Frequent
Fry Her TM
- wildcat 1 of
4 needed/Posted: 9-JAN-04 Worst gift: I hope that
I'm not out of line in adding my stories here because it's my parents
(my GM and M) that are the ILs from he!!. I could tell you a
million cases of their weirdness - GM is a devil woman who demands
to be in control and M is a "victim" and codependent.
Just to give you an idea, the year after I left for college (it should
have tipped me off), I bought a microwave for the family to use at
home for Christmas. DH (DBF then) had me ship it, and we waited
until it arrived at their apartment. What was waiting for me
under the Christmas tree? A box of baby laundry detergent and
a box of dryer sheets!
Signed - Devil Woman
Frequent
Fry Her TM.
- Wildcat 2 of 4 needed /Posted: 22-FEB-04
My parents are the in-laws from heck. A couple
of days ago, I got a huge package from one of them. Inside was
a jacket that my GM decided to make for mom (who is considerably taller
than I am). Mom decided that she didn't want it. So, they
shipped it to me, along with four grapefruits. Boy, I'm glad
that DH decided to check for packages - otherwise we would have had
to deal with frozen 3 or 4 days old grapefruit in a soggy, frozen
cardboard box). It's not as bad as some of the stories here,
but the reason that I'm ticked about it is that: 1) I'm
ALLERGIC to citrus fruits - cannot have them. 2) I'm on
a low-carb diet - which means that grapefruits with high fructose
content are out - and I have been refusing grapefruit and oranges
for YEARS. 3) I had already told them that I didn't want
any fruit. 4) DH doesn't LIKE them (aside from being on
the low-carb diet with me). But, we consistently get citrus
fruit. The jacket is interesting enough, I guess. Things
could be worse - it could be purple, pink and yellow plaid.
I just resent that I'm assumed to like exactly what I'm told to like
- usually castoffs for patterns that "didn't work out" or
"trials" of new patterns. I'm just not really sure
what to coordinate pink and gray with in a primarily navy and black
business wardrobe.
Signed - Trying To Figure
Out The Logic
Frequent
Fry Her TM.
- Wildcat 3 of 4 needed /Posted: 28-FEB-04
DH and I had traveled 5 to 6 hours to attend my younger
brother's college graduation. As the occasion demanded, I
was in a dress and heels, and my DH was in his expensive dry-clean
only suit. My mom wanted to have a housewarming/graduation
party at her new residence. She had been going through plenty
of drama and problems getting this new residence even livable.
There had been the usual problems with the contractors and getting
permits, and so on. She decided that she would have the party
at her new place come he!! or high water, in spite of not having
running water (no toilets for 20 people), barely getting electricity
in time, not being unpacked (boxes were everywhere), etc.
The first thing that she asked my DH to do when we got "invited
over" was to crawl under the place to start checking out the
lines and to get her water turned on. Somehow, no one else
could do it. I immediately was put to unpacking, dusting,
getting rid of boxes, opening taps of water, etc. All this
was done about 1 hour or so before her "guests" started
to arrive. It got me so mad - particularly when YB wasn't
able to get under the house to check things out before, but was
suddenly able to squeeze under there when DH was ordered to go under.
The lady hadn't even opened her fridge because the power had been
out (like I said - new place) and it had been unplugged in moving,
so she had just left it closed for several days. Boy, did
I feel safe eating her party food.
Signed - I Wanna Be A
Guest Instead Of Family!
Frequent
Fry Her TM - wildcat,
4 of 4 needed /Posted: 31-MAR-04
I've got a million of them - from my parents.
The last time that I traveled down to see my faaaaamily was when my
younger brother graduated. For the occasion, my DH and I were
dressed formally. I was in a dress, hose and pumps, and DH was
in a suit. After the 5+ hour trip, we finally saw the graduation.
Mom had bought a new home in a new subdivision (20 minutes from anywhere),
and despite having no water and barely (like within the past 12 hours)
having electricity, she had 20 plus people celebrate her new place
and YB's graduation at this new home. When DH and I arrived,
the entire place was filled with boxes and bags, and there was no
water. My mom decided that my DH, in his dry-clean-only suit,
just NEEDED to crawl in the clay mud under their house to check the
plumbing and turn on their well pump. Since I was "hanging
around" while he did that, I could "help" her with
the boxes. I ended up finishing moving her into her new place
while DH crawled around trying to get the water moving enough to go
to the bathroom. When we asked why this hadn't been taken care
of, mom informed us that the house hadn't even been officially given
the "all done" from the builders, and she just NEEDED to
have the party in this place.
Signed - Galled by M
Frequent
Fry Her TM
- wildcat/Posted: 16-FEB-04
My parents are absolutely, unforgettably amazing.
When DH and I married, they were over the moon in the tizzy of wedding
preparations. Yes, I married the very same man whom they declared
"unfit" and who (they were SURE) "was cheating on me"
(which he wasn't). We've been married now for about 5 years,
finally settling down into the house and so on. We are steadily
paying off the debts (college loans, credit cards, etc.). We
have both agreed that we will finish paying these off before we think
about children, which is well known to everyone in the family.
It didn't bug me when we all agreed to collect a children's book series
(I love books). It worried me a little when my GM picked out
the nursery furniture set and had already made up 3 sets of baby sheets,
etc. What DOES bug me is the passive-aggressive cr@ptacular
that I get. I'm now getting all kinds of articles on fertility,
the dangers associated with birth control, the costs of raising children
from my mom, who is "not trying to pressure me". I
am sick of hearing about how my GM can get me baby and child clothes
from a local (to her) consignment shop "for a song".
Not only are they giving me heck, but she is asking family friends
to "hold on" to maternity clothes (that have met her approval)
and baby furniture so that she can pick out what I need and bring
it to me. My GM is even packing things up so that she can move
"just to be near me" and take over baby-sitting so that
I can return to work. Duh! This is why we're waiting until
we pay off our debts. This isn't so bad, I guess, except for
one tiny detail. When my mom remarried this last time, she married
a gentleman with grown children and grandchildren. Neither one
of them even speaks about these relatives.
Signed - Everyone's ILs
Are Someone Else's PARENTS
Frequent
Fry Her TM
- wildcat/Posted: 3-APR-04
Here's a gem from my parents - my DH's ILs. About
a year or two after we were married, I began to make noises about
attending graduate school. We both have college degrees, but
we could both use the extra education, and it wouldn't hurt either
of our resumes. We both also worked full time (and still do).
I had taken a new job with better benefits and better pay. My
mother pulled me aside and said that she wasn't putting any pressure
on me or anything, but she really didn't want me to attend graduate
school. When I asked why, she said that I shouldn't, because
it would cause friction, and that we would get divorced (wtf?) After
all, EVERYONE knew that the man "NEEDED" to be in charge
and "NEEDED" to be the breadwinner. I needed to really
concentrate on maintaining the family and getting settled, like making
sure that DH had home cooked meals. Uh-huh. Hmm.
Well, since then I have gotten 3 successive jobs with increasing benefits
and pay. DH even moved over 200 miles in order for me to take
one of them, taking care of the housework and cooking until he got
a job. Remember everyone: No matter how strange/weird/crazy/mean
your ILs are, they are parents to your partner!
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