Barto's Basics

Welcome to Barto’s Basics! This is a space I’ve been dreaming about for a long time – Why? Because I have a long history of making things more complicated than they need to be. And while I can look back and laugh at several situations from years ago (and yesterday), I also now find the joy in those blips because they have taught me so much.

For a long time, I thought fancy was better. A Bachelors degree was basic. A Masters degree was fancy. I graduated early with my Bachelors because I couldn’t wait to get a Masters to prove I was smart enough…

Renting or living at home with my parents after college was basic. So I bought my first house at the age of 22 – that was before the mortgage meltdown when you needed a really good credit score, a job and no down payment.

Doing laundry was basic and so was my post-college wardrobe. So I would go shopping at Macys. I ran up a bunch of credit card debt just to be fancy. My shoe game was strong back in the day!

You should have seen my 900 sq ft house at Christmastime. Not basic.

The vacation plan I put together in 2004 for the father/daughter trip to Italy we went on… I coveted that jam packed red binder.

You get the point.

Now before anyone gets all ruffled, let me say this: I believe in high achievement. I believe in innovation. I believe in growth and bettering people, places and things… I believe in doing things with excellence.

And yet in this space, I am making a case for gaining a level of understanding and acceptance for when basic IS working and basic IS enough. When fancy isn’t serving you. And being OK with that.

Right now, my life is basic and I’m OK with that. I have been a stay at home mom for almost 4 years. And while I have generated income for 1/2 of that time and used my savings for the other 1/2, I assure you I’m doing lots of laundry and way less shopping for myself these days.

Going back to work full time would not serve me or my family well in this season of life. And so it’s not my time to be fancy. It’s my time to embrace the ordinary.

But alas, there is JOY in the basic.

Joy in cooking basic recipes that bring my family to the table for conversations, laughter and time.

Joy in the bags of kids clothes passed down to us from friends.

Joy in the days spent at the park sliding and swinging and climbing.

Joy in the homemade cards, presents and treasures.

Joy in the Netflix date nights.

Joy in the 10yr old paid off Jeep with a GPS that is 5 years overdue for a software update.

Joy in streaming church service through a pandemic and still being moved to tears by song and word.

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Oh, there is joy in the basic.

And that’s what this space is about – helping you find joy in the basic.

Because Basic isn’t Bad.