What's weird about where you are staying - Thanksgiving 2024 edition

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MIL has been seeing a new "health guru" who had her download an app called Trash Panda. You use the app to scan the barcodes on food items and the app will tell you all the problematic ingredients. All of our snacks and most of our other food items now have sticky notes on them listing the 'bad stuff' and TRASH written on them.

She doesn't Trash Panda her wine, though. She tsked me for letting DD go get Chick-fil-a last night with her friends, but MIL's dinner last night was a half a block of cheese and a bottle of wine. I think my kid will survive some fast food.

Is she 13?
Trash Panda is unreliable trash that kids got off a tik-tok

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MIL refuses to buy foods that the kids like and then makes us feel terrible because our kids are bad eaters. I’m not talking about sugared cereal (gasp!) or spaghetti-os level “kid food.” She made beef stew last night and tonight we are having fish because she got a good deal at the store (and because SHE likes that). The house is a museum and no games of any kind left over from Ds and three sibs. I’m not even sure they were allowed to sleep in the house as children (I know the dog wasn’t).

What is wrong with beef stew and fish? This is basic human food, not anything weird or unusual for kids.

Grandma is trying to deprogram the pickiness of her grandchildren, which has been enabled by their parents.

She can try, but pickiness has a lot to do with genetics and how your taste bud's work. My mom has a pet theory that you don't like the things that are problematic for you. She tends to get gout and found it easy to avoid most of the forbidden food because she didn't care for it.

That said, she's been perfecting her 6 am pot & pan symphony for many years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom proudly told me on Monday that she just finished cooking the turkey so she can re-heat it for us Thursday.

I feel your pain. I am looking at a frozen turkey sitting on the counter. It was fully defrosted LAST YEAR and then REFROZEN when a contingent family did not make it up from the twin cities. This is an 18 pounder. Early tomorrow morning, crimes against nature will be committed in order to finish the thawing. This is one of many attempts on our lives that have/will occur this Thanksgiving. I’m going to go eat a snickers bar and have a Bloody Mary. They don’t believe in food allergies or food safety here, but they believe in large supplies of junk food and nobody monitors your drinking. #winnng

RED PLASTIC BIN IN THE FREEZER LADY PLEASE COME BACK

REFROZEN-THIS IS WHY YOU CANNOT EAT AT ANYONE’S HOUSE!
That is a recipe for food POISONING!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arrived at MIL's yesterday, and am here for the whole week. Need a distraction from her fretting over cooking (which I am doing all of) and financial planning (which she only trusts DH around).

I'll start:

- House is freezing. MIL considers setting temp to 65 high, and says it's because kids are from south (California). I grew up in Midwest, BTW. I've been wrapped up in blanket since getting here...MIL nearly fainted when I suggested setting temp to 67.
- MIL insists on hosting dinner. Will no longer let me host, which involves travel, nor SIL who is 15 minutes away. But MIL hates cooking and does not have a full size oven...so getting meal together is lots of coordination and drama.

Alternate worlds. We arrived and house is 80, but don’t change the thermostat! And MIL here also doesn’t cook so will go out for Thanksgiving but means next 2 1/2 days, no food in house. Thank goodness for these posts years ago they educated me about car coolers and hidden room food so we survive (they don’t like to keep food in house because will go bad). I am not sure what they think we eat, but for years now they don’t ask, we don’t say and all works out. But anyone new watching this would be very confused.

What do they do just drink water for breakfast and lunch?

What foods are you hiding this trip? And where?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom proudly told me on Monday that she just finished cooking the turkey so she can re-heat it for us Thursday.

This right here is the kind of wacky I love finding buried in these threads among the house too cold/too hot, garbage police, and nobody is allowed to eat posts!

I’ve been haunted by wondering where the cooked turkey is stored.

On the patio! It's cool enough. I mean people are whining and wearing sweaters INDOORS so it's definitely cool enough for a turkey outdoors. Logic.

Are you in the Midwest? When we used to go to my parents’ house for Thanksgiving, my mom would cook all this food a week or so in advance and then leave it in the garage if there wasn’t room in the fridge (and they had two huge refrigerators and a deep freeze….). I don’t think the garage was ever under 40 degrees. When the kids were little, we’d buy our own groceries and cook for them under the guise that they were too picky and needed their own food. We stopped going there for holidays around 7-8 years ago because the old food, cold house, uncomfortable beds, weird rules, etc got to be too much.

My dad has now passed away and my mom is in a small apartment. I was feeling sad that we didn’t have big family travel plans this year and wouldn’t all be together in their big house, but this thread is reminding me of how much we hated going to my parents’ for Thanksgiving! It was never the cozy Hallmark Thanksgiving that I’m picturing in my head—it was the Griswolds.

"We stopped going there for holidays around 7-8 years ago because the old food, cold house, uncomfortable beds, weird rules, etc got to be too much."

Hey you guys maybe this is it?! Maybe this is the plan? They don't WANT company so this is how they prevent it with all these "rules."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a twist on this thread. How about clueless house guests? I’m hosting SIL and she arrived over the weekend for an 8 day stay. We have had numerous discussions and conflicts in the past about how disruptive her visits are to the kids sleep. Both kids have sleep disorders and my biggest stressor in life is getting my youngest to sleep and ensuring she gets the maximum sleep possible. My husband and I were looking forward to sleeping in Saturday morning (only day for the next week) and was woken up at 6:40am to giggling and screaming laughter from SIL and daughter together in the next room. SIL seemed confused when husband went in and asked them to be quiet and asking why daughter was awake. My son woke up moments later. I couldn’t fall asleep after that. Daughter was up almost 2 hours earlier than a normal Saturday. And his family wonders why visits are so exhausting!

If your kids have sleep disorders you should offer to pay for a hotel for your visitors, you really just should not have overnight guests.

Not PP you were talking to, but my son has a sleep disorder, untreatable sleep apnea. It's NOT a joke. It will shorten his life, make him more liable to develop dementia, and worsens his existing ADHD and daily capabilities. No one should scoff at such medical troubles.

Why would I pay for hotels for guests? Our house is too small for guests. We see each other at non-Holiday times, that's all.

I’m not “scoffing,” I’m saying that if there’s a problem with guests, you should prioritize the health of the people who live in the house, and not have guests!

Sounds like you live close to your family; how nice. Some of us don’t and don’t get the chance to see each other very often. So yes, if they buy plane tickets and rent a car the least I can do is entertain them and pay for a few nights in a hotel to protect my kids’ health.

Again, no one is “scoffing,” so consider stop being so knee-jerk defensive.

DP, a m not paying for guests’ hotel rooms.
Pay for your own hotel.
You can either stay at my house or you can’t.
I don’t expect people to pay for my hotel. Are you nuts?

Generally I would not pay for a hotel for my guests....BUT, if I am so neurotic that my daughter giggling with her aunt early in the morning is going to send me into a tailspin, such that I don't want my SIL in my home, I'd pony up for the hotel. (But what I should really do is get a therapist to deal with my serious anxiety).

To that PP, I understand the stress of managing a child with a health condition, but if you truly cannot handle your daughter infrequently getting less than ten hours of sleep, get some help on this. Life happens.

[Anonymous]

I'm hosting five beloved, elderly relatives. I'm wearing my airpods around the house for the sound canceling because my phone keeps pinging me that the decibels are dangerously high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My whole family celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with my ILs in suburban MD. Their house was 74 and I was sweltering - kept going outside to cool off and put a cold can up to my head. I am menopausal, BTW.

If it's any consolation, I'm a dude, and I'd be sweating too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a twist on this thread. How about clueless house guests? I’m hosting SIL and she arrived over the weekend for an 8 day stay. We have had numerous discussions and conflicts in the past about how disruptive her visits are to the kids sleep. Both kids have sleep disorders and my biggest stressor in life is getting my youngest to sleep and ensuring she gets the maximum sleep possible. My husband and I were looking forward to sleeping in Saturday morning (only day for the next week) and was woken up at 6:40am to giggling and screaming laughter from SIL and daughter together in the next room. SIL seemed confused when husband went in and asked them to be quiet and asking why daughter was awake. My son woke up moments later. I couldn’t fall asleep after that. Daughter was up almost 2 hours earlier than a normal Saturday. And his family wonders why visits are so exhausting!

If your kids have sleep disorders you should offer to pay for a hotel for your visitors, you really just should not have overnight guests.

Not PP you were talking to, but my son has a sleep disorder, untreatable sleep apnea. It's NOT a joke. It will shorten his life, make him more liable to develop dementia, and worsens his existing ADHD and daily capabilities. No one should scoff at such medical troubles.

Why would I pay for hotels for guests? Our house is too small for guests. We see each other at non-Holiday times, that's all.

I’m not “scoffing,” I’m saying that if there’s a problem with guests, you should prioritize the health of the people who live in the house, and not have guests!

Sounds like you live close to your family; how nice. Some of us don’t and don’t get the chance to see each other very often. So yes, if they buy plane tickets and rent a car the least I can do is entertain them and pay for a few nights in a hotel to protect my kids’ health.

Again, no one is “scoffing,” so consider stop being so knee-jerk defensive.

DP, a m not paying for guests’ hotel rooms.
Pay for your own hotel.
You can either stay at my house or you can’t.
I don’t expect people to pay for my hotel. Are you nuts?

Generally I would not pay for a hotel for my guests....BUT, if I am so neurotic that my daughter giggling with her aunt early in the morning is going to send me into a tailspin, such that I don't want my SIL in my home, I'd pony up for the hotel. (But what I should really do is get a therapist to deal with my serious anxiety).

To that PP, I understand the stress of managing a child with a health condition, but if you truly cannot handle your daughter infrequently getting less than ten hours of sleep, get some help on this. Life happens.

Can we stop beating this dead horse and move on? You sound like my uncle.

[Anonymous]

I get locked out of the house if I go outside for a few minutes. My ILs live in a rural area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get locked out of the house if I go outside for a few minutes. My ILs live in a rural area.

Me too! And my mom locks the door behind us playing in her yard--like within 10 feet of the door.

And her basement freezer is full of food from restaurants. I'm afraid to ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paging Burger King Lady... please come out to play!

Who's that?

[Anonymous]

There’s a chipmunk in the house. A cousin is trying to catch it with a shop vac. Just a note: I am NOT blood related to these people

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm hosting five beloved, elderly relatives. I'm wearing my airpods around the house for the sound canceling because my phone keeps pinging me that the decibels are dangerously high.

OMG, Yaaassss! The best is when they can't hear me answer them until I yell and then they tell me I don't have to yell at them. And the TV is up so freaking loud to the Macy's parade where they have to dissect every act that floats by. They all have hearing aids that they are constantly forgetting to charge and/or bring with them. And anytime anybody utters anything, they all turn and go "What???". I need a drink even thinking about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We left my MIL alone in our house for a few hours yesterday while we were running errands. Later that evening, in front of the whole family, she asked what was "in the red container in the basement freezer."

The lady obviously snooped the whole house while we were gone AND THEN told on herself. (The basement is creepy and down a steep flight of stairs and she had absolutely no reason to go down there.) Lesson learned about who to leave alone, I guess.

Well, what's in it?