Okay, my mother-in-law isn't really THAT bad, but I'm still deeply relieved to know that she's no longer in the same state as me... in fact, there's an extra little state between her and us as a buffer. And she won't be visiting here again until mid-October, so there is goodness and light in the world. Of course, that's my anniversary weekend and I need to leave my children alone with her while I spend some grown-up time with my husband, but we'll delay that particular panic attack for a while.

No major gaffes or outlandish behavior from the in-laws this trip. I can't entirely congratulate them for it, because we only spent about 6 hours around them all weekend, but still, they *could* have done lots of damage in those 6 hours had they wanted to! Instead the brunt of the irritation stemmed from the fact that we said, "Show up on the day of the housewarming party, stay for a few days afterward to visit with the kids, no need to rent a car because you can borrow one of ours, and get a hotel right here in town," and they promptly made plans to show up a few days BEFORE the party, leave immediately after it, rent a car and complain about the cost, and get a hotel two towns south of here. But, fine. Fine, fine, fine. None of that inconvenienced ME, so, fine.

The housewarming itself went great, we had some guests who drove over 8 hours to get here, plus a few from our new neighborhood, so it was a nice mix of people, we made the perfect amount of food to feed everyone but not bury ourselves in leftovers, and the kids played outside in the sprinkler, life was good. Our house, if I do say so myself, looks pretty darn good considering we've only been here 6 weeks - we have repainted four rooms, including our bedroom (started as yellow and is now a deep red - FOUR COATS, yuck!) and built a fifth room from concrete and studs to a really nice-looking bedroom for my father.

Of course, my mother-in-law's reaction to the house was, "Oh, it looks nice, is it bigger than the old one?" We told her no, it's almost exactly the same size - it just has a better layout. "Oh, but it looks bigger. Maybe you got the wrong number for it. I'm sure it's bigger." Fine, thanks, but it's not. "Hmm. Well, you really need to clean out your gutters and mow the lawn and paint the baseboards in your bedroom before the party." Huh. Remind me again, WHY was it I didn't want them to come out before the party???