Getting Ready For Guests

Saturday, I woke up bright and early and went to a yoga class. I knew that I was going to need to be in the right state of mind to finish all of the work that needed to be done before my company arrived. My plan had been to do some cleaning every night last week, but unfortunately, that did not happen. I was tired and lazy and spent too much time taking silly staged photos in order to ask people for an hour of their time, so the cleaning never happened. By Saturday, I had no choice, my guests were arriving that evening, and the Cape of Dreams needed to be ready for them. I started off by making a list.

The sun was shining when I got home from yoga, and I was feeling very one with nature. I did not want to be inside cleaning. I felt that a good compromise would be to take care of the things that needed to be done outside. Both the front and back yard needed raked. The front stoop wanted swept, and the back porch had to be cleaned off. How is it possible that so much stuff always gathers on it? I also planned to plant the last of the fall bulbs.

Before I began, I did a load of laundry and hung the clothes on the line to dry. I love the smell of clothes that have dried on the line. There are so many benefits to line drying.

Raking right after yoga class might not have been such a good idea. My arms were on fire by the time I was done. It reminded me of how my grandmother would ask my cousins if they wanted to have muscles as big as hers when they grew up. They always answered yes, and she would put them to work in the garden. I do not know if that was what they had in mind, but she certainly knew what she was talking about. You can get a great workout raking leaves, and she did it well into her eighties. That is probably why she is still going strong at 86!

Everything looked much better when I was done. There is something very satisfying about seeing the before and after pictures. It is nice to be able to see that your work made a difference.

Once I finished in the yard, I moved into the house. I needed to do a general cleaning of all the rooms, but in particular we needed to prepare somewhere for our guests to sleep. I often leave my clean clothes on the guest bedroom until I am ready to put them away. However, the guests do not seem like it when they have to sleep under piles of clothing. People can be so picky! I cleaned the bed off.

The basement needed to be rearranged so that there would be space for a blow up mattress and a cot.

Douglas did most of the cleaning down there when he came home from work. He really got rid of the clutter making room for a blow up mattress and a cot. My bike on the trainer was moved to the storage area.

Douglas was still cleaning when I left for the airport, but the house looked great when we arrived home. On Sunday we went into the city and had a great time. It was a day of family and fun after a day of work.

Happy Homemaking!