Oh Well At Least The House Is Clean ...

I'm serious. If you want the house to look really good, then don't expect me to look terribly put together ...

I mean, I do clean up regularly, but as far as thorough, deep cleaning goes:

But this coming weekend we were having a visit from my sister and brother-in-law (the ones we usually visit in WV). They seldom come to visit us, usually since three out of four of their kids live in Baltimore with their families. So a lot of the time, if we know they are going to be in Baltimore, we'll go there for the weekend and see everyone. So I think in all of the years we've been living in Philadelphia, they have actually planned a visit here three times. Usually related to Bloomsday, which is tomorrow. The plan was that they would drive to Baltimore today, and then make their way to Philadelphia tomorrow morning and stay here until Sunday.

So we have been doing a major cleaning in preparation for their visit. You know, actual cleaning as opposed to this:

You're probably guessing where this leads ...

Last night my sister called to say that they aren't going to be able to come after all. My brother-in-law is an attorney, and a big case that was originally scheduled to start in the first week of July got pushed to this coming Monday. So he needs to finish the prep that he thought he could work on during the next week or so to this weekend. She felt bad that they were cancelling at the last-minute, but said that even if they did end up coming, he wouldn't be able to enjoy himself, and she would end up feeling stressed. Which The Tim and I can understand and appreciate 100%. 

It's disappointing all the way around, because we had some things planned that I know they would have enjoyed. My sister said they will try to find another weekend to visit, and we can do some of the things then, but a few of them (i.e., Bloomsday events) were for this weekend only, and since we knew that was the reason they had chosen this date, we were excited that they would get to enjoy them. Plus, a few months ago, I had found someone who could cover my shift on Sunday, which is no easy task, and an even harder task during the summer, so I'm not sure if they reschedule for later in the summer, if I'll be able to swing that again.

Anyway, at least it wasn't really last-minute - I mean, they weren't supposed to arrive until Friday morning. We were just doing our cleaning so it was done in advance and I wasn't getting up ridiculously early on Friday to get things accomplished before they arrived. 

Having said all of that, the most recent weather report says that Friday and Saturday are likely to be rain days, so maybe it's all for the best and we won't all spend the days walking around getting wet. (That's my lemonade from lemons theory. 😉)

I'm sure that our weekend will be just fine. The Tim will be able to nap the days and evenings away as he usually does, and I'll be able to read, knit, stitch, whatever, and maybe do some baking; lately I've had the desire to make some cupcakes or scones. (Probably a result of a book I just finished where the main character owned a tearoom and was always making cupcakes and scones.)

And, well ... at least the house is clean. Though since we won't need to keep it clean for company, by the weekend it will likely be back to the usual state ... 

Such is life, right?