Tales from the beach house

[Anonymous]

My MIL will pretend not to eat ("oh, I never eat donuts! So fattening!") and then sneak food, but in a weirdly obvious way. Like cutting a (normal sized) muffin or donut up into thirds, and eating 1/3rd, and leaving the rest in the box.

[Anonymous]

Our inlaws throw out a lot of perfectly good leftovers. We are learning that labeling it isn't enough-we literally have to label it with the persons name and 'don't throw out'. And it's a huge fridge with plenty of room to spare. DH is pissed. Our plan for next time is to take out the mini fridge and use it in our room.

On the one hand it double ensures everything maintains freshness to constantly go through things but on the other hand, It was vacation and sometimes you are just looking forward to not cooking and enjoying the last of your leftovers. We didn't get to enjoy the last of our:

amazing cobb salad
Italian subs
Thai som tum
Caeser salad
sliced mango/sticky rice
Brazilian barbeque
Lobster po-boys
and the list goes on... and it was only in the fridge the same day or the next day before- GONE.

Our dog is getting so fat but by golly he loves grandma and grandpa. Pretty damn sure he is eating everything they toss.

I think when we get home we'll have to put shirts on the kids and call the grandparents to come over so they can do it to our fridge at home.

[Anonymous]

wait, can we get back to how in the hell you logistically facetime with a cat?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Grandparents (DH's parents) told us our kids wandering around in their undies or just shorts inside their house made them uncomfortable. Now we are scrambling to keep them dressed without making them feel weird about their bodies but I can't explain why they want them in clothes because even when they explained it I didn't understand. I just agreed to keep the peace. We've just started saying "grandma wants it this way".

They are 8, 7 and 4 and my grandmother actually said 'she isn't wearing a shirt and she is a young woman!' about the 7 yr old. I corrected her and said 'no, she is a little girl' but I don't want you uncomfortable so that's fine. They are all very skinny- as are his parents- no boobs in sight.

To be clear, it's just us and the grandparents. No visitors/other family. No huge windows where people can see in. My DH is perplexed and we are trying to think where/why this came from. They've never said a thing in our house in DC when they were shirtless. I'm starting to wonder if someone touched grandma as a child

Uh, I am not your MIL but I would be very concerned if your 7 year old daughter were walking around without a shirt in front of me, her aunt. All people in the house need to be wearing underwear, tops and bottoms, except for maybe any child under the age of 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:wait, can we get back to how in the hell you logistically facetime with a cat?!

I wondered that, too! Must be very tech-savvy cats!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our inlaws throw out a lot of perfectly good leftovers. We are learning that labeling it isn't enough-we literally have to label it with the persons name and 'don't throw out'. And it's a huge fridge with plenty of room to spare. DH is pissed. Our plan for next time is to take out the mini fridge and use it in our room.

On the one hand it double ensures everything maintains freshness to constantly go through things but on the other hand, It was vacation and sometimes you are just looking forward to not cooking and enjoying the last of your leftovers. We didn't get to enjoy the last of our:

amazing cobb salad
Italian subs
Thai som tum
Caeser salad
sliced mango/sticky rice
Brazilian barbeque
Lobster po-boys
and the list goes on... and it was only in the fridge the same day or the next day before- GONE.

Our dog is getting so fat but by golly he loves grandma and grandpa. Pretty damn sure he is eating everything they toss.

I think when we get home we'll have to put shirts on the kids and call the grandparents to come over so they can do it to our fridge at home.

are you sure they're not eating it themselves?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pretending-not-to-eat MIL...I have one of those, too. Is it a generational thing or an old people thing?

NP with a similar MIL. I think it's a disordered eating thing. Noticing/monitoring/observing and commenting on whether people are heavy or thin, what people are eating and how much, constantly announcing what she herself is eating or not eating/drinking. It's CONSTANT.

Yes! I am the OP of the "I don't want to host family" thread. MIL constantly picks at us, and a lot of it is about food. "You're eating again?????" "How can you be hungry?" "Why are you eating THAT?" "I don't eat things like______" "I never get hungry."

I am 50 years old and can eat whatever I please. One of the few benefits of being an adult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Grandparents (DH's parents) told us our kids wandering around in their undies or just shorts inside their house made them uncomfortable. Now we are scrambling to keep them dressed without making them feel weird about their bodies but I can't explain why they want them in clothes because even when they explained it I didn't understand. I just agreed to keep the peace. We've just started saying "grandma wants it this way".

They are 8, 7 and 4 and my grandmother actually said 'she isn't wearing a shirt and she is a young woman!' about the 7 yr old. I corrected her and said 'no, she is a little girl' but I don't want you uncomfortable so that's fine. They are all very skinny- as are his parents- no boobs in sight.

To be clear, it's just us and the grandparents. No visitors/other family. No huge windows where people can see in. My DH is perplexed and we are trying to think where/why this came from. They've never said a thing in our house in DC when they were shirtless. I'm starting to wonder if someone touched grandma as a child

Uh, yeah, they should be clothed at that age, PP.

OP here, and I agree with the PP who agrees that the kids at that age should be clothed. YOU are actually the weird one, no-clothes mom. People are writing about their ILs meaning YOU in this scenario. Why would they not be wearing clothes-clothes, bathing suits and cover ups, or pajamas at least?

I'm not no-clothes mum. Children do need clothes. They are clothed. In underwear, swim trunks or shorts on the bottom. For some reason that isn't enough. (I'm not talking about eating meals at the table without a shirt- we don't do that). Please explain because we are lost (and obviously DH grew up in their home and is annoyed but going along with it).

At 7 years old she should be wearing a top, not be shirtless

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wait, can we get back to how in the hell you logistically facetime with a cat?!

I wondered that, too! Must be very tech-savvy cats!

My cat sitter face timed us on vacation. It was once and cute. But the cats just laid there while she updated us...how rude!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My MIL will pretend not to eat ("oh, I never eat donuts! So fattening!") and then sneak food, but in a weirdly obvious way. Like cutting a (normal sized) muffin or donut up into thirds, and eating 1/3rd, and leaving the rest in the box.

She's modeling portion control for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My MIL will pretend not to eat ("oh, I never eat donuts! So fattening!") and then sneak food, but in a weirdly obvious way. Like cutting a (normal sized) muffin or donut up into thirds, and eating 1/3rd, and leaving the rest in the box.

She's modeling portion control for you.

She's modeling bulimia for you. Watch. That 2/3 will disappear before noon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My MIL will pretend not to eat ("oh, I never eat donuts! So fattening!") and then sneak food, but in a weirdly obvious way. Like cutting a (normal sized) muffin or donut up into thirds, and eating 1/3rd, and leaving the rest in the box.

She's modeling portion control for you.

A portion of a normal-sized muffin or donut is 1/3rd?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:wait, can we get back to how in the hell you logistically facetime with a cat?!

I wondered that, too! Must be very tech-savvy cats!

Via assistance from the pet-sitter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My MIL will pretend not to eat ("oh, I never eat donuts! So fattening!") and then sneak food, but in a weirdly obvious way. Like cutting a (normal sized) muffin or donut up into thirds, and eating 1/3rd, and leaving the rest in the box.

She's modeling portion control for you.

A portion of a normal-sized muffin or donut is 1/3rd?

For modeling purposes, yes.

[Anonymous]

Ok so our beach vacation hasn't even started yet.

1. Ive been getting daily multiple texts from MIL for the past week about remember to bring this, that, the other. Sheets and towels. Dish soap. Remember, they don't have beach chairs, what will I do about getting chairs? And since they don't think our car is big enough, now she's strongly suggesting we rent a minivan. I looked into it and it would be $1k for the week plus an airport pickup and dropoff, so no. She can't get over that she thinks I'm cheap for not doing it.

2. We rented a big house because DH's family LOOOOVES the beach and has so many great memories of it. I get that. But our kids are 1 and 4. I'm not a beach person and in my mind the logistics outweigh the possible fun at this age. Sandy diaper changes, sunscreen vigilance, nap needs, waves, walking over the hot sand carrying the baby and all our belongings. Maybe I'm a grouch but I'm just not interested. Oh and none of them could commit to any days they'd be at the house until just this week, when they're all coming for the whole time.