by Penny B

Created on: June 19, 2008

As the old saying goes, leftovers, laundry and house guests start to smell after three days. There may be a general rule in there someplace when it comes to offering your home as a place for out of town guests to stay. Even though they may be family, or a friend that you don't get to see very often, it isn't always a good idea to have these people living with you for any undetermined length of time.

We all have our own ways of living. Though we might have come from the same family, been raised exactly the same, with identical habits and values, something changes when we all leave home and set up our own family and way of doing things. By being on our own, we are now able to let our own personalities shine, unlike we could when we were living under our parents strict rules. Sometimes we start to let some of those rules lax as we go through our daily, busy lifestyles.

What do you do when your once favorite brother or sister, or in-laws, drop in for a visit and leave a subtle hint that they should leave to get a room at the nearest hotel or motel? Of course your first instinct is to say they are very much welcome to stay in your spare bedroom. After all, that's what a spare room is for. There is also the added benefit that they will be saving money by staying with you, for free, as hotels can be quite costly, especially if they'll be in town for a few days.

The first day goes extremely well. Being they don't have to leave at a specific time, you are able to catch up on all the news, find out what they've been doing, how their life is going. You have a nice dinner together, maybe watch a movie, play a game of cards and enjoy their company. The first night will probably end a little early, as they may have traveled a long way, driving for hours on the highway. They will probably want to get some sleep.

The second day may even go equally as well. You may catch in on some sites of the city together, revisit places and people they haven't seen in a while. All in all, it's a full and busy day of spending quality time together.

You are now heading into the third day of company. You are running out of things to talk about, and you realize that your own schedule has been put on hold for two days already. Household chores are starting to pile up, and/or you have to get back to work. It's getting harder to squeeze in the time for visiting. You are not the one on vacation. You are beginning to wonder why you didn't let them stay at a hotel. You begin to wonder when they plan on

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