$$, Family and a messy kitchen

We really hit the jackpot for Christmas this year. With company holiday bonuses and family gifts, we got several hundred dollars to Home Depot (new floors!), Wal-mart cash, Target, Lowes, Publix (our local grocery store), and enough to buy me a basic sewing machine and Mr Moose a grill (I guess we’ll both get benefits from both of those, but I’ll do the majority of sewing, he’ll do the grilling, etc.). We’re trying to get the most out of each of these things and plan and be practical while also enjoying our small fortune.

Mr Moose picked up the grill yesterday while I was at work because the family were all coming by for burgers last night. I felt like I was being swarmed. They take forever to get there and then they just TAKE OVER. When I arrived home at 6-ish, my kitchen was clean. Mr Moose's Aunt and Uncle are staying with us, and his Aunt finished the few dishes that were left over from Christmas and she and Mr Moose cleared the counters, etc. Mr Moose had been very busy and the great room was more or less back in order, our new picture was in place on the wall over the couch, the grill was ready to go in the back and all was right with the world. By 8:00 this was not the case. By 8:00 there was no visible counter space in my kitchen, various bowls, mixers, knives and spoons were being employed to hold the veggie tray, multiple dips, etc. His family is obsessed with dips. Fruit dip, veggie dip, chip dip. I'm all for dips, but I'm more of the "buy the premade ones because they come with their very own nifty container" sort of girl. No bowls to scrape clean, no mixer wands to scrub. But they don't do it that way.

I went to bed at 10 after a mediocre burger and some high-in-onions (ewwwwww!) homemade potato salad. Too much chaos around me and I just wanted some peace. I dreamed about waking up to the chaotic kitchen and begging Mr Moose to get it cleaned up while I was at work. When he woke up this morning, I asked him how awful the kitchen looked. He said "spotless. They all pitched in and got it cleaned up last night." I was amazed. And relieved. I'm not a perfect housekeeper by any means, and we do sometimes for for a couple of days without cleaning the dishes, but that's 2 people, and a half dozen dishes, not my entire counter space and bowls of rejected dip, etc. I was thrilled to see a clean kitchen when I came out this morning.