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Mother-In-Law Mall
A place to find great gifts!
and products related to mothers-in-law and other family members.
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Mother-In-Law Stories
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April
28, 2002
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Worst gift: This is
about ONE of the WORST gifts we received from my MIL (one of many
- but this takes the cake). A few Christmases ago, DH and
I received a pair of winter fleece vests - while living in Hawaii!!!
Anyone with half a brain would know you have no use for them in
a tropical climate, besides the fact that they are totally out of
style. Put that up next to the babes in triangle bikinis on
the beach, ha. That wasn't even worth the postage used to
send it. I'd take a 10 cent piece over it any day, and not
feel so insulted.
Signed - Island Girl
in City of Roses
RESPONSE: Island Girl in City of Roses
Maybe she thought that the evenings were chilly just running around
in a bikini? LOL! I don't know, but that might be how
she was thinking. She sounds a little loopy.
RESPONSE: Island Girl in City of Roses
So, how do you like Portland? My FIL and his GF never knew
my birthday. My FIL was a loving man, but he was not the brightest
crayon in the box. His GF is the bride of the devil.
The less time I spent with the GF, the happier I was. Not
getting a birthday gift was just fine with me. Our Christmas
gifts were very odd. You could tell the GF did all of the
shopping, and she had no clue as to what DH and I liked. I
guess I would not complain too much about not getting gifts.
If the ILs are cheap, then fine. Let DH do all of the gift
shopping, and remove yourself from the responsibility.
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Worst gift: My birthday
is on Christmas Day. My MIL always did keep in touch with
my husband's ex-wife and his old girlfriends. One Christmas,
my husband's ex-wife was at the house. Guess who got the present
and who didn't? Why did not getting a gift hurt my feelings?
I don't know. I have been with my husband for 9 years, and
not once ever got a gift from her.
Signed - One For Her,
None For Me
RESPONSE: One For Her, None For Me
That's just plain cruel!!!!! I won't accept gifts from my
MIL, even if she were to try and give me one (which I doubt, since
she believes I am Satan, and have corrupted her perfect little boy!)
My DH will not accept a thing from her anymore. He refuses
to even speak with her!
RESPONSE: One For Her, None For Me
I'm sorry she made you feel badly. My advice is to ignore
her. If you are inclined to strike back, hit her where it
hurts (your DH). I'm sure you can think of something that
he can do, unwittingly, which will drive her mad. This way
you can feign innocence, and she won't know how to retaliate.
If she blames you and attacks you directly, then she makes herself
look like a crazy woman.
RESPONSE: One For Her, None For Me
I've never gotten a gift from MIL, either. She always acted
mad about forgetting my birthday - like it was my fault. So,
what was her excuse at Christmas? I don't know - and no longer
care, thank goodness. The fact that your MIL would buy something
for ex, but not for you, speaks volumes about her disrespect and
mean spirit. I hope you do not buy gifts for MIL. If
you do, stop immediately! Tell DH it is his mother, and, therefore,
his responsibility - especially since she doesn't buy for you.
You will take care of your family. Then, when MIL wants to
know where her gift is, send her to DH.
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I have been married for
about 3 years now. My MIL lives 1500 miles away from us, but
still manages to get on my nerves. When we do visit, she is
so controlling that she wants to sit on top of my DH and I the entire
time. She truly has no concept of personal space, and does
not seem to understand the concept that she IS IN YOURS! She
controls the conversation, where we go, what we do, etc. She
tells people not to even talk when she is out of the room, for fear
she would miss out on something. She is always using guilt
and manipulation to get "her" way, not to mention always
justifying the actions or motives of others. I can't stand
the way she looks or acts. What do I do?
Signed - My MIL Needs
Deliverance!
RESPONSE: My MIL Needs Deliverance!
What do you do? Stop letting her in your house. No one
can take advantage of you without your permission.
RESPONSE: My MIL Needs Deliverance!
The only thing you can really do is to thank your lucky stars that
you don't live next door to her. I live 1000 miles from my
mother, and it's all I can do to tolerate one visit a year.
The only time she'll leave me alone is when I'm asleep or in the
bathroom, so I end up with comments about how much I sleep!
LOL! Honestly, I wish I had some advice, but people as dense
as your MIL and my mother wouldn't even notice if a ton of bricks
fell on them. You might as well build a wall out of those
bricks and beat your head against it, because she won't change.
Just take a deep breath, paste a smile on your face, and keep repeating
to yourself, "I CAN make it through this!"
RESPONSE: My MIL Needs Deliverance!
Make sure you are staying at a hotel, or somewhere else, when you
visit. Inform her that you will be over at such and such time,
if that is OK with her. Make it as brief as possible, then
leave. You can say that you have other plans. It really
doesn't matter how overbearing she is. Short of being physically
able to stop you and DH from walking out, she can't stop you.
If she asks why you are acting this way, tell her. And, tell
her that you will continue to regulate time spent with her, and
stay elsewhere, until she stops trying to control you folks.
Please feel free to come to the boards - a lot of folks are dealing
with intrusive MILs there.
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Worst gift: I've known
my husband and his family, including his mother, most of my life.
When he and I first started dating, he had just gotten divorced.
We spent Christmas at his brother and sister-in-law's house, along
with his mother. At this time, he had been living in his dad's
RV (his parents are divorced - a pretty interesting story itself)
because he was still paying all the household expenses for his ex-wife
and their two children. But, he was getting ready to move
into an apartment. He had nothing - no furniture, no dishes,
nothing! She gave him a mug tree with 4 mugs, a chef's hat,
and a plastic apron with a lobster on it. Just what the man
with nothing really needs. She gave me a bag full of used
tissue paper (the kind you use in a gift bag). Some were just
little scraps of tissue. She also threw in some little paper
doilies, like you would put on a plate to set cookies on.
It wasn't even a whole packet of them, just a few she had left over
from something or other. I looked at this junk, and then looked
at her. She gave me a little smile, and said she thought I'd
be able to get some use out of it! I also found out later
that, during our visit there, my future SIL said that in all the
years she'd known him, she had never seen my husband happy.
And, she was so glad for him that he had found me. My MIL
told her that I'd "just been lying in wait for him to get divorced".
Good grief. I was 38 then. I'd known him since I was
15. Talk about a long wait!
Signed - Fed Up To Here
RESPONSE: Fed Up To Here
"My MIL told her that I'd 'just been lying in wait for him
to get divorced'." My, my - your DH must be something
very special for you to lie in wait all these years! LOL!
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I wrote on the 7th about
my PILs coming to visit without asking. To continue my story,
I fought with my DH, and finally he agreed that we should tell them
exactly when we will be available, and not too busy for them to
visit. Keep in mind that we are MOVING! I thought this
was great, because we had a compromise: He wouldn't give them
full rein, and I wouldn't keep him from seeing his PILs entirely.
So, he called the PILs and told them that we could see them on such
and such day, at such and such time. They didn't like that,
of course, so they said, "Well, we'll just come out the next
weekend. That way you won't be busy!" And, he AGREED!!!
So, he called me up (he called them while he was at work, which
I'm not too happy about, because that kept me out of the loop entirely)
and told me when they would be coming. I'm afraid I went from
zero to full attack mode in less than three seconds. "WHAT??!!"
And, we went through it all AGAIN (I am getting so sick of having
the same argument over and over). The upshot of this is that
WE are going to have a talk with his PILs tonight, and I am going
to let them know exactly how I feel about this whole mess, because
DH doesn't have the balls to. I was willing to compromise,
but now they are going to visit when Satan sells snow cones.
Thank you to the writer who said, "Stick to your guns, dear!"
because that keeps going through my mind and giving me courage for
tonight! Wish me luck!
Signed - Grrr!
RESPONSE: Grrr!
Please keep us updated. I have the SAME PROBLEM, and need
inspiration.
RESPONSE: Grrr!
Good Luck! Come to the boards for faster feedback. It
sounds like you'll need it.
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Worst Gift Stories
For WORST GIFT Stories, Click Here.
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Working Women Don't Have Wives