Sunday, January 31, 2010

Home Is Where the Battle Is

Today in church during our Young Women class (Aside: is it Young Women's class? I never know how to tense this correctly. If the name of the organization is Young Women, then shouldn't it just be Young Women class? After all, we don't says Boy Scouts' meeting. We just say "Boy Scouts." Maybe the confusion comes from the fact that they are both a lower case group of young women and part of an organization called Young Women. End aside.) the teacher was conducting a lesson on Making Your House a Home. A concept which is very broad and involves all kinds of things. We discussed spiritual, emotional, physical environments as well as all kinds of craftiness. Of course.

Anyway, during one part of the lesson, she read a quote from somebody who had spent some time in Holland and they commented on how welcoming each home looked, with its large glass windowpanes accented only with fresh curtains and a windowboxes filled with bright geraniums. The person being quoted (circa 1967!) also noted that the homes were often given a name. These names carried such cheery designations as Sunny Corner, Sunbeam, Sun Cottage, Peace Haven, Tranquility. She then asked the girls to imagine what their own dream home looked and felt like and what it might be called.

I remembered the pictures of the houses I diligently cut out of Better Homes and Gardens each month when I was a kids, as well as the few I designed myself during the I-want-to-be-an-architect phase. (That was right before I realized I had zero art talent.) Spiral staircases. Three story great rooms. Dens with 20 feet stone fireplaces. Kitchens with huge butcher-block islands under shiny copper pots and amazing smells. Walk in pantries filled delicious, decadent things to eat. Lofts where children play cheerfully together and always put their toys away into bright, color coded bins. Two story libraries with sliding ladders along rich, mahogany book shelves. A laundry room with benches and hooks and shoe cubbies and a chute from the second story. . . you know, all the normal stuff people dream about. And then my mind flashed to my own home and its barely organized chaos, tiny bedroom and ever-cluttered spaces with my three little Jedi constantly underfoot and in my ears. My mind drifted as the teacher got feedback from the girls and then she asked, "What name would you give your home now?"

"Death Star."

Titters on the back row from the girls who have been brave enough to babysit here.

Oh? Did I say that out loud? Oops.

13 comments:

Debbie Barr said...

That's actually pretty good. We'd probably name ours "Hyrule Castle" from the Zelda games or something. We're both pretty big nerds at this house.

Sometimes I feel lacking when I visit friends' apartments who are newly weds, but who somehow have coordinating furniture, a nice kitchen table, pictures covering every wall, and the spirit of tranquility within the home. But that's just not where we are right now. We have mismatched desks from Craigslist in our living room, a folding table and mismatched folding chairs (two of which have now broken) in our kitchen, no bed frame, and since I am crafter, everything is always a huge mess. But I'm trying to keep it all in perspective. Our apartment is far from perfect, but at least it's our own space, and we have each other.

It does make me worried about organization after having kids. If I can't manage to keep things tidy now, what's it going to look like then?

Sherry said...

We move so dang much that we have no furniture. Most of our places I would probably dub as "Borrowed."

Where we live right now is a beautiful, large home with high-vaulted ceilings and lots of windows that let in lots of light. But the decorating! Oh, the decorating! I dub this home, "Wallpaper."

Janssen said...

I'd dub my house "The Library." Right now, I have about 150 books sitting on my living room floor. Bleck.

Courtney said...

You had me really freaked out for a minute because I didn't teach that lesson on Sunday. It is okay, though, we are just a week behind you (Stake Conference)--but I was really worried for a minute.

Unknown said...

funny. mine would be
Hurricane.
(It happens that fast, too!)

Unknown said...

Oh yeah--either that or
The Dust Bowl.
Either one would work.
:)

calmrapids said...

Very cute. Real life.

chris w said...

Hehehe - I love it!

Kimberly Bluestocking said...

Bwahahahaha . . . [wipes tear]

My left brain would name our apartment "Functional." My right brain is endeavoring to craft something more inspiring, but it hasn't yet proposed anything that doesn't wildly clash with reality.

"Kidspace" perhaps?

JennyMac said...

So cute. I dont know what ours would be called. "NOt babyproofed" when our son came home from the hospital and "not perfect for children" with all the modern furniture and multiple flights of stairs. LOL.

Christie said...

I could relate with this post on all sorts of levels! (As in, yes, those YW manuals need updating in the worst way.) I too clipped ideas for perfect abodes and designed my dream home at age 13. Belly Acre Farm fits our spread. It's just over an acre. The things we grow feed our bellies, and, oh yeah, we all bellyache!

Cathy said...

My architectural musings included designing a special space for planting Christmas trees in the living room w/ an elevator botom that would make it easy to transplant them when they were large enough, flanked by a wall of immense glass doors to ease their passage to the garden.

Now we have a family tradition where each Christmas we burn the tree from the preceding year. Sort of a crazy Yule log variant.

Cathy said...

"Bottom"