Re: situation
Its ANNOYING and INCONSIDERATE of people to drop by like that without at least a week's warning for you to get caught up.
The problem is, everyone says "please dont worry about us, we wont get in your way" or "you dont have to do anything special, its family"...its actually the opposite.
While these people are here, you cannot be free, or dress too casually, your routine gets totally disrupted, your space is cramped, people get aggravated easily, meal planning, the COOKING is TOO MUCH, the cleaning up after every meal, keeping the bathrooms in order, etc etc etc. I mean, its NUTS if you're the only one doing it.
My kitchen is a TINY gallery kitchen. I dont even have enough counter space to make two dishes at the same time. I totally understand MO3's frustration. I cannot watch TV when I want, stay up late if I want, blah blah blah.
MO3, get a TON of frozen snacks and food. Shami kababs, qeema samosas, egg rolls, potato cutlets, etc are permanent fixtures in my freezer now.