(Inspired) I Can't Believe They Did That-Inlaw Stories

[kilee]

Okay- not the horrific MIL/Inlaw stories. BUT-- more the 5 yrs later I can laugh it off kind of story, or at least just shake my head type of stories.

Anyhow, dh and his mom had a really close relationship until she met the current boyfriend she has (which was 10 yrs ago now). He was an only child and she was a single mom- and they were just super, super close.

Anyhow, when we got engaged we didn't get married for almost 2 yrs (but the date had been set for well over a year). We were having a semi-formal outdoor wedding. Still complete w/ caterers, white tent, rented tables, ceremony the whole nine yards). Not a backyard totally informal wedding. However, about 6 weeks before the wedding (which dh's mom participated in not 1 ounce of the planning or anything)-- she calls and asks dh if he'd be mad if she didn't come. It turns out her BF's family was going camping the same weekend and he was pressuring her to go. She didn't think it would be a big deal since he had been married once before and she went to that one. So, for a month dh barely spoke w/ his mom over this. About 3 days before the wedding she decides she's going to come w/ BF- but only for the ceremony because they're going camping right from the ceremony. So, her and BF show up w/ their "camping clothes on". I swear. Dear new MIL- was wearing a stretchy pair of shorts, a tank top, and NO bra (she's naturally built like Dolly Parton). Her BF- came in very stained, dirty work jeans and a t-shirt full of holes. You should of seen my family, friends, and co-workers. Needless to say we didn't have any photo's done w/ them. Within 20 minutes of the ceremony--- they wanted to leave. BUT they wanted to know if the caterers could please put them together plates to go

Needless to say... still to this day I cannot believe it. However, I'm no longer mad- I can really only laugh at the aburdity of it all.

 

[NMAmy]

Wow, kilee, it was nice she could take time out of her busy schedule for her son's wedding!

My ex-MIL, who hated me every day that I was married to her baby boy, recently asked dd if she thought I would let her (the ex-MIL) come live with me. Ummm...no. And I'm not taking care of you when you're old, either! You do realize I'm not married to your son anymore, right?

 

[Beth76]

OK, that's horrible! But, glad you can laugh about it. You know my in-laws mean so little to me that nothing they do actually bothers me. I guess the latest thing though still makes me mad. The last time we went to visit them (4+ hours in the car with 2 small children), we get to their house and they're not even there. We wait around for about 3 hours and even start packing the car up again to leave when they waltz in laughing at the "misunderstanding".

Oh actually, there's another thing that still ticks me off. I guess it was last year during flu season (you know the really bad one with the vaccine shortage) we were supposed to go visit. Well something happened when MIL called before we left and somehow her conversation with DH was recorded on the answering machine. I turned it on and before I could turn it off I heard her say that her husband is really sick with the flu. Now, my baby was too young to be vaccinated and she had absolutely no problem with having us visit still. Good thing I heard that because I refused to go. To this day, I can't even imagine what would have happened if we had driven all that way to find him sick.

 

[RadioFanatic]

Now first off, I want to say I love my IL's. They would give you the clothes off their back. I call them mom and dad b/c they are truly special to me. But this is a story I love to tease them about and they will never live it down.

One christmas, we were with them so I called my parents to with them a merry christmas - FIL taped the conversation and gave us the tape. For some reason, we started listening to it past the christmas message. And we heard dh's mom talking to her sister about my lack of housekeeping skills. This is not totally untrue as, unlike her, I am not a SAHM who works 70 hours a week and a lot of weekends. Now the house is not dirty by any means and I keep it clean, just not for the "MIL Seal of Approval". Anyway, you could hear her complaining that I didn't iron dh's shirts (they are those that don't need to be) and his suits are "wrinkled" (b/c he refuses to hang them up when he's done and I'm not his mother) and that there were "dust bunnies" behind the couch (yes, she moved the furniture previous time she was there to look), etc.

We got a good laugh about it and she was mortified. This was many years ago and I now have a housekeeper. I still do all of the laundry, but I refuse to iron.

Just thinking about it makes me laugh!

 

[kilee]

Beth-- I think my inlaws mean about the same to me. The reason it doesn't matter is because I don't like them- I don't dislike her anymore either. I really have zero, neutral feelings.

 

[Sonya]

Thank goodness my DMIL is not like this, but I have a friend who's MIL did this to them:

My friend was pregnant with twins and her in-laws live 3 hours away. The future parents didn't want anyone in the delivery room with them. The in-laws wanted to be there in the room for the birth. When they were told no they said "You can't keep us out! We will get in!" So my friend's DH said "Um, we could just tell you they are born AFTER the fact".

These are the same people who got mad when my friend wouldn't tell them the names of the babies before she had the kids. "But you have to tell us so we can vote on them!"

Some people are unbelievable.

 

[jennyl772003]

Me and DH were on our wedding trip. We had gotten married on a cruise, went to WDW, and were now spending a couple of days at DGMIL house. She was OK with us staying there.

I had a small French bouquet of roses that I was going to try and save, since I wasn't allowed to take my cake off of the ship. We had them sitting on her buffet in the kitchen. They were tucked away in the corner, not in anyones way.

EVERY SINGLE DAY she asked me when was I going to throw our these flowers. I explained I was trying to save them. Finally, I just walked out of the house, down the street and cried. We were finally allowed to tuck them in a corner of the garage.

She is really a nice lady, just a bit strange. The whole time we were there, she vacuumed at 3 am every morning, and ran the dishwasher, and did the rest of her daily cleaning.

 

[mickeyboat]

We renovated out house in 2004, and lived with FIL for 10 months while it was being done. I still can't believe we did that, and that our marriage survived it!

The girls were 3 and 4 at the time, and FIL refused to respect our discipline of the kids. We would say no ice cream, he would give them bits of his. We would put them in time out, he would go and rock them while they were there. Dinner time was a disaster, every night.

So we all got pretty frustrated with one another. I couldn't wait to move out.

One afternoon FIL shows up at work to drop off the car seats. I met him at the door, where he proceded to ream me out about how we are mean to the kids, we yelled too much, how Emily doesn't like pizza so we shouldn't make her eat it, etc. Then he lit into me about how I was not being supportive enough to Keith. He wouldn't stop, even when I told him that having this conversation at work, in front of the entire office, was not appropriate. Finally I walked away from him, humiliated.

Since then I have directed him to express whatever concerns he may have about my parenting or my relationship with Keith to his son.

No, actually, I can't laugh about it, yet. Not sure I will ever be able to.

Denae

 

[luvmydogs]

I don't remember the poster, but several years ago someone posted these wild stories about her "waaaaay out there" MIL. The one where the MIL kept her tiny dead dog in a bag in the freezer to 'preserve' him comes to mind--she put a Santa Claus hat on him for Christmas.

 

[nealymouse]

We gave my MIL a really nice camera for her b-day. She opened it and looked at me and said "I would of rather of had a shirt" ( After months of telling us she wanted a camera) I took the camera and never gave her another b-day gift again.

One yr MIL really got on my DH and I for being late for a b-day party for our nephew and neice. We did show up and we brought the expensive gifts MIL expected from us, we were late by 1 hr.
Well when it was time for our kids b-day party she was the only one to show up from the whole family. This was when I ranted and raved about what she had said to us 5 months earlier. B-day went on as planned but I never invited the family again. When the next party came around they all showed up and I refused to cut the cake and asked them what they were doing here.

I know I sound rotten but this woman lives to make my life misable.

 

[nealymouse]

Oh I remember the frozen dog story. !!!!!

Now thats a crazy MIL !!!!

 

[Grammyof2]

Both my FIL & MIL are gone now. My DH was an only child. I was a second wife and never quite good enough, even though we have been together almost 30 years. My MIL was the mom from Everybody Loves Raymond. Everybody that knew her said so. But in the end I really loved them both and miss them terribly.

But...... we live in a rural area. Many years ago, my DH calls his parents on a Sunday morning to invite them over for dinner. During the conversation, my MIL asks if my car is running alright. DH says as far as he knows, it is OK. She says, 3 days ago, they thought they passed me on a very back road, broke down on the side. They didn't bother to stop, call my DH or anything. Can you feel the love. Now, at the time we had 4 small children that would have been in that car with me. THEIR GRANDCHILDREN! My DH was speechless. To this day it still comes up every now and then. Only now , whatever.

 

[Jessd]

You can add my MIL to the crazy list.

I was pregnant when we got married. She told DH that we should still get married, so baby could have his name, but I continue to live at home and he continue to live at home. That way if it doesn't work out we won't have to worry about moving. Our marriage wouldn't last more than 7 years, we are now going on 12 years.

She also told us not to ask her to co-sign if we ever needed to have a co-signer for a house or a car.

When we started to make more money and DH had just gotten a new job that paid more, she told us that "Why are you trying to make more money, you should just be happy with what you have and not be so greedy"

She made fun of DS's name Tristian, calling him Trisket for a year, she wanted to us to name him Jessie.

When we had our house built, she got mad because it was the house that she liked in the parade of homes. We can't build that model because it is "hers". Oh, and we buy too much stuff, we waste our money.

I actually liked my FIL, he died a couple of years ago. The man was a saint to put up with a whack job like her.

 

[mrsltg]

I love my MIL, but she and I are different people.

A few years ago SIL got engaged. When we got engaged, FIL gave MIL the string of pearls she always wanted so she could wear them to her ds's wedding. She looked forward to wearing them to her dd's wedding one day. Anyway, mil's b-day was approaching (not a special b-day) so I bought her a pearl bracelet to match her necklace. I spent $300 because I thought, "This will thrill her! It matches her necklace and she'll wear it for Tracy's wedding."

DH and I were so excited to give her this bracelet. We took her and fil out to lunch and gave it to her there. When she opened the box her reaction was flat. I wasn't expecting her to fall at our feet, but I was hoping for some emotion! She said, "Oh, thanks." I couldn't help myself. I explained, "Mom, this bracelet matches your necklace. We thought you would like to wear it for the wedding." Her answer? "Wow - you remember what my necklace looks like?" Lunch was strained, to say the least.

When the wedding rolled around mil came down the aisle wearing the necklace and not the bracelet. No mention was ever made of it, and DH promised it was the last time we would ever buy her something personal. She now gets gardening stuff for every birthday, Christmas and Mother's Day. Oh well. To each his own!

 

[Kimmumum]

Let me start by saying that my DH is an only child. My FIL is an idiot. I get so upset when I think about how he treats my two sons and my DH.

We have been married 17 years (in May). On our wedding day my DH called his dad and asked if he would go out for breakfast. My FIL told him no because he had to wash the car ugh!!

My 2 sons are the only grandkids that he will ever have and he hasn't seen them in 2 1/2 years. He works in our town (about 1/2 mile away) and lives about 1/2 hour away. He was really close to my oldest son. When my second son was born he told us "this family was fine until HE came along". HELLOOOOOOO!!! DS #2 was 3 MONTHS old when he said that. Second DS in the sweetest cuddliest thing around. We invited him to #2 sons birthday and he said no. When DH asked why, FIL said "cuz I don't want to". #1 son was standing there and said "if it was my birthday he would come". We also believe this to be true. Hence, he wasn't invited to #1 sons birthday. The next year we invited to #2 sons birthday (his is in Jan) and he didn't come again so we again didn't invite him to #1 sons birthday (his is in Mar).

I have been a good DIL and mail him a picture Christmas card every year. This year he sent us a Christmas card and spelled #2 sons name wrong. What is wrong with this man??? Oh yeah, for DH's birthday he didn't get a phone call so he called his dad a few days later. His dad told him he lost our phone number......we are in the phone book and have had the same # for 9 years. Idiot. He doesn't like me anyway. I always tell people that I am the favorite DIL (he doesn't have a choice since I'm the only one). My kids can't even remember his name. We do not bad talk him and we will talk about him if he comes up in conversation. I wish he treated his only child and grandchildren better. I figure it is his loss not theirs. Thanks for letting me vent.....

 

[disneymouse]

Both my FIL & MIL are gone now. My DH was an only child. I was a second wife and never quite good enough, even though we have been together almost 30 years. My MIL was the mom from Everybody Loves Raymond. Everybody that knew her said so. But in the end I really loved them both and miss them terribly.

But...... we live in a rural area. Many years ago, my DH calls his parents on a Sunday morning to invite them over for dinner. During the conversation, my MIL asks if my car is running alright. DH says as far as he knows, it is OK. She says, 3 days ago, they thought they passed me on a very back road, broke down on the side. They didn't bother to stop, call my DH or anything. Can you feel the love. Now, at the time we had 4 small children that would have been in that car with me. THEIR GRANDCHILDREN! My DH was speechless. To this day it still comes up every now and then. Only now , whatever.

that is something else! i'm curious to know how it went from driving on by your broken down car on the side of the road to the good relationship you had with them at end.

 

[Grammyof2]

that is something else! i'm curious to know how it went from driving on by your broken down car on the side of the road to the good relationship you had with them at end.

They were my husbands parents. Period. I had to make it work. I am very easygoing and I just learned to let ALOT slide. My DH was always jumping to my defense to them but I didn't feel it was worth the argument.

I have a million MIL stories. That was just a drop in the bucket. I probably should write a book. We had one thing in common, we all loved their son. I found that the less I let things bother me, the less they happened. Believe me, till the end she would get in a jab if she could.

 

[Nevergrow'nup]

One Christmas Eve, I busted my butt cooking a turkey dinner with all the trimmings while taking care of 2 kids (2,5) cleaning the house, etc. My husband comes in 5 minutes before my IL's come and jumps in the shower. IL come in as DH is getting dressed. When we start filling plates, FIL turns to my DH and says, "you did a nice job carving the turkey! Looks like you worked hard!" then he says NOTHING to me. Hello!! He just got in the door before they got there and DH gets credit for everything.
They don't seem to realize that their DS wouldn't even call them if I didn't remind him!! Oh well, I have developed a thick skin in the 20 years we have been married.

 

[popeyeohoh]

Wow! Some pretty insensitive stuff being written. I am not at the point that I find some of their actions funny. But I hope they see that the hurt the have infliced on me has come back to them in an unexpected way. My sons (their only nephews) will most likely have nothing to do with them in a few years. Good thing they have money. They will need it in their lonely last years. They never had children of their own.

 

[RUDisney]

At our wedding reception, MIL is dancing the bridal dance with me and says, "well, I guess we have to share him now." Later that night, when we were opening our cards, there was none from MIL... no card... no gift. I could understand if she couldn't have afforded a gift, but this is the woman who pontificates about the meaningful cards that are sold now.

She gave us a check about 5 years later, after she paid for her DD's wedding that was far more extravagant than ours... for whichwe paid.

At aforementioned SIL's wedding, the photographer asked for all of her kids to get into a picture with her. When I went to get into the photo, she says that she only wants her children in the picture. There was no need to have a picture with me in it.

I have 10-years worth of stories about her. Then, one day, my Mom calls her and tells her that she needs to cut the crap and act right. She reminded MIL that her son chose me, not her. She doesn't need to like me, but she needs to tolerate me better. MIL called that night and apologized "for the last 10-years worth of s--- she gave me." That was 2-years ago and we've been good friends since. It opened her to spending time with her 2 oldest grandkids and we do things together now like before I married her son. It is the way things should have been for the last 12-years.