Unexpected Company and Time Management

In January I did a post on New Year's resolutions and my own goals to better manage my time. Well, I've accomplished a couple of things:

First of all, I've dedicated the hours between 8am and 5pm as "writing time" so as to better mesh with my family's schedule. I do take one hour out of my day to go work out (another thing on my resolutions list) and I usually quit working around 4:30 so that I can actually cook a dinner that doesn't suck. Well, doesn't suck too bad. I've also been tapering off on my on-line activity throughout the day. In the few months leading up to the release of Shaedes of Gray, I was on line A LOT. Like morning till night. My face was in front of the computer screen until I went to bed. Needless to say, this sort of agitated the hubs as he was beginning to feel like the "other man" in a torrid love triangle composed of me, him, and my laptop. And whereas my laptop is very sexy, I realized that I needed to step back and take a break. Self promotion is really important and I want to be visible and accessible. But I don't want my family to feel neglected, either. So, since January 1st I've been right on track: My writing has been WAY more productive, I get more done during the day, I'm cooking semi-edible meals, and I'm spending time with the fam in the evenings. 

So what could I have possibly not factored into my marvelous time-management schedule? Um... cleaning my house. I live in a small town and my house is sort of out in the middle of nowhere. I don't usually get surprise guests, but every once in a while, one of my friends will stop by. I think unexpected company is one of those things that sends a writer into a state of panic. As soon as you answer the door, you realize that you're wearing a t-shirt (which may or may not be clean), yoga pants (or the dreaded baggy sweats), your hair is a mess (and probably dirty), and your house (Holy shit! I forgot I even lived here!) looks like a pack of wild animals has been living there for the past few months. So, I mumble a few apologies for the mess, try to straighten up the 72 notebooks, paperbacks, day planner and 12-pack of Coke Zero that surrounds my laptop (which happens to live on my kitchen table), and then realize in a heart-stopping moment of panic that both of my bathrooms are completely disgusting. And after a well-masked panic attack and several mini strokes, the unexpected company leaves and I'm left realizing that there was an epic flaw in my time-management plan: Upkeep. 

So it's back to the drawing board. Mixed in with the writing, reading, social networking, cooking, and spending quality time with the fam, I need to add: cleaning house and self so that we are both April fresh in the event that unexpected company stops by to my list. I'm pretty sure I can block off an hour or so in my day for said upkeep. But I'm not making any promises. ;)

For the record, I Google searched "dirty house" for some funny image to plug in to this post, but the images the search gave me literally made my stomach turn. Plus, I didn't want you guys to think the pic was what my house actually looked like! ;)