The Best Homes Are People Not Places
Happy Memorial Day, everyone! I hope you have had plenty of family time and have taken a moment to think about our freedom and remember all of the women and men who have secured it for us. That’s what it’s all about, right?
Erin is spending Memorial Day Weekend at the beach celebrating Ace’s 15th birthday. But I’m relaxing with my family close to home, going to some parties, doing some baking, and attacking some yard work. So there is no reason to skip Stasha’s Monday Listicle: 10 WORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOUR HOME. A girl can only haul so much mulch or bake so many cookies without a break. Quick word of advice, don’t let those two activities cross paths. Mulch in baked goods cannot be passed off as fiber.
Erin's Weekend
Ellen's Weekend. This is totally representative of my discovery of the snake skin shed in the holly bush I was trimming. No exaggeration.
So where to begin? Erin threw out this helpful email, “My house is known as command central.” Gee, I think we all can say that. Not really enough to work with. Even though I’m not rollicking on the beach, I have better things to do than create lists out of thin air.
Then there is the post we wrote about Erin’s Oasis and my counter post about The Coco Room Apocalypse. Quite frankly, they provided TOO much to work with. And since my house hasn’t been completely clean since I started blogging, I was in no mood to review Erin’s neat house techniques, albeit, they are very good and handy.
See? I'm sappier than I let on.
So I was going to copy from this canvas on my wall because Erin has a very similar one hanging in her house. But it seemed very precious and quite frankly, a little plagiarize-y. I mean, do I really want to stoop to ripping off the equivalent a Hallmark card? I may have a touch of the sappy, but I ooze with integrity. I’m Googling right now to see if there is an ointment for that.
But I was inspired! The Listicle asks for words describing our homes, not our houses. I was on the right track with the wall art, but I needed originality. Our homes are the people who fill our hearts and clog our septic systems, not the disorderly conditions of our stray sock baskets. And since you can’t get more one-of-a-kind than the people in our lives, I present without further ado…
The People Who Transform Our Houses Into Homes
(While the names have been changed per our kids’ requests, the personalities are all real.)
Erin’s Army first…
They are almost this funny. Wait, they ARE this funny.
1. Ace. My oldest son just turned 15 years old and is completing his freshman year in High School. He is a huge sports fan and plays soccer and runs track. Ace looks like my husband and acts like me. He can make friends with a light bulb. He is funny, impetuous, and confounding.
2. Biddie. Her blog name came to me, because my husband’s family is Polish. They used this nickname for his sister when she was younger, because she was small but mighty. That’s our Biddie. Thirteen years old, smart, creative, funny, and athletic, Biddie is everything I wish I was at her age.
3. Charlie. He is my 11 year old who loves soccer, Comic Books, and hats. I swear that he is either going to be the Frat President in college or its mascot. The kid is slightly cracked, but in the best possible way. Everybody loves him. One of the nicest compliments a teacher gave us about him was that of the 24 kids in his class, twenty-three of them considered him one of their best friends. He is our soft, sweet center.
4. Deacon. He was the one I had the hardest time renaming for the blog. His actual name is soooo perfectly him that it was hard to imagine him or referring to him any other way. Deacon is 8 years old and loves to build LEGOs, play soccer, and do science and art projects. At home, we sometimes call him The Hammer, because he has singular focus and knows what he wants.
5. Eddie. Eddie is a total Momma’s boy. My husband implied that his obsession might be a little more than your average bear (do you see where we are going with this? Oedipal Complex?). Eddie is 4 years old and loves Star Wars, stealing the iPad2 from his siblings, books, and hiking. He is stubborn, smart, and adorable—a deadly combo.
6. Steve. Last, but never least, is my husband of 15 years, Steve. When I told him that I was going to use military-inspired aliases for the blog and I thought that I might call him The Colonel (you know, because I am The General), he said, “I feel more like The Corporal.” He makes me laugh most days, and he is the most patient, kind person I have ever known. He’s the best. You are just going to have to trust me on this one.
Now Ellen’s Crew…
Don't worry, we only wear these pants on Thanksgiving..for the stretch. Oh and on Groundhog Day...for the style.
7. Frank. He is my soul mate and the best father I could imagine for our two girls. We have been together since he hit on me on that fraternity house lawn. I am blessed to have his support and love. He is sharp and witty and definitely lightens me up. I might be a smidge intense. I do have a tendency to tell him that he is lucky I don’t have an addictive personality, because he might be a bit of an enabler. But hey, he boosts my ego when Coco gets done with me.
8. Coco. So, Coco is nearly 14. I think she really picked the alias Cocoa because she loves chocolate, but I changed it to Coco because the girl has style. She is a preternatural force. She brought me to my knees as an infant with her colic and sometimes we question if the colic ever ended. She is a musician, an athlete, an actress, a writer, and a first class student. God gave her to me to keep me in my place. You should thank her too, because she keeps me from thinking that I am all that and a bag of chips. I am happy and blessed to know her.
9. Jellybean. She is 11. She is the least pleased with any of this blog stuff. She is a girl you want as your friend. She is kind, but not sappy, and definitely has a bit of the imp about her; just ask the cat. She is fun with a silly sense of humor, but has a well-defined BS meter. She is happy to be with a group, but can go and do her own thing without forcing the group to conform to her. She brings her determination to her sports, her Legos, and her schoolwork. Jellybean just gets it done. Her laugh has brought me joy from the first moment I heard it.
Hmmm…I ran out of family members. Seems like we didn’t have Monday Listicles in mind when we were squirting out kids. So number 1o is a bonus funny…
10. Antique White. This is something both of our families ridicule tease Erin about. She wants to paint everything in her home “Antique White,” (I know, that’s a whole different issue). She actually thinks she has painted everything “Antique White.” I, along with the entire Army and Crew, are here to tell the world, and her, once and for all: HER CHOSEN COLOR IS YELLOW!
So I guess the moral of this story is that Erin can’t suppress her sunny, positive personality with the bland and mundane, even when she tries.
Fondly, Ellen
- Booooooring Antique White or Sparkling Superfly Yellow? Which do you think fits Erin best?
Now check out the other great Listicles, although I can almost guarantee they won’t contain a flying Boohbah.
By Ellen Williams Erin Dymowski
Sounds like you have sweet families to fill your sweet homes!
Bridget recently posted..Monday Listicles
On most days.
Ellen
You are both absolutely right about “People Not Places”! Perfect.
Diane recently posted..Our "Home Sweet Home"
I’m still trying to get over you having anacondas in your holly bushes. Home is where the heart is and you two have it.
paul recently posted..House Proud?
I know seriously. Who would have thought? I need a gardener, or pest control, or at least a margarita. Ellen
Or at the very least J Lo. ROFL
paul recently posted..House Proud?
I Enjoyed reading more about your families! They sound like the kind of troops I would love to be stuck with on a desert island. That had antique white sand. Great list girlies.
And thank you for remembering the heros.
Stasha recently posted..Monday Listicles
Thanks Stasha! You’d better hope that desert island had soccer balls and wi-fi if you were to keep your sanity.
Ellen
This is perfect – you’re so right. The people make a home. And your people sound especially awesome
Katie E recently posted..Monday Listicles: Our House
It really is the people who make the house a home and a family what it is
Love your post…as always…and lol at the boobahs…My sons used to love those creepy things!
sara recently posted..My Casa
Home really is where all the people are that you love.
In all those years of struggling to find my home, I had this revelation quite a few years back and exclaimed to my husband – you know, it really does not matter if we have this house or not, home is where we are as a family and that’s all that matters.
Love how you approached the list!
Kerstin recently posted..Home
You’re right about the people making the homes. Our house would probably have a more finished projects if we didn’t have the kids, but it sure wouldn’t feel as homey.
Recovering Supermom recently posted..Home
I am the queen of unfinished projects, but I do have happy kids.
Ellen
Y’all had me at the title… people, not places… perfection!
BonnyBard recently posted..Monday Listicles – Home sweet home
As soon as I saw the title of this post, I knew it would be a good one. I love how you did your list, so sweet and very true – it’s all about the people in our lives. Now I have to go rent and watch Stripes tonight after seeing that picture of Bill Murray – haha! Great list!
Anna recently posted..Husbands and Homes
Thanks! Stripes would have been a good way to end this weekend. Jealous. Ellen
I want to come to your house–mine is so dull. You must be so tired when you hit the bed every night! Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve always felt that the home is more then four walls. It’s the people within so you take your home with you every where you go. Which is comforting.
Awe its great hearing about the people that make up your homes!
Audrey recently posted..Last days of being an only child
Such vivid descriptions of all the kids. lol, I keep requesting a very pretty off-white each time we re-do a room, and my husband keeps complaining that all our rooms are yellow.
Marcy recently posted..Disappearing Babies and the Teen-Friendly Summer Bucket List
Squirting out kids. Funny you should use that term because my almost 8 year-old daughter said that one day she is going to do the same thing.
I think I almost snorted out my coffee- just caught me off guard.
The family descriptions were cool. I liked that.
Jack@TheJackB recently posted..Dad’s Car Died
I am honored when we make people spew caffeinated beverages. Insert courtly bow.
And truth be told, I was taken by surprise when I came to the end of the list and we were one short. It just seems like there are so many kids when they are all running around. And eating. Ellen