sense of decorum, if not decor. Check out this article by Penelope Green in this morning's House and Home Section.

And then check out my current dining room table:

Comments

[Anne]

I'm sending this post to my husband. He doesn't believe me when I tell him I'm not the only slob in the universe. Actually, your dining room looks much nicer than mine by far. Mine is just piles--not presents, just junque.

Chappy Chanukah!

Cheers,
Anne

[Barbara Johansen Newman]

Thanks, Anne! Hey, keep the movement going. The way I look at it there is power in numbers. Those of us who have more creative tings to do than slave around a house---Unite! Happy Chanukah to you, too!