Expecting the Unexpected

Sometimes you need a good kick in the pants to really get going on what you want to accomplish.  The kick happened to me recently, and I’m hoping it’s the catalyst to getting my home more organized and constantly clean-ish (instead of waiting until someone comes to stay with us!)

It was a night of solo-parenting as hubby was out of town for work.  My kids and I had just finished up at gymnastics, and we had said goodbye to my mom (who had come to watch) and we were headed home.  The moment I started to back out of my parking spot at the facility, my “low tire pressure” alert popped up.

This alert happens quite regularly when the temperatures drop outside.  For some reason, one of my front tires is finicky about the weather.  Usually I drive on it for a bit, until it’s convenient for me to stop and air it up a little.  However, this time, since hubby was out of town for the evening, and because I saw a gas station almost immediately after leaving the gymnastics facility, I stopped. Thankfully.

I checked the tire that was the usual culprit, but it was fine, so I checked the other front tire.  That’s when I heard the hissing sound coming from the back.  Sure enough, I had a slow leak and one of the back tires was almost flat.  Ugh.  I called my mom, who came back for us. Luckily, the tire shop where we bought the tires years ago was fairly close by, so I gave it some air and headed to the shop.  It was an hour passed closing, but I decided I would leave it, and I called their number just to leave them a message or see if they had any instructions, and amazingly someone answered! An employee was there late waiting for a repair person for one of their machines, and he was able to take my key so they could repair it in the morning.

Then came the dread.  That’s when I realized my mom would be taking us back to my house. Was it clean? Were the dirty dishes from breakfast still all over the place?  I don’t think I wiped the table after dinner? What about the dog prints? And that “craft” project my daughter had worked on all.over.the.floor last night?

My mom said she’d stay and help with showers and I invited her for tacos.  When she came in, she went to use the bathroom immediately so I rushed about cleaning up random spills and dishes. It was crazy, but I was very thankful for two things:

1. Having had house guests 10 days ago as our house was still in decent shape

and

2. The miracle that was me pre-cooking the ground turkey for tacos the night before since I knew we would be at gymnastics (the very first time I have ever done that, let me tell you. First. Time.)

In the end, the house wasn’t too bad, and the dinner went well.  My lessons learned from this is that anything can happen at anytime, and I would love to have my house (and my car…oh those poor employees at the tire store that had to drive my kid-mobile) in a ready-for-company state at all times…so I don’t need to be frantically wiping crumbs and hiding art projects while someone is using the bathroom.

One of the principles of the FlyLady program that I’ve been trying (and failing) to follow forever (at least 15 years) is to keep up on the cleaning so that you are always 15 minutes away from company-ready.  Sounds lovely, and even though I was technically about 15 seconds away from company, I need to really get back to that program and way of thinking.

Is your house always company-ready, or at least close? Do you frantically clean up when a surprise visit happens? Any tips?