Down to Earth, the new book by Rhonda Hetzel

borrowed from: down to earth

One of my favorite bloggers of all time, Rhonda Hetzel from the Down to Earth blog, has a new book coming out!  It's been a long time coming for her and oh, how beautiful it looks.

Her blog is just lovely.  She very thoughtfully writes about how she and her husband have changed their lives to live more simply, and how you might do the same.  Some of my favorite posts from her have been about things like her housekeeping routine, keeping backyard chickens, and how to make cold processed soap.  I specifically remember one post in which she said something like... "There's no need to feel a sense of urgency where your housework is concerned.  You don't need to rush around, trying to get everything done all at once because the fact is that your housework will never be done.  There will always be another dish to wash, another spill on the kitchen floor that requires mopping.  So, just keep working at it and do what you can in a day so you won't get burnt out."

That's a total paraphrase, but it had such an impact on me.  As messy as my house is, I'm a die hard perfectionist and I apply my perfectionism most harshly to my home.  Ironically, I think that's one reason it gets so out of hand.  Because I work really, really hard to make it absolutely perfect and then, the next day, there's more laundry to do and more dishes and more dirt on the floor!  And I end up giving up, because it can never be perfect.

Rhonda has taught me that life isn't perfect.  And I remember her words, so that every day, I just try to keep working at it.  Not to worry that I probably won't get ALL the laundry done and all the floors swept and mopped and vacuumed and the bathroom spotless and every other thing I need to do so that the house looks like a page from Country Living Magazine.  Because, if I'm working, and if I just keep working it will all get done.  It just won't all get done today, and maybe not tomorrow, but possibly by the day after that, or maybe a little later.  But getting it all done at once is no longer the goal.  Accepting the role of continually keeping the house, continually working to make our lives better, that is the goal.

Rhonda, and her blog, are a complete inspiration for me and I find myself, especially on my most down-trodden-of-feelings days, returning there, reading and rereading her posts, and finding that I'm not alone.  And that it's okay to be perfectly normal.

So, you should really, really go check out her post about pre-ordering her new book, "Down to Earth - a guide to simple living".  She gives you a few pictures, tells you where you can pre-order the book, and provides a link to the Penguin website where you can "Look Inside" at the table of contents and the first couple pages of the book.  Oh, it's just beautiful, it really is.  You know how I love pictures and these pictures are truly lovely.

I'm super excited to get my copy when it comes out!  I just know it will be wonderful.  I love Rhonda's simple, concise style of writing and I can't wait to see how it's been applied to a book format.

Check her blog out, too!  You'll fall in love, I promise.  With chickens and gardening, knitting and mending and preserving and baking bread and making soap.....

And if you haven't already, I'll bet you'll even start to ask yourself how these things could be possible for you to do and that's a slippery slope I'm so excited for you to tumble down!