I am the luckiest woman alive.
Truly.
For the past week or so my mother and grandmother have been at my house visiting while the hubby is away. Many people may groan at the thought of having that much supervision at 29, but not me! They are the best houseguests a girl could ask for. Given that my "9-5" is a work from home job, they had no expectations for me during my work hours. They walk in the door, drop their luggage and ask for a honey do list - and when the list runs out they make things up. Keep in mind, my grandma is 83 - she's crushing it. And she finishes a hard day with a vodka and water - in a tall glass, with olives of course. From what I hear the woman was the original Betty Draper, and could be found on Friday nights in her pilazzo pants with a martini in one hand, a cigarette in the other, hosting the most killer of cocktail parties. You can still see the echoes in her hair of her 1940's suicide rolls - seriously, she's the bee's knees.
Here's a great photo of my mom, grandma and grandpa from what I estimate to be the early 80's. There's grandma in her bikini and cowboy hat at 50ish. Like I said, bee's knees. Grandpa is right on par, of course, in cut off jorts and what I am sure is a very tall whiskey and water in that cup.
Back to the honey do list. I had a few chores I (had been avoiding) really needed help with and they were more than happy to take charge. These are not women who sit down. I think after raising kids, vacation translates to the same amount of work, just with more sunscreen. Can't wait.
So far they have washed and put away a massive set of etched glasses that we inheirited from my hub's family. They were taking up every square inch of our bar, rendering the bar effectively useless. They also determined that my front porch plant situation was unsatisfactory, and moved many of my potted herbs from my garden to the front porch. Those things weigh 40 lbs a piece, hopefully grandma didn't get stuck with that job. They also scraped the ugly remains of my Virginia vehicle registration sticker off the inside of my winshield, took the dogs on daily walks, did laundry, cleaned the back deck, and prepared dinner every day. If this is what having a housewife is like, I need one.
After dinner came the real work, where the three of us clustered into my sewing room to cut, iron, pin, and sew project after project. We nicknamed my office the sweatshop because with three women, two steaming hot irons, a few dogs and a handful of computers it gets a wee bit warm. Fast forward a few hours and the three of us were practically naked, stealing sips of grandma's vodka and water when she wasn't looking.
Oh, and this happened a few times.
I had written a long list of goals for while the hubby was gone. A few of those goals have been accomplished:
deciding on a name
creating an LLC
publishing the website
creating the etsy store
instagramming at least once a day
creating new apron patterns
Many more of those goals have not been accomplished
finish at least 3 crib quilts
finish 6 aprons
finish all sets of unpaper towels (I'm pretty sure I have about 15... thousand... to go!)
create a man apron pattern
name said man apron (manpron? bro-apron? bropron?)
there's a lot more, but I left my list at home... so...
They have helped me make a mountain into a molehill. I wish I had a before and after picture of my project room. There is still a long way to go before that August 1st deadline I set for myself, but I could not be more grateful for such a wonderful family. Thanks Silver Fox and Blueberry - don't know what I'd do without you.
P.S. Writing this blog post made me realize how few pictures I have of the three of us. I'll fix that. Today.