Just wanted to have a massive whinge about MIL who had just left after staying with us for four days
context?
we don’t see her very often as she lives in a different country.
we go to her usually once a year, she comes to us every few years.
I work in heath care and work shifts
my partner works around my shifts
we have one kid who does a lot of extra curricular.
life for us is very busy but we have a schedule that works pretty good but being a stepford wife is not something I can fit into my schedule.
once per week the house gets scrubbed top to bottom and we do a big food shop, we keep on top of the kitchen and bathroom during the week and maybe run a vac if we need to but by no means is the house dirty or untidy by most people’s standards.
when she comes she drives me fucking nuts.
she asks me where all the cleaning products are and basically throws them away and says they are not good and replaces them all with cleaning products she likes, I use generic brand disinfectant for everything and she wants particular branded products.
she throws food away in the fridge that I like, yoghurt, tofu, etc and buys more food that we could ever possibly eat, I’ve had to remove a shelf in my freezer to jigsaw stack all of the meat she has bought. I’m a vegetarian.
she buys a loaf of bread and throws it away three days later because it’s hard now because it’s too cold (I keep bread in the fridge)
she has bought a massive tub of laundry powder that I hate because it’s a really strong smell and now I feel obliged to use it because I hate waste.
she insists on going grocery shopping EVERY. FUCKING. DAY. And she buys the same shit. I have three tubs of butter in my fridge. Not the butter I usually buy of course. Because, of course this is not good butter. My partner picked me up from a horrific night shift in the emergency dept and I could hav cried I was so tired and she insisted that we go shopping on the way back even though I smelt like vomit and death and looked like I’d been smacked with a bag of spanners. I’m walking round the supermarket like a zombie and she is buying CARTONS of eggs
she won’t let me cook, if I open the fridge she literally takes things out of my hands and says she will do it- what do I want. Sit down. I will do it better. If I actually tell her what I want to eat or cook she will just ignore and make something she thinks is best. I like the food that she makes but it’s incredibly fatty/carb heavy and always has meat in it and I feel obliged to eat it.
she brought me a gift of a teapot which is beautiful and lovely and thoughtful but she is saying I have to get rid of my current teapot which (sounds silly) but has enormous sentimental value having travelled round the world with me unscathed. Last time she came she was commenting that one of the matching cups was missing and a saucer was chipped and couldn’t accept that I don’t care about that.
her trip was planned last minute and so we hadn’t a chance to finish decorating the spare room so she had our bedroom while we slept on sofa/pull out. Whilst in our bedroom she has completely reorganised my wardrobes so that it ‘makes sense’ including reorganising and FOLDING MY UNDERWEAR.
it’s like she thinks I’m inadequate or dirty or lazy because the house isn’t pristine all the time or laundry is in a basket at the bottom of the wardrobe waiting to be folded.
I know she means well and wants to be ‘helpful’ but it’s so incredibly invasive and the underwear thing has totally tipped me over the edge I mean what the fuck. Who folds PANTS???? Who folds SOMEONE ELSES PANTS??? Who folds someone else’s pants WITHOUT ASKING
I’ll never say anything because she’s old and we hardly ever see her and she’s already sad because her son is not at home with her - just with some lazy British woman 😂 living in the squalor of home brand disinfectant and budget bog roll.
Rant over thanks for your attention.