Have my niece here for the week and for the life of me, I cannot fathom why she likes it here. My sister, her Mum, spoils her rotten and she(the neice) has access to all things any teenage girl would want. Here, she is required to entertain herself, find food whenever she is hungry, is assigned chores like walking the dog and is treated like everybody else in this house, which is to say, "pull your weight".

The fare to get here must have run somewhere around $80 and the payoff is minimal at best. Tonight she said to me, "why do all the floors in your house creak?" I answered, "the house is 120 years old and everything that old creaks. Why does it bother you?"

Her answer floored me. "No, I like it. I like everything about your house".

Whaaa!!! I kinda thought that all teenagers were into BIG, BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL. Our home is anything but. It is small, quaint and creaky!

I also thought that teenager were entirely into being the center of attention. Here NOBODY IS CENTER...YET EVERYONE IS CENTER. We are all loud, eccentric, moody, artistic and just plain weird. Why the hell would a kid from the "burbs" want to be here? I still haven't pegged this girl.. I love her, I want to spank her behind, I want to lecture her Mum, but ultimately, she fits in!!

Strange hey? I always think I am running far behind the pack but when push comes to shove, this is where we all want to be. Even Princess MustHaveA's boyfriend wants to be here every minute of every weekend. Good thing we really like him, huh?