How to Get Invited Back as a Guest

We've had a lot of great guests (both friends and family) over the years, but the visit by Kathryn's Uncle Don and Aunt Sally took things to a new level this weekend. Here's what made them the ultimate house guests:

1. Don, who is quite handy with tools and such, did several things around the house that have been on my list for quite some time. These included:

• fixed the 'dangling' microwave as it hung from only one screw beneath the cupboard
• hung two bi-fold closet doors
• inspected the garage door 'intercept eye' (he couldn't fix it, but now I know it needs a part)
• hung the curtain rod in our living room
• hung the curtain rod in our upstairs playroom
• installed an electronic smoke detector and carbon monoxide detector in a spot where an old smoke detector hung out of the ceiling looking pathetic
• installed a new chandelier
• installed a dimmer switch on the chadelier switch
• put handle back on one of our French doors

2. Sally was pretty amazing, too. She sewed and hemmed the drapes we hung, made homemade cookies twice, became Caroline's best friend, and blew dozens of bubbles for Sammy.

3. Todd, their 15 year old, taught Josh all the ins and outs of his new Wii, then also played baseball with Josh a ton. He also helped me get a bunch of old junk out of the attic that our previous owners had left behind.

4. On top of all that, they treated us to dinner the first night...then offered to pay for the babysitter (we said no). And Don went with us to the school playground twice to help us entertain the kids.


5. But it was more than all the great things they did for us. They were just so fun to have around, especially for marathon rounds of cribbage at night. Even if they had not done work on our house, it would have been such a great weekend just having them here.

The only thing is they potentially could have stayed til Tuesday morning, but opted to leave this morning to go see other parts of the northeast. They certainly didn't wear our their welcome...perhaps we simply wore them out instead. :)

Now the bar has been set for future guests. :)
Just kidding...we'll take any and all guests that we can get to come see us in NYC!

(Let's see if I can't get another couple of posts before we leave on vacation for the 4th).

Mark