Ever watch that show on Food Network, Restaurant: Impossible?  Mark and I enjoy that show, and perhaps have seen too much of it, because I feel like I’ve lived it the last couple of days.  The premise is this: an expert in the restaurant industry takes a failing business and transforms it.  They spend two days cleaning, redecorating, and getting prepared to present the changes at a grand reopening.  I now know just how much work this entails.

We’ve had the pleasure of being part of a terrific small group from our church, and we meet once a month for dinner.  We offered to host this month’s gathering several weeks ago, but it wasn’t until last weekend that we started discovering all the updates we wanted to make before tonight’s dinner.  Over the last few days, we’ve painted a wall in the living room, rehung pictures and paintings, hung new valances, and replaced outdoor light fixtures.  This was on top of our hectic schedules, and in addition to all the typical cleaning and food prep that goes into a dinner party.

It’s not that we were concerned that our company would have been disappointed had the changes not been made to our house; they probably wouldn’t have even noticed.  But, it was just the motivation we needed to tackle projects that have been on the never-ending home improvement list for months (or, um, years).  So, we finally made the decision to complete some projects, and I’m very pleased that we did.

More importantly, we had a great evening sharing good food and many laughs.  I say this after each of our dinner company gatherings, but it truly is a great way to start the week.

And hey, this time I get to enjoy our little improvements for many weeks to come.  Can’t beat that.