Omg such anality from pil. Come and share your anal behaviour stories (lighthearted)

[ledkr]

We are with pil at present and they are very sweet but so bloody uptight about everything.
Bil has been away for a week so he left car with pil so that it "wasn't left in the street" it has a steering lock on and fil takes it for a drive each day! The car is an old banger worth about two hundred quid.
Kids can't even eat a banana without a table cloth,mat and plate
Leaving the house to walk to shops is a major ordeal. Costs hats gloves change of shoes everything switched off at the wall last minute run upstairs for wallets. I could have been there and back.
So I'm asking you to entertain me with similar stories to help me through the day.

Reuse your tea bags?gah!

My DM is obsessed by many things, one most pertinent is wasting food. Last wk she came to babysit and we had been eating fajitas. She stared intently at some left over chopped salad on the board and tomatoes 2 pancakes and started to put it in a Tupperware, she said " what have you been making" she is so utterly unadventurous with food I proceeded to give her a blow by blow description of a fajita and its making process.
She then said that she would never, ever eat that but she will take them anyway as she hates waste. But what on earth would she do with some left over limp lettuce and a soggy tomato
DP put water into wine to make it last longer. They keep gifts given to them pristine for 20 years and give to others as presents. They are v well
Off. DM literally rations out food to DDad. He also gets a set of instructions of things to do today from her. One of them recently was to clean the grass the builders had stood on and put some tools on.

I could fill a thread with their bonkers ways.

My Mother has what I consider a neat trick for warming plates, should you be eating the kind of dinner where cold plates are Not Good. She doesn't faff about putting them in the oven (which you are already using for food, surely?) but fills an empty, clean washing up bowl with boiling water (for hygiene), adds a little cold (so she doesn't burn her hands) and leaves them to soak for a minute.

The fact I am telling you about this as a top tip, not a sign of incipient dementia, means I am turning into one of these people the thread is all about, doesn't it?

Reusing fabric napkins is not unusual. Hence napkin rings

I just want to say that Maureen Shit is the best username ever.

Ha! teabags? My ILs only drink QT Instant White Tea! And assume nobody can tell the difference (my folks once visited them and my mum claims she v deftly tipped both their cups in the sink right under their noses without them noticing.
Seriously though I do suspect DFIL is autistic and simply cannot handle making more than one cup of tea so MIL has trained herself to drink QT and brainwashed herself for his sake (and so she gets made a drink occasionally.)

My DF gave me a bollocking for driving his car like a wild thing... he had checked in the boot and something in there had travelled FROM ONE SIDE TO THE OTHER whilst I had borrowed it! And everything must be switched off in the car before you turn ignition off - lights off, radio off, indicators off, heating off. In case the battery goes flat next time you turn the ignition on...

I, too, am laughing my arse off at the username MaureenShit... :)

Slightly tangential but still on a fogeyish tip: oes anyone else's MIL converse with the television/provide a running commentary/tell Jon Snow off for wearing the wrong tie/laugh long and loud at tragic news reports because of what the reporter's wearing? It makes me dig holes in the sofa with my fingers; I often pretend to have a sneezing fit just to distract her.

Fab thread...has kept me entertained during a week long stint at PILs', where I have constantly been updated on the state of the washing on the line, on the weather and how it compares to the previous day. MIL is a bit obsessive about the temp in the house also and will ask at least once an hour if we are warm enough, then point out the radiator and how to turn it up if we want. I am very grateful that they have two reception rooms... However frustrating I find visiting them it is way worse if they come to us - hovering over whatever I do, nagging for jobs to do and rearranging things...I never realised how territorial I am until they came to stay!

DF also cannot abide his hearing aids as they make everything too loud - I find it impossible to have a conversation in the same room if he is watching the TV...he is also very good at finding something Important to discuss as you are trying to leave, having been in the house for two hours, during which time he said barely a word...he is a pretty good cook but he gets so stressed if cooking for anyone other than himself and DM it's amazing - much safer to keep out of the way. You must remember to compliment him greatly on what he has produced otherwise you will have to listen to DM make 'mmmmmm' noises all the way through the meal to make sure his ego is sufficiently stoked.

I have to admit though that I do have a dishwasher loading protocol and don't put it on if it isn't pretty full...and my books and CDs are in alphabetical order, but surely that's just sensible so you can find the one you want?! (We have lots). I also meal plan but quite vaguely - certainly not to the point where I would only buy two potatoes per person!

And I did take slippers to someone's house once but she has laminate flooring everywhere and it was COLD

I used to live next door to my parents. If I hung my washing on the line using non-matching clothes pegs, she would come over and re-hang it. In the end I started doing it to wind her up. :)

smornin I've been known to alphabetise my books by author. Surely that's normal?

My DF collects bits of skirting board and window sills in case he needs them for the never ending repairs on his house. He calls these bits if wood 'timber'

Every time I see him he'll explain in great detail how he's repaired something with a bit of 'timber'.

He also pronounces names wrongly, even after being corrected every time. From people's names to company names. Someone called Robin was called Robert by by dad all his life, he knew it was Robin but insisted on calling him Robert. He pronounces Santander Santan-der rather than San-tan-dair like on the adverts
Drives me insane

Oh dear. How old are all these ILs of which you speak? I am now getting worried about what my DC will be listing as my odd behaviour . Great thread though. < eyes up Lakeland tea bag waste bin>

Matching clothes pegs!! A new level of washing standard has been set. I must keep up

My DM (of matching washing pegs fame) is not even 60.

I like using matching washing pegs

I use matching pegs too!

All washing is pegged out in a specific order size-wise and per person. My pegs are also used in colour order.

I'll get me coat

Are you my sister?

One of my Dad's most often used quotes is "that'll come in handy someday"

We have a tub for tea bags but this is because DH drinks so much that when they went straight in the bin all the time the lid went mouldy...now I keep them for the compost bin.

Oh crap Mr Tigga:

matching pegs - check
airing perfectly dried washing - check
Cub only to eat at the table - check
Recycling protocol - check
Tins lined up with labels facing the same way - check (although I broke him of this habit)
Slippers - check
Tea bag squeezing - check
Everything in Tupperware - check

Me:

Coffee/Tea etc in jars - check
spoons for coffee/sugar in jar so it doesn't get gunky - check

He's 40 this year, LaQueen I'll take the name of your divorce lawyer when you get one.

HappySpontaneousSlatternApartFromTheTeaTiggaxx

Please explain to me the matching pegs thing I need training!

If my dear mother is emptying the dishwasher and I come to help her, she gives me a running commentary on every item she takes out and where it came from. "There used to be four of these... we had them in Windermere avenue and they were the only pudding bowls we had... this came from that pub that does real ales, it looks as if we stole it but they had them for sale.... these bowls have lasted a very long time now, they were from Beatties, and are very handy when you don't want something too big that will make the food look stingey. It seemed very extravagant buying them at the time, it wasn't a sale. In those days before they built the bus station you could park on a back street near St Oswald's and nip directly through a snicket into the back entrance near the lavatories"

My PILs got new heating fitted last year. Apparently its crap and they are tearing it out to be replaced AGAIN. Now, if only they would switch it on when they are cold it would be fine, but no, it's only allowed on for the 3 hours 'off-peak- time each day. They go to bed early because they're freezing, FFS!

I get my washing in so the stuff that requires ironing goes in the bottom and stuff that doesn't is on the top - then I don't have to sift through it later. That doesn't count, surely?