Clean the House Before Company Arrives

A very good friend of mine, who I have known for 18 years, is coming to visit us for the weekend. She has seen every place I have lived in from the house I grew up in to my dorm room. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding and, I suspect, I will be a bridesmaid in hers one day. I am confident that she will be part of my life forever. So why did I spend the last day and a half making my house spotless!?!

This happens every time someone comes to visit. I clean parts of the house that guests probably won't even see!! My husband and I are very neat people- one of the benefits of both of us having pack rat mothers is that we are completely the opposite of them. Even when we haven't cleaned it for a while, the house is still pretty clean by most people's standards. There is the occasional build up of pet hair that comes from having 130 lbs of dog and cat in the house but between Glade Plug-ins and Febreeze you probably wouldn't know we had pets unless you went in their room (yes, my pets have a room that they share with the exercise equipment).

I can't remember ever going into someones house and critiquing how neat it was and I don't think any of my friends would do that either so I'm not sure where this obsession came from. I know that one of two things are going to pop into their head when they walk into my house: "Where's the bathroom?" or "What's for dinner?".

I am not Martha Stewart by any stretch of the imagination but suddenly pictures that have been waiting to be framed and closets that need to be cleaned are done immediately before a house guest arrives. We had our rehearsal dinner here the night before the wedding and I spent the better part of the week hanging pictures and accessorizing the house in addition to all the cleaning. The day of the wedding was the most relaxing day of all because I knew no one was coming back to the house!!!

I even clean the house before we go out of town because I don't want the petsitter to think we're messy people. From what we can tell we pay her to sit on the couch and watch TV while spoiling the pets and eating (the trash can is always full of empty treat and fast food bags when we get back). I clean parts of the house that she definitely won't be in just in case she gets curious and decides to explore. I know, I'm neurotic.

So tomorrow morning I will rake the lawn and clean the inside of my car before picking my friend up from the airport because the last thing I need her thinking is that my car smells like dog and my lawn is a mess!! Five minutes after she arrives I will be so excited that she is here that I will completely forget about what the house looks like and focus on having a good time. I think my brother in law is coming next month. I better stock up on cleaning supplies....