Tidings of Comet and Joy

Here it is, March 14th, and already I'm preparing for the Not-Quite-Mother-In-Law's Visit. This entails some strange things. Like being certain my home is stocked with Joy and Comet. Why these things are important is unclear to me. But I know that she feels a home is not complete, nor clean, apparently, without them. Thus, I am making sure that we have both on hand. Keep in mind, I use a dishwasher and wash dishes by hand very, very infrequently. And keep in mind I wouldn't ever choose to use Comet over Ajax...and frankly, for general cleaning, I use neither. But if it makes her happy, I will gladly spend the $3 on Joy and Comet. Perhaps this will give her more confidence in my ability to raise her grandchildren and take care of her favorite son.

In addition to adding these particular cleaning products to my already bursting kitchen cabinets, I also purchased new shower curtains, and a new bathroom rug for the kids/general use bathroom. (We have a bathroom attached to the master bedroom, also, but I don't figure she'll be using that one.) It's been six months - so the shower curtains were part of my normal replacements. But the rug? Not such a big deal if the kids are using a rug where the rubber backing is falling off, right? And not such a big deal if there are mildew stains on whatever backing is left, right? I mean, the thing gets soaked everytime any one of the children bathe, so there's no point in making sure we have a nice pretty one. Except that the Not-Quite-Mother-In-Law is coming. So a pretty new bath rug we have - complete with colorful fishy design. Now I just have to figure out how to get P to stop peeing ON the toilet (on the part by the floor, not the seat!) instead of IN it. We've got a couple of weeks. I can manage that. Really. Despite the fact that I've been trying to teach him this since October. Oh well. She'll just have to deal with it. He's five.