Hostess with the Most Mess

My friend Virginia is arriving today, and I'm very excited to see her...and to host her!  

She wants to give up a night down in D.C. where she used to live, and where all her other old friends still do,  to come stay with me all the way out in the 'burbs, which flatters me so much.   This so rarely happens when people come to visit Washington because, well,  everyone has seen a Wal-mart or 23,423 in their lifetime. Virgina is a great friend, though. She'll want to see where I take my dry cleaning, get gas, shop for groceries and could work-out if I actually went to the gym where I pay for a membership. That's just the kind of friend Virginia is, and I love that about her so much.

Unlike me, she is also very tidy and organized. If I were going to visit her house, she would never spend the eve of my arrival in a state of panick.

Last night after two stops - one to pick up dinner, another at the grocery - I got home from work around 7:30 (aka, just in time to see all of Access Hollywood).   After dining with Mr. W + Billy Bush, so began at 8pm my efforts to get my place ready for Virginia. For most of you together-types who get Real Simple in the mail, that would mean throwing some flowers in a vase, whipping up some homemade muffins and fluffing the pillows on the couch.

For me it meant:
Ask Mr. W if he just wanted to spring for a hotel room for me + Virignia tomorrow night.
He said no, therefore....

• Promise to never complain about wathing NFL football if Mr. W would please steam clean the carpets; he did
• Clear my summer clothes off the guest bed
• Change the sheets on the guest bed
• Clean 2 bathrooms
• Mop the kitchen floor
• Unload dishwasher
• Load dishwaher
• Unload dishwasher again
• Do a load of towels
• Hide what clutter remains on the sofas, steps, hall entry table and floor in the office or the basement
• Lock office door so guest cannot see everything hidden inside it
• Lock basement door so guest cannot see everything hidden inside it
• Go to bed around 11:30 telling self I will wake at 5:30 to continue what was not done before leaving for work
• Snooze until 7, beg Mr. W who gets home well before I will, with Virginia, to do what I failed to do become I will never be Martha

Sure I could have done some - even all - of this on Sunday instead of lounge on the couch all day watching Broadcast News. But I didn't; in addition to being a lousy housekeeer, I'm also a procrastinator.

I burned some yummy smelling candles for several hours last night, in hopes of masking the stench of basset hound to which my nose is totally immune, but I fear sends others into a dry heave. The guest room awaits with a few happies for Virginia because when you fear there are hostels more inviting than your own home, one tends to really overcompensate...

While I wait with tons of excitement to see my friend, and show her my life in the burbs...I hope desperately that she does not judge me for being a mess not open a closet door and get struck with a flying object. That would make for a great blog story, but a very unwarm welcome.