Feng shui - and my MIL

mysweetpeasWil&Wes wrote: My MIL is a strong follower of feng shui. Her own home is completely set-up with her "wealth" corner or her "love" corner and she makes sure that there isn't any negative energy anywhere. She has told me that beams overhead, as in the middle of your room above your bed, are bad feng shui. A toilet not covered, as in the cover left up, is bad feng shui. Now I am not harping on anyone who practices, but please allow me to vent how my MIL is about these things. She knows I do things differently than her and for the most part, she respects that. And she voices her opinions pretty openly, but is getting better about when to keep her mouth shut, so I thought....Well yesterday I walk into Wil's room, open his closet and find the model airplane my father made from scratch sitting on the closet shelve. It was REMOVED from the hook above Wil's bed. I go and ask DH why it was there...And he sorta rolls his eyes in embarassment and says his mom moved it. Apparently she was "freaked out" by the plane above his head and moved it. She told DH, and I quote, "that we are welcome to put it back when she is gone, but that it was bothering her while she was staying there". I'm trying to let it go you guys............But I just needed to get it off my chest that I'm a little more than PO. HOW WOULD SHE LIKE IT IF I WENT INTO HER HOME AND REARRANGED HER THINGS?? And come on, she knew it would bother me, that's why she ONLY told DH, right? And man, if she broke that airplane my dad spent hours on, she would definitely hear it from me!

Okay.........thanks for letting me vent, I feel better now!

KingMom replied: I'd be ready for her to find a hotel!

Boo&BugsMom replied: Oh my. I have a few words but I wont express them here! So sorry. She sounds a bit fruit-loopish. I'd be highly annoyed.

My2Beauties replied: Er...what a whack job

coasterqueen replied: I think she likes to make it a habit of getting under your skin, kwim? She's projecting all her negative energy onto you. You should tell her she should be removed from your home because it's giving you negative energy.

Kaitlin'smom replied: thats just plain crazy, he is causing you negitive energy and me I might give her an empty box full of my negitive energy, but not tell her until she has opened it....

PrairieMom replied: I wouldn't say a thing now, but next time I went to visit I would move things in her house. Little things, that she probably wouldn't notice at first. Or, take things off shelves and move them to higher shelves in different rooms, "so the kids don't hurt themselves" or move furniture slightly so electrical sockets are covered. Safety first!

grapfruit replied: Yikes! I'd be mad too. That's like taking down curtains or pictures b/c she doesn't like them. Too bad, they're not hers, it's not her house. ITA!!!

DVFlyer replied: Find the show on Feng Shui where two "experts" from different companies came in and totally contradicted what each other did.

Seems Feng Shui has some "perception" differences.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Hahaha, thanks for siding with me you guys. I love her for paying to fly all the way out to CO from CA just to watch the boys while we get away, so I really shouldn't complain. But, but................

Yes Tara, great idea! I will have to leave the toilet cover up when I'm staying with her. She also hates it when doors are left open...something about the positive energy ecscaping. Sigh.

I haven't told you guys how she gets the boys' horoscopes written up, as in professionally written up, each year! She asks DH if I mind and I tell DH that I would rather not get it done, yet she STILL does it. So for just about every Christmas, we get this 30 or so page booklet about the boys astrology. It usually gets thrown in the back of the closet!

momtoMegan&Alyxandria replied: Maybe I am the first one to think it, or to just say it, But I would march my butt right back in his room and hang it back up. That's just me though. Sometimes I do tend to go a little overboard. Just ask my ex-boss (and no I wasn't fired, I quit to work for Casey).

lovemy2 replied:
See that is what I would and have done - for other reasons - I ALWAYS send my MIL updated pics of the kids - she always complains that no one else does BUT all the pics sit in an album in the corner - now I don't expect her to display EVERY pic I send her but what's the point of sending them if NO ONE sees them - so I casually take them out of the corner and place them around on shelves, etc.

Anthony275 replied:
lol wouldn't it "escape" through the cracks under and on the side of the doors??

she sounds like my grandmother, except the feng shui part and mine is negative about everything

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
She was out visiting from CA when it happened, so I didn't notice it until after she left, otherwise I would have hung it back up while she was there. I'm really surprised DH didn't hang it back up before I saw it though. She obviously told him in private. His mistake was leaving it until I found it on my own.

My mom has always taught me to not say anything I'll regret, especially when it comes to family. So I won't ever tell my MIL. If she does it again, maybe. But again, she gave DH and I two nights away from the kids, without us having to pay for a sitter, so all I can do is try and forget.

bawoodsmall replied:
lol. You are too funny. I do think that when you go into someone else's home you accept the way they have their home. It is just rude imo.

luvmykids replied: You're being very mature about it, unlike her Too bad, so sad, do what you like in your own home and leave others alone in theirs

Maddie&EthansMom replied:
I like Karen's idea.

A&A'smommy replied: I would have been annoyed too!!! I like Karen and Tara's suggestions

Boo&BugsMom replied:
This sounds like something I would do, just to make my point!

Cece00 replied: More power to her if she wants to practice that (I personally think its kooky but whatever...) but she should def. refrain from involving you, making comments, and most CERTAINLY she should not be moving a thing. I would be angry too.

MoonMama replied: Oh man Rae that is just I would have been so ticked!

holley79 replied: I'm all for positive energy in the home but to totally take down things that are of no concern of hers is just crazy.

Sorry you had to deal with all that.

BAC'sMom replied: I think I would open my front door and see if she would "escape"

I guess we know now why me MIL doesn't come to my house

girl your a bigger person than I could be

msoulz replied: IMHO the trouble here is that your husband isn't setting the proper boundaries for his mother. He needs to express to her that it is your house and she is welcome to stay but you do not hold the same beliefs and she is not to rearrange items to suit her beliefs. End of story. This will go on forever unless she is set straight. And it can be done respectfully and tactfully but firmly.

If she can not respect that then the motel suggestion is the best one.

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied:
Yes, yes, I completely agree with you and that's why I had a talk with DH last night about it. To make a long story short, it just turned into a huge fight, where he didn't see it as a big deal, I'm over-reacting, he really had no idea it would bother me, blah blah blah. He played the innocent card. I told him exactly what you said, she crossed the line. He doesn't see it that way, where to me, it's a NO BRAINER! I tried to explain that I don't rearrange things in her home, so she shouldn't in mine. But again, my DH puts up the defense and it all turns around on ME, pointing the finger that I have a huge issue with his mom.

It's not worth it to me, I'm over it - I'm sure it will happen again, but hey, I always say, what goes around comes around. I just may have to do a little rearranging next time I'm at her place and see if she likes it.

msoulz replied:
I'm so sorry that he isn't seeing this as trouble and that it turned into a fight. Hang in there and prepare to tolerate MIL until he comes around! Perhaps when she moves some of his precious stuff he may change his mind!