Clump #233: Clear and clean downstairs for neighborhood meeting; day 29 of the 30-day challenge … almost there!

Anxiety Alert!  Today I had to get the house in shape for a neighborhood meeting, which was also a good kickstart to prepare for the visit of the Aunties (two of my husband’s sisters).  I will not post before and after photos of our house.  Suffice it to say it was a fairly dramatic change.  I’ll substitute before and after pictures I took this past weekend on a garden tour.  The photo below (held down with a nut?) was taken two weeks before the garden tour and displayed by the owners for all to see:

This was the way the garden looked the day of the the tour:

Kindred spirits like me, they obviously needed a deadline to get motivated.  Below, their charming water feature:

I did a lot of thinking about the unrealistic expectations I set for myself/my house when company comes.  I kept trying to remember that the most important aspect of having guests over is my own state of mind.  Who wants to be with someone all stressed out and frazzled? Anxiety is a bad hostess vibe with which to infuse an occasion.  I will never be Martha Stewart.  HA-ha-ha!  Something anyone who has ever read this blog does not need to be told!

There was one Martha-like garden on the tour:

Every detail perfection.

Harmonious, color coordinated, divine.

So much “wow” packed into a relatively small space.

I must tell myself that such perfection is not in my nature.  It would make me way too cranky to bear!