Yesterday morning the second floor was heated to a comfortable, toasty temperature, so I was wearing a T-shirt. I descended down the stairs to get coffee and immediately began to freeze, but figured I’d make haste, grab the coffee, and go. MIL stopped me. She’s wearing a puffy winter jacket, gloves, and what appears to be several layers of pants.
“Ai yah, you will catch a cold. You know how weak you are. You catch a cold so easily. Why are you wearing only a T-shirt?”
“Because we have heat upstairs,” I say. “I just came to get my coffee. I’m going right back up to the heat right now.”
She proceeds to lecture me about how there is no need to use heat at such high temperatures that I am wearing a T-shirt in the middle of winter. She tells me to wear more clothes.
“Don’t use the heat,” she says.
I smile, nod, and ignore her. Up the stairs to 75 degrees F I go.
Later that same day, she and FIL go all out and lecture Hubby. I heard them from upstairs, didn’t know what they were talking about, and so ignored. Hubby comes back up frustrated that he just got yelled at by his parents.
“I just got lectured for the way we use heat,” he says.
I lose it. “HOW IS IT THEIR BUSINESS HOW WE USE OUR OWN HEAT? TELL THEM PEOPLE DON’T NEED ROOFS OVER THEIR HEADS EITHER, SO THEY SHOULD GO SLEEP OUTSIDE. WHAT THE FUCK. TELL THEM TO GO SLEEP ON THE STREETS. WHO NEEDS TO BE INDOORS ANYWAY.”
“Calm down,” he says. “Just ignore them. They’re old school. That’s all.”
Yesterday after dinner, Hubby and I were about to watch TV in the family room, so we went into the family room and turned on the lights. Then we both decided we wanted some snacks to go with TV watching, so we headed to the kitchen to prep our snacks. We did not turn the lights off before we left the family room (because we’re headed right back in 15!!), and turned the lights on in the kitchen. Also, I guess we forgot to turn the lights off in the hallway. Oh well.
FIL enters and freaks out. He quickly shuts off the family room lights, the hallway lights, and sits down at the kitchen table with us.
“Why are all the lights in this house on?”
I keep a smile frozen on my face. Hubby rolls his eyes at his father.
“Dad, we’re about to watch TV. That’s why the lights were on.”
“But you’re not in the TV room right now are you. You’re in the kitchen. And what about the hallway? Turn off the lights when they’re not in use. Don’t waste energy.”
This lecture came after they lectured Hubby (again, second time) about turning on the heat on the first floor. “Just wear more clothes. You don’t need to turn on the heat everywhere in this house.”
“Wear more clothes,” says MIL, who is wearing a winter jacket, god knows how many layers of shirts under the jacket, and gloves indoors.
Coping with the Chinese MIL 