Last-minute mad scramble: Company's coming!!

(Joshua's Grilled Chicken Pizza [0],
which we served to guests on Friday)

No matter how much I try to prepare in advance, there always seems to be some last-minute chaos when we're expecting company. I already know better than to plan a bunch of foods that require last-minute care, since I can't visit with folks while I cook without forgetting something important.

But somehow, usually a number of things conspire together to ensure that the floor isn't too clean, the dishes aren't all caught up, my clothes sport a few stains, and my humility level remains intact.

Friday was one such day. Guests were scheduled for 11:30am lunch.

Thursday evening about 9 o'clock, our neighbor knocked on our door and handed me several gallons of dark red sour cherries. She asked me if we could make her two pies with part of them. I appreciated the food, but was already envisioning the many hours of labor required to wash cherries, pit cherries, make pie filling, make pie crust, and assemble the pies.

I got the children off to bed (our summer hours are shorter on sleep than our winter ones!), washed dishes, and cleaned up the kitchen. I was feeling a little overwhelmed knowing that we had to be ready for company the next morning, along with doing up all the cherries (which looked like they wouldn't keep for more than a couple of days... and the next day was Sabbath!).

I went to bed about 1am, leaving a note for Joshua about the cherries and the next day's menu (pizza, fresh bread, cherry pie!).

My AMAZING husband got up early and started on my work. When I awoke at 7am, Joshua had ground flour and made two loaves of bread [0], made pie crust [0], and washed the cherries. We pitted the cherries (we both worked for about 1 1/2 hours to pit them all!), finished the pies (recipe coming soon), and then started on the grilled chicken pizza for lunch [0]. My pies were filled too full and ran over in the oven, so I had to clean that before we could bake pizza.

Joshua and I worked as fast as we could all morning and at 11am we were starting to wipe down the table, take out the trash/compost, sweep the floor, etc. I was still in my cherry-spotted shirt and my hair hadn't been touched. As I stepped out the back door with the trash, our guests arrived.

Oh, well, I guess it's not like we're the only people who make a mess of the kitchen when there's work that needs done.

And it's a good thing we have company regularly... it gives me a sort of "deadline" and keeps me on my toes! :) Also: see Meredith's related thoughts here. [1] :)