Too Much Information?

                                          

Here's the deal. My high school friend, C., and her husband will be living in our apartment for two weeks starting Sunday. I want them to enjoy their stay. We are each typing up pages of information to leave at each others home to encourage hitting the ground running and making the most out of our exchange. My tips include "If you're going to take a taxi make SURE it is a YELLOW CAB". ( I won't even go into my sister's story of taking a "limo" from the airport with a driver who dubbed himself Mr. New York and how much THAT cost.) And "Buy fresh fruit from the bodega on the corner".

But when it comes to the apartment how much information is too much information? At this point I am doing everything I can to NOT put post-it-notes all over my kitchen. My thinking is it will save her from having to rummage through every drawer and cabinet to find a glass, a spoon, the coffee filters, or the tea towels. Is it better to let someone explore by themselves instead of giving them a head start with some type of culinary road map? Do they really need to open all the drawers? Peek in all the cabinets? Look under the sink? Ohhhhh, and what about the TV remote? Do I need a three page document to explain what happens if the cable box doesn't come on at the same time as the TV, or how to work the DVR, or how to find the replay button? What if she needs a hammer, or a light bulb blows out, or can't figure out how to turn on the shower?

Now that I've typed all of those questions I realize I live in a 725 sq foot apartment and in all likelihood it will take her a maximum of ten minutes to go through my ENTIRE apartment and orient herself. Much less time than it would take me to make up a bazzilion post-it-notes. She'll see the extra pillows are in the front closet with the umbrellas, the coffee filters are in the drawer under the coffee maker, and the spices are in plain sight by the stove. If she gets too hot she will know how to turn the dial on the air conditioning unit to deliver cooler air without me leaving detailed instructions. Even the washer/dryer is self explanatory. 

Speaking of too much information, in this day and age of being able to Google, Bing, and Yahoo everything (EVERY. THING.) I guess if she can't figure out the coffee maker, the toaster oven, or even those pesky remotes there is always the Internet. Oh yeah, the computer. Did I remember to tell her how to turn it on and access our WiFi?  

Maybe a post-it-note...............