Getting Ready

I've been cleaning, cleaning, cleaning...getting ready for my family to arrive from west and north. I've known about this for months, but do you think I got stuff done in advance? HA! My garage bedroom (where my daughter/son-in-law will stay) is clean. The living room is clean. The kitchen is almost clean. Three more rooms to go--and they'll be here tomorrow!

I always have great hopes of having a perfectly clean home, which is somewhat stupid since no one every really inspects the place, and it's "just" family. Plus, the house is usually a wreck when they all leave. Still, I have my pride! It's amusing, though. In the beginning of the cleaning process, I am going to do EVERYTHING. But then as the deadline gets closer and closer, I start bargaining with myself: Okay, I won't be able to wash the whole kitchen floor. I'll just get the dirtiest spots. Or...maybe no one will notice how really filthy the carpet is if I spot clean it. Or...gosh, the ceiling fan blades are really dirty, but if I just keep them moving, no one will be able to see that. You get the picture. In any case, the next few days will be very busy, and all I really want is for us all to enjoy each other's company and get from Point A to Point B and back safely.

On another note, looks like the tragedy in Japan has been pre-empted by problems in the Middle East. Newsflash, folks: there will NEVER be peace in the Middle East! There has been turmoil there for millenia and it isn't going to change. The jihad mentality is beyong European comprehension, and I would be very happy if we could find a way just to stay out of it all. The world has changed a lot just in my lifetime. Right Makes Might no longer works when a major rebellion to depose a leader can be orchestrated by social media and airplanes can be used as weapons to bring down buildings and a whole strong nation in the process. I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but we are all at the mercy of the world economy. When something happens in one part of the world, the rest of us suffer. No heads in the sand anymore! Don't get me started on the prices of gasoline...

Had lunch yesterday with two of my female former students, both of whom are just two years younger than my daughter. I had them both in elementary school, then again in high school, and they were conscientious students. Both are mothers of young'uns now. I have kept up with them and so many others via Facebook. We had a nice luncheon. What delightful ladies they are!

Every onward and upward. I still have a lot to do so had better get at it!