^ I agree with you Mall...I do think it depends on who is coming over. I have always enjoyed being hospitable and it is in my nature to want to make guests feel welcome. Cooking for them is obviously a big part of this. However, over the years I have learnt that people start expecting more and more and give back less and less appreciation. Its almost as if they feel "oh dont worry about her she can cope..." and once people start taking you for granted then thats it, you have to put a stop to it!
I have learnt that its better not to let yourself get into a situation that WILL lead to resentment later. In our culture, and I have personal experience of this, you can have members of your in-laws (i'm not talking about MIL/ FIL) coming and staying over for MONTHS and expecting you to wait on them hand and foot. And not wanting to offend anyone, I do find people from Pakistan who are used to servants expect you to be the substitutes!
thankfully i havent had guests living for a long period let alone treating me like servants! ive had MIL and FIL living for 2 months and in those months i hardly cooked :D that was fun ;) hehehe cus i wud work till 5.30 and she wudnt obviously wait for me to cook lunch u know... so she wud cook and my hubby and FIL would eat and sleep... when i wud b back from office, they will all b sleeping! i dun mind guests that much... the only thing that bothers me is coming without informing me atleast some hours before... u never know maybe our fridge is empty or house is a mess or i just dun want them there! when my BIL stayed for 2-3 months it was pretty much ok and the best part was he didnt occupy our space or invaded our privacy... infact hes the only weird BIL i have(but me likey!!). he dusnt watch tv or movies. just give him internet and a room and he dusnt move his ass except for water or something! plus he is easy when it comes to food preferences. one of my devars is such a gosht khoor ... i can literally KILL him!!!!!!! my biggest nitemare is havin him live with us for more than a day!! plus he eats alot Mashallah.... sara khana khatam hojata hia :D