Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My mom is refusing to host Christmas because I’m not speaking with my sister (we are 32 and 29 years old).

Why aren't you speaking with your sister? What did she do?

If she wanted you to know, she’d have already told you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents have a big house. It used to be a small house built in the 1950's but they added several additions over the decades and now it had a large bizarre layout (some rooms have 2 doors, the kitchen is small and closed, there are 3 living rooms). But anyway, my petty vent is that they keep the heat at 66F to conserve energy. Today DH put the kids in long underwear to play inside.

Hah! I am 37 and keep the house at 59-61. If we crank it to 64, we are living large!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine also brought so much half eaten food. They always do- like a third of a gallon of milk “for our coffee so we don’t waste your own milk”. As if we don’t have tons of milk along with fully stocked grocery stores. This time they brought the milk as usual, some small half empty container of heavy cream, a ziplock baggie of a small amount of sugar for their coffee (just regular sugar! Of which I have like 5lb!) and multiple have eaten packages of chips and crackers. They’re only going to be here 3 days. They came in with three grocery bags and a large cooler. My kitchen is not massive! And we don’t have an extra fridge or anything. The grocery bags have been on the floor against one wall along with the cooler.

They also stood in the kitchen and literally watched me do dishes this evening. No, we don’t have a kitchen island with stools, it’s just a square room kitchen with Shelves and counters and appliances. They stood in the middle of the room and watched , occasionally making small talk with each other. I finally said “I feel like I’m on display- did you need anything? I’m happy to scoot over if you need to grab a glass for a drink?”

My mother in law, who I actually love dearly, puts whipped cream in her coffee. It's very strange because she's a tiny person who only eats healthy food. Anyway, she one flew across the country to see us with frozen whipping cream in her luggage. Like several containers. We live five minutes from a Safeway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like poinsettias. Every year, my mom arrives with a poinsettia for me and then acts surprised that I don’t like it. I have told her repeatedly that I don’t like them. This year she brought me three small ones because she couldn’t find a big one like usual. Hooray.

My in laws don’t like dogs and every year I tell my MIL we have to keep the poinsettia she gives us out of reach and every year she puts it on the floor for “just a minute while I ________” we call it her annual attempted murder (and don’t worry we watch her like a hawk so we know when to get the dog out of the room)

Ooooh yeah we had this growing up with cats. My grandmother (mom’s mom) was afraid of and didn’t like cats. Lillies and poinsettias are very toxic to cats. What did grandma give us, a family with 2 cats, every Christmas and Easter? A poisonous to cats plant. My mom used to have to keep them (the plants, not the cats!) in the upstairs bathroom with the door closed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t like poinsettias. Every year, my mom arrives with a poinsettia for me and then acts surprised that I don’t like it. I have told her repeatedly that I don’t like them. This year she brought me three small ones because she couldn’t find a big one like usual. Hooray.

I had this happen to me. I pointedly gave them to one of my neighbors, and told the neighbor that my mom bought them for her because she knows I don’t like poinsettias myself.

Anonymous wrote:To accomodate early afternoon football game we went to a movie at 11a this morning. There is nothing in the house to eat for lunch and mom expects my teens (and husband) to wait until 4:30p to eat (she and my dad only eat two meals a day). No lunch. We stopped for take out on the way home from the movie. Now I'm getting the side eye from mom because I won't follow her plan. I told her she can serve dinner at 4:30p, but, now she is worried we won't eat enough and she'll have too much food left over. I can not deal with her old lady rigidity regarding food and meal times. Vent done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My MIL keeps the house hot AF, year round and I’m going through menopause. It’s also dusty so I’m hot and sneezing. I hate staying there but she insists.

If you’re old enough for menopause, you get to “insist,” too! Hotel.

This forum is not just comprised of 20 and 30 year olds you know. I’m in my 40’s and going through early menopause if you must know.

I musn’t know. No one needs to know. And yet it’s like every menopausal woman on this forum needs to sprinkle it in to every topic. If you want to discuss it, go to Midlife or Health.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My MIL keeps the house hot AF, year round and I’m going through menopause. It’s also dusty so I’m hot and sneezing. I hate staying there but she insists.

If you’re old enough for menopause, you get to “insist,” too! Hotel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister cannot say no to her children. My doom is dying, we’re trying to have hard conversations about DNR orders and hospice nurses, and in the middle of all that my 7 year old niece will come in and demand to show us gymnastic moves or sit in the middle of the group playing loud games on her iPad and instead of telling her grown ups are talking and to make herself scarce, sister meekly tries to redirect niece then let’s her do whatever she wants. And she’ll also say to her kids “oh, I’m sure your auntie wants to go read you bedtime stories now” the second I finally sit down with a glass of wine after cleaning her kitchen. I always feel like the mean aunt to her kids, which is not an issue I have with any of my other nieces and nephews.

This is how my brother and his wife parents. It drives me batty. What are they so afraid of?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My MIL keeps the house hot AF, year round and I’m going through menopause. It’s also dusty so I’m hot and sneezing. I hate staying there but she insists.

If you’re old enough for menopause, you get to “insist,” too! Hotel.

go awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay

You don’t get to play the helpless ingenue anymore. Sorry.

Dude, no one wants you here. Please leave the thread.

Anonymous wrote:My sister cannot say no to her children. My doom is dying, we’re trying to have hard conversations about DNR orders and hospice nurses, and in the middle of all that my 7 year old niece will come in and demand to show us gymnastic moves or sit in the middle of the group playing loud games on her iPad and instead of telling her grown ups are talking and to make herself scarce, sister meekly tries to redirect niece then let’s her do whatever she wants. And she’ll also say to her kids “oh, I’m sure your auntie wants to go read you bedtime stories now” the second I finally sit down with a glass of wine after cleaning her kitchen. I always feel like the mean aunt to her kids, which is not an issue I have with any of my other nieces and nephews.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I generally like my in laws, so here's my tiny petty complaint. My nephew is a picky eater who doesn't eat a lot and grazes instead of eating meals. When I host, I have plenty of breakfast food options--muffins, bagels, English muffins, etc. My nephew will ask for a bagel. My SIL will say "do you want half?" (Why does she even ask?) he immediately demands a whole bagel. She gives it to him. He takes 2 bites of it (not exaggerating). Then they leave it on the table for hours because "he might come back to it later" HE NEVER DOES. Repeat for the next meal. I wish she would just give him a quarter of it or half so someone else can eat the other half and it doesn't go to waste. They stay with us for a few days and so much food is wasted because this kid demands something whole, they give in, and he never finishes it.

I know kids like this. The solution is to buy those mini bagels. Even if they don't eat the whole thing, it's just a small amount of waste vs a giant 4 serving bagel.

Anonymous wrote:My very large cat is quite insistent on ‘helping’ me wrap gifts. I feel that this is not going to come to a good end (for me).