Cleaning for Company

Most of this day was designated to mad cleaning for company. Why, O why, do I do this to myself? Why can't I keep a clean house to begin with? Why can't I diligently clean throughout the week even? Why do I keep stuff to the very last minute?

I even told the girls, Keri Lynn and Kathleen, the only ones left from a marathon cleaning day, that when they grow up and have their own homes that they won't do this. "You'll clean things ahead of time, right? In fact, you'll keep a neat home and won't remember any of your mom's bad habits, right?" They both replied that they honestly didn't know how they'd keep house, but it all gave me pause to think about how I need to work harder on my own work ethic!

It's especially bad this summer. When we're in school, when I have to get up early and get breakfast going early and when I'm in a fuller stricter routine, I just do things more diligently. I do housework at least more regularly. This summer, though, it's been a contest -- how many pots and pans can I stack up before I absolutely have to clean them? How long can we all go without clean underwear? How long can we go without paying for electricity?

The answer to my summer dilemma may be as simple as inviting people to dinner every week just to get the house back into shape again!

Anyway, we finally did get our company in at about 7:00 tonight. My brother Danny and his wife Jessica drove from their stop in Memphis. And the house was relatively clean. Martha Stewart I will never be, but I'll settle for clean counter tops!

They look great! Both are teachers in So. Ca., and taking a vacation back east visiting family and enjoying the sights. They'll be with us a few days and then drive on to North Carolina. We've all been giddy for company, and they came bearing a perfect housewarming present -- or, perhaps more appropriately a housecooling present -- a shaved ice machine complete with those fun snow cones, straws and flavoring. Perfect as we head into the hottest part of the summer. With drought conditions, meteorologists are predicting August to be in the 100s. Ugh!
The kids broke out our latest favorite games. There was talk of actually starting a Risk game and Danny even suggested that we could play Nuclear Risk to make it shorter, but we decided to keep that particular game to another day. Instead, we played Qwidich and Swipe.

Tomorrow, we'll suck them into some Mancala games! And definitely Risk!

I'll post pictures soon.