Saturday 27 March 2010

The countdown has begun ...

It is now only two sleeps (three if you count the plane trip) until we arrive in Cairns.

As much as I have told myself (and you) that I don't really want to go and that we won't be able to do much due to budgetary constraints, I think I'm actually looking forward to it. (Hey, I'm a woman .. I'm allowed to change my mind! I just wish I could change it for one that worked better and more often!!)

The house has been cleaned, the bags are (almost) packed and the house-sitters have been introduced to the Lord and Master, aka 'The Dog', 'The Boss' or in lighter moments, Brutus. I have to admit, I was rather concerned about his reaction to having a 'strange' male in the house but he reacted to Bevan like a chocoholic when finding an open box of Lindt: initially wary (what's the catch?) then all over him like white on rice. (Sorry for all the similes .. or is it metaphors? I can never remember which is which and surprisingly enough I know, I don't actually care .. lol!)

Isn't it strange the things we women get in our heads to do just because someone else is coming to stay? I was pondering that exact thought just the other day as I sat on the kitchen floor, surrounded by mismatched Tupperware while trying to stop the dog from pinching any to use as a chew toy. There I was, completely emptying out all my cupboards so I could wipe them out with disinfectant and boiling hot water, all because a stranger was coming to stay.

It didn't seem to occur to me to make the front of the house more presentable by pulling out the triffids weeds growing along the edge of the driveway, or to empty both the carports of the extra stuff that I'm sure has parties after we go to sleep (parties that have been advertised on the internet and as a result now other people's leftover junk is still 'sleeping it off' at our place).

It didn't occur to me to me make sure that the numbers on the letter box were all still there so the house-sitters could find the house without the aid of a search party and bloodhounds, lured by the scent of the doggie treats I used to try to distract the dog from the all the lovely chew toys plastic ware strewn from one end of the kitchen to the other.

It nearly didn't occur to me to ensure there was sufficient food for the 'Lord and Master' but luckily one of the children is slightly more on the ball than I, so Brutus will be well nourished during our little trip to the other side of the continent. (The child will be given food but I cannot vouch for its nutritional content as we will, after all, be on holidays and that entitles us to some leniency in our intake of all things artificial .. apparently.)

However, it did occur to me that I simply must:
  • paint the main bedroom (which I managed to achieve)
  • paint the boys' bathroom (which I did not manage to achieve and have forgiven myself for .. temporarily at least!)
  • have matching mats on which to place all the different candles and their decorative holders that I have acquired (despite the fact that they have somehow managed to still look pretty in spite of their lack of a suitable resting place for the past few years)
  • clean underneath the fridge and freezer (because every house guest I've ever come across moves the fridge and freezer the second you're not looking .. don't they?)
  • re-pot the peace lily that adorns the bench in my ensuite (because the pot was black and every else is shades of brown/beige/blue and we wouldn't want them thinking I'm colour blind)
  • torture the children ask the children to help me get the house into some semblance of order by removing their will to live cleaning their rooms ... Yes child! I meant under the bed too! ... even though no-one would be staying in their rooms. (I know, how incredibly unfair of me to make them empty their rooms of dirty clothes, the rubbish in their bins and the mutating lifeforms under their beds and in their school bags.)

And on that cheery little mental image (school bags always make me shudder with apprehension .. eewwwww!), I shall take myself off to the Land of Nod to dream up more torture things for the boys to do tomorrow.

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