It takes a lot of work to make a party look this cheap

The Princess' 5th Birthday is coming up Sunday. Saturday is the more important date, though, as far as she is concerned. Birthday Party Day! Also known as Makeup And Jewelry Art Party Day! (I know The Boss Lady made a trip to the arts and craft store last weekend to get supplies, but I am not sure what the whole "makeup" thing is all about.)

Before then I have a laundry list of things to get done:

The laundry - What self-respecting laundry list of to-do would not include laundry? Can't have a mountain of clean laundry devouring the couch when the guests are here, right?

Mopping - There is a lot of non carpeted floor in this house. And it has been a long time since any of it has seen a mop.

Scrubbing the grout - The most hated of all chores. Never grout tiles with a light colored grout. You will hate life while bleaching the grout lines back to a light color.

Vacuuming the carpets and ceilings - Yep, ceilings. Our house has that "popcorn" ceiling texture and it needs a dusting.

Dusting everything - The weather has been awesome and the house has been wide open for several days. Mini blinds to baseboards, it all needs a wipe down.

Cleaning the kitchen - I think I need a sandblaster to do the job properly. Why did we buy a white stove?

Bathrooms - We have kids. You figure out the rest. And wear a haz-mat suit if you go potty, OK?

Kid's rooms - Seriously, I think The Boss Lady spent like 3 hours driving the slaves helping the kids in there last weekend. You wouldn't know it by looking though. That chore will wait until Saturday morning, no need to clean the mess two more times before the party.

Clutter removal/reorganizing/hiding - You and I both know that most of this crap is just going to end up on the floor of my bedroom closet that morning anyways...

And now the list of things that I will ACTUALLY get finished before the party:

Backyard - Mow, weed eat and edge, poop patrol, the preacher's kids will be here for goodness sake, and making sure everything is weed free. Hoping to get that done on Friday afternoon.

Front yard - Same things but I will get it done Saturday morning. No need to waste a good first impression.

The entire yard has to be watered, too. No need to kill my grass with 1000 little feet trampling everything into oblivion.

Plus, I really hope to get around to washing Marge, too. It may not make or break The Princess' party, but you never know when the dads around here might want to check out the old lady.

See, I told you it takes a lot of work to throw a backyard birthday party.

Now I am wondering why we didn't talk her into a bowling party instead.