So my MIL is deceased now but she had one pretty big quirk. She was a very proper person with a lot of protocols, not a lot of touching, air kisses, lady-who-lunches type of thing. But if you went into her closet and dressing room (really, it was massively big and much bigger than our living rooms), she had an entire mirrored wall with glass shelves and on the shelves were frogs. She had maybe a thousand of them. It definitely could have been more. They were big/little, cute/ugly, ceramic/wood/stone, you name it. The wall was lighted, the whole nine yards.

The crazy thing was that she adopted the frog wall after the saying "Fully Rely On God". It was really dichotomous to my perception of her because I never thought that she was that religious and certainly she never seem to leave much to chance. She definitely had hidden depths and I wish I had taken the time to know more.

I do know that when my husband told me YEARS after we were married that she liked frogs, I began buying them for her and it certainly helped smooth out the bumps in our relationship (well, that and grandkids). I really, really, really wish he had told me sooner!!!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents: A kitchen drawer where things go to die, because they aren't cared for properly. My siblings and I lovingly call it the Moldy Bread and Stale Chip drawer. If you open it too fast, chips and slices of bread fly out loose, because nothing is closed with an actual clip or twist-tie.

My ILs: The ugliest, oldest carpet EVER--a shag in a puke yellow-green. They hate it, too, but they "can't find something they like better." At least they can openly joke about it.

My ILs: All cups set rim down on the most disgusting plasticky cabinet liner.
My parents: do their dishes by hand so you never know...
I just bring my own water bottle.

My ILS do the cup down on an old gross plastic liner as well. It has crumbs all over it. It probably has never actually been replaced or cleaned. So gross.

80 years old and refuse to stop driving despite multiple accidents

Anonymous wrote:My parents: A kitchen drawer where things go to die, because they aren't cared for properly. My siblings and I lovingly call it the Moldy Bread and Stale Chip drawer. If you open it too fast, chips and slices of bread fly out loose, because nothing is closed with an actual clip or twist-tie.

My ILs: The ugliest, oldest carpet EVER--a shag in a puke yellow-green. They hate it, too, but they "can't find something they like better." At least they can openly joke about it.

My ILs: All cups set rim down on the most disgusting plasticky cabinet liner.
My parents: do their dishes by hand so you never know...
I just bring my own water bottle.

Anonymous wrote:I think you sound germophobic, OP.

I used spices today from 12 years ago when I got married. They are fine.

I wash but don't "disinfect" after cutting meat. Dish Soap and water is fine. We have never gotten sick from it. I have had food poisoning a few times...from fancy, fancy restaurants only!

Hardly. I just don’t like moldy food or old stale things. Also like to be safe with meat. Really this is basic stuff. Also, I thought spices lost their potency like 12-28 months in? I wouldn’t say they go bad but they are definitely not the same after a certain point.

My parents: A kitchen drawer where things go to die, because they aren't cared for properly. My siblings and I lovingly call it the Moldy Bread and Stale Chip drawer. If you open it too fast, chips and slices of bread fly out loose, because nothing is closed with an actual clip or twist-tie.

My ILs: The ugliest, oldest carpet EVER--a shag in a puke yellow-green. They hate it, too, but they "can't find something they like better." At least they can openly joke about it.

I think you sound germophobic, OP.

I used spices today from 12 years ago when I got married. They are fine.

I wash but don't "disinfect" after cutting meat. Dish Soap and water is fine. We have never gotten sick from it. I have had food poisoning a few times...from fancy, fancy restaurants only!

Anonymous wrote:They keep the boxes to everything.
If they buy:
A bathroom scale,
A portable car battery charger
A cheese grater
A blender
A set of sheets...

They keep the original packaging in storage.
In case they might move. And if they move they can box up the items.
They have moved once in 16 years.

So did my parents. They moved once, in 1961. But still saved all boxes for everything purchased since then. We're in the process of throwing all the boxes and packing out now.

Not my relatives but close friends of my parents get their dogs preserved (taxidermy) after the dogs died. The dead pets are placed around the house. Otherwise a sane couple.

Anonymous wrote:My parents do not turn on their heat in the winter time and only use a wood burning stove so their house is always cold. They do all their own yard work and don't hire anyone to help, and they live on a hill so have to haul their garbage up a hill. They are in their 70's. They had a hot tub but got rid of it even though it still worked.

They will make it to their 90's.

Anonymous wrote:My parents do not turn on their heat in the winter time and only use a wood burning stove so their house is always cold. They do all their own yard work and don't hire anyone to help, and they live on a hill so have to haul their garbage up a hill. They are in their 70's. They had a hot tub but got rid of it even though it still worked.

My 95 yo grandma does that with garbage and doesn't allow help. I think that's the reason she is 95.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your mom.us a good cook than she can assess the meat without looking at the expiration date. What is sanitizing countertops?
Nothing is wrong with the old stuff. I prefer lettuce with nothing as my "salad".
There are studies about expired medications, in most cases they are okay. I probably have expired sauces and milk in my fridge because I didn't buy them and I don't use them, but somebody bought them for thanksgiving.

30+ year old medication is not ok. A few years yes. But there is a limit. So you have never heard of Salmanella? That is why you sanitize areas that have been in contact with raw meat. So throw the expired milk/sauces away. What are you keeping gross expired stuff for? Just because someone else brought them doesn’t mean you have to keep them rotting in your fridge.

Because I don't care what is inside the closed containers. I don't have to bother because it bothers you. I will throw it away when I notice.

Nah you should wait until some unsuspecting person you have over eats it/drinks it and then gets food poisioning/violently ill.

Unsuspecting person goes into my fridge, gets something, doesn't look at the label, doesn't smell it, does not ask and gets sick. Interesting. I have school science experiments in my fridge too at times. Unsuspecting person is in for a treat.

Anonymous wrote:They keep the boxes to everything.
If they buy:
A bathroom scale,
A portable car battery charger
A cheese grater
A blender
A set of sheets...

They keep the original packaging in storage.
In case they might move. And if they move they can box up the items.
They have moved once in 16 years.

This is classic. Also I’m the Op. and I forgot to add they are also “paper hoarders” sometimes on the counters you will be lucky to find a coupon from 1985 for some cheddar cheese or a grocery add from 1990.

They keep the boxes to everything.
If they buy:
A bathroom scale,
A portable car battery charger
A cheese grater
A blender
A set of sheets...

They keep the original packaging in storage.
In case they might move. And if they move they can box up the items.
They have moved once in 16 years.

Anonymous wrote:My parents do not turn on their heat in the winter time and only use a wood burning stove so their house is always cold. They do all their own yard work and don't hire anyone to help, and they live on a hill so have to haul their garbage up a hill. They are in their 70's. They had a hot tub but got rid of it even though it still worked.

Is it a money thing with the heat? Because I can understand that. The rest of the stuff doesn’t actually seem weird to me.