They Should Warn You

If you knew that someone was going to take a picture of the outside of your home, that would be viewed by the world, how would you like your home to look?
I would like my home to be beautiful, with flowers in full bloom, a well manicured lawn (Allow me to dream! My boys mow the lawn and it's never well manicured). I'd love to have my windows clean and sparkling in the morning sun. I'd like everything to be in it's place, including cars parked in the garage (this too is just a dream), and the driveway would have the look of cobblestone. Yes, that's how I would like my home to appear to the world. Well . . . .
IT DOESN'T!!!
Nope. When you view my home on maps.google.com, from the street view, my dream picture is not what you'll see. What you will see are cars AND the lawn mower parked in the cracked and sinking driveway. Oh, and you'll also see one of my many refurbishing projects sitting out there too, which is really a normal site for our house. Once we had a stack of old doors, that we'd found for free, sitting in the driveway waiting to be put away. They sat there long enough that a neighbor added a couple of doors to the pile just to be funny. But what was really funny, was that another neighbor asked if she could buy those doors! But I digress. . . You will also see a big ol' dead spot in the side lawn. In fact, that's how we could tell what time of year the picture was taken. You can even see some neighbor kids skateboarding down the street. It's definitely NOT a model home picture!
So, since misery loves company, I looked at other homes of people I knew. I saw one home with the barbeque grill in the driveway, one with a big garbage can sitting on the lawn. There was a home with a work trailer sitting out front being held up by a chair, and their front door was left wide open. One home had a backhoe sitting in the driveway (they were getting ready to remodel). There were multiple homes with dead lawns and wilting flowers because the pictures were taken in the heat of the summer.
I know what you're thinking! "She must live in 'red-neck' territory!" I don't. But I wouldn't be surprised if my home won for the Best Redneck Yard. If the prize is a good one, I might just enter it myself.
I just have one question for the google people. . .
WHY DON'T YOU SEND OUT A WARNING NOTICE?
I probably would have cleaned up a little if you had.
Oh well, who said my home had to look perfect at all times. My home is not my life. My home is a place where I spend my life loving, serving, laughing and enjoying my family and friends. It is the place where I house my best memories (even if they appear a little "red neck" to the rest of the world).
And google people, I do have one more question. Do you need someone to help preview the pictures of the worst homes on the block? I might be willing to do that job for free.