House guest

It’s strange isn’t it, how an additional person in the home can change the whole dynamic of the household? And in this household we have two additional personalities at the moment…. Pippi Long Stocking (the kitten’s screen name) and Milly (Mother-in-Law’s pseudonym)

Pippi is climbing curtains/ investigating everything/ catching mouse wires / being totally endearing and Milly is being Milly, advising, in her own specific way on how we should be dealing with these and various other issues /helping to decide on the viewing schedules and various other aspects of household management. And like any good daughter-in-law/ wife / mother/ etc I’m doing my best to keep the balance in the household by accommodating what I can and only standing up to what I feel it is necessary to stand up to.

So it is, we have had to have Eastenders on for the last few nights.

Eastenders, for the uninitiated, is a soap opera of the lowest order. And as Milly is a woman of the highest order, I simply can not understand how she could be so addicted to this violent program where no one is nice to anyone else, everyone has a foul, loud mouth and the relationships are fickle and adulterous. I can’t bear it.

Last night was OK. I found things to do in the kitchen. Any minute now I may have to find more things to do in the kitchen… having missed it on TV she’s watching it on her laptop!!!

I have, however found a good treatment for the curtain climbing cat. I have filled a hand held sprayer with water. Scout has been very anxious to use it, but Pippi avoided the curtains until just now, and just now he’s gone up to his room, so when Pippi climbed the curtains – it was up to me….. and let me tell you, the water spray had just the right effect.
Very satisfying.

I have decided on tomorrow’s evening meal (gingered beef) and I plan to put it in the new slow cooker in the morning. But perhaps I can save morning time by a little judicious preparation now? At least until Eastenders is over?

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Author: Sarah

No time to lose. No, time to lose. Make time to stand and stare.... Did you see that?

23 thoughts on “House guest”

  1. House guests, one of my nightmares. I do my best to discourage them “We live in the wilderness, nothing going on at all, you would be far better off staying at the other house, it’s close to the shops'” If that does not work I tell them that I get up at six thirty and crash about noisily before leaving for breakfast (true). If they insist I encourage them mightily to stay in the “granny suite” above the garage. “It has it’s own kitchen and bathroom and the TV is better up there” It’s a fair bus ride away and that usually preserves the peace for a while.

    Did you think of trying the water spray on Milly?

  2. House guests, like fish, stink on the third day…

    … especially if they want to watch TV.

    🙂

  5. Oh yes, I understand your plight. At the moment I have a house guest who has been here for about a week now. Nice enough, but he’s still a bit immature and at times hard to handle. Still, his family were nice enough to show me around China.

  6. Yes, we had five house guests and it was a bit chaotic, but luckily none of them were Eastender fans. We had non stop Cbeebies. No violence or bad language, but not my programme of choice. 🙂

  9. House guests gone now. Time to start tackling the laundry.

    We too had CBeebies on for granddaughter, Araminta. Hope you enjoyed “In the Night Garden”, but why do the Tombliboos’ trousers keep falling down?

  10. Hello Pseu. I could not agree with you more about that dreadful soap East Enders. I do not understand how the BBC can show it or that people can watch it. The characters are truly awful people and the programme shows East Londoners in an overwhelmingly negative fashion, though for all I know, it may be an accurate reflection.

    I am interested that so many people say ‘house guests’ as opposed to just ‘guests’.

  11. Hello Sheona.

    I must admit I wasn’t paying much attention, so I must have lost the plot after the first five hours! I have a mountain of laundry too. 😦

    Sipu.

    I think that “guests” can just visit for a meal or drinks, but house guests stay at least one night.

  16. Howzit Pseu.

    What’s a father in law?

    Don’t tell me filly, it just doesn’t work 😕

    I’m surprised at the animosity here to ‘house guests’, Every single person of our family know that if they ever end up in the Eastern Cape there’s a roof and bed for them. I enjoy visitors, welcome them in fact.

    For the record, my milly is here now, has been for the past 20 years and I hope will be for the next 20 (even though she drives me crazy at times, she knows that, I know she knows that she knows that I know etc.)

  17. See my comment above, Soutie – ‘Milly is a lovely house guest, but dubious in her choice of TV….’!

    She’ll be here a week, then we have change over to siblings, nieces and nephews, Aunts and Uncles and my Ma. I love it all, but shattered when they all leave 🙂

  19. Araminta :

    I think that “guests” can just visit for a meal or drinks, but house guests stay at least one night.

    Yeah, right! They used to visit for a couple of hours maximum when we lived in Lancashire in January. Now they come to The Cave from May to September for a fortnight at a time because of the pool and the barbie and the sunshine.

    SOB!

    OZ

  20. Hello again Pseu.

    My criticism wasn’t aimed at you but the ‘comments’

    I’ve never had a father in law, but Tim sounds a lot more agreeable than filly 🙂

  21. I can’t understand how you can have such a dearth of TVs in your house pseu?
    For God’s sakes do yourselves a favour and buy some portables!
    Plus some TV viewing sticks for your computers.
    Then you can park her in the den or bedroom to watch her dreadful Eastenders!!!
    Nothing more irritating than having to have a bunch of peasants invading your living room that you would allow over your (back) doorstep in reality!
    I assure you it makes for much easier living if guests can indulge themselves without being under your nose so to speak.

  22. PS Nobody ever wants to stay with us because of three rioting dogs and two smokers, keeps the lot at bay!

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