My parents are arriving from Manila in 4 days. They were gone for almost 6 months this time, so in that period, we sort of rearranged the house to how we liked it. But now that they're almost back, me and Dave have been spending the past several weekends getting the house cleaned and re-organized and ready for them. I don't think we've done this much work in... hmm ...I don't even remember!

My checklist is almost done, these are the things we've accomplished:

• Moved our bed, dressers, bookshelf and small entertainment unit back into our bedroom. Thanks to my dad-in-law's truck, I can now watch TV/DVDs, or listen to nice CDs back in the comfort and privacy of our own room with lit scented candles setting the mood.
• Moved the furniture that was in our room into various other rooms. My parents are old, which makes them crazy packrats. My sisters bring their older furniture and other stuff over and my parents can't bear to throw anything away. We had to use a bit of ingenuity to make everything fit. So a dresser and a side table went into the guest room, and this other spare room now has 2 mattresses on top of 2 boxprings on top of a bedframe. Yes, the whole silly thing comes up to about my chest!
• Cleaned up the living area/TV room downstairs, as well as the guest room. Again this took a few hours of hard labour, due to rearranging of furniture, plus the fact that my parents like rugs. Big rugs, small rugs...this results in having to vaccuum the rugs AND the carpet underneath it.
  
• Cleaned my parents bedroom. The furniture in their room is the worst for dust. Black and super smooth shiny surface. Dust loves it. Also, washed all their sheets and pillows and big thick comforters. Those could not fit into our washer, so we actually had to bring 4 big garbage bags of heavy comforters to my sister's cos she has a big front loading washer.
• Cleaned all 3 bathrooms. This took about a whole day. Dave cleaned the toilets with bleach and was on his hands and knees cleaning the floor. Plus he cleaned all the bathtubs, tile and glass sliding doors. My parent's jacuzzi-type bathtub took more than an hour and 3 Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. Thank God Dave was well-trained to clean properly by his mom, cos there was no way in heck I could have done that. We also threw all the bathroom mats, toilet seat covers in the wash.
  
• Degreased the kitchen floor, cupboards and area near the stove. Oil just gets everywhere when you cook! Were thinking of pulling out the fridge and stove and cleaning behind, but think we'll leave that for Spring Cleaning, as we just did it last spring.
• Cleaned out the fridge. Actually took out each shelf and washed it with sponge and detergent. Threw out a bunch of old sauces, food, condiments, etc.
• Re-arranged all closets so items are organized: medicine closet, non-perishable food pantry, linen closet, etc.
  
• Cleaned and swept up the garage and area under the deck. Them spiders sure like to make cobwebs on the ceiling. Also, picked up garbage that had blown into our yard cos of the fallen wooden fence. Still have to fix that when it gets sunnier.
  
• Brought the computer back to the computer room. We had to get the Cable guy to come and install cable internet as there was no cable outlet in that room, stupid duplex house layout! He had to drill through the ceiling of our room into the computer room's floor, and run a cable through our TV connection into the computer upstairs.
• Cleaned my car. Actually, we cheated and just brought it to Oasis Car Wash. Good enough for now, for $12.95 they clean outside and inside, vacuummed the rugs and wiped the dashboard, windows and other surfaces. Not as clean as when we do it ourselves, but we were scrapped for time. When we clean my car, it's about 2 hours of detail cleaning, Dave actually cleans out each crevice with a toothbrush.
• Went shopping at Costco and stocked up on bulk paper towels, TP, laundry detergent, 3M lint remover rollers, soap, duct tape. We use the last 2 products to remove cat hair from our clothes and bedcovers. Also went to the recycling center to get a blue newspaper bag and yellow mixed paper bag that some creepo must have stolen off our back alley.
• Finished little maintennance things we've been procrastinating. Hammered on the double-lock for the back door, re-attached smoke alarm, replaced broken light bulbs, etc.
  

So now all that's left are a few last minute things we still have to do:

• Today we're going to Home Depot and hopefully see some nice, reasonably-priced vertical wooden blinds for the living room. Ours has about 5 fabric blinds that's fallen to the ground, due to old age and the cats playing with it. We've tried to hold them up with string, duct tape, etc but they still keep falling =) Wooden ones should last longer.
• Take the recyclables to the Recycling Depot. Will prob do this on Saturday morning before picking them up at the airport.
• Go to the market and get my dad's Lactose-free milk.
  
• Sort all my dad's mail and arrange them nicely on the table. File away the paid bills.
• Water all of my mom's plants again so they look as lively as they could when she sees them.
  
• Put tablecloths back on tables. Rugs and mats back on kitchen floor.
• Clip the cats' nails.
  
• Run all the dishes in the washer and put them away.
  
• Vaccuum and dust the whole house again. We have to leave this til last as dust and hair build up so fast with 2 cats.

So we're almost all set. We've been working pretty hard these past few weekends. After this, on weekends I'll prob have that feeling: "hm...now what do I do today?" So I've decided that I'm gonna go to the gym on Saturday and Sunday mornings starting this weekend, for a few hours each time. Both mornings they have a step class at 9:30, and a Muscle Sculpt class at 10:45. This way, I'll be going to the gym Wednesday and Thursday evenings, and weekend mornings.
4 times a week. Perfect. By the time summer rolls around, I'll be ready to reward myself with a brand new bikini!