Leave It To Beaver, a Sink Full of Dishes, and a Hopeful Heart.

This blog has been a long time in coming. I confess I am having a difficult time putting fingertips to keyboard and turning what comes out into something worth keeping. But this blog is all about progress. Imperfect, messy, some days almost non-existent, but still hoped for, progress.

So where does Leave It to Beaver come into this? Funny story that. My husband and I have Netflix and one day while I was suffering from the monster of perfection and moved to inaction, I stumbled upon Leave It to Beaver. And in a mood to punish myself or feeling nostalgic, I am not certain which one it was, I hit play. While watching the show I longed to be more like June Cleaver. She was well dressed. Her house was clean and inviting. Her boys were trouble makers, but of the innocent kind. I kept looking at her wardrobe. Especially the pearls. She seemed to always have them on. Even when dealing with the daily grind sort of tasks.

Want me to let you in on a little secret? How about two? While watching this domestic bliss, I was still in my PJs, in the middle of the afternoon, surrounded by the mess of my own making. The second secret...June wasn't perfect either- or rather her real life counterpart wasn't. Barbara Billingsley, the actress that played June Cleaver, had a "hollow" on her neck. So according to legend, she suggested the pearls to help distract from this imperfection. I love how one of the most iconic images of the "homemaker ideal" was created to hide a imperfection.

I don't know why this little story hit me so hard. But the idea kept rolling around in my head. Cleaning with pearls on. It seems silly or idealistic, but there was something in it that I longed for at the same time. The feeling that my "job" was worth dressing up for. Treating what I do as valuable...or rather what I was supposed to be doing.

Here comes the second portion of the story. I had come home recently to be a full time homemaker. A role that instantly makes some people scoff or their blood starts to boil. Others say, "Good for you." I, myself, wanted to love it. In fact I had asked my husband if I could come home. But found once I got here that I struggled to find my footing.

I have perfectionist tendencies...OK I have them beyond tendencies. So much so that I created this blog months ago, but then found that I didn't have the perfect first post. So it sat empty. And my house became fuller...of stuff, trash, disorder. I love the FlyLady. If you talk to me for a bit I am sure that I will share my desire to do as she says. Google her if you have never heard of her. She's fun. Now she has a program to help you get your house in order. But I would do it full speed and then poop out. That is me. 0 to 60 and then quickly returning to 0. So here is my dirty little secret...perhaps it's better if I show you...

Now imagine that everywhere. June Cleaver would cry...or maybe not. Because I had long thought of those pearls as perfection, but remember what we have learned- this was not so. Maybe June would have said, with a smile, "We all have faults. We all have strengths. Put your pearls on and get to work."

My last point for the evening. I love, love, love the New Year. I love fresh starts. I love new beginnings. I usually am good at them. It's the sticking it out to the end that I am working on. But tonight as I type this imperfect first blog post  I have a hopeful heart. I didn't wear pearls today, but I did get up, spent time with the LORD, repented of most of last year, and (are you ready for this?!) did something that June, FlyLady, and for the first time in a long time, I, am really pleased with...and here it is...

I invite you to join me this year as I work at Cleaning with Pearls On.

-Andrea

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