My husband suggested we have a family dinner because the Turkey's were fresh. He intended to invite his parents and grandma and I to invite mine. We talked about this the weekend before on our drive down the valley to do some shopping. I don't know what hit me, but I immediately got on my cell phone and began phoning all my family in the immediate vicinity. Initially we began by telling people to come over for Turkey dinner and No we didn't need them to bring anything. In the matter of 15 minutes, much to my husbands belief or disbelief, I had invited 18 people - including our family. When my husband had done the final head count, we began thinking about the actuality of cooking for that many people, catering to a gluten free allergy, still caring for our 3 children, and the probability of exhaustion before anyone had even arrived.
The following day, while roasting pumpkin seeds, my husband and I brainstormed different dishes each family could bring to relieve some of the dinner stress and what we needed to get done around the house. Meanwhile, my husband looks over my shoulder and the pumpkin seeds are on fire. My husband tells me to do something about it. I opened the door and the flames rushed out the top. I quickly shut the door, looked at my husband and said, "I don't know what to do." He got up and took a look, while I ran downstairs for the fire extinguisher. As I ran down the stairs, I thought to myself, "I can finally get a new stove!." My husband, though, managed to put the fire out with baking soda before I had even found the extinguisher. The seeds were scorched, the oven was a mess, the house stunk, and twin2 was bug eyed with fright. We put the scorched baking sheet out on the lawn, opened all the doors and windows, sat back down at the table and finished planning. Over the next few days, we phone each of the families and they all agreed to bring a dish. Ya family.
Now with the organization complete, the cleaning begins. There is a definite bonus to inviting people over. All those little things that you have been putting off cleaning or getting done get finished. I don't think I had dusted in about a year, no wait - nesting, I dusted just before the baby was born. We had made a list, which now included the stove. Let the cleaning begin.
Before dusting could be done, I had to find the surfaces to dust. I have no idea where it all comes from, but I have crap. Piles of it. Little things that get brought in the house or get used and quickly put out of reach from little hands and either don't have a home or never get put away. I don't even have crap like some people have crap. I don't buy cheap dollar store/liquidation stuff and I don't collect anything (besides teapots). I don't even have a problem throwing things away. However, the crap continues to build up. So I started there. I pitched things, reorganized, found new homes, and put things away in every room of the house. Then the dusting could be done. Next, the windows. I thought that I could get away with doing this a few days ahead - Nope. The following day, I walked in to the living room to see twin2 helping me clean by washing the front window with a wet wipe. What a sweet little man. Needless to say, cleaning windows was re added to the list of chores.
The day before the dinner, my mother took the twins for the morning and allowed me to get the bathrooms cleaned and the floors/couches vacuumed. I still had the baby who was no help what so ever. He followed me into every room and ripped it apart behind me. He is in that curious stage and is mobile enough that he can now turn a room from clean to disaster in minutes. After the vacuuming was finished, I decided to give up on cleaning and finish everything else the morning of the dinner. As it was, the twins decided to play in the sand box that evening and traipsed sand throughout the entire house. Ya, I get to re vacuum everything too.
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