Oh...wait...

...the veil of grumpiness has lifted. It's amazing how PMS sneaks up on you when you have irregular cycles. Judging from this month, I'd say not nursing has made me jump right back into the old 29 day cycle. Wow...this is WAY TMI for my males readers. Moving on...

We had the most wonderful visit with Jeff's grandma and Aunt Bonnie this weekend. They breezed in Saturday night after the kids were in bed. How considerate. Seriously. I'm not being sarcastic. It gave me the entire day to scrub my house down to an acceptable level of grime and clutter. If there were an Olympic sport of cleaning, Jeff's grandma would be holding multiple gold medals. She would give the US a clear advantage. To her credit, she has visited us numerous times since we got married, and she's never said a thing to me about my shoddy housekeeping. Not a word or an eye roll or a cringe and gag-gulp. She's a classy lady, I tell ya! Anyhoo, despite her never indicating that my house disgusts her, I still clean a little bit harder before she visits. I even wiped down my window sills. I know, I know. I may now be eligible for intramural cleaning.

Wow, way off topic. So they got in Saturday night, and we had a nice time chatting and hearing about their travels sans children. The thing I love about small town people is they talk about distant relatives, friends, and distant relative's friends as if they are household names. Bonnie and Grandma visited Mary Jo, Barb, and Karen. I didn't figure out who these people were until about the 3rd story, when the connection was laid out for me. (probably in reaction to my blank looks). It was just assumed that I would instantly recognize the names, as in Madonna or George W. I'm not making fun of Bonnie or Grandma. It's just the way it is. I started visiting Jeff's town in 1996, and from the first visit every trip to the drug store goes something like this:

Giselle makes a purchase of...I don't know...toothpaste, at the local drug store. Cashier recognizes Jeff. Makes small talk. As we leave, I ask who that was. It's Larry! Don't know Larry? Turns out it was Jeff's 3rd grade teacher's cousin's 2nd husband who used to play football with Jeff's uncle 35 years ago in high school. You know, Larry. Duh.

Or something like that. Man, I'm all over the place. So we chit chat with them and then crash into bed. So that there are beds to be had for all, Andrew is sleeping on the Aero bed in Lily's room and Lily is sleeping in our closet. I know that sounds like you should be calling children's services, but her port-a-crib fits in our closet. Barely. And we left the door open so some fresh air would reach her. She slept great, stop worrying about her.

Sunday dawned with the kiddos up at 6:30. We had breakfast a few hours later. We don't require guests to rise with the sun like our children. Since it was GORGEOUS out, we went to Washington's Crossing park and walked around, walked across the Delaware River (on a bridge, of course), saw turtles, walked back across the Delaware, drove to lunch, came home and put Lily down for a nap. Andrew was having so much fun with Bonnie and Great-Grandma we didn't put him down for a rest.

He showed Great-Grandma his mad hockey skills while I started hacking down my thistle garden. We were trying to see how tall they would get, Jeff even had visions of making furniture out of thistle wood. Great-Grandma said she thought thistles were pretty (God bless her), but once the seeds started spreading our neighbors would probably get testy when they realized we were breeding these stubborn weeds. So I got out the chain saw and started going at it. Grandma soon joined in...because what weekend would be complete without my guests doing work at our house. Why not have the 85 year old pulling weeds? You try and stop her. My father-in-law gets it honestly. After working them to the bone, we all vegged and then had dinner. Andrew was so tired, he was having multiple melt-downs alternating with punchy hyperness. He finished his dinner and asked to go to bed. Say what? And he did...go to bed. Lily soon followed, and we had another nice evening of chatting sans children.

So a very nice day. I am LOVING this April weather in July. Perfect for entertaining guests. So please, call to set up a visit. I'm taking reservations. But pack your working pants...I'm sure I'll have chores for you to do!