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Original poster

Anyone's mil, look at them like they're a different species...?lighthearted

29 replies

Whatthefunk · 21/04/2019 18:09

My mil is lovely. Very kind and sweet, but she's also the sort of woman, who irons her sheets and has a special drawer for holiday toiletries. I sometimes find her looking at me as though I'm a complete mystery to her.... We have a giggle together, but she can't understand a woman, who doesn't always carry a pac-a-mac, and, or umbrella, and God forbid, a woman should be tipsy....I still remember the shock on her face, one Christmas, when I advised her that one bottle of wine would not see me through the whole festive period.....anyone else from a different planet, to their mil?

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slipperywhensparticus · 21/04/2019 18:13

Yup when I had one she couldn't understand how I could leave one piece of fluff on the carpet when I had children I couldn't understand why it was such a big deal Confused

Original poster
Whatthefunk · 21/04/2019 18:16

Ha! Mine can't believe, that I don't take all the books off the shelves, every time I dust...

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Passmeabrew · 21/04/2019 18:32

Haha yes mine does sometimes! We have very different outlooks on housework etc but mainly its that I read for pleasure, she really can't fathom that at all! She means it nicely though and will often tell random strangers about my book buying habits and how well read she thinks I am and her face is a mixture of pure pride and confusion all at the same time, it really makes me laugh Grin
Probably a bit how I look at her when talking about her ironing skills to be fair. The womans a machine! I just have neither the skill nor the inclincation much to her shame.....

Livedandlearned · 21/04/2019 18:35

My first MIL was amazing and the only thing she ever commented on was the fact I didn't iron when my dc were tiny. Shame her son is a complete knob.

2nd MIL has a lovely son, however I'm not sure she even wants to look at me let alone talk to me.

Original poster
Whatthefunk · 21/04/2019 18:39

Oh dear.....
My mil, is the only person I know that can fold fitted sheets. They look as though they are straight out of the pack....witchcraft

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Torytop · 21/04/2019 18:47

Frequently. All her DDs and other DILs (big family, and DH is the baby) are houseproud SAHMs who devote themselves to family, live within two miles of her and bustle about deferring to her matriarchal status. I ‘took’ DH away to live in another country, do not feel that dust and laundry are a woman’s issue, have one child by choice, and a career which is consumingly important to me.

PH03b3 · 21/04/2019 18:52

She cant fathom that today a Sunday ive made an actifry chip sandwich for tea and not a full blown roast dinner a chip sandwich on Easter Sunday no less!

slipperywhensparticus · 21/04/2019 19:20

I had a fiancee years ago I loved his family got on with his mom she let me wander in her kitchen put the kettle on and offer her a cup of coffee such a shame her son was a right cunt I would have loved having her around

thenewaveragebear1983 · 21/04/2019 19:24

Mine thinks I'm very bohemian and outlandish because I shop in charity shops and every time I see her she asks where every item of my clothing was from and how much it cost. She would never, ever do this to anyone else. It's like it is the most unbelievable achievement that I managed to find a pair of jeans for £3.

I am painting my kitchen a very dark green which she does not approve of, but would never say, so instead she tells me repeatedly how creative I am and how unusual it is and how exotic it is and how she would never have thought of doing it that colour. 'But do you like it though, mil?' Cue cat bum face and a million comments about my exceptional creativity and exoticness

She's kind and wonderful and I love her but good grief.

HerRoyalNotness · 21/04/2019 19:28

MIL quit work when she married. She often refers to my job (which can support the family I might add) as working for ‘pin money’. She’d be gobsmacked how much I get paid I imagine (currently unemployed though Sad)

She also does a wee frown when I don’t wear make up. “Doesn’t matter how pretty a person is, everyone looks better with a hit of makeup”

HerRoyalNotness · 21/04/2019 19:29

And calls us snobs because we don’t shop for clothes at primark or supermarket.

TwistedBiscuit · 21/04/2019 19:32

Mine is lovely, we are different nationalities and from different cultures and I’m pretty sure she thinks I’m barmy but she makes an enormous effort with me which is much appreciated.

She loves a cheap and cheerful polyester garment does my MIL Wink

Singlenotsingle · 21/04/2019 19:37

H! My ddil (who I love dearly) is the house proud one. Looks at me sideways when there's a layer of dust on the floor in the upstairs bathroom. Does vast quantities of washing. (I probably do 2 washloads a week). Likes the house painted and wallpapered frequently and often. (We do ours when it's really desperate, every five or six years).

limpingparrot · 21/04/2019 19:37

I also stole her son away abroad. There’s nothing really terrible about my MIL but it’s true we are different animals. I like the explanation that she sees me as a different species. Plus she’s in her mid 70s and I’m 31, and I’m foreign. She’s super proud of us I think in contrast. I am not really easy, I fully admit. She should probably post a bad DiL thread...

Burlea · 21/04/2019 19:38

PH03b3 im so ashamed we did the gardening today and I've sent DH the chippy. Fair play to my MIL after being married to her son for nearly 40 years she has taught me how to make a bed properly with sheets and blankets.

blackcat86 · 21/04/2019 19:51

The women in DHs family set women's lib back about 100yrs. Apparently I'm very 'independent' (have a career) and very 'open' to accept DSS (not a dick that's overly tied to the view of the nuclear family). I absolutely refuse to iron and it drives her just a little bit crazy. She irons everything, quit work as soon as she got pregnant and then was continuously pregnant for several years. DD is 8 months and she looks at me hinting that I'm pregnant but of stating that she wont ask when we're planning another - nope still just fat from baby no 1. Shes a lovely women but dear God are they old fashioned.

NerrSnerr · 21/04/2019 19:56

Mine cannot get her head around the fact that I'm not close with my mum. She asks how she is every time she sees me and looks shocked when I say I don't know. She never asks after my dad though, who I do speak to.

MsAwesomeDragon · 21/04/2019 20:15

I like my mil. She's lovely most of the time. But I have to avoid taking about politics because she's very different in her views to me. She makes racist comments too, although I don't think she intends to be racist she just doesn't know anybody personally who is not white British (not an excuse, but at least it means she's not actually offending people in person).

She has always worked so doesn't comment about me working ft, but she's has no idea why DH is doing a lot of the housework. She thinks that should be my job as well as my actual job, even though I work 50-60 hours a week (in term time, as a teacher) and DH works about 30 hours a week and earns less than half of my salary. None of our financial/domestic situation worries either of us, but mil does think DH is hard done by, even if she had learnt not to comment.

She does think I'm marvelously independent though, and sings my praises to anyone she ever meets. She thinks it's amazing that I will drive anywhere and everywhere, not just in the local area. She thinks it's fabulous that I do DIY when it's needed in our house dh has many, many good qualities, DIY ability is not one of them She doesn't come to our house though, ever, because she can't cope with our slovenly ways (ie the house isn't showhome standard at all times, often veering into messy, even dirty at busy times of year)

Original poster
Whatthefunk · 21/04/2019 20:21

Most of these are quite amusing. I do love her dearly, and I'm sure my dizziness, causes her great merriment.

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Original poster
Whatthefunk · 21/04/2019 20:23

Most of these are quite amusing, with a sprinkling of worrying.... I guess it's a generational thing, and I'm sure, my dizziness causes her great merriment

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MotherOfTheNoise · 21/04/2019 20:32

My MIL thinks I'm posh but she loves that her son has 'married up'. She also looked bewildered when I went back to work and wondered why I wasn't staying at home. But she is lovely and warm and kind and always buys me random shit things she's found that she thinks I'll like.

Original poster
Whatthefunk · 21/04/2019 20:45

I think my mil has developed an eye switch, since I married Dh....
Sorry about the odd double post. I had a fat finger fail

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Fluffycloudland77 · 21/04/2019 20:46

Yes, me too. Dh didn’t marry me for my ironing skills though 😏

Original poster
Whatthefunk · 21/04/2019 20:57

Ha! I doubt mine did either... Though I think secretly, he would like hospital corners, on the bed. I make it up in countless other areas though Grin

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QueenofLouisiana · 21/04/2019 20:59

I also have a MIL who stopped working full time when she married. She stopped working at all just after she turned 50.

She loved the fact that DH and I met at (a well thought of) university- definitely used in most conversations with family in the early years, but is bemused by the fact that I then wanted to do something with my education!

However, she brought up my lovely DH and adores DS only slight less than I do, she’s kind and dog-mad. That all goes a long way in my world.