Monday, February 23, 2009

Happy Messes


This weekend I attended the women's retreat through my local home school organization. It was nice to have a day away, and Kevin encouraged me to go, although the kids made a point of letting me know that Daddy didn't make them do any extra chores ALL day...Thanks, honey, for making me the meanie. Anyway, though the teaching part of the retreat wasn't exactly what I was hoping for, there was one thing the speaker said that I loved. I think someone should emblazon this on a plaque or something. This is what she said:

Your home should be neat enough to be peaceful but messy enough to be happy.

Isn't that great? She defined 'happy' messes as temporary, due to a project, or messes that someone is enjoying and using (like a puzzle). I tend to want all messes dealt with and out of sight, so it's nice to have a new way to think about those 'useful' messes. Maybe most (normal?) people need to tighten up the control on clutter; I need to loosen up a bit.

Here's to making some 'happy messes' today!

4 comments:

Jenia said...

I love that, Candice! I am hoping then that our home is exta happy because I feel like I am constantly looking at a mess! Ha! Ha!

Anonymous said...

Yeah, then my home is super happy! It's encouraging because the hardest thing I have experienced as a homeschool mom is keeping the house clean at all times. :o)

Anonymous said...

I remember an older mom who used to babysit Elise when she was an infant said:

Your home should be clean enough to be healthy but messy enough to be comfortable/happy.

Wise woman! Very similar to the comment you posted, which is a good one. One nice thing about homeschooling is that children get a chance to make a "happy mess," and come back to it later to work on it some more. They get a chance to explore and create, with more flexibility. I like that (even if I trip over their creations in the living room sometimes)!
-Dana

Anne said...

Yay! An excuse for a messy house! :) Oh, wait. Maybe that's not what you were meaning. Rats. Oh well, I know some of our messes are happy messes because I've seen the joy on Tyler's face when he's making them. :) Now maybe I should work on the messes that I make...