Wednesday, May 31, 2006

A Full Day, and a Wish Fulfilled

Remember how yesterday I posted that one thing I wanted to do was open my house to others more often? Well, yesterday Papa called me and let me know that the only day he could get the car in to be serviced was Thursday. That's park day - I hate to miss park day! So I suggested that the group come over to my house, as we haven't been having much of a turnout and my house is only a mile from the park.

The house is in good shape; it's a bit messy at times, but is pretty clean underneath. We've been working really hard at it, and with the exception of a few rooms most of the dust and grime is gone (we had a not-so-great housekeeper before this). So I was thinking that I'd spend 30 minutes cleaning the outdoor chairs, and that the boys could put away their outside toys.

Wrong! It's amazing what you see outside when you imagine a 2YO walking around. There was a lot that needed to be put away, plus the boys had made a big mess out there. I spent about an hour just gathering things up and putting them away.

After dinner I headed back out to clean the chairs. Some of them needed a good scrubbing, and some just a quick rinse. I also hosed off the table and deck. Then I realized there was room in the recycling bin, so I tossed in some broken containers and lids that the boys had been using in their junk pile. I did some sweeping. Now here is where I learned a few lessons.

One, don't assume that hosing down a large expanse of concrete will be easier than sweeping. It took me most of an hour, and in the end I left a puddle of mud in the driveway because the hose wasn't powerful enough to move it out of a depression. That's right - mud. There was too much dirt for me to tackle with a hose instead of sweeping. Two, once you start with water you are stuck - you can't change your mind and sweep. Luckily I didn't even try. Three, there is a reason people use pressure washers; I used a lot of water. It has probably been 3 years since we last actually used water to clean the concrete out there. Four, I will always end up doing far more than I had originally planned.

When Papa came home I mentioned how dirty it was, and he informed me that the gardener hadn't used the blower back there Sunday because we were home and had company. The boys have also been busy making mud pies.

So I had a really busy day, but I feel so content to have the outside clean and ready for summer. Sometimes you need motivation to do something that you really want to do, but never find time for. Already I am thinking how nice it will be to eat dinner on the deck tomorrow night.

Tomorrow morning should be fairly easy. The boys are going to get their hair cut, and I am going to give their room a once over just to make sure there aren't any of those Magnetix pieces on the floor (they were recalled for younger children). Then I just have my regular morning chores, and if we are lucky we'll get our morning lesson in before our friends start arriving.

2 comments:

  1. HAve a GREAT day with your friends. We love having people over to visit and to let the kids play. That sounds like a great Thursday!

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  2. We had a lot of fun - we would have had fun at the park, but sometimes it is nice to be at a home, where there are clean potties and fresh water, and fences all around so we can relax a little. We even had an impromptu lunch.

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