Party Clean

When I woke up this morning, I only had a few things on my mind: Taking a shower, making apple quesadillas for my friend Emily's fiesta bachelorette party, and get Andy situated with Landon so that I could get to the party spot early enough to help the other party hosts set up. Simple, right? Umm...not so much! Anyone who knows me knows that things in my life are rarely simple! While I was in the shower (the kind of long, relaxing shower I only get to have on weekends when Andy's home), I heard the phone ringing over and over. Andy was still sleeping with Landon, so I got out and saw on the caller i.d. that it was one of the other hosts of the party calling. (Oh no...) She was out of breath as she told me that the girl who's house we were originally using for the party had fallen violently ill during the night and that we would have to move the party. I'll give you three guesses where the party was moved. Yes, MY HOUSE!! BAHHHHHH!!! I finished up the conversation as quickly as possible and said a calm goodbye.....Then I RAN!

I ran to get Andy out of bed. I ran to throw my hair into my signature mom-ponytail. Then I ran downstairs and started throwing toys haphazardly into drawers and cabinets and closets. All of a sudden I could see my house through a stranger's eyes: juice stains on the carpet, marker on the coffee table, dust on every visible surface (where did that come from anyways?)...I looked out the window and saw that Andy desperately needed to cut the grass. I also saw that it was raining. I decided to ignore the condition of the lawn, considering there was absolutely nothing I could do about it, and settled for getting Landon's sports equipment out of the pine needles and off the porch. AHHHHEEIIIEEAAHH!! We ran like crazy, wiping the kitchen countertops and scrubbing the bathrooms, vaccuuming and cleaning kid-prints and dog-prints from the patio windows. It was the best workout I've had in a long time! We got our house into party-hosting condition in record time. Andy and I joked about how we need to have big groups of people (or my in-laws!) over every once in a while just to get our house really clean!

Guests began to show up after a mere two hours of frenzied running and told us our house looked great and that it would be the perfect place to have the party. Andy and I just gave each other a quick "look" before answering them with a casual "Thanks! We wish we would have had more notice--then it wouldn't be such a pig sty!" Pig sty? Are you kidding me?! Our house hadn't been that sparkling and spotless in months! I love "Party Clean". I wanted to dance around my living room (which all of a sudden seemed so much bigger and nicer than it had that morning), enjoying the fact that I wouldn't slip on Landon's scattered artwork or cut my foot stepping on a lego. I wish time and toddler would allow more Party Clean days. Why is it that a dirty house irritates me, but I can never quite manage to be as organized as I want to be?

Anyway, the party was a lot of fun. Now, everyone is gone and guess what? We have a new mess to clean! Anyone want to come over?