Thanks for the reminder to pack lots of clothes. We stay in a room that gets little heat so one year it was freezing. The next year I think my mom was trying to be nice and cranked up the heat. It was so hot and I wished I had packed shorts. I am going to pack layers!
I dread thanksgiving. My mom insists on cooking and also says she cannot handle any type of seasoning. The food is so bland. And then she watches what you eat and guilt trips people who do not over eat. Literally a few hours after the big meal, she expects everyone to eat again. Meanwhile she barely eats, so it’s not like she does not understand that not everyone can eat large portions. Almost every person who visits has gotten sick once from eating too much out of guilt. |
SIL, is that you? Blink twice if you’re not allowed to use the top left stove burner even though it works. |
NP but don’t bring anything that plugs in to my mom’s house. Definitely not an electric blanket. Her electricity is scarily outdated and you have to see permission before using an outlet. We charge phones in the car while running errands. Of course it’s set to the standard 65 and she will offer you my HS sweaters should you have forgotten your indoor down vest. |
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! |
My mom still talks about my brother’s ex-girlfriend who left a snack wrapper in the upstairs trash can. Not only is eating only allowed during meals, but “everyone knows that trash cans outside the kitchen are only for tissues.” You can’t even take a tag off new clothing and leave it in the bathroom trash without a comment. It was really fun going through puberty as a girl under those conditions. |
Oh death is on the table. I have a flannel nightgown, long underwear, socks, and the covers over my head like a hoodie. It is that damp, Great Lake cold that you can’t escape. DS ate 732 deviled eggs and he’s farting like a machine gun. I doubt I will sleep at all. To the PP who wanted to know about AirBnB, this town is in the middle of nowhere. It’s a wide place in the road with a bait shop (closed for the season) and a small grocery/gas station. We’re probably 20 miles from a stoplight. There is no AirBnB. There is no hotel. There is not even a no-tell motel. This is the second and last time we are doing this. |
To be fair, some of us like to factor in our effect on the environment and keep the temperatures low for that reason. My husband and I keep our house temperature lower to use less fossil fuel energy. Yes, we know it’s a small effect we can have overall, but we are trying to do our part, even if it is small.
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My mom says stuff like this when it’s convenient. It’s Greta Thunberg cosplay. The truth is that she is too overwhelmed to figure out how to replace drafty doors and windows or add more insulation, “doesn’t believe” in efficient bulbs or newer hot water heaters, and thinks replacement windows are ugly, and believes that a cold laundry room=second fridge, so she uses an ungodly amount of natural gas to heat the house to just above 60. It could easily be cut by 75% if she’d make the house more energy efficient. But then she also wouldn’t have the fun of penning everyone into the one tiny warm room or keeping us docile by slowing our heart rates down. |
For the holidays can you give her the gift of new spices, and then can DH secretly throw out her old ones? Then when she notices he can feign stupidity and be all "I thought of COURSE you'd want spices that were not from the 1990's! That was 20 years ago! These will taste GREAT - I figured you'd be excited to use what we got you!" Would that work? |
But do you expect house guests to stay in an uncomfortably cold house with you? |
I agree. |
I'm not sure this can be topped. |
Hotel stat! |
I don't think you should have anyone spend the night at your house. |
![]() Another cold guest here. The house is kept cold and then the windows are open when the gas stove is in use, because they read about the dangers of gas cooking fumes. |