Last time Pearl was here.......

After we moved the M-I-L from out west to a condo near us, my husband requested that we have her over for Fathers Day. An innocent and easy request for him, a nightmare for me! She is the type of housekeeper who spends her life cleaning and rearranging and tossing things out. I am the type known as a pack-rat....very close to hoarder. As I have said, I am VERY different from the M-I-L! His request caused me to go ballistic trying to clean and cook to "pass muster" in her eyes. Anyhow, the day came and both our kids were present, clean and friendly. Daughter's dog-child was also present as leader of the pack, while my dog was tethered to the deck. We are all on the deck, talking, grilling, enjoying a lovely June day when my dog's leash got tangled around the legs of the other dog. That one promptly began sounding and acting ferocious and as they stumbled up the deck stairs my husband put out his foot to push daughters dog away. Daughter reacts with an angry "Don't kick my dog!" and takes her "child" inside. The party goes on and none of US think anything about it. Flash forward a few months and as I am driving Miss Pearl somewhere she makes a comment about the day. Her view of the situation was that she "had never seen such an ugly face on anyone" as she did on my (beautiful)daughters face when she "screamed at her father"! "I would have SLAPPED her for what she said to her Dad!!" I was shocked, appalled, and speechless.....sputtering something about how wrong she was....my husband and daughter have a wonderful relationship and he thought nothing of the scenario. He knows that she loves him...and that she loves her pet! You would think that my children and I are the bane of HER son's life. She takes any interaction with us and twists it to total negatives with her over-active imagination and internal storytelling. You would never recognize anything that you witnessed after she runs it through her fantasyworld! I'm just really sorry that I care what other people think about me....god only knows what picture Pearl is painting! The upshot of this experience has been that in 5 years (or more) I have never had her back to my house.....and I never will.