House Blessing & Open House

I had a great time. I really did. I'm grateful for the presence of our friends, and it felt like a blessed event.

I also learned more about entertaining, how to set realistic goals, and what not to do last-minute.

What I did right:
showered before the event (it was a tough call; it was T-1 hour, but it needed to happen)
baked some things the day before
delegated some things to Bob
put dirty hand towel from downstairs bath in the dirty clothes
(I didn't do this, but Bob did, and I liked the approach) announced that our house is a work in progress, and yes, we do know that there's a hole in the dining room ceiling.
invited some of our former neighbors whom we haven't seen in a long time. It was so much fun to reconnect.
held off on finishing our taxes (which I was itching to do), even though the last statement I needed arrived in the mail yesterday.
held off on finishing Andre Agassi's autobiography, which I'm loving. Loving.

What I did wrong:
spent precious time on the day of the event straightening all the paper in my recycling bin. Because, you know, everyone who comes over will be scandalized if it's not straight.
forgot to put a clean hand towel in the downstairs bath
realized at T-30 minutes that one of my children was naked, and the other two needed wardrobe changes. Hence, I was upstairs with three naked children when the first guests arrived.
tried a new recipe the day of the party. Made a double batch. It was a flop. Tried another new recipe. It flopped. Threw three batches of no-bake (in this case, no-good) cookies away.
waited too late to mop. Nothing like inviting people in to your kitchen with a wet floor. I skipped the mopping. I'm hoping no one was horrified.
failed to take pictures.
allowed our 3 1/2-year-old to stay up three hours past her bedtime, until it reached the point that she was acting completely drunk, and doing things like pulling down her eyelids and saying, "What are these??" in a very profound way.

Conclusion:
We have some great friends whom we really love. And we like spending time with them. And we should do it more often.