Mine swoops in when I AM doing well to demolish everything. You're just recovering from your last interaction with them, starting to gain a little speed, when WHOMP!! There it is. Like a tic. Like a tick. You hope maybe this time you'll be free, get past it - but no.

I think many of us with toxic moms have had both of these experiences. Mine wants to tell me why everything is all my fault when things are going badly, and how if I weren't just so weird or unlovable things would be different. When things are going well, she wants to drag me down into misery so I won't think that I'm "better than everybody else." It is pretty much the same old thing over and over. "You think you're so smart because of X? You think X makes you better than everybody else? Well, it doesn't because of Y. And remember that time you did A, B, and C? All horrible mistakes even the dumbest person would know to avoid!"

Anyway, I solved that partially by eliminating my land line and only having my cell, where I can see how is calling. I just let it go to voice mail and then if it's a horrible rant at me, I can just delete it. She is trying to get around that by calling me at work. At work, though, I can just say I have a client coming in and have to go.