Our Delightful Houseguest

At 9pm, our house guest of 54 hours, walked across the small strip of ice covered snow separating our front door from hers. Laden with a bag bursting with clothes we barely dipped into, and toys old and new from our many shopping trips, she reluctantly left our steps, and disappeared through the door at the top of her own front steps. Melissa immediately whined "I'm bored", to which I replied, "Well, it doesn't really matter since it is nine o'clock and way past your bedtime.....good night.".....to which my Grumpalumpagus merely pouted and "Hmmmphed", then stomped up to bed. Nice.

Besides that last reaction which is purely understandable after such a fun weekend with a friend paired with very little sleep, the whole weekend was really good. In fact, it was great. I had anticipated a fairly stressful time due to the neighbor girl's usual spoiled-princess demeanor, but besides only two rather small instances, everything went really well. With all the time she spends here, I think she understands how things work, and that she knows I do not put up with her sometimes naughty little tricks and manipulations, so therefore, she did not even try them. Not only was she well behaved and pleasant with everyone the entire time, she was even helpful! When her parents finally pulled into the driveway tonight, instead of shooing her immediately out the door, we invited her to stay an additional two hours to make mini pizzas and watch one the the new movies we had picked up earlier.

I learned a very good lesson this weekend: that indeed, you can not judge a book by it's cover....even if you have read it several times already and think that you understand it forwards and backwards. There will always be something new that you will find, and it is really fantastic when you find gems and jewels hidden in the seemingly ordinary, well worn pages.