I have a little pet peeve. People who stop by on the weekends to say, "hi" without calling first. Unless you are popping in on your 89 year old grandma, who you know will be thrilled to see your smiling face, DON'T DO THIS! At least, don't do it to me. It's at the top of my list of bad manners. It might have been cool in the 50's to do that, but in this day and age, it's not. Let me tell ya why. During the week, I have six daycare families and ten daycare children who come to my house every day. I have to keep my house picked up and my kitchen where everyone gathers, presentable. Landon has to keep all his things upstairs in his room. Our coats and shoes have to be in a separate closet, so there is room for all the little coats and shoes the little daycare kids bring every day. It's a never ending, on going, every day job. It's pressure! You know the stress you feel the night before your "Tupperware or Jewelry party?" The "company's coming!" feeling of panic, running around, excessive cleaning, picking up, worried about every little thing. I feel like that every day. It's stressful, I tell ya! I am also surrounded by people big and small all week long. If I am doing a purse show on the weekend, then I am again surrounded by 6,555 people. I put on my happy face, I smile. I chat. I work. So, come the weekend, if we are home, the walls come down and our "stuff" is flooding every surface. There may be piles of dirty laundry on the table, in a mountain on the floor, waiting to be taken to the basement and washed. Dirty dishes in the sink. Pizza boxes with pizza still in it on the counters. Newspapers on the floor and couch. Quilts and pillows on the couches and floors. Coats might get hung up on the coat rack, or they might be thrown over the kitchen chairs.Toys that didn't get picked up on Friday, might stay there until Sunday night when I have to vacuum. I may drag out 1,222 projects to work on and they may cover every square inch of my living room. I might not get dressed until after dinner. (I do have clothes on! Just p.j.'s and not really appropriate for company.) I might not even comb my hair until then either. I don't want company. I don't want a social call. I don't want to smile and chat. I just want to be with my family and my mess for a couple of days. Alone. We are trying to live a normal life, like everyone else gets to do during the week. It never fails though. The very people who never come by during the week when my house is spotless and I have 444 people here anyway, always show up on the weekends, when me and my mess are at it's peak. (I really should say our mess, since Landon and Tim do contribute their fair share too!) I can just hear them, "I stopped by the Siegel's yesterday... They really are nice people, but oh... my....have you seen their house? She's really not a very good housekeeper, is she? Tsk. Tsk..." So, if you stop by uninvited on a weekend, and I don't answer the door, even though you swear you saw me crawling across the floor in a weak attempt to hide... Don't take it personal. It's not that I don't want to see you. I just don't want to see you that day. Try again on Monday. I'll even pour ya a cup of coffee. If you call first.
