Cleaning for guests

Nearly a month has passed since I’ve written here, or even attempted to write here. I seem to have lost my voice. It’s not because I’m not feeling or thinking about things. I’m really not sure what it’s about. As I mentioned in my last post, the kitchen is done. Mostly. There are still a couple of items on the list to be completed when the contractor has time to come back. Do contractors ever find time to come back when they’ve moved on to a new job?

About three weeks ago I invited some friends over for game night. We get together about once a month and I couldn’t make the last event which was a movie night so I threw out the game night suggestion for this Friday. On Monday someone asked if it was still on. Gulp. My house is still quite a mess. Of course, I said yes and then one after another affirmed it was good for them too. The menu is set. But the house, not so much.

On Monday night I went to bed and woke at 1 a.m. in a panic. I got up and started cleaning. The bathroom guests use is a disaster since it’s also where I do laundry and it’s Liam’s (the 11-year-old) bathroom too. I’ve tried to get him to clean it and he’s done so on occasion but not so much lately so I scrubbed it within an inch of life. I did a quick tidy of the kitchen, putting things away and clearing the counters to a shine. I carted a bunch of tools to the basement and looked over the book-strewn living room before I finally gave up and went back to bed. Two days later, it looks like I didn’t do any cleaning at all because my family has no respect for clear counters!

Here’s the thing. We often use the excuse that the house is a mess for not inviting people over and I always secretly felt it was a poor excuse because I don’t believe people care what your house looks like (as long as mice and bugs do not look like they have taken up residence there). I have been to plenty of other people’s houses where things are not perfectly put together and it helps me to feel like I’m not the only one. So why should I fear people seeing my very lived in house?

I have one more day to get ready but I’m not going to stress over it or overdo and end up crabby (as can usually happen as I go through the house collecting everyone’s possessions to deposit them to their proper places – the laundry bin, the hooks that were hung for a purpose, the recycling bin). Because the kitchen is new, I will likely worry about that the most and let the other rooms go to the wayside. Isn’t the kitchen where people spend the most time anyway?

MC