Stupid in-laws

There is nothing I hate more then when people show up without calling first. So I hear ya. Good luck

I feel for ya!  Good luck and it sounds like you're keeping your calm!
 
BF and I just moved to another province (unfortunately I guess it's not far enough) but my family keeps talking about taking a vacation and staying with us.  They didn't ask if it was okay, they just assume they can stay with us whenever they want to go here for a vacation!  I hear (wasn't told directly) that my aunt and her family plan on coming the first week of August!  I'm hoping they don't expect to stay with us!

You show up at my house unannounced and you don't get in.  PARTICULARLY not family.
 
Sometimes I'm ms. pushover, total sweetheart and will do anything for anyone.  BUT don't mess with me about my house.  It's MY house and WE live there and if you don't like lots of dog hair don't come.
 
One time about 18 years ago, (married to my first husband, still in an apartment) I spent WEEKS cleaning and cleaning and cleaning because my mother was coming down (I'm in FL, she's in NY State).  I worked my BUTT OFF cleaning dirt that wasn't mine and never had been -- old apartment, there was only so much you could do, ya know?
 
She walked in, never said "hi".  She walked TO the washer dryer in the kitchen -- PULLED OUT the washer and looked up at me and said "Give me a broom and *I* will clean THIS MESS OUTA HERE!!!".
 
I turned around, handed her the purse she set down on the washer, and said "sorry -- I put the broom away.  But the Econolodge is up 436 and right on 17-92.  I'm sure they'll have a room."
 
I went upstairs and wept.  Mad as a hornet but I wept.  She hasn't been back 'overnight' since.  She hasn't been INVITED.  When they come down they stay over at the beach and I go THERE.
 
Yes, I have brass eggs -- I've developed them over the years because of rude people.  Rattle me, and clank them hard enough and you'll get smacked!!!
 
(it was, for those who know me, probably the most BRIEF I've ever been in my life!!)

I have a friend who used to love to show up from out of town unannounced.  Her reason for never calling ahead was always "I didn't want you to feel like you had to rush around cleaning up." Hmm.  Sounds good, but I always suspected that she secretly enjoyed catching people with a sink full of dirty dishes and knee high swirls of dog hair wafting about. []

Joyce

My Mom loves less than 10 miles from me but she will just show up and come right on in.  I wouldn't do my children that way.  I call first.

I have to say that my two sisters and I DROVE to NY from IN, 13 hours in a car, with my 2 dogs over Thanksgiving, to surprise my parents, ONCE.   []   They were very surprised, however we did make sure to call and be sure they had no plans.  We showed up 2 days before Turkey Day to help with cooking and cleaning while there.

I don't know that I will do that again. 

I have surprised family before but only once, and I knew ahead of time that it would be ok. My cousin is a complete neat freak..you would never know she has as many animals in her house as she does. I mean, she mops the floor at least twice a day just on a regular day...if it is nasty weather (rain or snow) where stuff will be brought in on your shoes she pretty much mops behind you as you are walking. (I really think she could use medication for this, but thats another story). So, I knew I could show up unexpected and be welcomed.
 
When folks show up at my house I usually say :"sorry the house is such a mess, we don't like to clean" cuz I am not going to be nuts cleaning and cleaning all the time. and it isn't like the house is really dirty, sometimes it is just cluttered a little. Most people would think it is clean but not my mom....i tell her she is welcomed to clean it anytime she comes over LOL. I am so totally over being bothered by that.

My mom used to be a neat freak, too.  When she'd come up to visit, she would literally spend half a day in the bathrooms with a nut pick, chipping the hard water scum off the faucets. [] I just tried to explain to her that 1.) the water up here is really very hard, so it's a losing battle trying to stay ahead of it. 2.) with 2 kids I didn't have time to indulge in that and 3.) if I DID have that kind of time, that sure isn't how I would have spent it. But ... it apparently made her happy to do it, so I just let her. [] She came up while I was in the hospital having DS #2 and she got our place so clean it actually stayed clean by itself for almost a month. I don't think I inherited any of those genes.

Joyce