My MIL got us....

[Principessa1284]

Shoot, just to be perverse I think I'd print it out on special parchment paper, using the most delightfully stodgy fonts I could find and frame the darn thing with a mat and make sure the frame is a nice-looking one too.

agnes!

HA! This would be fabulous and quite hilarious. You really just have to shake your head and laugh. The funny thing is, in real life, she doesn't treat DH much better than she treats me.. the good treatment is saved for the time when they're ready to depart back home. Her favorite hobby is to act her judgmental self 99% of the time, then when she realizes she has no friends or family that are speaking to her, not even does she beg for forgiveness, she just goes back to them like they've always been best friends. If someone points out her former behavior she denies it ever happened.. it's a lovely cycle. She would be a fabulous sociology project.. any takers??

 

[poohbear2]

Maybe you should have got her some meds?

I am sure your Christmas Day will get better.

 

[Ceila]

I haven't even replied because I thought "over my dead body" would be an invitation for her to come & kill me.

I'm so sorry you're dealing with someone like that, but the quote above made me literally laugh out loud.

Good luck!!

 

[TaraPA]

I'm so sorry you're dealing with someone like that, but the quote above made me literally laugh out loud.

Good luck!!

I HAVE to laugh out loud. She pushes my buttons because she WANTS me to be angry, and to cause friction between myself & DH. I will not let her win, so I laugh (and laugh and laugh and laugh til I almost wet myself!!) She used to get to me - her hurtful comments & actions used to really upset me. Until the year she gave me a DNA test kit for my birthday. "To test my kids because she wasn't sure they belonged to DH and he was spending too much money on them - when he should have been spending the money on her." Her exact words.

Princepessa1284 - I hope you're able to laugh at your MIL too. Don't let her win at her own game. Others around her see what a wack-a-doodle she really is!

 

[ols386]

I can't be the only one that really wants you to print the other emails from the special folder, can I?

No, you're not the only one.

For some reason, I get a feeling op might POSSIBLY be mis-reading that email....or maybe spinning it.

If not, then the MIL has some sort of serious mental issue that should be addressed in some way.

 

[vettechick99]

I am sorry, but that made me laugh so hard. I can't wait to hear your mother's response to her.

me too!!

 

[minkydog]

I HAVE to laugh out loud. She pushes my buttons because she WANTS me to be angry, and to cause friction between myself & DH. I will not let her win, so I laugh (and laugh and laugh and laugh til I almost wet myself!!) She used to get to me - her hurtful comments & actions used to really upset me. Until the year she gave me a DNA test kit for my birthday. "To test my kids because she wasn't sure they belonged to DH and he was spending too much money on them - when he should have been spending the money on her." Her exact words.

Princepessa1284 - I hope you're able to laugh at your MIL too. Don't let her win at her own game. Others around her see what a wack-a-doodle she really is!

O.M.G. this takes the cake...I dont' love my MIL, but at least she knows how to keep her opinions to herself.

 

[hereyago]

Now I can see if my MIL had done that to me:

1) I would have requested that she bend over so I could kick that DNA test in her hind parts side ways with my size 8w foot. lol

2) Given back to her with a smile and with a Julia Sugarbaker style tell her to keep it and use the test on herself because it is so unlikely that your wonderful DH came from her venomous pit of hate that she calls a womb.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

My MIL gave my DH and I a Thank You for her presents.

No card, no presents.. nothing.

We only give gifts to our child and it has been that way for over 10 years. Having said that, we prefer and make it very clear to people that we don't want gifts, because people feel like if they give, they should receive.

Personally, giving a gift to your husband's mother was a kind gesture and you received a verbal thank you. You should not expect more in return.

The more I read these threads year after year, I am glad we don't participate in gift giving. It brings out the ugly in people.

 

[Principessa1284]

No, you're not the only one.

For some reason, I get a feeling op might POSSIBLY be mis-reading that email....or maybe spinning it.

If not, then the MIL has some sort of serious mental issue that should be addressed in some way.

Oh, I don't think she has any serious mental issues - she's just a haggard old witch. Please feel free to refer to my posts on the evil IL's thread. I've been nothing but sweet and kind to her since the day I met her, not including the time she tried to "accidentally" let my kitten out of the house so she would run away.. and even then I FIRMLY reminded her that my INDOOR cats are part of the family.

I deleted all of her other emails because I was angry and didn't want to look at them, but they included tidbits of things like, it's my fault that my husband has boaderline high cholesterol - I don't feed him properly. (I feed him things like turkey meatloaf and pasta with olive oil.. the last time she cooked for us, it was chicken fried in bacon fat and custard pie.) Oh, I'm also killing everyone in my household because cats are disease ridden and carry MRSA. So we can expect to all contract MRSA soon and die. Cats also take pleasure in "stealing a baby's breath" and smothering children to death while they sleep. I won't point out that we have no children.. but when I do have babies, I plan on letting my newborns share a crib with my cats They make good babysitters, right?!

 

[hereyago]

Oh, I don't think she has any serious mental issues - she's just a haggard old witch.

And may I add, before she became older, she was probably a young haggard witch in training.

I also don't equate meaness with mental issues: sometimes it is what it is, no excuse for it other then people let her get by with it and didn't call her out(op this isn't a snide at you,but people before never "showed" her what her boundaries are, therefore enabling more bad behavior.

I would honestly block her emails from your email account, she isn't worth opening up the email to see what sort of mean crap she can type. not worth that click of the mouse.


Even though I do like Agnes!'s idea, but with a twist, no putting up vile things that she has written, but I'd make prints of them and add them with a Christmas letter and card next year and send them out.

or perhaps print them out on iron on paper, take a white sheet say from a goodwill-don't want to spend alot of money on it.
Iron on the emails to the sheet and mail it to her when you move out and with a note saying thanks for the memories.

 

[HunnyPots]

OK, I'm not familiar with your previous MIL posts but, just out of curiosity, why-oh-why do you allow this woman in your house? Why even have relationship at all with her if, as you say, she doesn't really treat her son any better? I think I would have cut ties a loooong time ago!

 

[PrincessKsMom]

No, you're not the only one.

For some reason, I get a feeling op might POSSIBLY be mis-reading that email....or maybe spinning it.

If not, then the MIL has some sort of serious mental issue that should be addressed in some way.

There's always one that has to POSSIBLY blame the OP or make excuses for rude behavior, isn't there?

OP, if MIL is on Facebook, I'd be sure it share her email on her wall so all her "friends" can see what a true gem she is.

Tara, I'd send your MIL a photo of your kids and tell her to feel free to Photoshop herself and ex-husband in.

 

[izzy]

Sounds like something Marie Barone would have given Debra in an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond."

Yikes!

 

[bumbershoot]

Your MIL totally "wins" over mine.....

I was indeed wondering when she would have gone in my room and bathroom.. but apparently I didn't get my clean clothes out of the dryer fast enough for her while I was at work (see! I do my laundry!), so she got it out and threw it on our bed.

Someone just told you that she WILL be staying at a hotel during her next visit!

If I could add to this lovely idea. I would also print out DH's email, matching frame and mat, and then hang them side by side, possibly above the fireplace or some other central location.

I like, I like!

If someone points out her former behavior she denies it ever happened.. it's a lovely cycle.

Printing out the emails, and saving them in email as well (so you can prove they aren't changed), would be perfect then!

Cats also take pleasure in "stealing a baby's breath" and smothering children to death while they sleep.

My MIL feels the same way. It goes to adults, too, because one of her friends had a choking fit once because she got a cat hair in her throat.

Uh, when I cut DH's hair, if I step just right on one of the cut hairs (we are barefoot in the house) it can actually go into my skin and it HURTS. Does that mean that I should get rid of my husband, because his hair has hurt me?????

 

[kelleigh1]

Again...I sure do love my MIL.

I read these threads and think how lucky I am.

 

[sPaRkLeSpAz]

Oh wow! I'm sorry to hear that! I hope you had a good Christmas besides that!

 

[Val]

My MIL was this way to me for 20 years, then she developed dementia. The first few years with dementia were worse. Then, as she forgot who we were, I became the only one who could calm her down. My DH died suddenly in Oct. 2010. He was an only child. By this time she was no longer even able to process that she HAD a child, so she never got that he died. I became her legal guardian, as my 2 oldest kids (and her legal heirs) are in college and in no way able to make decisions for her, and my younger 2 are minors. She decided I was her best friend about the time DH died. If you asked her how she liked her DIL, she would state that she hated said DIL. If you asked her who I was, I was her "bestest" friend. She kept asking me if I was married, and I would reply that no, I was widowed. She would occasionally try to hook me up with her son, saying she had a "wonderful son who needed a good woman". We lost MIL in October of this year. I find it greatly ironic that I went from being hated to being her bestie. Cracks me up!

The moral: You never know what could happen. Perhaps you, too,will someday be YOUR MILs bestie. It can happen!

 

[minkydog]

My MIL was this way to me for 20 years, then she developed dementia. The first few years with dementia were worse. Then, as she forgot who we were, I became the only one who could calm her down. My DH died suddenly in Oct. 2010. He was an only child. By this time she was no longer even able to process that she HAD a child, so she never got that he died. I became her legal guardian, as my 2 oldest kids (and her legal heirs) are in college and in no way able to make decisions for her, and my younger 2 are minors. She decided I was her best friend about the time DH died. If you asked her how she liked her DIL, she would state that she hated said DIL. If you asked her who I was, I was her "bestest" friend. She kept asking me if I was married, and I would reply that no, I was widowed. She would occasionally try to hook me up with her son, saying she had a "wonderful son who needed a good woman". We lost MIL in October of this year. I find it greatly ironic that I went from being hated to being her bestie. Cracks me up!

The moral: You never know what could happen. Perhaps you, too,will someday be YOUR MILs bestie. It can happen!

You are a good woman. I think it would have been very understandable if you had just washed your hands of your MIL. Instead, you stepped up for the sake of your husband and your children and took care of someone who would not have taken care of you. As my mother says, "You will have stars in your crown in heaven." You inspire me.

 

[TaraPA]

My MIL was this way to me for 20 years, then she developed dementia. The first few years with dementia were worse. Then, as she forgot who we were, I became the only one who could calm her down. My DH died suddenly in Oct. 2010. He was an only child. By this time she was no longer even able to process that she HAD a child, so she never got that he died. I became her legal guardian, as my 2 oldest kids (and her legal heirs) are in college and in no way able to make decisions for her, and my younger 2 are minors. She decided I was her best friend about the time DH died. If you asked her how she liked her DIL, she would state that she hated said DIL. If you asked her who I was, I was her "bestest" friend. She kept asking me if I was married, and I would reply that no, I was widowed. She would occasionally try to hook me up with her son, saying she had a "wonderful son who needed a good woman". We lost MIL in October of this year. I find it greatly ironic that I went from being hated to being her bestie. Cracks me up!

The moral: You never know what could happen. Perhaps you, too,will someday be YOUR MILs bestie. It can happen!

OMG Val, you are a saint! I watched my MIL abandon HER own mother once she went into a nursing home - "I'm washing my hands of that nasty woman" were her words on moving day...and she didn't go see her til the home called 2 years later that she had less than 24 hours to live (then it got turned around into "oh pity me, my mom is dying, pity me blah blah blah) so there's no way I could muster up the strength to take care of HER in her old age. Nope. Nada. She's been so hurtful & manipulative to me & my family that her being alone at the end would suit her right. ANYONE else I could have a change of heart for - even a complete stranger, but not her. Val - you are a much better person than I am!