You can catch more flies with honey...

I had a friend pay me a fabulous compliment the other day. She mentioned that when she is in my home she just knows it's mine....it's Catie and Robbie's house, it looks like us, whether we are renting or not, it's our Home. I once had a friend in Oklahoma who paid me a similar compliment. She said that she just felt like my house was the kind where you kick of your shoes and get cozy on the couch. Despite the obvious enjoyable sensation of being given a compliment, I just love this notion of my home being a warm place for anyone who enters.

Like most of you out there, this week I have been thinking a lot about Mom. I was a military brat and grew up in many different places and in many different homes. We lived in snowy places, hot, humid places, windy places, weird places, exciting places and boring places. In all of these places we lived in a house, base housing, concrete block houses, houses with porches, houses without porches, teeny, tiny houses, two story duplexes, a couple of apartments and then there was this one week from hell where we lived in a one bedroom, furnished, temporary apartment-styled house...with my grandfather. And I was 15. And I had just left all of my best-friends in the whole wide world. To move to Oklahoma. I think you get it. We moved a lot and none of these homes were truly ours. They were all a temporary fix until the orders came through to pack it all up and move again. Honestly, I do not know how my parents survived.

I love a good decorating magazine and I would never judge a person for changing the drapes in their living room 10 times in one year. I get why that would be completely necessary. My Mom has this amazing stack of decorating magazines in her home and usually, at least, once a week, I get a phone call that goes like this..."Catie...have you seen "X" magazine with the little bungalow cottage on the front? No? Well, there is an article in it and it shows a bathroom that they remodeled and I swear it is just like the bathroom you had in your house in Oklahoma! I mean, it's three times bigger and it doesn't have your pedestal sink and tub, but the color...I just know it's the same as yours!" A few days ago I came home to find in my mailbox a decorating magazine that I know I didn't order. The title was so familiar though....wasn't Mom just mentioning that same magazine the other day?

For as many houses as my Mother has lived in she has always managed to make it a Home. During all of those drab years of living in base housing where the rules stated No Painting, and the gray-white walls screamed Uniformity and Don't Get Too Comfortable, my Mom would still decorate and display and fluff pillows and marvel at her new kitchen curtains.

I had major back surgery when I was 13 years old and when I finally got home from the hospital my Mom (and certainly my Dad too) had completely redecorated my bedroom. Mom picked out this pretty, pink floral bed spread with matching pillow shams and curtains. Her goal was to ease my pain with a comfortable place to heal.

The compliment paid to me has to be paid to my Mother. After all, she has shown me the value of a Home and a few other things along the way:

A pot of Geraniums creates a welcoming entrance. Family photos must always be displayed. A kitchen needs order and will usually always be a gathering place, so make it inviting. Family heirlooms are important and necessary, so keep them and cherish them. A home is not a home without a cat AND a dog. Hamsters are not entirely necessary in order to create a warm home environment. Iced-tea should always be sweet and offered to anyone who stops by. A lot of money isn't required in order to decorate, but it can help. Fly a US flag, but be sure to bring it in at night. Get a piano, music is a must. Make a special place of your own, to study, read, sew, whatever, just do it. Mary Engelbreit is profound. Two or three Christmas trees displayed in a 2000 square foot home is completely reasonable. Color can make you happy. Guest rooms are very important and before company banish the cat. You can never have too many throws, pillows and cross-stitching pictures in your living room. Friends and family are important too, and ultimately, your goal is to leave them with the desire to come back to your home again and again and again.

Ultimately, Home is where the heart is and regardless of where I end up, Mom, my heart is always with you. Thanks for all you've done and will do to remind me that I am loved.