The job needed to be done, but.......

Friday was a long, busy and tiring day for me, but I set out to finish a job by a certain time and I did, B U T.........
Let me preface this with some important facts known to all......I am a clean person, but definitely not a "neat" person......Gary and I are entertaining again tomorrow night and I had been putting off getting help with the house for a long time, and this time I was determined to follow through and call the name given to me of a two-woman service.....I spoke with them Wednesday evening and we scheduled a time for them to come over and look at the house and give me an estimate Friday afternoon....they were to call around 2:30......Obviously I was not going to let them come into a sloppy house, so I was going to start cleaning on Thursday and finish it up on Friday, but I procrastinated Thursday away knowing full well that Friday was going to be a full 5 or so hours of some organization and a lot of cleaning.......I didn't want these women to think I was sloppy or dirty, so I had a big task on Friday morning....I woke up, had my coffee and did the crossword (had to do that).....and then the cleaning machine began....like a tornado, but much, much slower, I whipped through the house, garbage bags, sponges, Windex, Mr. Clean, some type of clorox foaming cleanser, paper towels and "true grit" and began my task.....I watched the clock as I performed these tasks and knew that I could make my goal of 2:15, giving myself fifteen minutes to sit on the couch and wait for 'their call'......started in my bedroom........vacuumed and mopped the hardwoods in the room, master bath was next....decided I wanted to change the look a little, so I toted a large mirror which was downstairs and put it in the tub area....I should point out that the mirror was much too heavy for me to be lifting, even without my neck issues.....but with my neck issues, I knew I would pay the price later.......with the sinks, tub and toilet sanitized and all mirrors windexed, I mopped the floor and even cleaned out a few of the bathroom drawers (just a bonus.....since they wouldn't be seeing that...) I removed all old magazines from the toilet area....refolded towels that are on a small etagere next to the tub, put a potted plant on top (I just read that all bathrooms should have something green in them)........I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 10:30.....doing just fine....I then went to the laundry room.....vacuumed, mopped, put away clean clothing that had accumulated on top of the dryer, cleaned the dogs' bowls and proceeded to the living room and den......my loving dog, Lexie, a yellow lab, leaves her mark everywhere, so with my mighty Dyson vacuum in hand, no hair was going to escape me......I did the floors, the rugs, the couch (she must lay on that couch at some time).....I windexed my two cocktail tables, polished an entertainment center, windexed the glass shelves on two etageres, did a little reorganization of a few chotchkes, then it was time to break for lunch......I heated some leftovers from two nights before and ate at the bar standing up.....I knew once I sat, it would be all over and I still had the kitchen and dining room. entry hall. wood floor steps going upstairs which I wanted to polish.......Timing was good, but I was starting to tire a little and I just kept focusing on my goal...sitting on the couch at 2:15.....I scrubbed the kitchen, the stove, the range top, the bar and counter tops, windexed the microwave and refrigerator and scrubbed the floor....then off to the dining room to vacuum, windex and dust, mopped the entry hall, polished those steps, went to my aerosol arsenal and got out lemon rug sprays, some sort of citrus spray for the upholstery and pillows, lit a Glade, pronounced Glaa - day, candle and plopped on the couch.....I must say everything looked so nice and I was very proud of myself.....
2:30 came and went and no call.....I called them at 3:00 and got their answering machine...I called again at 3:15 and left them a message, and then again at 3:40...at which time I had to leave to go get a manicure......as I fell apart at the manicure place from sheer fatigue, I received no call......Feeling pretty defeated, but with pretty nails, I headed home to see if they had called home....no, no, and no........
Gary was not due home until late that evening...he had been in Boston....I struggled to wander around the house so that I wouldn't go to bed at 5....I had a pb&j sandwich at 5:30, a bath and an apple at 6, and was in bed by 6:15.........clearly I learned a few things....
l....it's probably not a wise idea to tackle all these chores in one day ever again.
2....maybe it wasn't such a good idea to wait until the last minute to do all this.
3....it's a good thing I wasn't waiting for them to actually clean the house
4....maybe if I would be a little (okay a lot) more organized, and cleaned things as
they got messy, I WOULD NOT HAVE TO DO THIS AGAIN..........
I will call the ladies again on Monday and hope there was some sort of miscommunication as to why they did not show up or call, but meanwhile I have the satisfaction that I did such a good job on the house.....or maybe not.....I have slept the weekend away since my daily attack on the house and my neck is in a vice.....but tomorrow is a new day and it's Sunday night and the house is STILL CLEAN......