A Quick Fix

Fixing the house takes time, especially if the house is big. Since time is a luxury that people don't usually have, especially with unexpected visitors who are visiting from out of town and just called from the airport and are on the way, the best thing to do will be to make a quick fix that can later be improved on when things have settled.

Here are some tips on how to do it:

1. Given that the kids have turned the living room into a playground and this is the place where the guests will be, one should hide the toys and other junk lying around by throwing it in the closet.

2. If people have just eaten breakfast and the plates are all in the sink, one should throw it in the dishwasher so the kitchen will not look like a mess.

3. Since there is no time to vacuum the carpet or polish the floor, one should just sweep the dirt first under the rug and hope the in-laws won't notice it.

4. If the rooms look like war zones, one should wake up the kids and try to tidy up the place the best possible way since the guests will surely want to see the rooms.

5. If there is laundry that needs to be washed, this should all be collected and thrown into the washing machine.

6. If there is garbage that is still in the house, it is best to put it in a bag and hide it in the closet which can then be thrown out later when the visitors have settled it.

7. If the walls in the house need a paint job or some cracks have not been repaired yet, one should cover it with a painting, a vase or a cabinet so none of the visitors will notice the house is a mess.

Rush jobs are hard since proper planning is not done before executing a course of action. Another thing that makes it challenging is getting the family to work as a team especially if most have just gotten out of bed and are still groggy.

There is only so much an individual and the family can do when its crunch time. It may not be the best thing to show to people but it's the reality that sometimes a person must face, like getting a pop quiz in class.