Reading about everyone's MIL this morning, thought we could start something to tell our stories about MIL's.
My first MIL was horrible to me and her son. We were a struggling couple both of us working two jobs and my x was in college right after our son was born. She would hand money over fist to her daughter, and watch her son for free as we were shelling out $150/week for daycare. The kicker came when she gave them the downpayment for their house and we were still managing an apartment building for discount on rent. When my son confronted her, she just said it's my money and I'll do as I please. Her excuse for not watching my son is that I wouldnt let her in the delivery room when he was born and she never bonded with him! WTF????
My new MIL is fabulous, she loves being instant grandma to my two kids and whenever I bake a cake for her, she calls her neighbors, friends anyone to come see it trying to generate business for me. She is a poor single-mom who works her butt off, but then gives me $100 because I should get a spa treatment. Talk about one extreme to the other!
Cant wait to read other stories!
I posted my evil MIL story elsewhere and it reads so depressing so I thought it fitting to share my "Good witch" MIL story.
She (my new MIL) and her husband (my late father in law) were awesome right from the start. I am slow to warm to people at times and they waited for me, two years in fact. My sister in law was not so kind and my FIL threatened to take her out of the will if she didn't behave.
FINALLY SOMEONE ON MY SIDE!
We all get along, I think I bonded with the SIL through the death of her father (I fell apart because he was a good friend to me) and the birth of my son. (She spoils my son silly).
My MIL has set up a college fund for my son and it looks like he'll never have any trouble paying for school--if you get my drift.
I have 2 families that care about me--Yipee! My parents dig my hubby's family and their grandson so much they are moving from Cali to NJ next year!
I liked my MIL at first, it wasn't until she quit working about 4 years ago that things started going downhill. She was a manager at a data entry place and she's the kind of person who needs to be busy. Her oldest son died not long after she quit and now she has just one living child and our two kids.
She likes to tell me how to do everything and keeps telling us how she thinks we should remodel our house, arrange our furniture, organize our stuff, what colors we shouldn't use, etc.
She also likes to tell me how to decorate cakes, this from a woman who has maybe put sprinkles on a cake. Her favorite advice is to use a twizzler for EVERYTHING, she tried to talk me into using one for a wand on a Harry Potter cake. 
None of her ideas are what you could call GOOD.
Last weekend she was trying to give me one of those divided fruit trays that cost $1 she had saved from something. She told me that i could use it for cupcakes and I pointed out that it had curves and cupcakes wouldn't sit right in it and she kept on and when I bluntly said no she told me I shouldn't bite her head off. After 10 minutes of me politely telling her no and her telling me how I could use it yet again of course I got annoyed. 
She does have her good points, she adores my children and she's a generous person. She buys the kids all kinds of stuff, most of it on the practical side but cool, like Cars shoes for the youngest and skull shirts for my oldest. The thread about the MIL who gave $3 for a cake would never happen to me, she asks what the ingredients cost. I wouldn't charge her for more than ingredients but she buys me cookie cutters and other cake stuff at times when she sees something I might like.
I can get along with her in small doses but she can drive me up the wall. I feel sorry for her because I know she's bored and has no one but my FIL and us.
I like to hear the good stories more than the bad! Seems we are lucky with most of our families.
Well, you will see my vent over and over about my MIL because I have nowhere else to do it! LOL She drives me NUTSO (and everyone else here too).
Basically, she is the MIL next door from Everyone Loves Raymond with a couple exceptions: 1, she doesn't cook. 2, she hates fat people (or looks down on them).
My biggest fault is that I'm not thin... She's sooo bad, that she was watching something on tv the other day. IN the DC area we get live congress and such. Well, my husband's boss was on (DH works for the Congressional Budget Office). and she was surprised at how young he is - I mean he's under 40 and heads the WHOLE CBO! So, she called dh and asked, "IS your boss younger than you?" DH says, "Yes, he's a year or two younger than me." His mom responds, "well, your younger looking and better looking than he is."
So... that's more important to her than him being MORE SUCCESSFUL! UGH!!!
DId I mention I'm plump and was plump when we got married? And I'm a terrible housekeeper? LOL
Melissa
My MIL told my hubby after our 2nd date to hurry up and marry me because the good ones go quickly and she didn't want him to miss out.
Tragically she passed away 5mo before our 1st child was born that she was beyond excited about (she was making my FIL sell the house/yacht & MOVE to be near us so she could babysit while I worked).
I miss her soooo much...especially because my 2nd child is a clone of her very opinionated self and I would give anything to pawn that kid off on someone else for a few hours. 
my MIL at first would ignore me and at one time told me if i ever hurt her son she would kill me!!! she was not laughing when she said it either. it took a few years and the birth of my son but now we are like best friends we talk all the time she is not one of these noisy in our business all the time kinds of MILs i love her like my own mother. she is great with my kids and she does what ever she can for us. i know i could have had a lot worse like HER mom. my husbands grand mother my MIL's mother is a hateful person and i am glad she is not my MIL or mother!!
Mine is just plain MEAN!!!! She talks about me behind my back....to my kids! She plays favorites with the kids and hurts my oldest daughters feelings quite often. She(DD) happens to look and act just like my husband. My MIL has always treated my DH ulgy. I have to watch myself and work really hard not to talk about her in front of the kids.(I wait till they go to bed!hehe) I want to teach them how to respect everyone even if they are undeserving.
I swear for Christmas some day I will get the nerve to get her a new broom! 
When I was having our first child, my inlaws were there at the hospital the whole day! I was trying to be patient with them since it was their first grandchild. So when it's time to push the nurse has everyone leave except my mom and hubby. Then, ten minutes later she justs pops back in the room. I'm in pain, my feet are up and everything's all exposed and she just walks in!!! So, not wanting to be totally rude (which is hard since I'm giving birth and all) I tell her i'm not very comfortable. She goes, I know, I know. And my mom, reading my horrified face, goes, NO, She means with you being in here!!!) And she stomped out... I've tried hard to repair our relationship, but even after all this time it's still a little weird. It got better though when they moved to another state last year!!
From the day we got married I think my MIL thinks I'm not good enough for her son. She has done and said things to me and other people that are just gossipy kinds of things that hurts feelings at lot. I guess our relationship can be summed up in something she told me once. I was trying to get her invovled in our daughters life (she is a special needs child) and I had asked her several times to go with me to doctors appointments then have lunch afterwards (she went with her daughter for her kids drs) she always had an excuse like i dont feel good or her daughter might need something. Well I thought ok I'll ask her one more time, so I did and she said" I know you feel like FIL is a dad and thats fine with me, but you have a mom that you get along with, and my daughter needs me to help her. So I have to be avaliable to her when she needs something. So maybe your mom can go with you. Ok" I said ok, and have never asked her to do anything for my children again. Also, her daughter and husband and 1st child lived with them for some time and she had her "Good Living Room" that no one was allowed in, especially my 1st born, one day I got my SIL child out of the room and took him in the kitchen with us and said he was in the "Good Room" and she said oh thats ok he's allowed, i said oh I thought the kids wern't allowed in there and she said, well he lived here and he can play in there. Ok whatever, Well that has all been a long time ago,, those children are now in there mid 20's,,, I have never told my son any of this, it would hurt him a lot. She already accused him of stealing some of her medicine (she has an entire cupboard full of medicine), he told her she could have her key back anytime she wanted it. He doesn't go over there very often either.
There is so much more, but so little time. I made a vow, to never treat my DIL like anything other than my own child and I do that.
Oh Deijha, don't get me started on my MIL medicine cabinet!!! She could open her own drug store. If you have ever been sick, the believe me, she's been there and had it worse. I can put up with all of her medical issues(THAT DON'T EXIST BTW), but I can't tell you how many times she has given my kids medicine without even asking me. And yes some have been prescription drugs for her, ex. "stomach pills" as she calls them. The daughter she tries to push those on is only 10 yrs. old and this has happened for a couple of years!
One day, she might actually be sick with something serious, but who would believe her? Just last week a doctor sent her a REGISTERED LETTER telling her never to step foot in his office again unless it was an emergency in the next 30 days, after that, even in an emergency don't step foot in his office!!!!! The letter was prompted by an argument she had with him right in the waiting room with all of the other patients watching! She was arguing about her sugar levels, and he said the lab work doesn't lie. But she disgareed, so now she will be looking for yet another doctor. Of course one who will tell her what she wants to hear!
Mine lives in another country
Well, from what I do see/hear of her, she's great though. The first time I met her, I went down to Mexico to meet her without my husband. My mom came with me but I had never seen her before. I was very nervous to meet her but she greeted me with a big smile and did nothing but dote on me. She is great. His whole family is great (his mom is one of 13). They were all very welcoming to me. We talk to her at least every couple weeks on the phone and she is always very nice to me, offering her best advice, even if it is old-fashioned and full of strange remedies. I couldn't ask for a better MIL 
Mine lives in another country
I'm SO jealous, I wish mine lived in the next county. She lives less than 2 miles from us. 
On the plus side for them today I have been informed that they're coming to get the kids at 6pm to go fishing. 
They won't be back till about dark. 
I love my MIL. She lives nearby but doesn't really like to drive so she never visits on her own. She minds her own business and never criticizes me or says anything mean. She babysat both of my sons until they were three. And will babysit now (they are 7 and 5) unconditionally. She and my husband are very close. He takes care of the house, etc. and they speak on the phone several times a week. But he is by no means a mama's boy. When I bake her birthday cake every year, he seems so grateful that I'm doing this for his mom. But for me, its genuine. I know that she loves me like a daughter (she had a younger daughter who died in an accident at age 9, and we would have been the same age) and the feeling is mutual. (She reminds me a lot of my grandmother who died 5 years ago.) She has shown me what a great MIL looks like, and I'm sure that I will be a great one someday. I always knew I was blessed and fortunate to have her, and reading other's horror stories makes me really happy to have her as a MIL. I really wish others could have this same wonderful experience.
I have the best in-laws! When my husband married this woman with 2 kids, stepkids and stepgrandkids were new to all of his family. From Day One, my kids were never treated any different from any of their bio-grandchildren. They were welcomed and loved 100%. When we had our youngest (my 3rd .... his 1st), my two oldest kids were not thrown aside now that there was a "real" grandchild via my husband.
I have no in-law stress, no horror stories. (oh, other than the typical ones, that everyone has now and then!) I love 'em. I have told my husband that if it ever gets to the point where either or both of his parents need to live with one of their kids due to health, they are more than welcome to live with us.
I am very, very blessed.
[quote="mbelgard"]
Mine lives in another country
I'm SO jealous, I wish mine lived in the next county. She lives less than 2 miles from us.
I am in the same boat as you mbelgard! I can totally sympathize. Mine hasn't like me since she found out I was the one that was the "keeper". She tried everything to break us up before the wedding and never misses an opportunity to put me down. She even makes up stuff (as is usually the case) but she knows not to say it to my face because I would tell her where to stick it. Instead, she goes behind my back and tells my hubby stories that she's made up, or her twisted reasoning on what it reality. She is such a baby, if anyone ever says anything even remotely negative about her she throws a temper tantrum! And to make it worse, nobody in the immediate family every tells her to knock it off! It's so frustrating!
Her latest was I asked if I could bring a cake for the 4th. She said no thanks (she's a control freak about the holidays and I think she gets jelous when others say nice things about the cake I've brought) and then had the nerve today to yell at my DH that we never asked if we could bring anything. I'm telling you, the lady is psycho!
I wish I had the MIL like some of you have. I'm now far away from my Mom and I really miss her, it would be nice if my MIL would be at least trustworthy!
My MIL very much mirrors indydebi's. She is unflappable, accepting of everything and everyone. My daughters from a previous marriage are now a seamless part of my whole in-law family. She never intrudes yet fills a need if she sees it --> my daughter's shower curtain was pulled through one of the rings so next time she showed up she has a new one. She's right now got the vacuum cleaner in for repairs. She brought over a 5 lb bucket of cat litter. She even took the mountains of laundry that had accumulated while I was sick and brought them back clean. We're both firefighter wives and she knows what it's like to have a husband away a lot and a house full of teens while you're working a full time job. I never had a mother and I'm blessed to have her in my life. With her inspriation I want to be a better wife and mother. And now that I"m no longer working (see my other post) I'm looking forward to spending more time together. I recruited her to help make the fondant accents for my SIL's daughter's 1st birthday on the 14th. CAKE! Brings families together....
Cakegirl my MIL isn't nearly as bad as yours, she's just the type that can drive you up the wall with her constant B!@#$%* and general bossiness.
She's never what you could call rude or mean, she just gets on my nerves with the little things. She isn't someone I would pick for a friend, I tend to go with the flow on things that you can't change and I'm not into the gloom and doom that she likes.
Mine is great and after hearing horror stories from friends and even seeing horror stories in my own family as a child, I feel very blessed. She has been wonderful from day one and has only continued to get better. She even introduces my sisters-in-law and me as her daughters (she had three boys).
If I have ever needed advice or to just fuss, she's there to listen and actually give solid help. If there's a problem with my husband, I go to her. I have this policy that I can't complain about him to my friends or to my family because my people hold a grudge. Long after I've forgiven him, they will remember. She's lived with him and she knows him, she gives the best advice.
She smocks One year my daughter had three hand made Easter dresses, each more beautiful than the next. Her dressmaking talent is extraordinary and only gets better with each creation.
She takes each of the children for "camp grandma" over the summer so that she can get to know them on a one-to-one basis.
If something were to happen to me and my husband, I have every confidence in her abilty to raise my children the way I would want them to be raised. There is no greater compliment I can pay.
I'm very lucky.
Now my mother on the other hand... she wasn't so lucky. When I was a kid I watched her literally pick up her mother-in-law and kick her out of the house. I was awestruck.
Just have to jump in here and say how great my MIL is. She's actually DH's step mom but you'd never know it. We have the only grandchildren on his side. She loves the girls and asks if they can spend the night. She works at a school and since they are on holidays right now asked the girls (ages 21mo., 3, and 4) to spend the weekend. So DH and I got to go on a little romantic getaway this past weekend. DH decided we should stay an extra day and called her and she said that was fine. When I dropped the girls off on Saturday she had bought new quilts for their beds and changed the room around and added a cubby house. And FIL was out making a sandpit. The girls didn't want to come home. I love my MIL.
I love my MIL, she is the best. She will do anything for us and even when my husband is jokingly picking on me she always protects me 
. I wore her 40 years old gorgeous wedding dress for my wedding and she was happy to no end that I wanted to wear it. I only hope that she and my FIL live long enough so any children my DH and I will have in the future can get to know them.
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%