Entertaining

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Just back from what was a circus yesterday and drying off. With the morning spent with raindrops and radio, I made a run for the grocery store because I was out of food and was getting hungry and it was time to reload. 

The mobs that were filling the place yesterday using their carts as walkers, blocking the doorway getting their glasses for the wine and beer tasting have thinned. It was “Customer Appreciation Day”. 

Free samples and special deals offered to gain forgiveness for months of dust and disruption created a location that was a magnet for old grazers. Even at one o’clock there were already white hair women staggering around the store from one wine sample booth to another wine sample booth. Wonder what the insurance risk on giving alcohol to old folks that you don’t have a history of how that will affect them and their meds? Maybe that week-old cheese they feed their faces everyday creates a protective coating to their stomach.

Burning my frozen pizza I try to get back to the thought of the day. 

Entertaining!

We entertain others who we invite to invade our personal space. It is not like they are robbing you (at least you hope not) but you have to make certain adjustments to your privacy to accommodate guest.

You got to pick up all those dirty clothes scattered on all the chairs and doorknobs, hide your porn tapes in the linen closet, sweep up the popcorn kernels from the late night horror movie, dust all the spider webs and pick up the dead June bugs in the window sills, cover the bed for the first time in months and put the pair of clean towels in the bathroom. 

And that is just the start of it. 

Speaking of the bathroom, it has to be cleaned up because no one can stay out of the bathroom. Put away the toothbrush, wipe up all the leftover spit toothpaste, sweep up all the hair and crude on the floor and put away the plunger and toilet brush. If you are really spiffy, put some flowers in and defiantly spray with air freshener. 

Ok, not the bathroom is done; the rest of the house needs straighten because we all know “guest” will wander around. They distract you with children or the spouse has a plan to anchor you in the kitchen while the rest of the family searches the house for future conversations.  So every little thing that is put within viewing will be judged and your personality will be evaluated on the results. 

Then your personal hygiene must be adjusted. A good scrubbing with soap and water might help and getting out of the comfort wear you drag around in everyday might at least you give the impression that you spruced up for the strangers.

Oh yeah, you have to prepare treats for the people who come into your space. Food and drink, either purchased or prepared must be offered as a way to fill the time between awkward conversations. To prepare the perfect setting you need to view those PBS shows giving tip on how to make leftovers the perfect snack or how to make a table setting out of trash. If you familiar with your guest you want to present their favorite food and if they are over 21, provide beverages that will blur the unease of the time together. 

If a dinner party is the entertaining platform then it is time to bring out the good china and the silver. Candles, though a fire hazard, are brought out of drawers and lit at the proper time to create the correct ambiance. 

A musical background can be assembled and party games within reach in case the chitchat goes south. 

At a certain predesignated time, the fashionable host will offer a yawn and hand back the wraps at the door to end the invasion and get back to the preferred lifestyle. 

The reason for all this adjustment is to impress the visitors who will leave and talk about what a pleasant stay they had and then invite you to come visit their abode. 

Now you can get back to scratching, putting you feet up on the furniture, belching, and falling asleep in a chair. 

This entertaining is a lot of work.