House Guests

Now that my husband and I have moved into our rental home for the next year (maybe more), my southern hospitality gene has kicked in. Now that we have the space to host people in our home, that means we should, right? My husband is South African, but not Southern, so he doesn't quite get it. Why are you pretending that you cook a gourmet meal breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Don't get me wrong, he loves that all of the laundry gets done, the house is vacuumed, and my clutter is finally dealt with, but why do we need guests to motivate this behavior? Again, my Southern DNA is responsible. Tips I have found to achieve this false interior: "If you have time to clean only one room, it should be the bathroom. The one place people have time to reflect on the cleanliness of your home." "Vanilla cuts the smell of dog" (from my mother an owner of two indoor/outdoor dogs) "Hide things in your oven and dryer, no one opens those""To cover the smell of cleaning, bake cookies/cake/pie". All of these things can create an image of a beautiful, welcoming, clean home.
I do not pretend to be to modern in my roles, I enjoying being complimented on the state of my home, the taste of a meal, or exclamations over a beautiful room. My husband knows that this makes me happy and will often over look expensive grocery bills to buy expensive spices, for meals I will likely only cook once, for these guests that will probably only stay once in the year we are in our home. God bless him. I recently found out that the International Farmers Market in Dekalb, Georgia (a neighborhood in Atlanta) sells spices by the cups for next to nothing (I mean less than $1!). I've recently gone on a health kick, so what better way to control what I'm eating, than cooking. Some of my favorite sources for healthy recipes are MarthaStewart.com and EatingWell.com. So far? I have lost 20 pounds! That's since July mind you, but still, twenty! My secret? The scale. If I see the reward (or consequence) of the previous day it helps. Now I haven't really denied myself anything. I, of course, will be eating Thanksgiving meals, but not eating after 7pm has really helped and when I want a dessert, I get one piece of chocolate (like one truffle). PS if you join Godiva's rewards/customer thing (for free) the give you a free piece of chocolate once a month in exchange for sending you emails. I am such a fan! When you want dessert (or really anything) check the serving size, you will be surprised, and only eat that much. Your Ben & Jerry's will last so much longer! Ok I know I'm bringing down the pilgrim spirit, but just remember, every year an American packs on one extra pound over the holidays they never lose...