a crowd of people...

...came to my house recently, nearly unexpected. I readily admit to having offered, with a willingness to open the door. Agreed to let them in, but almost caught by surprise when they showed up. Even though I was sure they would eventually come, I did not know when.

The group I meet with regularly on Wednesday night takes a break over the summer. Maybe meeting one week as a study group, and deciding on where to go to share a meal in a restaurant the following week. Skip a Wednesday, then start over.  I suggested they could come to my house, instead of the usual home, where we have been going for years. I know how tedious it would be to have to be sure everything is neat and clean on a regular basis, even though I am not the world's messiest. So thought: a change of venue would be a break for the people who usually host the crowd.

I just did not know when they would be at my house: until the day before they came. I had cautioned them to come prepared for pot-luck, bring a dish to share. Otherwise it would be beer, chips and salsa. I did make a big taco salad, but they all brought things to eat, so we had plenty of food.

After I had extended the invite, I started cleaning in a random/half-hearted fashion. Whittling down the clutter - thus the epistle on Cleaning By Condensation. Which gives the opportunity to be Self-Righteous x 2. Resulting in all the clothing in the house being clean and tidily stored, plus a slight reduction in clutter. Sort of a 'good news-bad news' joke in that: laundry is done, the clutter is not visible, but the laundry baskets are now full of your junk mail/mess/stuff/hoardings.

Anyway: they came, brought good eats, enjoyed sharing food and conversation. With so little notice, I did practically no cleaning before they arrived. Stuck all the stuff in the bathroom down in the cupboard below the sink, and chose to ignore everything else. Knowing I would rather do the work after they left, to enjoy the results of my efforts when no one would come along and spill stuff.

Got up on Thursday morning and swept and mopped my kitchen floor. Yes, it is clean enough to eat off. That's the way I like it, but it does not happen very often. Just enough to avoid being a health hazard.