Update

The shut out continues......

24 days and counting.

FYI

Last time we heard from the Inlaws - Feb 23 .

Number of days until they leave for Florida - 13.

Guess it is a good thing we went ahead and booked our own house rental instead of planning to go with them like they wanted.

Sigh.

Birthday Soup

My birthday was last week, I may be entering my Carlsberg years but I do still kinda love 'all about me day'.

My family and friends really do go out of their way to make me feel loved and I love them extra for it. I am a lucky gal.

Then there are my in-laws; every year they forget and every year my Hubz reminds them at the last minute so they feel bad and give me a guilt gift. This year was no exception.

On the big day I got a call from the FIL with wishes and the promise of a little something the following weekend.

My Hubz has been ill for about two months. The in-laws have been showing up randomly with soup, bottled water and tea. The day after my birthday some more soup showed up while we were out at work. It was carrot; the Hubz does not enjoy carrot soup so it sat in our fridge until I got around to pitching it on the weekend.

The day of the arranged in-law visit came and went, without an appearance. There were phone calls made with no response.

So shockingly they aren't speaking to us - this is so not unusual.

As near as we can figure the MIL must have come by during the day to see if the soup had been eaten only to find it sitting untouched in the fridge and now is pissed.

Sounds kinda farfetched, but it is probably true.

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

Stop me if you have heard this one.

Disclaimer - there is a hint of my religious (or lack there of) views coming up. Take it as part of the story not a judgment of any kind.

At 6 months pregnant, the In-laws took the Hubz and I out for dinner. After the fun of discussing what they would prefer we name the baby, my MIL asked where we wanted to have the baby christened.

After an awkward pause the Hubz reply that we had no plans to christen or baptize the baby.

To this she replied 'That's fine, we will just take her.'

I think there is a Simpson's episode about the very same situation.

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

Pregnancy makes me sick. Literally. I puked everyday for 41 weeks.

The early days -premeds- were the worst.

On one particularly terrible day, having had 5 'spells' in an hour, I called in sick and planned to spend the day in bed, garbage bin at my side.

By around 10:30am I had finally fallen back to sleep, only to be woken up by, you guessed it, my MIL. She had come over to take the dog for a walk.

So, there I am in a tank top and undies, in bed, sleeping and totally green. Most people would ask if I needed anything and then leave. My MIL sits on the end of my bed and starts telling me some 'enthralling' story about one of her neighbours or clients or how the Emperor of China's daughter isn't getting ultrasounds so maybe I shouldn't either or something.

Halfway through this fascinating tale I start retching again. She keeps talking, only louder to be heard over my heaving.

Laying halfway off my bed with my head in the bin, having just performed a spot-on impression of the Exorcist, she asks 'Are you listening to me?'

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

I am not a crier. Don't get me wrong, I am not morally opposed to crying, I just am more of the bottle-it-all-up or bitch-and-complain-about-it type.

So for my husband to call home to find me balling my eyes, was, well, rather off-putting to him.

See, as you may recall my MIL has a charming habit of just stopping by. She did this often in the early days of my maternity leave (before she realized she doesn't like babies). One time when my daughter was about 4 months old she barged in to find us napping on the couch together.

She then proceeded to freak out, wake up the baby and shower me with (ahem) useful advice.

• And I quote "What are you doing? Don't let the baby sleep on you! She will get used to your heartbeat and never want to sleep without you!" Note: not that the 41 weeks in utero would have made her at all used to my heartbeat.
• "When she gets colicy, give her boiling water in a bottle." Note: she was never once colicy, and I am not sure scalding water would make a kid stop crying.
• "Here is a book written by the Pet Psychic with diets you should give the dog. She is very wise and you should do this or the dog will get cancer." Note: It was the same diet that she fed to our dog giving her severe pancreatitis.

It was the Pet Psychic diet that sent me over the end.

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

So, my MIL is from Poland and thus speaks Polish (frankly better then she speaks English). I, on the other hand, do not speak of word of Polish.

She has a charming habit, take our 'festive' NY dinner today for example, of carrying on entire conversations in Polish.

An hour long dinner and not a word of English. The Hubz and FIL answer her in English but she continues to speak in Polish.

According to the Hubz, I was the luckiest one at the table.