Wednesday, August 26, 2009

What A Sham!

In the next week, many of us will be guests or hosts. Here's a subject from our archives you may want to sleep on, or maybe not.

We love beautiful linens. We like lots of fluffy pillows and and pretty duvet covers. Many posts ago, Yvonne wrote about weekend guests and their bed stripping habits. Some have them, some don't (ask your hosts if they want you to strip the bed). It seems like there's another issue - guests sleeping on the shams.

A couple of months ago, a guest who was over-served at dinner went straight to bed without taking off her makeup. When Yvonne went to check on her the next morning, the woman was sound asleep with her head resting on the white sham. It used to be white. Apparently she had tossed and turned and the sham was now wearing her makeup. Some of the duvet cover was also smudged. None of this was pretty.

But all is not lost. There are people who know better when it comes to shams. This past weekend, Yvonne had the guests from heaven. A couple visited her home. The woman came downstairs the next morning to prepare chicken and waffles for breakfast. She apologized to Yvonne for sleeping on the sham. "We were so tired, we fell asleep immediately and didn't remove the shams. I'm so sorry." Turns out the shams were fine, she'd taken off her makeup. "My grandmother taught me better," she explained.

Her husband pointed out that sometimes they'll turn down the beds for their guests and set the shams aside. Yvonne and I think that's a good idea because not everyone knows the difference between a pillow sham and a pillow case. But we don't think it's right to say, "By the way, when you go to bed, please don't sleep on the shams, you know the ones with the ruffle trim." Nothing bad is going to happen in the world if a sham gets soiled. It's just one of those mildly annoying things.

What Yvonne's guest did was very nice, she was truthful. She 'fessed up. And on top of that she made a great breakfast. No sham there.




Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Art of Thank You

In our book, there are several ways to say thank you, here goes...

One, could just say, "Thank you."
Two, write a note. It's thoughtful, classy and memorable.
Three, you can email your thanks but only if the invite was emailed.
Four, you can pick up the phone.
Five, you can send flowers the next day after a dinner party. Try not to take flowers, the host will have to stop and find a vase, fill it with water and then find a suitable place. This precious time could have been used to mix a drink for you.

If you're dating someone, never stop saying thank you.
The same goes for spouses, siblings, parents, etc. You can never be too close or know someone too well to not thank them.

Take care, and thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

House Guesting: Ten Questions That'll Keep You Home Next Weekend

We're going to take some time off and we hope you will too. For the next few weeks, we'll be running posts from our archives.


Try any of these questions the next time you're invited to someone's weekend house and see what happens.
  1. Is this the only television you have?
  2. Did you know the upstairs bathroom toilet is stopped up?
  3. What's for dinner?
  4. Is this the only bottle of champagne you have?
  5. Did you buy any fish?
  6. I don't eat meat, you have any bean curd?
  7. You have a fly swatter?
  8. What's for lunch?
  9. You have any wine?
  10. Will this red wine stain come off your sofa?
Have anymore questions? Email them to us.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Greedy Chairpersons

New York and other cities have been really nice about offering seats in various public spaces. Most people do what you’re supposed to do with a chair, they sit down. Others sit down and take another chair for their lunch, their feet, their shopping bags, handbags, etc.

Why anyone would spread their lunch on a chair is beyond us. We think it’s nasty. “They looked at me as if I had two heads,” Yvette said. She was in a park and the one available seat in that particular area was occupied by a romantic lunch for two. When she asked the couple if they could remove their lunch, they just looked at her. Yvette left, the lunch stayed comfortably seated.

Seat gluttony happens on buses and trains all the time. Fellow commuters think nothing of resting their weary packages on an empty seat and ignoring the person who’s standing. Our pet peeve is when men, usually younger, (Yvette doesn’t like it when I refer to these types as young punks.) sit with their legs open so wide they take up three seats. They know exactly what they’re doing and their aim is to intimidate. Kill them with kindness. Just say with a smile, “Excuse me, please.” They won't lose their manhood by sitting properly for a few stops.

The next time you take a seat, take one, not two or three.