Pre-party cleanup

Hans and I have learned that, aside from keeping the dishes under control because we need something to eat off of, really the only way that we get motivated to clean the house is to have a party. So that is what we are doing this Saturday. This is ostensibly my (very) belated birthday party, but since my birthday was a month and a half ago, that's just a token excuse. We just want to have a clean house.

So yesterday I laid down sawdust next to the raised beds and on the path in the garden. The grass from the lawn is invading the herb bed with a vengeance, and making some serious inroads into the lettuce bed. It was amazing how much sunnier the beds became when I stomped down the grass and weighed it down with a pile of wood shavings. We'll see if this keeps the weedery down next year, too.

I cleaned up the greenhouse and the atrium, and Hans hauled away a carload of trash. I picked a handful of berries, and tidied the plastic bag avalanche (no pictures for the public of that monstrosity, alas. Then I cooked an absolutely fabulous dinner featuring roast slab pork and orangey-pink borscht-like lentil soup (with local vegetables, except for the lentils and leftover chicken bits). The Noble Spousal Unit did the dishes!

I've put a paper plate up in the bar ("Transvesterites Welcome") but people don't seem to realize it's happening. So, for those of our friends and relations who may be interested, it starts at 4 pm and goes on until the cows come home. Potluck, with games and music and movies all night: The Rocky Horror Picture Show, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Kinky Boots. Ought to be a lineup to frighten the local homophobes away, I hope.

Today we'll continue the Grand Cleanup. Mopping is on the horizon. In the meantime, I'm going back to bed, as it's still really way too early in the morning, especially since I woke up at 4:30 am (too much rum last night--gives me insomnia).