My MIL. Oh dear.

PDXPhotoGrl · August 2009

She tries. I think. I just can't decide what it is she's trying to do.She came to town for my defense last week and brought with her a few things to give or return to us. Among them:Her old wedding/engagement ring set from her marriage to D's dad -- against D's vocal wishes (they had a really ugly divorce) -- as a "good luck charm" on the day of my defense. A bunch of clothes for Dan from the WalMart clearance rack (they still have price tags), including a pair of size medium pajama pants (he wears an XL) with the Golden State Warriors logo on them, and a Speedo.the professional wedding video DVD copy that we gave to her as a giftAnd the piece de la resistance:the empty bottles of shampoo and conditioner that I brought with us and used up at her house (but forgot to throw away) last November. Not reusable travel bottles even, just the bottles the grocery store brand shampoo/conditioner came in.She. is. so. weird.

BobLoblaw · August 2009

She bought her son a Speedo?!? Dude, I am never complaining about my MIL again (this is of course a lie).

modb1rd · August 2009

I am currently sporting a Lanie face.

Cant_wait! · August 2009

She sounds like my SIL's grandma. She once sent my SIL a telephone cord for christmas. just the cord.Maybe she thought you were a hoarder and wanted to refil the shampoo bottles.

tastyburger · August 2009

shut. up. this poist seriously made me LOL. like, audible noise. I can't decide if she hates you or is a bit unhinged in the appropriate gift giving department.

wingedbride · August 2009

bahahahhaha, the speedo. dude.

jbloom · August 2009

What in the....? This reminds me of the time my stepmom bought Ceej a bright clown red Dale Earnhardt Jr. sweatshirt from WalMart for Christmas. Looked great on his pale freckled skin with red beard. Not.

CaliopeSpidrman · August 2009

I bet she reads this site and didn't want to lose "Weirdest IL in the World" to Ma.

tastyburger · August 2009

Ma's b-day is this Friday (and is throwing herself a party, of course). She wrote "No gifts, please" but I don't believe her. But I'll be damned if I go buy a present for her so she can thank H and not me. LOL

BobLoblaw · August 2009

My MIL is getting a PenguinBot original! I'm excited about it. I'm so nice.

GroomzMcFinehiney · August 2009

PG, you should take a photo of H in the speedo and put it in a thank you card that says "thanks mom, the undies fit real good."You can copy me on that too.And Tasty, you need to get a gift and sign ONLY your name to the card. H will be respecting her wishes by not getting a gift, and you will either get a thank you, or will one-up her by default if she's too rude to thank you.

katie.i.do · August 2009

is your MIL somebody's Aunt Bethany?? haha. i adore gift givers like this.

notquiteblushing · August 2009

Wow that's funny. I have so many weird gift stories from my late aunt. One Christmas she gave us all what we thought were turtlenecks but what turned out to be dickeys.

CaliopeSpidrman · August 2009

What did you say when she gave you the wedding DVD back?

PDXPhotoGrl · August 2009

It was just in a bag of crap (not the good Woot kind) that she handed to Dan, so I didn't see it until we got home.I am absolutely positive that she knew it was a gift. We told her so explicitly, that we bought extra copies so that she could have one. I'm going to give it to Dan's stepmom and hope crazy MIL asks about it later.

Novemberrocks · August 2009

I don't mean to be offensive here, but is she not right in the head? Unless it's senility/dementia, it just doesn't make any sense to me.

PDXPhotoGrl · August 2009

Nope, she's only 55 and has all of her cognitive faculties.

shanollee · August 2009

I can't decide if I'm laughing harder over the speedo or the empty shampoo/conditioner bottles. One is creppy and the other is crazy, so it might be a bit of a tie.I got a half used bar of soap on year from an aunt and uncle. This same aunt gave my parents something we never quite figured out what it was supposed to be, it looked like it was broken and perhaps not the whole thing, but either way it was crap. And my H (who was only my boyfriend at the time, not even fiance status yet) got a brand new set of screwdrivers from them. Pretty nice ones, as a matter of fact. So that was a bit o' salt in the wound

FallinAgain · August 2009

I can't decide if I'm laughing harder over the speedo or the empty shampoo/conditioner bottles. One is creppy and the other is crazy, so it might be a bit of a tie.THIS. (TM the Nest)

noisy_penguin · August 2009

Well you clearly didn't dispose of the shampoo and conditioner because they were of great sentimental value to you so she had to return them. If you didn't want them, she's left to assume that you think of her bathroom as one giant garbage can.

PDXPhotoGrl · August 2009

It's the bottles that boggle my mind.Seriously, who packs empty, full-size shampoo bottles with them and flies them all the way to their previous owners? Is it just to make a point? If so, I can't decide if it's a message about leaving garbage behind or a message about being wasteful, as there may be half of a squeeze of conditioner left in the bottle. The shampoo bottle is bone dry, though. Even if it were half full, there's no way I would ever go to the trouble of saving somebody's grocery store brand shampoo bottles for a YEAR and packing them up to return them if they were accidentally left at my house. So maybe that's the message: "Look how considerate I am, I really want you to like me." Which, while still weird, is not so passive aggressive, just trying too hard. Regardless. Weird.

PDXPhotoGrl · August 2009

EXACTLY, Noisy.

Novemberrocks · August 2009

I'm still perplexed. With the bottles - was she trying to be passive-aggressive a la, "here, you forgot to throw these away when you were finished"?

noisy_penguin · August 2009

My family has done a good job of marrying into crazy, so I have some experience translating. Not Lorne's parents, thank goodness. They're just about the nicest people ever.

FallinAgain · August 2009

I will say my MIL (who is super nice) tossed a almost empty container of face cleanser that I would have liked back, so I doubt I'll ever toss my DIL's stuff. I would, however, just ask if she wanted it back rather than take it on a plane to return it if I thought it was probably trash.

KristenBtobe · August 2009

Perhaps they don't offer recycling in her community.

PDXPhotoGrl · August 2009

It's a nice thought, Kristen, but she lives in San Francisco, the only place in the U.S. smugger than Portland.

My MIL. Oh dear.

Re: My MIL. Oh dear.

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