Things to do

This is the kiddo's calendar for May.

It is a pretty typical example of her social life. Chock-a-block with play dates, birthday parties and family outings.

She is a social butterfly.

My MIL was over on the long weekend... 90% of what she said was in Polish but I did catch the comments about how it is so sad that the Kiddo is an only child. She is so lonely. We are cruel for only having one child.

Note: We can't have more kids and she knows this

Note: My husband is an only child

This kinda makes me sad...

While my relationship with my MIL is turbulent at best, I do want her to have a good (or even great) relationship with my daughter.

I have such amazing memories of my own grandparents and I want that for her too.

We had the in laws babysit a few weeks back (and yes, I know what you are thinking) and the results frankly make me sad.

We came home to find my FIL in the kiddo's room wearing a feather boa and having a tea party. Amazing.

The kiddo went on and on about what a great time they had and all the fun things they had done.

When asked, 'what did you and Grandma do?' The kiddo replied 'She took the dog for a walk and watched TV.'

Sad.

I should have known...

Remember that lovely Christmas I mentioned? Ya, it all went to out the window...

In a haze of that-was-really-nice-wasn't-it-maybe-things-are-getting-better we agreed to go over on NYD for crepes.

After all these years I should know better - but apparently I don't because I drank a lot before I went.

Lots of tea & water + my small bladder = 3 trips of the washroom

On the third I opened the door to find my MIL standing right in the front of the door waiting to ask 'Is your bladder no good?'

Argh.

Credit when credit is due

We had a lovely Christmas. No really, it was easily the best Christmas of my married life.

There was two days of love, yummy food, amazing gifts and I couldn't have asked for more.

There was even a moment over the oplatek when the MIL professed that she wanted to be a better Mother-in-Law.

What can I say - I believe in Santa Claus.

Remember Me?

For the 5 of you that read this blog, I deeply apologize for the gap in posts.
All has not been quite - it never really is.....

In the spirit of the holiday I thought I would branch out and share a FIL story with you.

You may recall our nuptials took place in Mexico, well, the In-laws thought they would stay a second week. Nice, right? Who doesn't want to spend their honeymoon with their new husband's parents?
We convinced them to go elsewhere - which became us driving them to Cancun to stay with their friends in a condo.

The day after our wedding we rented a car and took the hour long trek to Cancun. We repeatedly ask the FIL for the address and directions but were given vague answers.

Once we got there we were directed all over the town while he 'looked' for the building.
After 2 failed attempts it came out that he had in fact forgotten the address back in Canada and was looking for low rise brown condo building.

Then he made us drop him at hotel so he could call the woman's son to get the address. He had some trouble given he didn't have the number and was trying to call the Ontario operator using 411.

So at this point the Hubz was ready to loose his mind so I used our calling card to call my aunt to have her look up the son's number in the phone book. Brilliant right?

The FIL won't let me call the son - he called and instructed us we had to find the 'To Cancun' - no address just the name.

This is when I lost it and went and called the son myself to, you know, get an address.

It was called the Toucan.
Just saying.

Reasons I love My Mother-in-Law - Part Eleven

The MIL loves our dog, and I do mean loves. Sometimes we wonder if she likes the dog more than the grandkid - but that is another post for another time.

For many years there was a ongoing 'please don't feed the dog' battle between us and she.

A few times a week she would make some kind of homemade stew for the dog and bring it over here during the day for the dog's lunch. The dog doesn't eat lunch. What dog eats lunch?

So our healthy 15lbs dog grew into a chubby 18lbs bundle of love. No matter how much we tried the MIL would not stop feeding her.

You see, in her mind, dog food is cancer causing and dogs should eat people food. (You can kinda see where this is going, right?)

In the summer of 2005, the pups went to spend a few days with the MIL while we went to the cottage. Upon our return we called and asked if we could come pick the dog up. Turns out the dog wasn't there so much as at the Emerg Vet with severe pancreatitis. (It was much harder to get that out of them than you might think).

See the MIL had made the dog a huge bowl of dark meat chicken and broccoli stew, of which she ate all. Making her terribly terribly sick.

Now, by no means is that the funny part. My poor pup recovered, thank god.

The funny part is how the MIL blamed us.

Go ahead, read that again, I'll wait.

It was our fault the dog wasn't used to people food and the vet was crazy for saying it was her good cooking that made the dog sick.

And if you are wondering, no she never apologized.

And no, she doesn't cook for her anymore.

APAP

My MIL is Polish. She loves Poland. Everything about Poland is better than Canada.

Even Polish medicine.

Post a trip to Poland we went to visit the InLaws to hear about their adventures. During the visit the Hubz developed a headache (surprised?).

He was offered Apap; which is and I quote 'good Polish medicine!' Apparently it works better than anything you can buy here. Better than Tylenol and Advil or my precious Aleve.

She went so far to say the Canadian Medicine is poison and Tylenol rots your insides.

Actually, if I remember correctly there was a lengthly diatribe about the Canadian government not selling Apap because it is in the pocket of the pharma companies and so on.....

Anyway, I am not keen on the Hubz taking anything without a DIN so I checked out the packaging (not helpful since it was in Polish) and did a little Googling.

Turns out the miracle drug is (wait for it) the active compound of Paracetamol (acetaminophen).

So in other words I had the great pleasure of telling my MIL that her beloved Apap is in fact the Polish name for Tylenol.