Thursday, November 15, 2007

Hi there, all 3000 of you

Edit! Now with fewer math errors!

Can someone tell me what the hell happened that I got 3000 hits yesterday and today? People, generally, if I'm lucky, I'll break 30. That my traffic has increased by a factor of 100 is a little surprising.

Still. Hi ... err, it's nice to meet you. All six-odd thousand of you. Can you take your shoes off before you come in? I'll try to find the biiiiiiiig teapot.

------------------

My parents visited us this week. For 17 hours! Yes, they spent more time asleep at my house than they did awake! To put this in perspective, it took them six hours to drive home, and presumably six hours to drive here. We were expecting them to stay for two nights, but they were itching to get back home. They arrived at suppertime and left before lunch. Afer the whirl of their in-and-then-gone-again trip, Pynchon and I sat dazed on the couch, and calculated that we had, in fact, spent more time cleaning the house in preparation for their arrival than they had spent, actually, basking in the soft wind created by our now-dusted ceiling fans.

Seriously. We dusted the ceiling fans. They were here for 17 hours.

Still, that was enough time for Munchkin to fall under the sway of Gram and Gramps. My mom is some kind of baby-whisperer. Generally, Munchkin makes strange with new people, but as soon as she laid eyes on Mom, it was all about 'Gram! Gram! Gram!' This morning, it was Gram she called out for when she woke up. But they were already gone home, Way the Hell Up North, putting up Xmas lights in anticipation of our visit there in two weeks.

It's nice to see how well they get on with each other, nice to realize that we are three generations of women now together, nice to feel my relationship with my mother maturing and changing now that we have grown our hearts to accomodate another daughter, a new mother, a grandmother.

But what a lot of housework! Any of you want to come visit, so I can pretend my house is this clean all the time (dusted the ceiling fans!) and get some mileage out of the sparkle before, inevitably, everything is once more covered in peanut butter and cat hair?

65 comments:

Hillary (Mrs. Einstein) said...

You're on Blogger's "Blogs of Note" list. Congratulations!

Bea said...

Crazy, eh? I've never seen anything like it. Did any of them leave a comment?

Mimi said...

Not the queen -- thanks! I've gone and looked it up. Gulp! Lot of pressure ...

Bubandpie -- scroll down; of 34 comments on the sleeping post, probably 15-20 are from people I don't already know. That was my first clue ...

The Patriot said...

Are you part of the revolution?

Kyla said...

3,000! WOW!

I'd love to come visit...but alas, it is too far. I'm thinking of petitioning to have Texas moved up next to Canada, though.

SecondSight said...

One of those 3000- Just popped in from blogs of note to say hi!

Great blog, adorable baby, and hey- you have what will probably be my life in about 10 years (researcher,wife.. etc etc) - Looks pretty scary from the outside, but the inside seems nice and cheery :)

Mad said...

Ya, you were on Blogs of Note yesterday. For the record, you do know that you can click on your site meter link below and then click on referrals to see where people are coming from. That's what I do whenever some kind of odd blip happens on the blog.

Debbie said...

I was brought here by the "Blogs of Note" link.

Quite entertained by the parental visit story. I can relate.

Looking forward to reading more.

D.

Jas said...

I found your blog on the Blogs of Note list. I love your writing! It made me laugh for the first time in a couple of days.

Beck said...

It was the magic of the Blogs Of Note. Congratulations!
And how weird of your parents to stay for only 17 hours. Mine can only stand to visit me for mere minutes at a time before fleeing for the safety of their home - but I see them all the time.

The UnMighty said...

Stop eating peanut butter and get rid of the cat and there you go, no more mess.

CP ~The Day Fobbit said...

Yes, you made it to the Blogs of Note page.

And I adore your blog. Too cute. I can only hope mine might get some traffic someday...since I spend most of the time writing to myself.

I also enjoy bubandpie....so thanks for the linky to that!

I'll be visiting, if you don't mind.

Bon said...

ah, itchy parents. we love it when Dave's parents visit, because they're really nice and non-intrusive (and they babysit).

but they bolt, sometimes. always sad.

congrats on the hits!

Anonymous said...

Can you please have your parents speak with the OmegaMan's mom and dad? Please. Maybe they could stay at your place for a while. They would -by the way - take note of the dust free ceiling fan but then sigh out loud that you had not dismantled the fan's housing to oil and tweak the fan motor.

Congrats on being a blog of note. I aspire to be a blog of blah very very soon.

Unknown said...

I've had the same problem with my parents coming to visit only to tell me that they were staying elsewhere. Though it may have been because they didn't like my roommate at the time, they never did tell me why. Think of it like this, at least you have a clean house now.

Bonds756 said...

Ha Ha Ha, mimi sooo glad i found your blog! Your a beautiful writer and enjoyed this one about your parents. I love to write and just started a blog a couple months back. Im still trying to figure out which direction to go with my blog. Well if u dont mind Im gonna bookmark your blog. Its good, intelligent and makes for amusing reading while im at work.

Rebecca Hickman said...

Great story. My mother in law is flying in on Monday. I had planned to spend the weekend cleaning, but maybe I won't now. Last time she came over, she scrubbed the baseboards, washed the windows, and rearranged the furniture while I was at work.

Abby said...

It is unfortunate that housework only gets completely done when someone is coming to visit. I figured out the worst part of having people over is keeping the house clean while still entertaining.

Great blog!

Catherine said...

Hi! I'm another one popping in via Blogs of Note. Enjoyed reading your blog and will come back again.

Angela said...

Congrats on being a Blog of Note! That's what drew me here. :)

Gail said...

Congratulations on Blog of Note. So, hi, and I enjoyed reading. I'll check back later.
Gambits from Gail

S said...

Umm, this is a little weird even for me! And I'm just a reader, albeit a pre-Blogs of Note reader...

Leah Wentzel said...

you are on bloggers list of "check 'em" out"

Her Bad Mother said...

I would come, but I'm too busy exulting (if sickly) in the post-selling glow of our newly buffed and soon to be vacated house.

Run ANC said...

Wow - way to go you blog of note, you. I hope you will remember the little people...

Roshin said...

Congrats, mom blogger!

Christine said...

3000!?!?!?

wow--dude you have blog power!

anyway--guests always force me to clean. glad it was a nice time.

ps--i hope you don't think that i believe all profs to be jerks. just a few i encountered that night. and i'm married to a prof who is decidedly NOT a jerk! LOL anyway, i'll post on that more this weekend.

Ankur said...

Thats really cool, and tea sounds really great. It just sounds so great to come across people who are able to see the tea fiend in me.

BubblyBunny said...

I stumbled upon your blog through Blogger's "Blogs of Note"!! So I thought I'd drop a note and say hi! :)

My hubby and I clean like mad whenever our parents visit too. But they are family, so we do the "best" we can and hope they won't notice the things we sweep under the rugs, the beds, the dressers, etc. :P But a few weeks ago, our friends came over for dinner and we spent all week cleaning. Our house had never been so clean. :P Anyway, our plan is try not to dirty our house between now and X'mas so that when our parents come visit, we won't have to clean very much.

Hahah...unfortunately, that lovely plan had already gone down the toilet. :P Ah well...

Jenifer said...

Just me coming from, well my place. That happened to me once for a dinner party. I prepped the house for days because we thought some very uptight family was coming for dinner. Turns out they were only planning on "dropping by" something got mixed up and they had other plans for dinner.

You don't have to ask, they have never been invited back.

Holden said...

Hey

Great Blog. Looking forward to reading more.

Dancing With Tears In My Eyes

Melodieann Whiteley said...

Just popped in from Blogs of Note..Great blog! AHHHHH, parental visits. My in-laws live close enough to visit everyday. Thankfully, they don't stop by that often, but they do pop in enough to keep me on my toes! So while I try to keep the peanut butter under control, I've given up on the cat hair.

helen said...

you have a lovely blog and you write splendidly! i adore witty prose :) if only my professors wrote like this.

1st Mate said...

I remember once when my mother visited after I'd cleaned for three days. She disappeared into the bathroom and when I finally checked on her she was cleaning behind the toilet! She looked at me and said (no, hissed) "This house is filthy!" It was hotels for her from then on, my decision. Now she has Alzheimer's and picks bits of lint off the carpet. To each her own. Enjoy your clean house.

OhTheJoys said...

It's because your mimi-liciousness has been REVEALED TO THE UNIVERSE!

kittenpie said...

Wow. that's quite the spike! Who knew blogger's picks were so powerful?! Congrats.

And yeah, my family came to visit for a few hours and of course I made sure downstiars was clean, but upstiars... well, I have been sick for like a month so the bathroom was all scungy and hairy and I was promising myself to get to it this weekend, and of course my sister decides to use the bathroom when we are up in Pumpkipnpie's new (clean) room. Gah! I don't even like going in there right now, I'm just having a hard time holding my head up, let alone a sponge.

A Beautiful Dichotomy said...

hmm - you're on the mainpage - maybe why you got so many hits? anyway, its cool to know that you have readers eh? nevertheless good read.

nate said...

Life of Pi is in my top ten...didn't think anyone else knew of it.

Rafiq Raja said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rafiq Raja said...

Stumbled Upon your Blog through Blog of Note... Good Writing, will keep visiting....

By the way, congrats on 3000 hits :)

jenji said...

Apologies, I didn’t think to take my shoes off before I entered the spotless, and might I add sparkling, purity of this virtual abode. However, it may help to mention that I’m not wearing shoes at all—in fact, I’m wearing my baby blue footie pajamas—also known as, The Onezie.

My question is this: do dust mites have a home? That is, do they realize that their home has been eradicated by the swift gale of the-folks-are-coming custodial preparation of the anxious family that lives below? Or, do the dust mites survive and simply wonder who cleaned up the joint? I’m just asking because I regrettably realize that I have in fact managed to ignore my own ceiling fan and the dust-ridden metropolis that surely resides upon it. Now wonder the cat is always sitting quietly below and staring upwards as if to say, “seriously, you need to clean that.” I don’t really see the need, but now that you’ve shared your situation I feel a bit…ah, shall we say….soiled—then again, I’m far too lazy to breach the fuzzy comfort of my Onezie to do anything about it tonight.

be well,
jenji

Fred Hathaway said...

Here by Blogs of Note. I like your wlriting very much and will return for more . . .and for more of life as you view it. I am a new grandparent with the kids in the same town.

High Power Rocketry said...

Blogs of note yay!

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11111111 said...

Dusted the ceiling fans?

Anonymous said...

Ceiling fans do get awfully dusty. Congrats, by the way. That's awesome!

Free iPod Touch said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Nance said...

Luv your blog! Congrats on being in blog of notes!

ms blue said...

Hey! You turned into Dooce. It could be the dancing.

Deb said...

My parents live more or less across the road,unless I'm cooking for them (which they generally leave straight after eating) they sit out the front of the yard and pip the car horn for me to come out to them....that is deemed a visit LOL Of course there are the rare occasions,usually when I haven't cleaned up they turn up on the doorstep.

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HollyBerry said...

This post was on my birthday! Congrats to you for your 3000 visits.. I only hope I can get one person to read mine. You seem entirely lovely, and your kids are lucky to have you as their mother! Keep up the good writing and stop on over! I'd love a visit from the outside.
Holly

Onions Amoung Us said...

Thank you for tea. :0)

Bungeegal said...

I can really relate to your parents coming to visit..mine live far away..I always tell them to give me notice so I can deep clean. Its not that my house is a shambles but it has to be clean, spotless to their standards, at least that's how I feel. Second thought, no its true..if I miss a spot they usually find it! Uurggh! Difference between my parents and yours is they stay for a loooooooong time..I miss them when they leave the driveway but part of the time I'm wishing they'd go home cause I feel like a kid when they're here. Stupid I know cause I'll be devastated when they are no longer here for me --truly I love them to no end.

Unknown said...

Lucky you! That's a lot of hits.

I no longer pay attention to how many hits I get, but I think my highest was a couple hundred.

I just got off the college faculty go round and it feels great!

Good luck with your blog,

(Another) Mimi

Anna said...

I love having a clean house-with or without guests! I especially love to clean it before I decorate for Christmas. There is this really cool new site, www.totallychristmas.com that will deliver decorations to your door! Im tempted...I wonder if I give them a $20, will they put them up too??? :)

Bex said...

Hey! I enjoyed your blog. It's both well written and entertaining, which is a rare thing to encounter these days. If you get a chance, check me out at www.rqmitchell.blogspot.com. I'd be interested in your opinion. Again, great job on your blog!

Bex

David Edward said...

hmm Blog of NOTE: that could have something to do with it. I blame google.

if you have time come take a look at my Kayak pictures, and the white pelicans we saw on the lake yesterday.

BOSSY said...

Shazam, girl - Bossy leaves you alone for two seconds and look at you.

jellybean07 said...

hey im new love the blog mine isnt even half this good

Lena said...

Crazy what recommendation from Blogger can do huh??

mo-wo said...

yeah I was excited to see you on the blogs of note. you deserve it!

Admin UD said...

Love you're writing stlye. BUmped in from the blogs of not on bloggers homepage. Cheers!!

..Ugo

Super Masio Brothers! said...

great blog! I'm a mommy blogger too, but nothing compared to yours -- great read!

Unknown said...

I saw you on the front page and wondered if you were Mimi from HearthKeepers -- Nope... but you've got a cute blog here. Ü