If cleanliness is next to godliness, then I'm in trouble...

A friend of mine recently posted on her blog, a breakdown/tutorial of how she gets ready for house guests. It was very well written and informative. However, I do things a bit differently around here....lol. Now she was referring to long term, repeat offenders  guests, from out of town. My guests are from the area and are only coming for one evening. Just the same, quite different in our approach ;-)

• 1-1.5 weeks before: Start thinking, man I really need to start doing some organzing/clean up to get ready for Tuesday's meeting. Then do nothing
• 1 week before: move three items to a different location in an early attempt to "organize", otherwise known as hide stuff where it can't be seen
• The weekend before: hide some stacks of papers in drawers where no one will be able to find them when they need them. Consider sweeping, mopping, more stashing, etc but decide the kids will just mess it up before Tuesday night anyway. Instead go to the mall and look at things you can't afford to buy.
• The day before. Clean off one windowsill. Light a candle. Stash a few things off the bathroom countertop. Write a blog and play on facebook inbetween playing with the kids.
• The day of: (this will be tomorrow FYI) run around like a crazy person all day,doing various small jobs that the children then just mess up.Sit them in front of the t.v and try to get more stuff done, get distracted by computer, phone, dinner plans, crocheting, etc.
• One hour before: Run around screaming at people to please stop making messes and just get out of the way. Throw clutter in a closet or down the stairs. Wipe counters and tables.Set up extra chairs. Make dessert and beverages, lay them out in some kind of pretty/neat way. Realize you were supposed to prepare a devotional. Ignore the rest of the cleaning, assure yourself they all have young kids too and therefore won't mind/will understand. Rustle up a devotional. Worry the devotional is too deep, too surfacey, too something. Give up and greet guests with a smile.

Ok, so I'm going to try to do better this time. But I know myself, and I have a feeling at 6 p.m. tomorrow night I will be a crazed chicken minus a head trying to finish up.

Guess I should go stash some more clutter huh?