Rant about your In-Laws

[burntbrat]

I started to post a paragraph long rant on the "What are you thankful for" thread and then realized it wasn't very thankful of me. So here is a place to rant about your in-laws, not to get advice, but just to get it off your chest.

My parents-in-law come to my house about three times a year for at least ten days each visit. I love and appreciate them both, but when I'm around them for that long a few things get under my skin. They are currently at our house for Thanksgiving and it has already started.

First of all, they stay up very late in our family room watching the television and it's turned up, waaaay up. We have vaulted ceilings so it echoes. Occasionally we give up and tell them to turn it down. The thing is, there is a television in the guest room where they sleep. When everyone else has gone to bed, why do they stay downstairs watching TV in the room next to my bedroom? Are they making sure that my husband and I don't "enjoy" each other when they visit? Grrr, cause it's working.

Second, STOP USING METAL UTENSILS IN MY TEFLON PANS!! I have told my mother-in-law at least a dozen times that it scratches up the surface and ruins the pans. So what does she do yesterday? She mashes potatoes in my big stock pot with a metal potato masher. None of my non-stick pans are in good condition anymore because of her. They have spots or scrapes where the teflon has been etched off by metal spoons and such. Why is it so hard to understand? Don't they have T-Fal in other parts of the country?

And last (for now), I think my mother-in-law is threatened by anyone who can cook. I'm a decent cook, not a master chef by any means, but I can whip up a fancy dinner and my children enjoy a variety of meals. My mother-in-law is full-blooded Italian and I think she thinks cooking is her badge of honor, or something. I can't cook a meal without her contributing a side dish. It's okay most of the time, and I don't mind, but for Thanksgiving dinner it's kind of got me perturbed. One of my strengths is baking and I enjoy making a loaf of french bread or fresh dinner rolls for Thanksgiving dinner. She picked up two baguettes yesterday so I wouldn't have to bake. She knows I enjoy baking. I graciously said thank you and pretended that it was a big load off, but I'm really disappointed because fresh dinner rolls remind me of Thanksgiving at my mom's house. Then I have the whole meal planned out, but I made sure to include her by asking her to make the antipasto and macaroni that traditionally come before the Turkey in an Italian dinner. I'm making a big Turkey, home-made stuffing with fresh sage and apples, fresh cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, and an endive/pear/pecan salad and for dessert pumpkin pie and an apple crumble. I feel like I'm missing something, it's a big dinner, trust me. Now she insists on making butternut squash because it's a tradition. But I've had Thanksgiving with her for the last 4 or 5 years and this is the first time it's popped up. Next year I'm just going to give up and let her do the whole damn thing so it doesn't feel like a cooking power struggle.

So how good or bad are your in-laws?

[CantGetNuf]

My in laws won't let me cook anything. When I ask what I should bring they tell me, "Oh nothing." Finally I told them, "When you won't let me bring anything you treat me like a guest and not a member of the family." So then they go through this whole list of what everyone is bringing and as an after thought, "Oh you can bring brownies." I was like WTF? To me brownies aren't really a traditional holiday dessert. So the first year I made 3 different kinds of brownies. You want brownies your getting some freakin brownies! LOL So now I just make whatever I want. The thing that really bothers me is that they act like I can't cook which is very insulting because thats what I've been doing for the last 16 years professionaly. Right now I work at an assisted living facility and I will cook their full meal, every bit of it myself for approximately 45 people and yet my inlaws act like I've done something special because I was able to make brownies without ruining them. Grrr!

I'm so glad you started this thread. LOL

[Duxxy]

my inlaws live 2500km away. Nah nah nah nah nah! LOL

[lildago]

Careful, burntbrat. You never know if your inlaws could be lurking around FORT.

[MamaC]

Mine live about 1500 miles away.....and that's still not far enough.

Hubby is the oldest of six and all of his sibs live less than 20 minutes/miles away from us. One sister lives in the next town over and goes to our church. None of them call him on his birthday and only two send a Christmas card.

We do get a phone call whenever there is a family occasion coming up....like the in-laws 50th anniversary....just to let us know the when and where and to let us know what we have to bring and how much we have to pay. No input from us obviously; everything has already been planned by them.

His two brothers were ushers at our wedding, but one left early from the reception. I asked his sisters if they would like to be bridesmaids and they said NO! LOL One sister even wore a white dress at my wedding!

When my first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, no one called until a week later when they wanted to know if we were coming to a Father's Day party (and if we could bring a fruit salad). When we went to the hospital to have our firstborn, hubby called them up from the hospital and his idiot father said, "So why are you calling us?" Our first daughter was born the day before they left on a trip to Ireland. They knew my due date way before they scheduled the trip. When I asked my MIL why they were going right around my due date, she said, "Oh you'll go early." I didn't! When my third child was born, she was the third grandchild in two months born on that side of the family. My MIL flew up the day the first one was born. My FIL drove up and was there when that granddaughter came home from the hospital. They were around for when the second one was born three weeks later. They knew my due date for my baby was a week later, but couldn't stick around even though my daughter was born the day before my son's First Communion.

When my youngest daughter was little, she had to have surgery. None of them called us to find out how she made out. Hubby called his parents the night of her surgery. They were not home, so he left a message. They never called back. When same daughter had a near-fatal bike accident four years ago, none of his family called to find out how she was doing. No get well cards or gifts at all.

When I sent out an email announcing the birth of our granddaughter (with pictures) my in-laws had our email BLOCKED!

I don't know.....I get the feeling that they just don't like us!

[waywyrd]

Damn. I don't have any in-laws, and I'm starting to think that's a good thing.

[just1paul]

Careful, burntbrat. You never know if your inlaws could be lurking around FORT.

Then maybe it would be like them running across themselves in "Dear Abby" and not knowing it's them but thinking it is someone else.

[DesertRose]

Careful, burntbrat. You never know if your inlaws could be lurking around FORT.

I love my inlaws

[Ana Bannana]

My inlaws use to spend holidays here. I put a hault to it after one of DH's nephews (age 7)intentionally urinated on my sons bedroom floor "because he didn't feel like using the bathroom". Meanwhile his sister (age 10)was in my basement with a baseball bat - BREAKING every single lightbulb in every socket in the ceiling. The icing on the cake was MIL telling me that I was "overreacting" when I told my SIL that she needed to take those kids out of my house and not bring them back until they acted like human beings. Yeah - it was ALL MY FAULT THAT DAY.
Now, we go to the other SIL's house. I have a couple of shots of hooch before we go-to take the edge off.

Whew - thanks for this thread. I feel so much better!

[Newfherder]

My ex-wife had great in-laws
Me, not so much