Nearing Completion

A lot of pressure I feel in life is self-imposed. If something needs to be done, then it should be perfect in my head. I’m really trying to let go of that nagging thought since it really does no one any good. Done is better than perfect at this point. And seriously, once the baby is here, every notion of perfection is going out the window.

OccDoc and I are hosting some guests starting on Thursday. We’re involved in Worldwide Marriage Encounter and have been trying to make a good impression on the WWME community here. It’s not a hard thing to do since everyone is super nice in the WWME community worldwide. It’s like having an extended church family that’s worldwide, pretty helpful if you move a lot. Anyway, some WWME VIPs are coming in to have a big meeting in our town. We are super excited to be hosting a couple and a priest who will be attending the ‘head honcho’ meetings. As you may recall we just moved into our house at the beginning of November, and it’s a bit of a wreck at the moment, which is adding to my heartburn.

You see way back in November I thought it would be a really good idea to volunteer to host the VIPs. It would give me a deadline to get the guest bedroom, guest bathroom, and nursery set up to be inhabited. In theory this was a good idea; in reality I want to go back in time and smack myself. Fortunately, things are falling into place. The guest room just needs trim painted and the furniture placed – then it will be ready. Sadly, it will be rather barren looking, as I won’t have time to decorate and shop for things to fill in the holes in our existing decor. Good thing for fresh flowers!!!

Our contractor, who is awesome, has been busting his butt to get the bathrooms done. The guest bathroom is almost complete; he’s installing the towel bar and fixtures on the tub/shower tomorrow, then it just needs a final cleaning. Our master bathroom will be complete the middle of next week, but that doesn’t really matter since none of our guests need to use the master bath.

The nursery is all painted; the closet doors need to be replaced, but that’s not happening right now. OccDoc and my dad hung the new bedroom door yesterday; it needs a coat of paint to match the trim, but that’s not happening before our guests arrive. I got a twin bed all set up (the bedding is in the washer) and ready to go for our visiting priest. Again, it’s pretty spartan, but I could always use the little diaper covers I got this weekend to decorate – those things are so damn cute. Just kidding, for decor fresh flowers and an antique bedside bible it is!

I’m also very nervous to be hosting a priest in our home, since I don’t know if you know this but I swear all the time. All the time. Most of the priests we actually know outside of church swear, too, so it’s not a huge deal, but I don’t know this visiting priest he might be a rare, non-swearing, non-dirty-joke-telling priest. And the couple is very religious, too. We aren’t that religious. I know I’m worried about crap that doesn’t matter and I’m sure they aren’t going to think we’re terrible hosts because we don’t quote scripture every 10 minutes, but I need to worry about something!

Anyway, this the main reason I’ve been so high-strung lately. I just want things perfect, even though I know it’s beyond realistic to expect perfection. Sigh. On a positive note, I guess third time is a charm on our couch. After I sent back the last two couches because the deliver guys couldn’t fit them down the basement stairs, we finally found one that fits (that I measured myself since everyone at the store was obviously completely incompetent).

Am I the only one who stresses hardcore over guests? I’m not talking like visiting parents or longtime friends, but like people you don’t really know or, gasp, in-laws. Yes, people, my mother-in-law will be visiting (and staying with us) sometime after the baby is born, so hold on to your hats for that freak out probably occurring sometime this summer.

On Thursday I will be posting photos of the guest rooms before our guests arrive, just so you can see what I’ve been so insane about. Plus, I need some decorating ideas for the guest bedroom, and I’m hoping you all can help out.