Warning: Stressful week ahead...

I couldn't sleep this morning (mostly because I couldn't breathe) and so I've been up since five. Damn head cold. My puppy was loving all the attention, but now I am very stressed, planning the week ahead. I think I mentioned the dreaded "dinner party" that I am in no shape to attend. Not to mention the fact that before I can even consider going I need to get my hair, nails and feet done, and buy a fabulous (which usually means pricey) outfit. NOT EXCITING PEOPLE. I dread this. I dread this like I dread things like...LUNG CANCER and my CHILDREN GETTING KIDNAPPED. I like to be in a state of general non-stress, which just isn't going to happen for me this week.
I wish I could fast forward until Sunday, then I'd be happy. But alas, the Fast Forwarding Your Life A Few Days Fairy is nowhere to be found. Bad for me...
To top everything off, my in-laws are visiting next week, for the holiday. I am fine with them coming, it's just the cleaning part beforehand (my mother-in-law lives in an immaculate house, and I do NOT.) There's something about the expectation level on the part of my in-laws. They're very clean people. Almost abnormally so. It seriously affects all their children. I remember many times my sister-in-law would stay up waaayyyy into the wee hours of the morning, just cleaning her house the night before they visited, so they would never suspect that she actually did live in a house of chaos most of the time. After a few tiring years of that, she got over it, and didn't clean. (or at least, she SAID she didn't!)
I, on the other hand, am still in the "I Must Clean Everything Immaculately Before They Visit" frame of mind. It's been nine years, and I still torture myself. Guess I still yearn to be accepted as a non-messy person! (heh heh.) I guess it all started when in the earlier years of our marriage, my husbands mother, during one visit, crawled under my kitchen sink and cleaned it out. Needless to say, that mortified me for good for a few years...
Guess I'd better start cleaning...