I am cursed by closet doors.

When I bought my house, my planning included guests. Living in a major tourist destination put me knowingly in the travel plans on anyone choking down the cost of a hotel room during tourist season. When I lived in Kansas, I held a “2 week notice” rule for anyone stopping by just because the house was that messy, I slept on a mattress on a floor with no place but an awful couch for anyone else, and the dust/heating/cooling in the house was more of an acquired taste. I embraced the bachelor pad life there in Kansas — and in Alaska, I had no choice but to reject it. The Bear Cave has a guest bedroom, though not very big, it is complete with a bed and clean linens. Two bathrooms make for good rotations for visiting parties. I have the big couch, the deck, and an airbed all ready for come what may. I even have a cleaning lady come through every two weeks to keep me in check.

This week, that gets thrown into action. My old drum corp friend, Mary Glerum, her husband and two kids are staying at the bear cave between their Alaskan adventures. In an instant, this house will go from having good space for a man and a dog, to being filled with twice as many more living beings in it. That being said, I became acutely aware that as much as I rejected the bachelor pad feel of the house, it still was a bachelor pad. So, I got to work on “de-bacholering” the place.

That starts with the simple things, having enough pillows / towels / blankets /stuff that make you feel you are a hotel. Pillows are what took me by surprise; since I am so proud of my “pillow theory” (that’s a different story) I was surprised that I had only 6 pillows in the house, and two of those smelt like dog. So … that number was doubled. Speaking of which, smell is a big part of this transformation. Let’s face it, we get used to our smells, and for people to enter your world you don’t know what they do and do not smell. I don’t want the place stinking with man/dog mess, but I don’t want it stinking of girly stuff either. Enter “Yankee Candle Company” and their man scents (I chose “lawn mower” over “2 by 4”). Then on top of all that, I needed to install a jungle. Okay, some plants, something to fill up the front room and give it some color. But its surprising how quick it can fill up.

The guest bedroom has been a labor of love, and it’s turned out nice. But for three months I’ve been mostly putting off but at times struggled with closet doors for the guest bedroom. It remains the last thing needed for the guest bedroom to be complete – but I am out of time.

As all those plans came together, a curveball was thrown. Auggie, during a walk by a lake on Friday, drank some creatures from the lake. We saw a vet and he is on the mend, since Saturday he has been flowing like the Russian River off the poop deck. My routine included hosing down his kennel (and him) twice a day. While part of the issue is it takes time needed for final preparations – it’s just gross.

So in my last rush (I have until 10pm tonight), I have a list to complete. Mowing the lawn, folding laundry, hosing down the dog (if necessary), and … Finally … Getting those closet doors up.