Billets are on their way

We're such introverted types here that we're dreading it a little bit. But I said to Chris this morning that if one of our kids ever went on a school band tour, I'd want them to stay with people like us. So we should be those kind of people now.

The house is clean (almost). Just the kitchen and dining room table to do. Rosie's toy kitchen, for the third time today. I put all the little plates, knives, forks, spoons and wooden bits of fruit away neatly, and she walked in behind me as I was leaving and said, "I cook now." So it is back to the state it was in to start with.

There was only one book hidden behind the toilet (don't ask). Will have to have a word to the older two about that...again.

Sultana cake with brandy soaked sultanas in it is made and cooling down. It smells amazing. Dinner tonight is fancied up spaghetti bolognese with garlic bread and salad. And chocolate mousse with strawberries on top for dessert.

Praying that we can show hospitality to these guys and that they will like us/we will like them. And that the younger kids can cope with the additional family members for the next couple of days.

Yesterday...

I was mopping the floor around our dining room table.

This is quite a rare event. Usually sweeping up all the dry crunchy bits is as good as it gets with floor cleaning here.

But I didn't realise it was so rare until Liam told me that he'd never seen me doing it before.

I'm sure that's not true.

Post pantry cleaning bliss

I love opening the pantry and looking at neatness and orderliness. I love knowing exactly what we have and where it is located.

This neatness won't last long so I'll just enjoy the few days until we go shopping again and things end up randomly positioned anywhere.

Less exciting was the discovery of lots of chocolate that will have to wait a while to be eaten. Or will be eaten by other less dietary-restricted people in our house.

Reactive cleaning in progress....

It's really hot here today. Like summer. So we invited some people from church around this afternoon for a swim in our pool.

Having people over is usually the best way to get us to clean our house. For the rest of the time, other than picking toys up off the floor, not much gets done. It wasn't looking too good an hour ago. But sweeping and mopping are now done. Just the quick bathroom and toilet run around to go. Chris has just come back from Coles with food and drink (chips, cheese, biscuits, fruit).

We're getting better at the "not going to too much trouble" approach when we have people over. It seems to work better for us than talking about planning to invite people around (usually this discussion goes on between Chris and I for several weeks) and then not getting around to doing anything. Spontaneous seems to be the way to go.

Housework avoidance

Our church Committee of Management is having a meeting tonight. At our house.

The reason it is at our house is because I am going out to another committee meeting at Rosie's child care centre.

Usually I can get myself into a cleaning and tidying frenzy before people come to our house so that it looks at least semi-presentable. I used to do it every week when we had a Bible Study group here. In those days I would even manage to bake something to eat for supper.

Today I just can't be bothered. Lately it seems like the mess returns within a few minutes of it being cleaned up.

But I am going to have to get into gear. I am about to go and do the school pick-up. Then I will have forty-five minutes before the boys have to go to swimming to sort the cleaning out (while simultaneously practising spelling words with the kids for the school spelling bee this week). And I might just squeeze in making an Anzac slice between swimming and going out to my meeting.

And I forgot to say that our assistant minister is coming over to dinner (his wife is away at the moment). But at least dinner is covered. Chris made some meatballs in tomato sauce last night so we just have to cook up the fettucine and it is sorted.

Sigh. Sometimes life just feels too busy. There's always another job waiting after you've successfully accomplished one thing.

Census form...could it really be true?

I'm the form filler-in at our house. It's one of those jobs I enjoy doing. Something about seeing all the boxes neatly marked makes me happy.

Except last night when we were trying to sort out the amount of time each of us had spent doing domestic activities in the last week. When we worked it out properly, Chris had done more hours than me. His tally came in at 30 hours plus (on top of the 40 hours of paid work that he does).

My figure came in at less than that when I thought about it and added it up, although probably still in the 16 to 29 hour category. But it seemed embarrassing to admit that I had done less than him, since my paid work last week was only 16 hours. So I ticked the over 30 hours box too.

Although considering he was cleaning the kitchen and washing the dishes while I was sitting there filling in the form, maybe he's right about doing more than me....