Camping Aftermath

We spent weeks planning and preparing for relatives visiting and the party for Barley's baptism. These preparations included:

• Cleaning both cars inside and out (amazing what detritus accumulates in the backseat with kids aboard)
• De-cobwebbing our living room's high ceiling
• Having hottub serviced in the backyard, though we didn't end up using it
• Cleaning patio furniture--and of course it was too hot to sit outside that weekend
• Patching and repainting the holes in the wall in the hallway
• Replacing ALL the burned out lightbulbs in the house--there were 5 different varieties of fluorescent bulbs!
• Drafting underage labor into clearing the toyroom floor for cousins to camp out
• Hanging falsely advertised wire rod for curtains in the TV room for privacy
• Attempting to acquire curtains for above rod (failed)
• Clearing all the horizontal surfaces in the house which were covered with papers and junk
• Scheduling cleaners to do final clean and sanitize makeover on house the day before guests arrive
• Stuffing anything left on the floor of the living room or TV room in a box, to be shoved in the front office or the garage, hoping like heck we'll be able to find stuff later (remote control? what remote control?)
  

Now, a scant week after our baptismal guests have departed, our house looks like a camping goods store upchucked all over it. (We went up to Mount Madonna County Park this last weekend with the Cub Scouts)

There are sleeping bags unrolled in the living room (to dry out); mountains of laundry in the garage; tent, rainfly and tarp set up in the backyard (where the sprinklers re-soaked them this morning); and the kitchen and dining room tables are piled high with the necessary tools of cooking and surviving in the wild....

AND we are going camping AGAIN before Labor Day! At least this second place has flush toilets, and it is less likely to rain. Did I mention our new church is also organizing a camping trip in September? We told the boys NO WAY.