Saturday, 27 October 2007

• Having Friends In

  Is it hard for you to have friends in?  I'm happy to say, for us, the answer is "not anymore."

  Now, I've always said, if you've come to see me, come anytime.  If you've come to see my house, make an appointment.

  I've always said it.  But I still was always vaguely embarrassed by the messiness of my house when people surprised me with a visit.  And if people did "make an appointment," it was always preceded with my husband and I racing frantically around the house sweeping messes into boxes, bags, and laundry baskets to hide somewhere, shutting off unused rooms, and wiping down whatever we could.

  We're having people in tomorrow, for the first time since we've both been adequately and consistently treated for our ADD.  Man, what a difference it is!  We're calm, we're collected, and the unavoidable emergency doesn't throw us for a loop.

  At our weekly meeting on Wednesday, I reminded my husband that people were coming over Saturday night.  I then penciled in a few hours on Saturday night, when he arrived home from work, for the four of us to clean up a bit.

  This afternoon, I made a list of what needed done, so the four of us would have some direction this evening.  It looked like this:

  • Wipe down kitchen and dining room with hot soapy water (we have a sweet little guy with a peanut allergy coming)
  • Mop the kitchen floor
  • Wipe down the bathroom
  • Dust the furniture on the first floor
    
  • Clear and dust the stairs (we always have clutter on the stairs because we throw things in that general direction if they need to go up)
  • Straighten the kids' room
  • Run the Roomba (no, I'm not embarrassed to own a vaccuuming robot!)

  That's it!  It was all that was needed.  There was no clutter to hide and no piles of things to find a place for.  Our house was not too dirty to begin with.  It took us no time, even with "Baby Interruptus."  I helped the kids straighten their room, they dusted the furniture and cleared/dusted the stairs.  I straightened the living room and master bedroom, Mike wiped down the kitchen an d the dining room and wiped down the bathroom.  Easy peasy!
  Even when Mike had to suddenly stop what he was doing to fix a water back-up in the basement laundry room, it did not throw us off and make us stay up way too late or leave things undone, like has happened in the past.  Our house is pleasant, just a little neater than it usually is without being freakishly tidy, and we are not stressed to the max.
  I'm telling you, there is no way this could ever, ever have happened pre-Adderall.  I have said for a while now, the peace I feel living in my home clutter-free is worth it's weight in gold; my blood pressure is ten points lower just by virtue of not having to look daily, hourly at mess.  But not having to rush around like a crazy person when company's coming?  Priceless.
  
  

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