House Guests and the Joys of Roommates

In general I don't use my blog to complain about stuff in my life, in fact most of the non-sense I put on here has nothing to do with the price of potatoes, tonight though, I have a voice that simply must be heard!

There are many things to remember when you are hosting a house guest. Things like they will need a towel when they shower, or breakfast should be readily available, make sure that you have an extra blanket or two within reach in case they get cold in the night. There are 101 ways to be a fabulous host/hostess and I'm sure that if you looked on Martha Stewart's website (which is amazing by the way) you would get an extensive list of do's and don'ts for house guests. However, let's not forget that there are things that you should do as a house guest to in turn show your gratitude to the poor sap who is housing you.
In the South during the hay day of Plantations and wealthy slave owners house guests would stay for weeks at a time. Knowing some of your friends you can simply imagine what a horror story that could be. Well, to solve the problem of over staying ones welcome, the host would ask the kitchen staff to serve the guest a cold shoulder of meat for dinner. That is in fact where the saying "he gave me the could shoulder" comes from.
As is for everything these days, visits are much quicker than that. However, there does come a point when you might just be tired of your house guest. Tonight, that is the case. My roommate has a friend staying with us. The difference is that my roommate has abandoned said house guest into my care and I have recently found out (as of an hour and a half ago) that this house guest intends to stay yet another night. This house guest was supposed to stay with someone else, but had to stay with us last minute...when your plans are changed last minute and you must impose upon someone else, don't stay for three nights!

Ode to the Crack House

So, I live in a lovely newish town house in downtown Houston. To the north is a credible business, to the west are more, newer town homes, to the south older houses, and to the east a crack house. When I look out my large and uncovered kitchen window I see a mustard yellow house that is boarded up, there is an empty lot in front of it and yet another house that is boarded up, this house is light tan. Just east of these two condemned houses is a small brick house...the Crack House. It's interesting to watch the goings on of this little house because sometimes it would seem that things are normal, and sometimes it would not.

The house is small and built of red bricks. There are bars on all of the windows and doors. In the backyard, where they park their no longer working pick up and their everyday car, is a trampoline and several pit bulls. You did in fact read that correctly, several pit bulls. Why would one house need so many rough housing dogs? They sell crack of coarse.

One morning in late November, the police were at the house very early...6 AM early. What would police being doing at some one's home, much less at 6 AM. Domestic violence caused by an argument over a drug deal...it's so simple.

I have no hard evidence to prove my theory, but as I sit hear stealing their unsecured wireless Internet I have to think, that old garage has no car in it...meth lab!