Party prep
I am pleased with how much progress I've gotten on getting our house ready for the Bouncy House Party. It's a ton of work and I think I skipped it last year. But this year we're on track for an extra big version of it because Small Boy is graduating from high school and we'll have family visiting.
This past week-end we spent Saturday morning working full press on getting biomass out of our yard, into the back of the pickup truck and to the transfer station before it closed at 2 pm. We got two full loads of pulled vines, trimmed hedges, winterkill, some raked leaves and junk trees we weeded from the hedges. For me the hard part was pulling vines and digging up broadleaf dock. There's a rose bush taunting me over by the muddy gash but I left it alone. It has conquered me in past years and I'm not up for a fight right now.
My husband did some minor carpentry repairs in the kitchen and livingroom and I washed baseboards behind our record collection, something that is done approximately never. I set up some planters and walked to the farmer's market to buy plants for them and planted them on my deck. I went through the nests of little crap that accumulate and cleaned out a junk drawer, the top of the microwave, next to the TV, a bowl from the basement and all the bowls of crap sitting on bureaus. I cleaned off the buffet in the diningroom and the credenza in the livingroom. I washed out the spare refrigerator in the basement and started filling it with ice for the party.
In the best guest room, I moved the furniture and washed the baseboards, then I filled a bookshelf with books that were in boxes back from when we refinished the floor in the best guest room two years ago. I stripped all the beds (we now have three guest bedrooms that were previously made up for a New Year's Eve party) and got a ton of bedding washed. Every pillow protector in my home has been washed. All sheets in my home have been washed (except for the top bunk in Small Boy's room.) In Small Boy's room we hoed out a large garbage bag of stuffed animals and stored a drawerfull in his dresser of ones that might be collectible and/or are especially loved. I washed the slip covers for both couches (livingroom and porch). I washed the antique wooden rocking chair we keep on the porch and then painted it with linseed oil. My husband checked the propane tanks and I bought fairy lanterns and new adirondack chairs for the party.
I also bought new chairs for the porch table, because while B was cleaning the porch the prior week-end he'd set all our good resin chairs out on the street while he washed off the porch and someone came along and took them. My husband was deeply angry that they were "stolen" and I was deeply confused (and a little amused) that he didn't know that is what happens when you put furniture out on the curb. We've used this method to get rid of all sorts of things before. How did he not GUESS this would be a problem? The new chairs cost $120. Sigh. I think of that as the cost of having someone wash the porch.
We made up the menu and hired catering help to bring a couple of things as well as to help serve. This is the first time I've ever done that, but I've wanted to hire help for the actual day of the party *forever*. It's too hard to be constantly getting someone arriving a drink while someone is trying to leave and someone is asking me where the chips are to refill the bowl... I traditionally *work* the party instead of getting to enjoy it. I'm pretty excited about having help.
In the garage I set up an area for items that are Leaving My House. They can go to a tag sale or my kids or the Salvation Army or the trash, I don't care, but they aren't staying in my house. I hauled a few more barrels of household trash to the dump along with the biomass runs on Saturday, too.
Upstairs I've tackled the laundry room, getting it somewhat cleaned up, and the upstairs hall. I had bins of linens stacked in there that need a bit of organizing. Either throwing out, giving away or getting stowed in our linen closet comes to mind. The best guest room is currently covered in folded linens from my week-end of washing, so that's queued up to do next. Oh, and put mineral oil on my soapstone counters. I do that every May and November to keep the counters black. While I'm at it I'll oil the cutting boards, wooden knife handles and wooden spoons. This doesn't mix well with sorting linens (or working on keyboards) so I'll have to stagger these tasks out.
Back when tax season was ending I'd scheduled out my week-ends for the next two months. Besides getting the Victorian ready for the party, we have spring cleaning and yardwork to do in Maine to get it ready for the rental season, too. I'm traveling across two week-ends in June, and I'm scheduled to work face to face with clients most week-days. Basically, I knew which week-ends I had for which chores, which is why on Mother's Day week-end I needed to drive to Maine to mow the lawn by myself, because my husband had tickets to a Red Sox game and Small Boy was on a French Club trip to Montreal just when it needed doing. Similarily, this past week-end was assigned to "fix up the Decrepit Victorian into ship shape party fashion" because next week-end we're back in Maine finishing the setup before we start to have guests up THERE. We work on Maine a lot more than the Victorian, and I've been pretty excited about having time dedicated to fixing it up. I set the alarm clock for 7 AM each day. I had my husband and my son both home and both had pledged to help, and I was as happy as I ever get: achieving, making things nice, GETTING to have nice things. We were sore and exhausted after the heavy gardening morning on Saturday and felt it when rising on Sunday morning. I was super chipper, though, ready to press on. My husband, however, was the exact opposite. He's usually the chipper-in-the-morning person and I want to stay in bed. This time he was really down-spirited, groaning and unhappy. Slowly it dawned on me that we were both reacting to the same vision of the day: a day spent fixing up our house, working together, getting All The Things Done. Yeah. My idea of a perfect day is the exact opposite of my husband's. I am still sitting with that thought.
This past week-end we spent Saturday morning working full press on getting biomass out of our yard, into the back of the pickup truck and to the transfer station before it closed at 2 pm. We got two full loads of pulled vines, trimmed hedges, winterkill, some raked leaves and junk trees we weeded from the hedges. For me the hard part was pulling vines and digging up broadleaf dock. There's a rose bush taunting me over by the muddy gash but I left it alone. It has conquered me in past years and I'm not up for a fight right now.
My husband did some minor carpentry repairs in the kitchen and livingroom and I washed baseboards behind our record collection, something that is done approximately never. I set up some planters and walked to the farmer's market to buy plants for them and planted them on my deck. I went through the nests of little crap that accumulate and cleaned out a junk drawer, the top of the microwave, next to the TV, a bowl from the basement and all the bowls of crap sitting on bureaus. I cleaned off the buffet in the diningroom and the credenza in the livingroom. I washed out the spare refrigerator in the basement and started filling it with ice for the party.
In the best guest room, I moved the furniture and washed the baseboards, then I filled a bookshelf with books that were in boxes back from when we refinished the floor in the best guest room two years ago. I stripped all the beds (we now have three guest bedrooms that were previously made up for a New Year's Eve party) and got a ton of bedding washed. Every pillow protector in my home has been washed. All sheets in my home have been washed (except for the top bunk in Small Boy's room.) In Small Boy's room we hoed out a large garbage bag of stuffed animals and stored a drawerfull in his dresser of ones that might be collectible and/or are especially loved. I washed the slip covers for both couches (livingroom and porch). I washed the antique wooden rocking chair we keep on the porch and then painted it with linseed oil. My husband checked the propane tanks and I bought fairy lanterns and new adirondack chairs for the party.
I also bought new chairs for the porch table, because while B was cleaning the porch the prior week-end he'd set all our good resin chairs out on the street while he washed off the porch and someone came along and took them. My husband was deeply angry that they were "stolen" and I was deeply confused (and a little amused) that he didn't know that is what happens when you put furniture out on the curb. We've used this method to get rid of all sorts of things before. How did he not GUESS this would be a problem? The new chairs cost $120. Sigh. I think of that as the cost of having someone wash the porch.
We made up the menu and hired catering help to bring a couple of things as well as to help serve. This is the first time I've ever done that, but I've wanted to hire help for the actual day of the party *forever*. It's too hard to be constantly getting someone arriving a drink while someone is trying to leave and someone is asking me where the chips are to refill the bowl... I traditionally *work* the party instead of getting to enjoy it. I'm pretty excited about having help.
In the garage I set up an area for items that are Leaving My House. They can go to a tag sale or my kids or the Salvation Army or the trash, I don't care, but they aren't staying in my house. I hauled a few more barrels of household trash to the dump along with the biomass runs on Saturday, too.
Upstairs I've tackled the laundry room, getting it somewhat cleaned up, and the upstairs hall. I had bins of linens stacked in there that need a bit of organizing. Either throwing out, giving away or getting stowed in our linen closet comes to mind. The best guest room is currently covered in folded linens from my week-end of washing, so that's queued up to do next. Oh, and put mineral oil on my soapstone counters. I do that every May and November to keep the counters black. While I'm at it I'll oil the cutting boards, wooden knife handles and wooden spoons. This doesn't mix well with sorting linens (or working on keyboards) so I'll have to stagger these tasks out.
Back when tax season was ending I'd scheduled out my week-ends for the next two months. Besides getting the Victorian ready for the party, we have spring cleaning and yardwork to do in Maine to get it ready for the rental season, too. I'm traveling across two week-ends in June, and I'm scheduled to work face to face with clients most week-days. Basically, I knew which week-ends I had for which chores, which is why on Mother's Day week-end I needed to drive to Maine to mow the lawn by myself, because my husband had tickets to a Red Sox game and Small Boy was on a French Club trip to Montreal just when it needed doing. Similarily, this past week-end was assigned to "fix up the Decrepit Victorian into ship shape party fashion" because next week-end we're back in Maine finishing the setup before we start to have guests up THERE. We work on Maine a lot more than the Victorian, and I've been pretty excited about having time dedicated to fixing it up. I set the alarm clock for 7 AM each day. I had my husband and my son both home and both had pledged to help, and I was as happy as I ever get: achieving, making things nice, GETTING to have nice things. We were sore and exhausted after the heavy gardening morning on Saturday and felt it when rising on Sunday morning. I was super chipper, though, ready to press on. My husband, however, was the exact opposite. He's usually the chipper-in-the-morning person and I want to stay in bed. This time he was really down-spirited, groaning and unhappy. Slowly it dawned on me that we were both reacting to the same vision of the day: a day spent fixing up our house, working together, getting All The Things Done. Yeah. My idea of a perfect day is the exact opposite of my husband's. I am still sitting with that thought.