Anatomy of an Open House

Today we had an open house. I have so many things to say about this process that I'm just going to start saying them, with no clear narrative form. (So this will be like any other post.)
The level of clean your house has to be for an open house is mind-boggling. Especially for a family with two kids and a cat.
We have spent the last week trying to keep our house at an acceptable level of readiness, in case anyone wanted to see it while we were at work. They didn't.
You'd think that would mean our house wasn't too far from being ready to go this weekend, but you would be wrong. My brother and his fiancee were in town this weekend, so I took off Thursday and Friday (after being off on the Fourth). An extended holiday weekend does not lend itself to a clean house!
Why did we have the open house this very inconvenient weekend, you ask? For some reason my realtor and I did not communicate well regarding our plan for an open house. I wanted next weekend, he wanted today, and because he has the power to put an "Open Sunday 2-4!" sign in my yard, he won before I even realized I was losing. So that's why. I hope Shannon and Carrie still enjoyed their visit, despite the fact that my mind was sometimes elsewhere.
I could not have pulled my house together Sunday if not for my mom, who showed up at 8:00 a.m. with a mop and a smile. She and Chip cleaned until the realtor showed up (I wrangled kids and got them out of the house as much as possible), and the house looked perfect. I wanted to buy it myself. I can't thank her enough, but I will be sure and try as often as possible.
My cat did NOT like being put in his travel carrier and taken to my mom's house. He is currently back at home, locked in a bedroom trying to relax. He did a lot of hissing, spitting, and actual yelling, even after we got back home. I think he might need Valium. Which they do, in fact, prescribe to cats. What is it with Chip and the crazy cats?
We have friends who moved into a new house before putting their old one on the market, just so they could clean and de-clutter all at once. Man, I would do that if I could afford it! Right now I have a car trunk full of toys that I couldn't figure out what to do with otherwise. They'll be back in the middle of the den floor in no time, I'm sure.
I have friends who offered to let me drink their beer and eat their food this evening, but due to our crazy day (did I mention the trip to the airport and no naps for the kids?) we just couldn't make it to Midtown at a reasonable hour. And that's really the point of this. I'll miss being close to my mom, but I will really enjoy being close to everything else if and when this move happens. After this strangely stressful day, just knowing someone was willing to take care of my family for me tonight was enough to make me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
So thank you to everyone who really took care of me (Mom) or just offered to (Alleys) today- it means so much to me!
Now keep your fingers crossed that one of the two families that came by today will want to buy this house. Because the kids have already messed everything up, so this might have been our only shot.