Clump #98: Clean (most of) upstairs to prepare for Thanksgiving guests.
At holiday time I usually greet my guests with the vacuum cleaner in one hand and the can of Comet in the other. (When I started this blog I never realized it would become such a confessional!) I thought I’d give myself one more challenge — get the house cleaned before Wednesday — within a challenge — Project Enjoy Christmas — within a challenge — the 30-day, 30-clumps, 30-posts. Kind of like a Turducken. (Just googled the name for correct spelling, and wouldn’t you know Paula Deen has a recipe for it?)
This calendar page belongs to a friend who is a wild woman in the best sense of the word:
Just getting started is sometimes the hardest part of the job. So True! And now I’m on a roll.
I’m ashamed to say that when my kids were young, whenever I got out the vacuum cleaner, one or more would ask, “Who’s coming over?” Also, when I’m feeling stressed out for any reason, I’ll soon notice that someone (usually my son) has put on the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, composed by the incomparable Vince Guaraldi. With the first eloquent piano notes of O Tannenbaum , I relax and smile. It’s a surefire way to get Mom to chill.
Today I discovered that just one of the benefits of cleaning early is that I have enough time to do a much more thorough job. I even started with my husband’s and my bedroom. Usually this would be last priority, after the guest rooms … “the shoemaker’s children go without shoes.”
Note to self: books left on the floor are not more likely to be read than books on a shelf. Here’s the second Hunger Games book, which I mean to read before seeing the movie. (Have the books been out since the first movie of the series was in theaters?)
The trees I photographed this morning are a testament to the beauty of clear and clean.
This year I might just arrive at the door to greet guests with a calm demeanor and nary a cleaning product in sight. The funny thing is, my Thanksgiving guests will probably miss the traditional greeting and the laugh we have about it, but it’s a tradition I have to let go!
Clump A Day 
“Just getting started is sometimes the hardest part of the job. “…and sometimes recognizing when to stop is even harder. Once I get started, I have a hard time not seeing just one more thing I want to do (usually outside stuff, not as much inside, which is more Cheryl’s area), even sometimes after guests have arrived, as if those projects outside are more important than our guests.
Excellent point! I know just what you mean.