Well the visit is over! YEAY! Altho it took a few days for us to get life back to normal. Ben and I kept expecting MIL to come downstairs or in the room at any moment. She was not one big on boundaries. When ever we would go off for a moment to try to talk, like when either of us came home from work, she would always come in and start talking over us.
I must preface this post by saying, as usual, her last few days were pleasant. She actually is pretty good company when she acts human. She was even sensitive one night to the fact that Ben had worked a long shift (the day of the I-phone launch) and she went to bed so he could unwind after his 16 hour day. AMAZING! If she could only not be Hell-on-Earth for the first 10 days, we would be golden. But, by the time she acts like a relatively normal human being, we are fried.
Here are just a few of the highlights. Trust me, I'd have a novel if I went all out and I am way to tired for that...
Things a Grandmother just shouldn't do:
1. Complain that kids are noisy. (To this Ben did reply that if she wasn't happy that he'd get her a return ticket for tomorrow! Yeay Ben!)
2. Make fun of how their 3 year old grandson speaks.
3. Talk over the children when they were speaking first.
4. Take the only blanket when both they and their granddaughter are cold - especially when it is their granddaughter's blanket.
5. Not make a fuss over any of the kids when seeing them for the first time after a year. I mean like not even really hug them or tell them how big they got. Even when she saw the baby, who she last saw when she was 2 months - nothing.
6. Complain when the kids were getting sunscreen put on and hats for an outside outing. Even having the gall to ask why they get hats and she doesn't. I did reply, "Um cause Sam had 2nd degree burns on 30% of her body and you did not." Still didn't get it.
Things that make bad house-guest:
1. Never giving the married couple any privacy.
2. Sitting outside the bathroom door to take your shower when another adult is using it.
3. Refusing to be ready when the mother needs to leave to take the kids to camp and then complaining of being bored cause you were left behind.
4. Monopolizing the TV at night for 15 days with reruns of CSI - never giving anyone a chance to watch anything else. Thus, relegating the mother to the basement to watch some decent TV - esp after a long night of waiting tables.
5. Falling asleep while monopolizing the TV and refusing to go up to bed, even when told to by her son.
6. Being told that the husband and wife were going to have a late meal together (at 11PM) ALONE and that she should go upstairs. After agreeing, still not and having to be told 2 more times.
Things that should never be done by a house-guest:
1. Praise their daughter (my SIL) endlessly with such nonsense as, "It is so hard for Gxxxxx cause she is SOOOOOOOOO beautiful, I mean SOOOOOOO beautiful. People just don't see her for her mind. It is a curse being SOOOOOOOO beautiful...." when it is known that above mentioned daughter (my SIL) racked up an 800+ calling card bill on our acct. We did not know until AT&T called us and shut off our card. THEN she screwed us by not paying it. Needless to say, her praises were not wanted or well received.
2. Come to stay with us, in the same house we have had for 6 years, knowing we have children, and then complain when we made a private bedroom out of our nicely finished basement. Stairs apparently were an issue cause her bad back - altho being that we were in the same house, the stairs haven't changed. It is the same amount of stairs from the 1st floor the the basement as it is from the 1st floor to the 2nd floor. So, she tells Ben that she thinks it is best to stay at a hotel and that she has the cash. So, I called around and finally got a great price for a nice hotel of 50 a night (weekly rate cause it would be 13 days). When Ben told her the price, she gasped and said all she could afford was 200 total. And then strongly hinted we should pay! Now understand, this woman goes on vacation 2-4 times a year. She just got back from 2 months in Australia. So I ask, where in the freaking world can you stay 13 nights for $200???????? I was so totally beyond galled!
Being a I am a silver lining gal, I must give snaps cause by the end, she was very generous with giving us cash to help with groceries, paid for a day out to an amusement place and a few trips to McD's. And she even helped a few times with cleaning up the kitchen. AND she started spending time with the kids doing stuff. Again tho, this was at the end. It was like a diff person by the end. I actually liked the person the last few days. Crazy, eh? The prob is that if she comes back, I know I would have to go thru of 10 days of torture before possibly getting to the nice personality. Hey, maybe it is multiple personality disorder????
So we are now done for another year. YEAY us!