I've just discovered something new about my mother in law...she lies. blatantly! I always thought she was an unpleasant person, but for other reasons. But I've just discovered that she'll say anything she feels like saying.

She was telling me that she made a dish by mixing two types of canned soup. The ladies raved how good it was and one asked for the recipe. She told her she didn't have the recipe with her. "Later I had to "fess up" that it wasn't from a recipe.

That was curious, but no big deal, just her thing. Then I became aware that she was answering questions that she couldn't know the answer to, and she was giving the wrong answers as though she was an expert.

I don't know if the magnitude of this comes across. I knew my husband lies, but the counselor said it was because he was an only child and the only way he could get some space from his mother.

I can't tell you what a load off this is. Because I always felt a little guilty when they'd make me feel bad about myself.

Part 2 if you're interested: I accidentally spilled my root beer. Most of it went on the table, but some on the rug. I ran to wipe it up. I blotted it and wiped it with water to clean it. My husband was out of the room when I heard my father in law say to his wife, "When did your brother get here?"

Her brother is dead. And she hates him. And he was an alcoholic. So I can only guess what he meant. And she wouldn't make eye contact with me, so I knew she was pissed at me.

For some reason, I decided I didn't deserve to feel guilty for an accident. I'd apologized and I'd restored the damage. I chose not to feel guilty. Do you know how unusual that is for me? I always feel guilty. But this time I decided that they were being unreasonable and I felt sorry for my husband that he grew up never being allowed to make a mistake.

His mother likes to tell the story of how she gave him a camera when he was a little boy and he took pictures of stupid things, so she never gave him any film.

These are horrible, awful people. But my husband loves them, so I can't say anything negative about them at all. To him. So, I'm telling you. Isn't it delicious?