Dear Queenie,
My husband told some relatives that they could come here and stay with us for a week on their vacation if they could meet all the pandemic travel requirements.
I am lucky to still have a job and I work from home part of the time. He is retired and stays home all day but he never does anything to help around the house, so I have to do all the housework in addition to my outside job. I can’t even begin to think how I will get my usual work done, never mind all the extra work of having houseguests for a week.
Queenie, how do I tell them they can’t stay with us?—Overworked wife
Dear Wife,
Tell your husband the only way these people can stay with you is if he takes over all the housework while they are here. And if he promises to do so but you are not sure he will keep that promise, tell him – and the relatives – that you just cannot manage having houseguests. Then give the relatives information about local hotels, tell them you look forward to seeing them and offer to take them out to dinner a couple of times while they are here.
If you can afford it you might also consider hiring someone to do the housework while the guests are here.
And maybe it will turn out that the relatives cannot meet all the pandemic travel requirements after all.
