"Company"

Holidays in our family generally means "Company" coming and company coming generally means its time to fix up the house.  I doubt that we are unique in this.  Little Sis does it.  Ratchlet does it.  Any number of friends have mentioned doing it too.  Of course, the difference comes in to what extent do you "fix up the house"?

Normal people will put away clutter, possibly polish the silver, maybe vacuum and dust, make the bathrooms all sparkly and shiny.  Just kind of spiff up the place.  We do that too, sometimes, so as not to be too embarrassed by our less than spotless house.  Nevertheless, there are times when we go way beyond normal! 

This is the time we'll shampoo the carpets or wash all the windows or even buy some new furniture!  None of that is too unusual either, except we do it in the last two days before company is due!  It is part of the phenomenon:   Improving any one thing makes everything else look shabby! 

I'm not too fond of cleaning stuff.  So I tend to let things go more than I should.  This is a fault.  I recognize it as such but ultimately I decided it was a fault I could live with most of the time. This indulgence in my own failings is what leads to the two or three days of marathon dusting, washing, vacuuming, sweeping, scrubbing, scouring, and all things of that sort just before any major holiday! 

We are two days away from Thanksgiving and the clan (such as it is) is gathering here for Thanksgiving dinner.   The Big Guy and I are in our usual tizzy of trying to "spiff up the house."  Nothing too drastic this time, the most involved project will be cleaning out the fridge.  (Absolutely  must do, there is no room for a big bird and all the flotsam and jetsom that goes along with it.)  I can live with that.

This will not be the holiday that will take the prize for the most extreme example of what we have been known to do to spiff up the house.  That prize was awarded the night of Ratchlet's high school Senior Prom.  She invited 5 or 6 couples to meet at our house before the dance where photos were taken and flowers were pinned on and last minute adjustments made in their formal wear.  After the prom, there was some sort of after-party they were all going to (parent-sponsored and chaperoned!)  After that they were coming back to our house to change and head off for a day at the beach.  We would provide breakfast for them before they took off again.  A simple plan.  Right? 

Remember these were 16-18 year olds in the flush of their most exciting night ever.  I doubt they would have noticed if we lived in a barn.  Anyway, the Big Guy and I were going to have a buffet of eggs, sausage, fresh fruit, breakfast breads and a few other things, nothing too fancy, but better than an Egg McMuffin!

The kids arrived, we ooohed and aaahed over their finery, took some photos (the Big Guy did, not me) and sent them off at about 8:30 to their "Dancing Under the Sea" (or whatever it was called).  They wouldn't be back until around 4:00 a.m.  Not enough time to get a good night's sleep, cause we had to have the food ready, so we would be cooking in the wee small hours of the morning. 

Sooooo, what did we do to pass the time?? We painted the living room and dining room!!  Really!  In the middle of the night, there we were with drop cloths, paint, rollers, brushes, and tape.  When the kids left the room was white.  When they got back the room was yellow!  We had time to put up the paint, clean up the mess, get the furniture back in place and still have the hot breakfast there and waiting for them around 4:00!

Now you might say, why did you bother?  They were kids all excited about being out "all night".  What did they know from wall color??  Or care?

If you have been paying close attention, you might have been able to deduce the reason.  Any guesses??  The clue was in the fact that they were going to their Senior Prom.  Senior!  Aha! You say, "Graduation!"  Right!!  Graduation was coming up very soon and we were planning to have lots of Company to share in Ratchlet's big day!

We weren't painting for the kids, or just for something to do.  Nope!  We were in Phase One of the "OMG, this house is a mess!! mode" We had friends coming!  We had family coming!!  We had in-laws coming!!  That's why we were painting at 2:00 in the morning!  We think of it as crisis management!

And it turned out great too!  Well, it looked great, right after I got the new throw pillows to replace the ones that now looked kind of shabby....maybe I should have gotten new drapes too....