MIL - she's baaack.

Well, she's here. She arrived Monday night and so far it's been really nice. I know, only two days but still - we're on a roll.

She really is a lovely lady. But with her includes 3 giant suitcases (the biggest you can get), a giant make-up suitcase that unfolds like a tool box, 6 or seven bags of things and a box or two full of "give-aways". It took a full night to unpack.

She doesn't just visit, she moves in. I cleared a shelf in my serving dish closet so she could put her make-up there. I'm not kidding about it being a tool box. You open it up and then it expands another 4x. She likes the light in the dining room so that's where it stays. She also keeps her instant coffee and sweet and low on the kitchen counter with the same spoon on the same napkin the entire time. She is not wasteful. She even gave me a lesson last night about using the same paper towell to wipe your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.

She brought out the give-aways last night. Old receipts of her mothers father - or something. Receipts from 1891, no kidding. Deeds and things. Very old and, I suppose, very cool to some. Cristy and I aren't sure what you do with "things" like that. She always brings things she thinks her children will cherish so we just kind of fake our way through it and try not to seem uninterested. Cristy needs to work on this, actually. Honey, listen to me. It should go something like this, "Ah! Wow! I've never seen such old documents! I'll treasure them always!" Got it? :)

Cristy set up a smoking station on the side smoking porch. She wants to be tucked back so she can see the neighbors but they can't see her. She's out there every hour or so - I'm sure we'll learn a lot from what she sees.

She carries a blanket with her wherever she goes. It's colder here than it is in Houston and she's a frail little thing. She has decided she's never coming this time of year again. She has no idea what winter is...

She uses two hands and steps sideways to get up and down the front stairway. Thank God for the back stairway or we'd never get up there. She's cautious. She's much older this year. She's moves more slowly and her face looks so thin. She still talks about needing to lose a little weight because she has a "pooch in front" but she must be losing her sight because there is Nothing there.

She adores Yeager almost as much as she adores Cristy. I think she had tears in her eyes after his dinner prayer last night. Very sweet. And he loves the attention - so much that he's offered to babysit her this Friday while we go to a movie. Does he need a baby sibling or what?

We have a pretty quiet week planned with her but next week we're hosting our monthly game night so all of our dearest friends can spend some time with the wonder that is Cristy's "Mutha".