tell me what's odd about where you're staying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where do I begin?
Staying at ILs tiny house (total of 4 adults, 3 little kids). We sleep on bunks, or the floor while MIL sleeps on the couch (her choice). So we have to be super quiet in the morning so as not to wake her. The house is old and drafty, and super dry with high heat. We all scratch from dry skin by the time we leave. They are hoarders, so every inch of the house is filled with stuff. We're not allowed to move anything to or down our suitcases, wet towels, etc.
Also, MIL has 1,000 chatkis (?) and refuses to put them away when we visit. We have 2 toddlers!
BIL built a big house down the road and they have kids (my kids' cousins). We have asked them if our kids can do a sleep over at least one night - and we have hinted we would love to stay with them - but no dice. They don't like to have people at their house.
Uf.

Why do you and your DH put your DCs at risk by staying with them? Seriously. You need to put your kids first and not expose them to such a dangerous living environment. Can you afford a hotel and have inlaws visit you there?

[Anonymous]

Stayed with parents, who are about 80, and they won't allow lights to be left on, so we use our cell flashlights to see.

They also only have two chairs per living area, and there are five living areas, so you have to carry a dining chair from room to room with you or stand up at all times. The entire time, they yell at everyone to put the chairs back in the two dining rooms.

All the furniture has little knit socks you have to make sure stay on each leg, so the floors won't be marred.

Mom hand-knit all these afghans as bed covers, and she knits things in her size, which is 4ft10 and 80lbs. So you have to drape the beds with multiples of these tiny afghans that fall off throughout the night.

[Anonymous]

wow... i'm speechless reading through 8 pages in this thread. I probably would become a mass murderer by the end of 3rd day if I were to stay in any of these houses!

Is this a common normal American family??

[Anonymous]

all parking is gone by 7pm... and spaces do not open up again until about 7:30am when folks head to work

[Anonymous]

Every meal has to be a huge drawn out affair with appetizers, 5 Mains, dessert etc. hours preparing and hours cleaning up. Exhausting and not at all relaxing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:all parking is gone by 7pm... and spaces do not open up again until about 7:30am when folks head to work

That is actually normal for a lot of us.

[Anonymous]

MIL uses us as her trash disposals.

She unloads leftovers on us, while SIL's family gets fresh food when they visit.

When we sit down to a meal we see 20 different bowls, with a few tbsp of each thing - foods that are clearly old as they have not been served the entire week we were there. We have stopped visiting. I did lose weight each time we visited, which was good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Experience many similar things at my parents' house:

-- No fruit or vegetables in the house. No real food other than a couple packages of Chips Ahoy. The cupboards are packed with random things (e.g., lightbulbs) but no actual food. The refrigerator is bare except for condiments that, like a PP said, expired ages ago.

-- Liquid soap dispensers at every sink but when they get low they add water so it just squirts all over. I'm not even sure how much soap is in there and whether our hands are getting clean.

-- So. many. tchotkes.

-- Hundreds of plastic bags. They hang from the railing to the basement. I (stupidly) asked for one in the middle of changing a diaper, and they ran around like chickens with heads cut off yelling at each other rather than just taking a bag from the massive hoard. I don't know what that was about.

I had to laugh about the elderly people not eating produce. The 84 and 86 yr old refused to eat the vegetable and salad at Christmas dinner at our place, too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I are sleeping in the "doll room" while we are staying at my FIL's house. The room must have about 300 dolls of varying sizes and dress stacked two deep on shelves. They belonged to my mother in law who had a hoarding problem and who sadly passed away a year and a half ago. The dolls are still here. We always sleep in this room during our twice yearly visits (important to DH to stay at his parents house) and while it has always been disturbing to me, for some reason on this visit they are really creeping me out even more than they usually do.

Oh, my grandmother was a doll collector, too. So creepy!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MIL always trying to show off. She bought a new china cabinet and stored her "good china" in there. After dinner she was serving tea and announced that she was going to let us use the good china. I was sipping tea from my cup and realized there was a TJ Maxx price tag in my cup and in everyone's cup. She didn't even wash the cups!

You are a real b----, hope you choked at that price tag. so what if her "good china" is from TJ Maxx. Yes, she should have washed them first, but get over yourself.

I have bought a lot of china there and they never put the price tag IN the cup. On the side or bottom, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In a stunning mansion but it is freezing. Everyone went out. Thermostat was set to 60*. I just cranked it to 74*.

I just bought a cashmere wrap (50% off!) at Bloomies because I'm going to visit cousins who keep their heat that low. Also bought one for my Aunt, who keeps her (connected) home at a normal 72* but freezes when she goes to their house.

I feel you pp!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My MIL has no door handle on the ONE bathroom door. My husband went to Home Depot to fix it and she got all pissed off. She also does not believe in buying garbage bags. She just uses the small plastic grocery bags.

We checked into the local Marriott.

OMG. Are these depression era women determined to try to prove something? Besides the fact that they are batshit crazy?

No, no depression era. Just batshit crazy.

Sometimes one in the same! LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At my parents house. My mother left about an hour ago to who knows where. Just put her coat in, grabbed her purse, and walked out. Nothing bad led to this - my dad is laying in the sun room reading his book, one sister is working on a presentation she has to give on Wednesday, other sister and her bf left this morning to see his family (after presents and a big breakfast), and mom loved all her gifts - in fact, she was taking pics nonstop and sending them to her friends. None of us are quite sure what's going on and she's not answering her cell phone so we are a bit confused. Hopefully she comes back soon?

Where did your mom go?

[Anonymous]

This is one of the best threads I've ever read on dcum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stayed with parents, who are about 80, and they won't allow lights to be left on, so we use our cell flashlights to see.

They also only have two chairs per living area, and there are five living areas, so you have to carry a dining chair from room to room with you or stand up at all times. The entire time, they yell at everyone to put the chairs back in the two dining rooms.

All the furniture has little knit socks you have to make sure stay on each leg, so the floors won't be marred.

Mom hand-knit all these afghans as bed covers, and she knits things in her size, which is 4ft10 and 80lbs. So you have to drape the beds with multiples of these tiny afghans that fall off throughout the night.

LMAO!! This is my favorite. Your parents sound charming. I love old people.