Silly things your mother did (lighthearted)

My mum was a disinterested cook so we got used to some surprises, the best being on Christmas Day when she decided to cook the pudding in the oven. Dad got the drill out and we shared a handful of sultanas between the five of us

My mum was another who had a ridiculous laundry routine that involved ironing everything (apart from socks and bras), then putting it all in the airing cupboard for two days, before putting it away in drawers!

She always cleans hard to reach places, like behind the washing machine, before going away. Apparently this is because if anything happened to her, she would not want people to think she was dirty!

Apple pip warnings -yep

Every Xmas she would forget the bread sauce was in the oven, and would remember it only while we were eating pud & mince pies. 😊

Also, mum and nan both sewed up the chicken!

Dad was a mechanic then engineer and get covered in grease and car muck. When mum washed his filthy coverals, she used to iron them!!!

Cold rice salad which included glace cherries, tinnned pineapple, peppers and various other odd ingrediants- very 1970's

My nan (now 100) used to tell us not to eat apple pips, because a tree would grow in our stomaches and cause intestinal issues!

Don't swallow cherry pips because they can get trapped in your appendix and cause appendicitis!

My mother was horrified that my brother threw away the kitchen bin liner with the rubbish, as she would use one several times.

She also washed clingfilm - although it never 'clinged' again after it was washed. It was so embarrassing when friends came round and saw clingfilm pegged out on the washing line!

@unmarkedbythat. I'm glad you can
laugh about it!! You're lucky to get on with your brother 😊

My mum is early 70's. She has always been bonkers and remains so!

Like @carlaCox 's mum she's always mithering about trousers (and sleeves come to think of it) being exactly the right length. She doesn't understand that I don't really give a fuck if a sleeve is a bit long. I'll just roll it up.
She is obsessed with airing washing in the airing cupboard once it's dried. WHY?
She is very superstitious about a lot of random things . She would also absolutely freak if anyone put new shoes on a table. Or brought peacock feathers into her house.
We lived near to a gypsy site as kids and used to have to hide from them if they came knocking to sell us lucky heather as she was convinced they would curse us.

Woe betide anyone who goes to my parents house and doesn't want a cup of tea, or a bit of cake, or biscuits or 'you'll have a sandwich won't you?" a bit like Mrs Doyle from Father Ted.

I also remember an example from a boyfriend's Mum in my teens after staying over at a boyfriends parents. His Mum was really upset he hadn't decanted the milk into a jug at the breakfast table and had just plonked the milk bottle on the table. This was "common" apparently .

lifted something heavy about 6 weeks after giving birth to me, ended up in traction in hospital (did her back in).

Once when we were kids she had a cleaning frenzy - spotted a large black spider behind the washing machine - didn't touch it or see if it moved - apparently for next 30 minutes she was putting a glass over it and cardboard under it until she realised it was plastic - one of our toys?!

@unmarkedbythat

That is hilarious Although I imagine it's one of those things that's really funny... unless it's your own Mum saying it. (I know it would drive me nuts IRL!)

I remember watching a food programme recently where the presenter was in India and he said people think it’s a 70s thing, but it’s tradition to have sultanas in one type of curry.

Mum used to put sliced boiled egg on prawn curry, works brilliantly! A takeaway we loved did a fried egg under the byriani rice.

My mum ironed EVERYTHING - knickers, socks, the side panels of bras, tea towels, flannels, you name it. It then had to be aired, otherwise we'd get "the pains".
She insisted on an elaborate first-footing ritual every New Year's Eve involving my dad, a lump of coal, some fruit cake and whisky. (We're not Scottish.)
On no account could curtains be closed during the day in case passers-by thought there'd been a death in the family.
Most ailments could be treated with either a kaolin poultice, which involved boiling a tin of kaolin in a saucepan of water, or a cup of "hot Oxo" (admittedly nice).
She'd also find a new, usually "exotic" recipe, follow it to the letter, and if it was a hit, repeat it - but gradually cutting down the unusual/flavourful ingredients so it got blander and blander...then wonder why we'd gone off it.
She's remarkably accepting of the fact that I'm not desperate to follow her lead on these things, for which I'm grateful!

@WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants it drove me bonkers for years, and then after the great "everyone calls it a fucking cruise", "don't be so silly, unmarked, it's not a widely used term at all" argument I decided I had to laugh at it. My brother gets annoyed by it instead now, he only really noticed it when I told him about the cruise thing and now he will send my random texts saying things like "you know those books that list phone numbers? Our mother calls them 'telephone books'" or "you'll never guess what Mum calls the person who brings her bottles of milk- the 'milkman' I mean who would call him THAT?!' and I get to laugh.

It would be interesting to know how old you & your mums are...

I'm 51, my mum is 78.

My Dads (old & clean)underpants were definitely used as dusters - much nicer cotton in those days that what they're made of now.

@Fuckingcrustybread. Yes sultanas in curry, but curry was completely different than it is now.

@unmarkedbythat. Does it annoy you? It would drive me bloody batshit!!

@LunaNorth - ironing tea towels is good from a hygiene POV, personally I do it because they looked neater & stack better. (Pillow cases too) clothes...errr....not so much 😂

@Shosha1. My aunt did that. She even had a thing (airing box?) that things had to go in before progressing to the airing cupboard! You'd get chills if things weren't properly dry! 🙄🙄

@raffle -I guess it was never boring! 🤣

My mum would always insist on unpicking and resewing the hem of any new pair of trousers or skirt to make it the perfect length. And woe betide anyone who put new shoes on a table or opened an umbrella indoors.

My mother used to use old underwear as dusters. Clean, obviously...

I don't use pants but I cut up old vests to do this.

Throwing a strand of spaghetti at the wall (during cooking) - if it stuck, it was done.

No idea why she didn't just taste it!

@Heaviestdirtyestsoul and mine also salutes magpies and asks 'how's your wife?'

My mum used old knickers as dishcloths as well

Just to add, there was usually some form of meat in the curry, not just sultanas!!

My mum calls things by the same name as everyone else and then adds "as I call it", as if she was the only person to do so. Like, "for tea I'm cooking cottage pie, as I call it". She got really cross with me last year for insisting that everyone calls the holidays where you're all on a giant floating hotel boat "cruises" and she was not unusual to do so. Bizarre.

She used to make curry with sultanas and serve desiccated coconut and chopped hard boiled eggs on the side. I'm sure that the recipe came from one of those 1970s "exotic" cookbooks.