Mission Impossible

There is nothing quite so motivating as a holiday… when I was a kid, I was motivated to behave myself every time my parents sang, you better watch out, you better not cry… as an adult, I am motivated to get some projects completed, yes, you heard me correctly… completed, around the house before my Thanksgiving guests arrive. Impossible? We shall see… The first thing you should know is that all these guests but one (my Dad) either live here or have been here multiple times. Simple enough, right? The second thing you should know is that in order to have all of us together on one day, we are celebrating on Sunday, November 23rd. Not simple, not simple at all… that is less than a week from now. I am at DEFCON 3, high alert. By the end of the week when both Connor and my Dad arrive, I could easily be approaching DEFCON 1, the point when Robot from Lost in Space waves his mechanical arms yelling, “Danger, Will Robinson.” And as any member of my family can tell you… that is not a pretty sight.

So what have I been doing to avert this catastrophe you might ask??? Well, while John rode around on his tractor turned leaf vacuum all day… I worked to convert two rooms into usable space. FYI, he might challenge my representation of his actions, but that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

First Connor’s room, aka the room my Dad will use while he is here (sorry Connor, I promise it will be all yours at Christmas). If you think back to our very early (and not so early) days in the house, you may recall that it all started with John and me on a mattress on the floor, while Kaitlyn and the boys lived a life of luxury with their friends (thanks again, friends). Two weeks before Connor was due to head back to school, we forced him… I mean, he begged us to come home so he could sleep on his mattress on the floor just like Mom and Dad… all the cool kids are doing it. Since the floor refinishing wasn’t completed until after he left, we never really set up his room. And I don’t know about you, but what happens around here when rooms don’t get set up is that they turn into storage rooms, in this particular case, the paint and tool storage room. This was extremely convenient as you might imagine, because we have been using lots of paint and lots of tools, so it’s been really nice to have them all in one spot. Ah well.. all good things must come to an end.

Paint and tools come out and relocate to John’s office closet (because if not in Connor’s room, where else would one keep paint?) and the garage (a more reasonable choice), respectively. A bed, a dresser, a bookcase, a desk, a chair, a night table, three lamps, and an alarm clock move in. Sheets are washed, the bed is made, and usable space #1 is all set. My Dad will be extremely grateful, Connor… not so much. (The cats seem to approve.)

So where will poor Connor sleep, you may ask… why, in the sun room, of course… sounds restful, doesn’t it… SUN room… anyhoo… this was a similarly un-set up (un-set up? I’m going with it) room. This is where we first had a TV hook up, with a TV, but no TV stand, so all TV viewing was done… you guessed it… on the floor! Eventually two camp chairs moved out there, to better facilitate TV viewing, and various other odds and ends joined them. As with the tools mentioned above, the camp chairs and odds and ends have now moved out to the garage, and a sectional sleeper sofa moved in. Getting that beast back into the house was no mean feat! Especially since I have already asserted that I was working alone… well okay, maybe I had a little help. The corner piece was in the garage. The right and left sides were in the little house. And the cushions were all over the place. I think we finally have them all present and accounted for. More sheets washed, a foam mattress pad added and we should be all set for usable space #2. (Still no TV stand, as you see, although, again, the cats seem unperturbed.)

Mission complete! This blog post will self destruct in 5 seconds…