Can you set up tents in the yard and tell them they're camping? And then forget o give them keys to the main house? They can make smores! It'll be an adventure!

Oh, good god, Raq. Escape~ma to you.

No free wi-fi at O'Hare, suzi.

Oh, dear. Just, oh, dear.

I already responded with "Would love to see you guys, but I'm not sure we'll all fit" and was informed that their tickets are non-refundable.

I would be so tempted to say something like, "And this is my problem, why, exactly?" How much trouble would you get in with the rest of the family if you sent them a list of nearby motels?

I already responded with "Would love to see you guys, but I'm not sure we'll all fit" and was informed that their tickets are non-refundable.

Can you reply to this with a list of local hotels?

I am exhausted. I painted the dining room and living room last night.

Also, when we got home, there was an errant piece of remaining dinosaur on the dining room. Naturally, Em zeroed in on it and started yelling at Joe again. "Look! My dinosuar! You broke my dinosaur!"

She was immediately placed on our bed to watch a movie.

But not before she found the small amount of primer left in a bucket a painted a "monster face" on my newly painted kitchen wall.

Raq, perhaps your entire family should arrange to be, um, called out of town when your sister et al. plan to arrive? Maybe an emergency visit to ... someplace far, far, away? Possibly you should be under quarantine, with no visitors allowed? Suddenly descending on you, without even checking, is unreasonable. bah!

Aimee, good luck with your tiny overlord (overlady?) - she will probably never let MM forget about breaking her dinosaur. And I thought of you yesterday - I was walking up the street and I saw two of the men in gaucho pants from the local Fogo de Chao (Argentine place for carnivores).

And, in other news, a snack attack with a difference.

I already responded with "Would love to see you guys, but I'm not sure we'll all fit" and was informed that their tickets are non-refundable.

I would be so tempted to say something like, "And this is my problem, why, exactly?" How much trouble would you get in with the rest of the family if you sent them a list of nearby motels?

I was going to suggest what Anne and sj did -- tell your sister that you don't have room, and she should have checked with you to even see what your schedule is like for those 10 (!) days, and you'll be busy, so here's a list of hotels.

I mean, really. You aren't obligated to house your sister and 3 other people, especially when you *aren't* the one who offered.

And, in other news, a snack attack with a difference.

Can you imagine the carnage if it had been a bag of Doritos? Because those things are triangle-shaped -- they have *points* on them!

Raq, you might want to make sure that your visitors aren't completely comfortable. That is, give them the makeshift guest spaces with the lumpy mattresses and noise. Just so they know they get what they pay for.

A lecturer has asked for a vanity search. She's convinced she's been cited "hundreds" of times for a certain article that she wrote back in 1986, and she seems upset that I can only find about 20 citations. Lady, I'm good at this, get over it. I am, however, screening my calls so I don't have to deal with her in anything but email. I hope she doesn't know where to find my office.

Aimee, I hope your painting muscles feel better today and that Em stops finding pieces of that dino that MM so cruelly destroyed and killed in the prime of life.