You know the moment. You are sitting with your husband watching a movie knowing you should probably be folding the load of clean laundry you threw on the floor in front of you an hour ago and you should probably move the dinner dishes from the sink to the dishwasher. You should but what the heck, it’s just your family at home, and you are relaxing by golly. Ding Dong. Oh my gosh, the door bell! We didn’t order pizza! We already bought our girl-scout cookies! We aren’t expecting anybody. The dogs are barking. Maybe if nobody moves, no one will know we are home. Too late, your youngest daughter inquisitively just answered the door. Oh great! The next door neighbor wants to come in and talk to your husband about something. Quick! Operation Unexpected Guest! As your husband awkwardly talks to the neighbor in the entry-way you quickly throw all the unfolded laundry behind the big recliner and start piling the dinner dishes into the microwave. Your older daughter, who’s already very familiar with the drill starts wiping down the counters and the kitchen table. The façade must take place. No one needs to know that we don’t live in a picked up house all the time. No one needs to know that the only time it’s extremely clean, with organized cupboards and all is when the in-laws are scheduled to arrive. Only after your friends really know you well can you allow them to see the real you – your real house. Hopefully when people come in they think we just carried the 3 big bags of donations down the stairs that afternoon and they really haven’t been sitting in the living room corner for two weeks. Only our family and the pizza delivery guy know how long we’ve really left them there.
To be able to actually invite someone into the main level of
my home I would prefer an hour notice.
Fifteen minutes notice will get you in the front door but you may or may
not be permitted to use the bathroom. As
far as overcoming this dilemma the best thing you can do is give others the
same courtesy you would like. Give a
little notice. If I have to drop
something at someone’s house, sometimes I’m even so courteous that I drop off
the item and then call them to tell them the item is out front. This is okay unless you are dropping off
their child or their pet.
Please don’t think I don’t like having company for all of
you who are saying, “Oh shoot, now I know why she only pops out her head when I
stop by!” I actually love having company
but I also like to be prepared. If my
husband is wanting the house looking spectacular all he has to do is invite
some friends over, or at least tell me that he has. I have fallen for it a few times too
many. I can’t believe I actually cleaned
the house for no reason whatsoever!
Seriously though, come over, any of you, anytime! But if you didn’t give me any notice please
do me two favors. One, don’t go in the
laundry room for fear you may not find your way out and two, don’t ask me to
drive you anywhere – because my car is an entirely different blog post!
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