Beauty In The Little Things -- An Entry In Two Parts

The First Part:

I have to confess, I have another blog - a new blog - with a very narrow focus. I haven't shared it with you because it's very new, in part, but also because ... hm. It's kind of hard to explain. I didn't really want it "out there" where people were surfing to it and stuff. Why not? Mostly because I don't want people to get the wrong impression. You see, the point of the new blog is sort of like a journal and idea place for myself. Trying to choose to put little bits of beauty into my home.

I spend a lot of time trying (badly) to clean and tidy. Hopefully you all know me well enough to know that. And of course you know my decorating skills leave much to be desired. The end result is that my house is far from "House Beautiful" and always will be. But I wanted to focus not on the BIG things like picking up toys and scrubbing spots on the carpet (not that I do that) and decluttering, but on the little extras. "Curlicues" that add a little whimsy or something special to the every day stuff.

BUT the result of blogging just those things, as a little inspirational and putting-into-practice journal for myself, is that it's a blog where you won't see as much of the REST of me. You'll see my nicest picture of by flowers on the table, or plant cuttings in water. I will have carefully cropped out the pile of blocks on the floor beneath, or wiped away the standard cheerio coating from the table. Because I want to focus on and remind myself of the little extras, not just get bogged down in the daily stuff which sometimes consumes me. But if you were to just stumble across my blog, you might think I had it all together, and my house was all picture-perfect artsy-farsty. I don't want to deceive anyone or inadvertently discourage anyone by only showing my well-cropped good side. I've read too many well cropped good side blogs, myself, and know I am often discouraged by them. And I'm not putting them out there to show off that tiny part of myself, but more for myself, as journal and inspiration. Working on the little things also reminds me to do the daily things -- flowers on the table don't make a lovely home if lunch is still abandoned on the table, you know?

But then I don't want to hide those things from my family and friends who do know me and might enjoy the 'curlicue' journey with me, by keeping the blog a total secret. I'm too much an extrovert for that.

So. If you're interested, pop me a comment that includes your email address, and I'll let you in on the Top! Secret! Blog! -- just don't go thinking I'm all artsy and decoraty and got it all together.

And on to Part Two:

Beauty in the littlest things of all:

The Newest Addition to the AndFam collection, shown here at almost 13 weeks on May 29th, due to arrive in early December. You can't tell here, and I can't tell yet, but it proves to be a very wiggly addition.