OK, I've resisted this thread for a long time, but ...
My mother-in-law is at my house -- again. I asked my wife the other night if she realized how much time her mother has spent at our house in 2009. Fifteen weeks. Fifteen. Weeks. Fif. ****ing. Teen.
I generally get along with my mother-in-law pretty well -- mostly because I bite my tongue and choke down the rage that threatens to make my head explode each and every day. But the mother-in-law is subject for a totally different thread.
The point is, my wife, whom I love dearly and who is generally fun and pleasant, turns into a horrible, evil, hyper-critical, totally irrational bitch whenever her mother is around. It might be a competition thing -- her dad hasn't done anything right in about 45 years, as far as I can tell -- but I don't even recognize my wife for days on end when her mother is here.
Just a sample of things I did wrong on Wednesday:
1) I had put the oven mitt on the same hook as the spatula, so she had to move it to use the spatula. This was a
major problem.
2) I didn't notice that her mother had used the last of the paper towels and didn't get a new roll down from on top of the fridge. My wife is too short to reach, which is also apparently my fault. This blow-up took place about five minutes after I walked in from work, so I wasn't even there when the paper towels ran out.
3) I let our 4-year-old take his fuzzy bathrobe off because he was too hot. This upset Nana, who is convinced that the kids will freeze to death despite the fact that she has turned the heat up to 80. My wife took her side, even though the poor kid was all sweaty.
4) The dog keeps staring at her. Again, my fault.
5) I took said dog for a walk and came back two hours later smelling of cigar smoke. It might have made things worse when I told her that if I had thought of taking the whole box, I might have been gone a week.
I have another week of these pleasantries. Pray for me, my married brothers!
