Petty Holiday Vent thread 2022

[Anonymous]

My parents, who live a 15 minute drive from us (their only kid/grandkid) are going on a cruise tomorrow and flew down to the destination a week early to spend Christmas there. Alone. Then proceeded to spend all of Christmas Day texting and begging to FaceTime because they "miss the kids so much".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 80 year old Mother saved a nasty sweet potato pie frozen from Thanksgiving and brought it out to add to our Christmas tamale, rice and bean dinner. We didn't want it then and didn't touch it at Christmas. I GUARANTEE she'll freeze it again for next year. Waste not...

My MIL was invited to a potluck holiday dinner. She ordered pizza and garlic knots from a pizza chain, ate the pizza for lunch, and brought the greasy garlic knots in the greasy brown paper bag.
She wears fur coats and has a rolex. Probably close to a millionaire. Cheapest grossest person I know.

How is it potluck if they’re ordering food? And I see no problem with not wasting food. I’d do the same. Just pop them in the oven, and you’re good to go!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents, who live a 15 minute drive from us (their only kid/grandkid) are going on a cruise tomorrow and flew down to the destination a week early to spend Christmas there. Alone. Then proceeded to spend all of Christmas Day texting and begging to FaceTime because they "miss the kids so much".

Why didn’t you just give them 5 minutes of FaceTime and then say you have to go as something is burning on the stove. Done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My in laws got everyone but me Vuori joggers. I didn't know what they were until now, but they look really nice! Browsing online to buy myself a pair but having a hard time justifying spending $100 on sweat pants!

What did you get?

[Anonymous]

My niece is 8 and nuero-typical (so no reason for this other than her coo coo mom that my brother married). Mom homeschools niece and niece can’t read. I asked Christmas night what the plan was if niece continued to be unable to read since this approach does not appear to be working (like please send the kid to school!) and SIL screamed at me she would raise her kid how she sees fit. The next morning SIL and brother rise at 10am and we cross paths in the hallway on their way to the bathroom. SIL stood there with her eyes closed. I say “good morning” and she replied the sun is too bright and she is going back to bed. I hear from my mom today SIL is saying I argued with her on Xmas night (i think attacked is how she described it) so SIL avoided me the next morning. I realize that SIL standing there with her eyes shut was her version of avoiding me.
This is more of a heinous vent because my 8 year old niece being unschooled is heinous but I appreciate the space to vent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a super petty, OCD one!

My mom is here for the holidays, she comes for a few weeks every year. She is great, and helps with things like the dishwasher/laundry/etc. great! Well…

My pots and pans stack according to size. They fit neatly in my sliding drawer that way. One on top of the other, next to the stack of mixing bowls and colanders that all nestle together as well.

My mom cannot, for the life of her, put a pot or mixing bowl inside or under another. Every time, she just jams then alongside the others until there is a junkpile of kitchenware, and the drawer can barely close.

This AM I opened it to find she put the very top pot, the smallest one, beside the pots and on the lids instead of nestled in its spot. It’s getting to where I flinch opening the drawer, wondering what new hellscape of disorder awaits me within.

Am I the pettiest? I think so.

I can top that, maybe. When we married, we combined our dishes, so they didn't match. They were similar, just not identical. We just used them together for 12 years although I tended to reach for "mine" first and DH for "his." When MIL came over, she used to rearrange them in the cabinet so that instead of being mixed together they were arranged to match. And she always put the ones from DH on top so I had to remove 6 plates if I wanted to get to mine.

There is no good reason at all this bothered me, and I fully know that, but it did. But obviously I did not say anything because that would have been insane!

Anyway we finally bought all new plates a year ago so no longer have this "issue." But we forgot to tell MIL and then the first time she came over for dinner and saw all the new plates, she was almost speechless with shock.

Nope, not even close to PPs. I don’t get what’s petty about buying new dishes.

Thank you! Enjoying my crown!

Tonight my mom put my effing hand mixer in that drawer with the pots and bowls. WHY!?! I have a perfectly good cabinet for appliances she got it out of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My niece is 8 and nuero-typical (so no reason for this other than her coo coo mom that my brother married). Mom homeschools niece and niece can’t read. I asked Christmas night what the plan was if niece continued to be unable to read since this approach does not appear to be working (like please send the kid to school!) and SIL screamed at me she would raise her kid how she sees fit. The next morning SIL and brother rise at 10am and we cross paths in the hallway on their way to the bathroom. SIL stood there with her eyes closed. I say “good morning” and she replied the sun is too bright and she is going back to bed. I hear from my mom today SIL is saying I argued with her on Xmas night (i think attacked is how she described it) so SIL avoided me the next morning. I realize that SIL standing there with her eyes shut was her version of avoiding me.
This is more of a heinous vent because my 8 year old niece being unschooled is heinous but I appreciate the space to vent.

You have to know that even if you are right, this was so not your place to insert your opinion/judgment. If someone posted that their MIL said this to them people would be raising their pitchforks and screaming about boundaries.

[Anonymous]

Deviled eggs were on the table when I arrived Saturday and still in same spot on table when I left Monday afternoon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom shops almost exclusively at thrift store, Costco and discount stores like TJ Maxx. She picks one thing each year to get all her kids and their spouses. This year it was cozy blankets. Nice thought but mine is 100% acrylic with laundering instructions “spot clean only”. Why is such a blanket even allowed to exist? We all have kids and cats. This is all ending up in a landfill in the next few years. Whyyyyyy

Put them on Buy Nothing so that someone who doesn’t have pets/kids can enjoy.

Or, complete the circle and consider donating to an animal shelter!

Also, ignore the spot clean only suggestion; wash in cold on gentle or quick wash and dry on low. If it’s completely
ruined, donate - but I doubt it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My niece is 8 and nuero-typical (so no reason for this other than her coo coo mom that my brother married). Mom homeschools niece and niece can’t read. I asked Christmas night what the plan was if niece continued to be unable to read since this approach does not appear to be working (like please send the kid to school!) and SIL screamed at me she would raise her kid how she sees fit. The next morning SIL and brother rise at 10am and we cross paths in the hallway on their way to the bathroom. SIL stood there with her eyes closed. I say “good morning” and she replied the sun is too bright and she is going back to bed. I hear from my mom today SIL is saying I argued with her on Xmas night (i think attacked is how she described it) so SIL avoided me the next morning. I realize that SIL standing there with her eyes shut was her version of avoiding me.
This is more of a heinous vent because my 8 year old niece being unschooled is heinous but I appreciate the space to vent.

A tangent, but I get your concern. My SIL homeschooled my nephew until 9 because she said the schools were too bad. He finally learned to read in the third grade when she sent him to school, and he has always been a bit behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Deviled eggs were on the table when I arrived Saturday and still in same spot on table when I left Monday afternoon.

That is incredibly dangerous- possible senescent deterioration at work? Why didn’t anyone surreptitiously throw them out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My ILs live in the same county/township as we do, about 7 miles away. Our locality has had recycling for decades and ILs have a designated recycling bin in their garage. We have a similar setup, although lack a garage.

Every single time ILs visit our house, MIL pitches her cans in our inside trash can or holds out her empty can and asks if we recycle/have recycling here like we like in a foreign land. Or sometimes, just piles her cans and bottles (Diet Coke chain drinker) atop our counter and leaves.

Wait - you expect people to go outside to dispose of their recycling? Why not have a bin?

We have a bin inside in our kitchen and also along an outside kitchen door. Couple of options here but no, MIL befuddled by it all.

You didn't mention the inside bin.

Ok sorry I know I’m being super petty. It’s just that I’ve helped them for years clean up after family parties and I’m well familiar with how recycling works and have no problem tossing cans in their garage bin. Always bugged me that she would toss her recyclables at our house like it was a foreign concept or too hard for her.

What? You don’t recycle at their house but expect it at yours? You sound crazy.

I don’t know why people are being obtuse. The recycling PP lives in the same town as MIL so by default MIL knows a) THAT they recycle and b) what the outdoor recycling bin looks like. PP has also answered MIL’s questions about recycling systems multiple times, showing MIL two different convenient locations for recyclables. MIL continues to feign confusion and ask others to handle her cans or leaves them around. PP knows that this is not difficult because when she visits MIL, PP is able to successfully recycle in someone else’s home .

That’s not what she said, she’s changed her story twice but ok.

NP but I understood it the first time without issue

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My FIL is exactly like UNcle Colm from Derry Girls but without the accent. Just drones on and on about something that no one is remotely interested in. Did it today about paint colors that people have in their houses and colors that he has chosen, in his various homes, for various reasons, over the years . “Then we switched to Benjamin Moore Light Grey…. Or was it Everyday Grey? Actually come to think of it…. There wasn’t a Benjamin Moore paint supplier near us in that house. It’s possible it was a shade from Behr. They have many shades of grey as well that all seem quite similar at first glance”

I am not making this up, to the point where as I hit send I’m worried he is going to somehow stumble upon this website and recognize himself

Lol. This one's awesome. Does he have a wife?

I don’t know if he has a wife, but he definitely has a twin: my mother! 😂

My sister and BIL do this. They tell stories and get so caught up in the details that you never hear the actual story. “We left on Wednesday, or was it Tuesday?”. “It was Wednesday because you remember you had your doctor’s apt”. “No, my drs apt was Tuesday?”. “Are you sure, I thought it was Wednesday “. Holy crap, it doesn’t matter what day it was, just tell the f&@?&@$ story!!

PP of the Uncle Colm FIL here and YES! This is what it’s like bht the back and forth about details is just with himself usually. He does have a wife, my MIL, and she doesn’t seem to mine. He doesn’t tell stories to her like this - just to us. At least not in my presence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mother in law has spent the last 30 minutes trying to decide on pizza toppings.

I absolutely refuse to take individual orders with my ILs anymore when takeout is involved. No kidding, they spend so much time ordering that we’ve had dinner totally ruined on several occasions (elaborate plan only to find out Restaurant A is closed, and by the time Restaurant B order is ready, now it’s an hour wait and the kids have to go to bed.) Nope, they’ve proven too many times they can’t handle ordering.

Now, I let them choose one of 3 restaurants, but I put a timer on it: “The choices are A, B, and C. Let me know by 5:30, otherwise I’m ordering from Restaurant A at 5:30.” Then I order several, family-style meals and don’t take any input. I know what they like and I order more food than we need, but I’m not putting up with their antics anymore.

What is with older people and dragging their feet on dinner decisions as if they completely forgot young kids need to eat at a reasonable hour. I will start asking about dinner plans around 4:30/5 only to be told it’s too early to think about. Okay but my kids go to bed at 7:30, so we can’t just start ordering at 7 pm. And don’t beg me to spend my vacation time and money on flights to visit you because you want to see the kids so badly, but also don’t want to even marginally alter your schedule to accommodate them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a super petty, OCD one!

My mom is here for the holidays, she comes for a few weeks every year. She is great, and helps with things like the dishwasher/laundry/etc. great! Well…

My pots and pans stack according to size. They fit neatly in my sliding drawer that way. One on top of the other, next to the stack of mixing bowls and colanders that all nestle together as well.

My mom cannot, for the life of her, put a pot or mixing bowl inside or under another. Every time, she just jams then alongside the others until there is a junkpile of kitchenware, and the drawer can barely close.

This AM I opened it to find she put the very top pot, the smallest one, beside the pots and on the lids instead of nestled in its spot. It’s getting to where I flinch opening the drawer, wondering what new hellscape of disorder awaits me within.

Am I the pettiest? I think so.

It would take you two seconds to ask her to please just leave pots/lids on the counter, and you will put them away. So yes, you are the pettiest because you can so quickly and easily fix this!

It's ok that it's petty!

I will say, my mil always had the same complaint about their vacation lake house. Lots of big group gatherings and everyone helping out in the kitchen-but she always complained that nobody put things away in the right place. Her system was hard to follow though and I found her complaints quite petty.