My MIL has folded all my thongs into a pile of teeny tiny triangles and I think it may be the straw that makes me lose my shit...

[Loveatthe5anddime]

Light hearted, kind off...

In-laws arrived on the 26th, they hired a cottage near by (their choice) but have so far spent all day every day with us...

MIL doesn’t really get the art of discussion and likes to speak about her childhood in monologue a LOT, quite often we can have good 20 minute stories where no one else is able to speak and with 3 DD’s it makes it tricky.

She also likes to re tell stories...

Mil “did I tell you about the time”

Every else “yes you told us about that”

Mil “retells the story which last 25 minutes”

Every story begins a very small throat clear and then a pursed lip pause for dramatic effect which makes me want to stick a knife in my eyeball!!

She is only late 50’s so can’t even blame it on being old and dithery...

Today she has take it upon herself to go into our washing basket in our bedroom,while we had nipped out, has washed all my delicates and I’ve came back to a thong tower, all folded into identical triangles...

Please tell me I’m not the only one on the edge with having relatives staying?!

@MiddleParking

It’s pretty bad-mannered to make people listen to the same thing over and over if you know you’re doing it.

Possibly, but if you think about it another way, it’s just providing an oral history.

Fables, lore, fairy tales, cultural traditions, family history—most of these had been done orally and still are (unless you have some amazing author in your family who has jotted it all down and produced it in written format to share).

Do I want to hear my dad want on again about his childhood? No.

Do I want to hear my husband want on again about being a driver for the Kellogg’s cycling tour? Not especially.

Do I want to want on again about the turd by the toilet story in Morocco? Well…apparently yes.

It’s tedious to hear repeatedly but the point is that we remember and can pass it on, and there’s always the possibility of a new ear hearing it for the first time.

Having said all that, I’ve been hugely amused by this thread!

I'd find it a bit odd I'd my MIL suddenly decided to wash my thongs

My MIL did similar the first time she babysat. That was also the last time she babysat

My MIL went through a period of not understanding our house was not her home, and when I was at work would rearrange where things were in the kitchen ' to make the space work better'

I let things pass as I assumed her heart was in the right place, until she started on our bedroom.

At that point I told my DH he needed to talk to her else I was purchasing a range of dildos to leave lying around...

Last year, mid house move, we lived with my ILs for 9 weeks. She has a thing about her washing machine and won’t let anyone else use it so insisted on doing all my laundry. I sometimes came from work to find my 75yo FIL folding my undies. On one occasion she DARNED the gusset of a particularly decrepit pair of my pants.
You have my every sympathy. When are they leaving?!

Maybe you should be concerned about your MiL and her being so repetitive. She could have early Alzheimer’s! It is irritating my friends mother is here for a winter break and she retells stories about her friends in UK that I will never meet and repeats them endlessly. If she speaks at a dinner party she gets really cross if the whole group does not listen attentively. And even cried when people carried on their own conversation. She and I are the same age (87) and I am so horrified that I might lose my marbles. I also think that her putting your thongs like that is a sign that she is losing sensitivity to others privacy. So instead of getting petulant over a relatively small misdemeanour, you could show some sympathy to her just in case she is slipping into a mental state that she cannot help. I read Mumsnet because I am interested in the lives of those in a younger age group than me!

I've told this numerous times but I'm going to again
When me and Dh were on a belated honeymoon FIL was papering our living room so had a key.
Of course MIL had to come with him to nosey, it was my flat originally so she hadn't been in before.
She rearranged the entire flat, every room, cupboard, drawer everything.
In the bedroom she had actually managed to move the bed to a different wall and had left my pills, lube and vibrator on the pillow .

This thread is a bit sad really - old people tell repetitive stories and one day you'll be the old person telling them and your kids will be bitching about you on their equivalent of Mumsnet!

I also wish someone would come over and do all my washing because I feel like I'm im drowning in bloody laundry!

I had something similar @Loveatthe5anddime

Pil were looking after dc a couple of years ago while I was at work.

I came home and was horrified to find Fil folding my knickers. (Not thongs and pretty well worn.

Dh had for some reason put our underwear in the tumble drier before he left and mil had found them and given them to fil to fold.

Dh did not understand why I was fuming....

Incidentally fil is also a big monologue teller too. 20-25 mins sometimes without anyone getting a word in. Dh will get up and walk off half way through, the dcs will sit on their phones and I’m left sitting there nodding inanely.

I'm smiling at the thought

Actually I wouldn't care, it wouldn't happen as only my mum stays over and she wouldn't dream of interfering. Not a thong to get seen here, I'm more embarrassed about my granny knickers (so comfortable, even my 20 something DD's choose proper knickers too, students I buy them)

OMG your mother went to the same school as mine!! 😂😂 did she also have to walk in 10ft snow drifts and the little bottles of milk they were given were often off & lumpy but they had to drink them ?!! 😂

MIL, who is no stranger to a repetitive story from her childhood, came to stay when I was incapacitated after having DD. Very kind of her to make the effort to help out with DS, so that DH could go to work as normal. I had carers in to sort out laundry, etc, so there was no need for her to concern herself with the basics. This didn't stop her dragging the laundry basket into the sitting room and lifting out my stained outsize post-partum knickers to ask me about them in front of everybody, including FIL. On seeing my unimpressed face, she managed 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you, dear'.
Now that's overstepping the mark.

Thank you for the smile that a 'thong tower' brought, OP.

You need a plan for next Christmas to reduce the time you spend with them, it seems.

Some very funny stories , proper made me chuckle

My lovely , very elderly parents also like to repeatedly talk about the past , especially about all the different dance halls they went to. The trouble is they will both be telling the same story at the same time (mum is usually a couple of seconds behind dad) , and what with dad and his clacking false teeth and mums newly acquired whistle where she’s lost a tooth, it’s like listening to a badly tuned radio!
We all listen patiently though as they seem to come alive talking about how they loved a quick step and winning a medal for their jive.

LOL - that's hilarious. Memory about my MIL, she's passed away now but had a really good heart of gold and meant well. She went to Spain on holiday and brought her daughters and ME, a pair of pink G-Strings back. She was definitely no prude. One time when I was in the bath whilst staying over at her house, she walked right into the bathroom and said "Dinny worry hen, you've no get anything I don't have"

That was just typical behaviour from my MIL. Miss her like mad, especially at this time of year as she was much better than my actual mother. She taught me unconditional love, something my own mother lacks.

Reminds me of the Monty Python sketch "when I were a lad"

@FrozenWillow263 my mil has done the same but I hate it. She goes on about how she isnt embaresed - but she isn't the one in the nip so her embaresment isnt relevent. She is generally socially inept though, and not particularly lovely either

@Lapun, are you actually 87, or is that a typo? If if you are 87, you certainly sound extremely ‘with it’, and I hope that I’m as sharp minded as you when I reach that age!

@StrifeOfBath

OMG at thong tower! Having said that my BIL similarly emptied my laundry basket of pants, from my room, and put them in with his stuff. But he lacks folding skills.

Erm..what???

Yes you are being unreasonable. I would be grateful to anyone who was kind enough to wash and fold my laundry, even if they didn’t fold it my particular way.
My DIL talks about nothing. In family groups every conversational starter from anyone is answered by “yes”, “no” or picking up her smart phone. Eventually we sit in silence having given up trying to talk to her. Then we go to another room to gossip and reminisce to our hearts content. As for homework - i would clean my daughters kitchen, or do my sisters washing. My DILs stuff I would not touch. Your MIL must like you. Pity it’s not reciprocated.

Mil and fil moved to be near us the compromise due to the expense if area was ro downsize to 2 bed bungalow with only a shower. If we go away our house is there's to come and stay at so mil can have a bath if she wants but also nearer (walking distance) to restaurants.
Every time I say you don't need to do anything just look after yourselves and enjoy, every time she would go through any laundry baskets and if we had left anything it would be washed and ironed nice but never using my fabric conditioner etc. This year we popped down south for a short break with kids made sure no washing was left in laundry / tumble dryer etc did this stop her? Nope every drawer of clothes on kids rooms and our room were rearranged and neatly positioned socks / knickers / t shirts etc

DH immediately as it was too neat messed up his drawers. We both have told her time send time again but she just wants to help ! It does however mess with my own OCD especially if things are moved around.

@SarahJessicaParker1

😂😂😂😂😂

Oh god, this reminds me of when my mil and sil took it upon themselves to change my bed sheets. Out fell my sexy undies, including suspender belt and stockings

When do they go home?

You and they are lucky it was just undies. There could have been ANYTHING from the Lovehoney collection in there!

I wouldn't mind either I'd find it funny 🤣
Few years ago my MIL bought me and the other daughter in law rose gold pebble vibrators from Ann summers 🤣🤣
Pretty little pebble it is !!
She's seen me pissed up and naked before she's proper down to earth but so am I so we get on very well. Folding up my thongs would be fine haha

When I had DS in March my mum came to help by doing some ironing I told her the things in the basket on the left please mum. She did that basket then moved onto the other basket with underwear in which I hadn't got round to putting away yet. When I went up to put all the irony away later on she'd ironed all my DH pants bless her ❤️

@Lincolnlass

Yes you are being unreasonable. I would be grateful to anyone who was kind enough to wash and fold my laundry, even if they didn’t fold it my particular way. My DIL talks about nothing. In family groups every conversational starter from anyone is answered by “yes”, “no” or picking up her smart phone. Eventually we sit in silence having given up trying to talk to her. Then we go to another room to gossip and reminisce to our hearts content. As for homework - i would clean my daughters kitchen, or do my sisters washing. My DILs stuff I would not touch. Your MIL must like you. Pity it’s not reciprocated.

OP, I think your MIL has found your thread