so the other night i had about 10 women over here planning the cancer benefit that's coming up fast...next weekend. eeek! the big deal isn't that we got so much accomplished and are tackling a kids carnival, bean bag tournament, dinner, silent auction and a dance (oh my gosh, are we really?). the big deal is that i had 10 women at my house.

see, one of my biggest fears in life is hosting people. i'm trying really hard to get over it, but i'm not sure this fear will ever totally go away. i always try to have a nice, clean house. and it usually is all nice and shiny on the surface...but deep inside, i know what my sock drawer looks like. i know that behind my washer lurks a whole new sub-environment. i know that my coat closet is a wreck. and my fear is in being discovered. it's happened. in fact, it happens far too often. i remember my mom coming to visit--now there's real pressure. she keeps the nicest looking house you'll ever see. you won't find a speck of dust anywhere. ever. it doesn't even matter if you pop in out of the blue. anyway, i cleaned the house really good, of course. i think she was impressed. until we decided to do some project that involved moving my bed. ummmm....yeah. not so sure she was impressed with 5 years worth of fuzz balls under there. or the time we bought a new tv and had to move my entertainment center. or the time we painted the kitchen and she got to see the top of my kitchen cupboards.

so anyway. back to the hosting thing. 10 women (i thought there would be 4 or 5), and i'm trying not to stress. i had cleaned, but not like SUPER cleaned. things generally look pretty good around here, but like i said...i just don't have time to move beds or climb up on top of things to get the dust off. i had bought a bottle of Mikearita, but one bottle doesn't go very far with 10 people. so everyone got a half glass full (cheesy) and then everyone was asking for water. doh. then we needed more space so we all trooped downstairs to meet, and i'm painfully aware of my lack of seating (two of our chairs are kid chairs). then, you know, women need to pee. and i'm thinking "you can pee, but if you pull back the bathtub curtain there could be dust in my bathtub." i mean, no one ever uses the downstairs shower unless we have company, so i don't polish it out that often.

we got done with the meeting and everything was fine. i felt good for facing my hosting fears and getting through them. until the very end, right before everyone was leaving. one of the women said "how long have you lived here?" i said "about 8 1/2 years." she said "oh, that makes me feel better. my family is always bugging me to decorate and i haven't had the time either."

mom, get your butt out here. we have some decorating to do. but first, i better clean that bathtub :)