Busy As A Little Bee.

Nash was not a big fan of the floor waxing, but he did feel that it was important to supervise the work.

I was very accomplishment-oriented this weekend. The realization that we will be having a big party here in about 6 weeks (Sasha's college graduation) is a huge motivator. I don't want our friends and family to find out that we are perfectly comfortable LIVING IN SQUALOR.

Kidding. We don't live in squalor. But things seem to pile up in corners and baseboards seldom get washed and have you LOOKED under your beds recently? Good God. Saturday was all about cleaning the hell out of the house and doing 5000 loads of laundry. I was so filled with the Spirit of Cleanliness that I waxed and buffed the wood floors on the main floor of the house. Our house is small so it didn't really take very long. But the floors are treacherously slippery now so you can expect a post about a broken tailbone probably within 48 hours.

Sasha was home for the weekend. She handled all the animal-related errands and jobs yesterday, including running over to Petsmart to pick up a Furminator, recommended by Robyn. The cats are shedding like crazy and Robyn says that this will help. Believe you me, Robyn knows her animal care products.  Sasha tried it out and removed enough hair from the cats to make another cat.

We called Evangeline in Russia and everyone got a chance to talk to her. The conversation between Sasha and Evangeline went something like this:

Sasha: Hey.

Evangeline: Hey.

Sasha: Did you leave any underwear here? I forgot to bring any with me.

Evangeline: Yeah, there's probably some upstairs in my dresser. Don't take the nice ones.

Sasha: Who's going to stop me?

Evangeline: Ha-ha!

No squealing or sentimental crap with these two girls, no sirree bob.

There is a bunch of other stuff that we need to do before the party. The vinyl siding needs to be washed, all the furniture on the screen porch needs to be taken outside and scrubbed as well as the porch itself, kitchen cabinets need to be cleaned out and re-lined, and probably some other stuff that I haven't thought of. And then there's the yard work to think about.

If it weren't for parties Josh and I would never, ever get anything done around here.

Today was more of the same. We hauled a bunch of stuff out of the basement and took some to Goodwill and some to the dump.

Sasha and I topped the weekend off by going to Petsmart to adopt a cat for my parents. Their cat died a few months ago, and my mother has been making noises about getting another pet. Knowing my mother and her penchant for difficult dogs, this was really a self-preservation move on our part. Left to her own devices she would go find herself a diarrheal, blind, 3-legged dog with a taste for human flesh. Which we would end up with when she goes into the Home for Difficult Old People.

We found a beautiful little calico/tabby 11-month-old female. Her name is Phoebe. My parents are thrilled. Stupidly, I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures but I promise I will go over there within the next day or two and capture her soul.

Oh, there's more. MUCH more. But if I tell you everything now what would I say tomorrow? Oh, and sorry, I don't think I answered any comments last week but it's not because I don't love you. I just had a crazy busy week. 

Rosie adores any attention at all. Here she is giving Sasha some Schnoodle lovin' while Sasha does a little grooming.

Comments

[raehan]

See. You ARE having this baby with me. You're nesting.

[blackbird]

I thought I told you to bring that DAMN FLOOR WAX over here.

[Belle]

Must be something in the air because we rearranged our bedroom this weekend and it took a whole frickin' day to do everything including the above mentioned baseboard cleaning. And we don't even have people coming to view the loveliness!

You do realize the damn cat will outlive your folks most likely, right? Glad you picked out a beauty! :)

Had to laugh at your cat and the Furminator. Ours bites it, too! It's like she does NOT want to give up her hair and is mad or else she thinks all that hair belongs to another cat that she does not like!

[cindy]

Furminator? I've never heard of such a thing. Tom and I get our cat, Bishop, groomed. He loves it. When he gets home from being pampered and getting a good shave (just the body, not the head, legs or tail), he walks around like he's the cat's pajamas. Ha!
No seriously. And he won't shed for many months. Plus he looks super cute. But he basks in any kind of attention.
Animals are always a good decision for older folks. There's my two cents.

[Pam L]

I too do my best cleaning when we have company coming over, or even worse (better?) are throwing a big party. Like you, my insanity tells me I have to clean things people will never see, like your emptying and relining cupboards. Really, when is the last time you went to a party at someones house and came away thinking, "Did you see their cupboards with that really old cruddy liners? How do they LIVE like that?" I don't even remember to check out their baseboards and I'm supposed to notice cupboards? But, if it popped into my mind that mine were hideous, I would change them too probably. My husband has stopped telling me the place looks fine if he's invited someone over because that has never deterred me from scrubbing the upstairs bathroom's tub and toilet,that no one ever sees, "just in case."

[Liza Lee Miller]

Oh I hear you -- we know we should entertain about once a month and then the house would always be pretty good. Once a week and we'd be living in a showplace. It's so sad the way we let it go for ourselves and totally pick up for our friends. Sigh.

[eurolush]

Amen, sister. If it weren't for houseguests and parties, this house would never get cleaned.

[Glenna]

Does your company open your cabinets to see if they're lined?

And I saw the Furminator ads, but assumed they were bogus. Now I need to get one. Why are they different than brushes?

[maddy]

I straighten up and clean the bathrooms before I entertain, but that's about it. If I had to deal with all my home improvement projects before I entertained, I'd never have anyone over! My kitchen has been half-painted for several months. Only one person has commented on it. The others claimed not to notice when I pointed it out. (Most of the half-painted part is at the very top of a high ceiling, so it's not too obvious, apparently.)

I really am going to finish the kitchen painting soon, I swear.

Though lately we haven't had many people over, in general we entertain a lot.

[Buck Starr]

Home for Difficult Old People - did you make that up? I'm stealing it. I can't believe you have a daughter who comes home from school and does chores. My "chore" was to check to see what my parents had in the fridge. By the way, here in the West, we don't clean up for parties, we just move the cattle outside. Unless its winter.

Bucky

[Heidi]

We haven't had people over in ages, and when we do, it's easier to go the barbeque route. Baseboards? Ha!

[Margaret]

I wish I had a S. to groom our mangy old cat. She gets pretty angry with me when I do it, as in draws blood. I bet your house looks great. I got a little into that this weekend; I actually dusted and vacuumed, amid other chores.

[the bee]

The bee is still laughing. Seriously though, if you come to the bee home without your drawers .. you will fly commando or get to a mall.
I have to say that I am not generous like that. Umbrella, yes, undies, no.
Congrats to the graduate and her proud parents. Well done !!!
xx- the bee

[Laura/DaPFG]

that's love there - to share underwear with your sister.