Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be irritated with my mother in this instance...

29 replies

MilliONaire · 19/12/2010 21:46

Ok, this could be longish....it was dd's 5th party today, we had a party at home planned for the girls in her class, she was very excited about the whole thing. I wanted to bake her cake and dh had loads of party games organized etc.

Then I got really really sick with suspected pneumonia on Thursday, have never been so sick in my life. My parents came down on friday supposedly to 'help' over the weekend. I cannot move out of bed. I had most of the shopping for the stuff for the party already bought inc all the ingredients for her cake. But now I couldn't make it, baking isn't dh's thing and he's up the walls trying to work and look after dd and myself. I ask my mother to go to town on saturday & get a cake and a few other bits. She needs me to write her a list of everything as she cannot seem to figure out what basics might be needed - like milk, bread etc. I write the list with a pounding head and off she goes. She comes back without a load of the stuff - apparently M&S was mobbed and she got sick of looking for it all. She got entirely the wrong cake, despite a detailed description of the one to get - ok, I swallow my annoyance.

She didn't get anything that dd or dh or df could eat for dinner either of the night, nor did she offer to even try to sort something out. Dh went out in the ice to get a chinese for them that night. Which annoyed me too - there was no reason she couldn't have stuck an M&S ready meal in the trolley..

This morning dh was trying to get everything rready for the party - kids coming at 12, my mother stayed in bed till 10.30am, then started faffing about making breakfast for herself - I heard her say to dh 'oh I'll let you sort yourself out, I don't know what you'd like' I didn't get offered as much as a cup of tea. I had asked her to get teabags as we were low when I got sick and I hadn't been to the shops. She forgot them, so there was no tea for me (my dad insists on using 2 teabags per mug, sometimes 3 so they really fly through them) ok....I am now sort of gritting my teeth a bit.

Doing the party food would usually be my area - I love that sort of thing, I heard dh asking her if she could put the cocktail sausages in the oven at a certain time for the kids to have & then some pizza - she started acting all confused about it 'oh how will i fit it all in, what time etc etc etc' on and on and on...ffs she is a 61yr old woman - how hard it it to lob a few bloody sausages in the fecking oven!!!

Then I heard her saying to dh 'relax, it will all get done - what will be will be and other shite of this nature' I swear I was lying in bed with my blood pressure rising. I ended up getting up about half an hour before the party went down and the kitchen was in chaos - she had made NO effort and was off having herself yet another cup of tea and more cake. I sroted the kitchen, put the stuff in the oven, put on the filter coffee for any parents dropping off children, set the table with the decorations ffor dd, I was dripping with sweat and exhausted and everytime I asked her to do something she either forgot to do it or half ddid it so I would end up coming along and fixing it.

The kids arrive, dh gets them all engaged in pplaying immediately so he is fully occupied with that, my mum half heartedly helps to serve the food to them with me & when the time comes

Then she goes off for another sit down as dh does all the tidying up when everyone is gone. He cooks dd's tea and gets her ready for bed, I crawled back to bed. While he was doing all that she made no effort to organize any dinner/tea for anyone, just sat on her arse drinking tea and eating more biscuits -they have eaten an entire tin of biscuits since fri night!

I am not normally so mean - i do not begrudge them te a & fecking biscuits but neither am i normally so sick or ever actaully 'need' them to help.

Is it too much to expect that she would have organized food on ONE of the nights they have been here?

They are coming back here for christmas next week and she has been saying things like 'don't forget the crackers when you are shopping,......like when the fu*k does she think i will be shopping with bloody pneumonia?????????

Dh is normally very even tempered but tonight he is sick & tired of it and I don't blame him. When he was getting dd to bed they ate all the sandwiches my sister had made earlier - never thought if he might be hungry - when he asked them she said 'oh we're fine we ate' FFS!!!

She basically wants to be waited on hand and foot when she's here and it's the same when she's at home if we visit 'oh I thought you'd cook tonight -I didn't know what you'd eat' etc

Anyway.....just having a rant coz I am feeling so shit and today was such an effort on many levels.

AIBU for expecting her to actually HELP a nbit more? She will head off tomorrow thinking she 'saved the weekend' by just bloody being here AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGG

OP posts:
TheBrandyButterflyEffect · 19/12/2010 21:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TitianTinselTemptress · 19/12/2010 21:50

YANBU even one tiny bit and there is no way I would be letting her to come for Christmas, which is only a few days away. Sounds unlikely you will be recovered by then (sorry) and it sounds like it will be hell on earth. I really hope you get well soon xxx

TitianTinselTemptress · 19/12/2010 21:51

And you are not being mean btw.

bumpsoon · 19/12/2010 21:52

Cancel her coming at christmas right now , you cannot be expected to look after two other people when you have pneumonia ,tell her you will reorganize when the GP tells you , you are better .

bumpsoon · 19/12/2010 21:54

Infact tell her you have a strain of swine flu that is particularly risky to any female aged 60 or above ,slather her in antibac hand gel and show her the bloody door Grin

CarGirl · 19/12/2010 21:55

I'd be cancelling Christmas visitors too. I am Shock at her attitude.

activate · 19/12/2010 22:00

teell them to leave now and to make alternative arrangements for christmas

it took me weeks, many coursess of antibiotics, 2 hospital stays and a year to get over pneumonia - you must rest. You must not try to do stuff when you first feel capable, you must rest until you are truly better

I cannot believe you didn't cancel the party - but at least that is over with now

StealthPolarBear · 19/12/2010 22:02

Well she and your dad should have helped more
Don't let her come for Christmas!
Hope you're better soon

herbietea · 19/12/2010 22:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

SkiingGardeningTwinklyBauble · 19/12/2010 22:08

Well done on coping. I personally would have slung her out on her ear and told her why but you were more saintly.

I would also tell them you can't do Christmas for them, and be quite blunt when she witters about it. Tell her she's not a help but it's ok, it's just the way she is so she would be better off at home.

Good luck

StealthPolarBear · 19/12/2010 22:10

why is no one mentioning the dad...

MilliONaire · 19/12/2010 22:25

Oh thanks everyone - I really felt I was losing the plot tonight (and I apologize for all the typos, it's a drug fuelled haze here tonight, I am tired but can't sleep so I am on the laptop in bed)

Nah, no saint here, laughing at the thoughts, merely a control freak perfectionist who finds it very hard to let go!!

I had thought about cancelling the party (was my first thought in fact) but it's dd's first year to ever want a party, plus as they were class mates I didn't have a number for them all & organizing a way to get all the numbers seemed more hassle than having thee bloody thing. Dh would have had to drive about in the ice to each of the houses to let them know... AND we'd had the offer of 'help' you see Smile should have known better there!

In fairness, they are great with dd, she is an only grandchild on that side and she adores them. There is NO option of them not coming back for christmas unless severe weather prevents them (guess who is praying for a snow blizzard!)

I think most of it stems from the fact that we do normally make such an effort when they come and we are very independent & so I wouldn't normally expect them to do housework etc and since my mother is not prone to helping out much in the first place it has sort of gotten her into very lazy habits. It is mainly around cooking really. I love to cook, she doesn't and she milks it so I cook all the time when we are together, our house, their house etc. Sometimes I would just like her to hand me a dinner if I go to visit.

Dh is brilliant, he is insisting that I stay in bed now and has put his foot down that I will not be shopping for groceries for christmas and if anything is needed he will get it. I genuinely think my mother think because I crawled out of bed for 3hrs this afternoon I am 'better' and should be getting up and about again. She is not a very sympathetic nurse, her patience with us (me and my sis) when we were youger and got sick generally lasted about 2 days, then she was bored of it and felt we should be 'on the mend'. If i hadn't been so sick I nearly would have laughed when she asked me if I was feeling any better on friday afernoon - I had taken 1 antibiotic at that stage!

She talks a lot too, mainly about very depressing things - death, hosptitals, accidents, you get the gist.

We have had them for christmas for the past 5 years and due to a lot of other circumstances for me late this summer I didn't feel up to it and asked my sister and her husband (newly wed, no kids) what their plans were, could they go home to them or invite them to theirs. She acted as though I was overreacting to the whole thing and said 'oh it's no big deal, I'll ask them' I was delighted. Until I heard that they were flaking off to her inlaws (who are a lot more upbeat) and they halfheartedly said to my parents 'oh ye can come too' AS IF they were ever going to do that.

So they're coming to us. AGAIN. When I said it to my sister (how can be REALLY selfish at times) she laughed and said 'that's what happens when you have a dd' GRRRR.

Anyway, thanks for all the kind words. I have been sick now for almost 4weeks - one infection after another (sinus, throat) now this chest & I really feel knocked for six. We had a failed ivf recently and i think it has depleted my immune system.

DH & I have agreed it's going to be an M&S christmas all the way - whatever easy options we can find! And I will NOT be slaving!!!

OP posts:
TitianTinselTemptress · 19/12/2010 22:29

If you are really not going to cancel them, can I suggest the following:

A list of what to do with instructions and timings for each food item
A doctor's note forbidding any activity at all
A large bottle of gin for your consumption only, with limes (vitamin C)
Chocolate

Good luck!

MilliONaire · 19/12/2010 22:31

I like your style titiantinseltemptress (and your name) Smile

OP posts:
MadAboutQuavers · 19/12/2010 22:56

Disgraceful

Cancel Christmas - tell her you're not well enough to cook and entertain.

Selfish woman

I hope you feel better soon

TitianTinselTemptress · 19/12/2010 23:07

Why thank you I was previously GingerGlitterGoddess (see what I did there?!)

onceamai · 19/12/2010 23:22

YANBU - in fact I think she might be related to my MIL!

plupervert · 19/12/2010 23:26

Do try to cancel.

Seriously, pneumonia is very, very hard. When my mother came down with it, she felt as though she was having a heart attack!

If they do come, let the Christmas meal be fecking sandwiches only, unless she and your F can step into the kitchen and do something.

Could DD shame them into doing something so she (poor darling) doesn't have to have sandwiches for Christmas. "Daddy's coming down with something now, too, and mummy said I couldn't touch the oven or cut vegetables, because I might hurt myself, but I can make sandwiches to help everybody!"

Meanwhile, you and DH are holed up in your bedroom, both "ill", with a mini-kettle and stock of your own teabags Xmas Grin, and will surprise DD with her own midnight feast after lights out, so the poor thing does get a treat.

KatieMiddleton · 19/12/2010 23:33

OMG I think we have the same mother. Except I'd never let her in the house if I was already ill. I need all my patience to cope.

Cancel her. She can go to your sister or stay at home. Just do it.

And do all your Xmas grocery shopping online and have it delivered.

Hope you feel better soon Smile

Rev084 · 20/12/2010 01:14

You are too ill to do christmas, you need to concentrate on getting better otherwise you might pick up something else.

Tell your parents that you still feel really ill and very sorry but cannot host them for christmas. They're not too old they cannot cater for themselves. If they'd helped you out more with your daughters party, I'm sure you'd feel differently. Trust me, take the pressure off yourself, sometimes you need to be tough.

My parent's are sort of the same as yours. Their idea of helping me is coming round mine, sitting on my sofa and drinking all my tea, that I make for them. This is when I'm ill, my OH is away so they think I might be lonely, anything. Its my birthday tomorrow, which I don't care about as I've celebrated this wknd with my DD and OH. But they're coming round and they'll just sit there while I make tea all evening, great. Sorry, highjacked your post with rant about my own parents.

Get better soon, merry christmas!!

Unwind · 20/12/2010 01:19

cancel Christmas, and feel irritated with your Dad too

StealthPolarBear · 20/12/2010 08:21

Thank you Unwind - was beginning to think I was the only one!

pointissima · 20/12/2010 08:29

YANBU; and your DH sounds absolutely lovely.

Hope you feel better soon

plupervert · 20/12/2010 09:01

Rev084, could you "run out of" tea when your parents come round? If they have to do something as "simple" as go to a corner shop (which almost anyone can do), it might make them realise you need help rather than arse-sitting.

Unwind · 20/12/2010 09:05

I also object to the OP's notion that "It's mainly around cooking really."

It is not. Whether your parents have the slightest interest in cooking is irrelevant. It would not have been any trouble to them to stick some ready meals in the trolley, or to buy party food from Iceland or m&s or wherever, and take responsibility for getting it ready for the children.

You love to cook - but you are not expecting your parents to help by preparing food to your standards (that would be unreasonable), you can expect them to help by showing consideration for you at this difficult time, and ensuring that there is food for everyone. Eating the sandwiches your sister prepared was extraordinarily selfish.

Swipe left for the next trending thread