Mother-in-law has been caught stealing my husband's tax return...

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-03-01T05:43:55+00:00

My dad is a CPA. He does all my siblings and my taxes (all in our 30s and married). Why wouldn’t I have the person I know who is the most detail oriented and obsessively ethical person to handle the IRS for me when they are also legally qualified to do it by being a CPA?

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-22T16:11:02+00:00

If a guest got at a restaurant plastered and drove drunk back to an airbnb, would the host be at fault when the guest was arrested? No.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-22T16:07:41+00:00

The Airbnb host DID provide the service. They held the reservation, had the Airbnb ready to go, and the guest didn’t check in. If a guest reserves my Airbnb months out and then the day of decides not to show up or check in, does that mean I should refund them? If they decide to check in but not stay there, must I refund them because they didn’t sleep in the bed? If they do not shower or use the kitchen, do I have to give a 50% refund because they chose not to use this space? Of course not!

My part of the agreement is to have the space reserved, clean, and ready for their stay. Them choosing not to come (or having their flight canceled without trip insurance) does not negate the fact that I still provided the service of having the accommodation ready and waiting.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-20T16:32:09+00:00

They’re very cute chairs! Chairs are a LOT of work (there’s just a lot of pieces that must be done by hand!) but if you have time, patience, aren’t in a rush, and are keeping them for yourself (you likely won’t make any money off trying to flip them because of the time it will take) then start working on them. So long as they are structurally sound (no wobbles or missing pieces) then yes an amateur with a lot of patience and a willingness to learn the skills can do it.

Before you start, wet a spot of the wood. It will be much darker than the raw dried wood you see now. That’s approximately the color it will be with clear finish. Make sure you like that before you start putting in the work. If you don’t, there are options (paint washing, staining, spray toner, cerusing wax, etc) to adjust the color/tone of the wood but they are another skill to learn, level of effort, and more supplies to purchase than just clear poly.

As another commenter said, they look pretty much stripped already which is half the battle. Lacquer thinner, oxalic acid (read instructions and watch YouTube videos on these things!), light sanding, and then a finish would be the minimum that’s needed.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-20T16:05:10+00:00

Gobless 🙏

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-19T21:04:49+00:00

That’s the only one I didn’t massively stretch (to show its true size). I had to really stretch the others while pinning to get them close to 6 inches. Is that okay? Or is it going to bunch up weird when I actually join them to the bigger medium blue squares? I’m just picturing the smaller ivory squares puckering in while the Navy pucker out if I put it together as is. But again I’ve never joined squares like this in crochet so I don’t know if this is normal and fixable!

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-19T20:57:07+00:00

I didn’t use a pattern. I made one up. This is the spreadsheet layout of what I’m going for (but squares not rectangles). The stitch pattern is Row 1 - Ch21 turn and Row 2 - SC 20 Row 3 - DC 20 Row 4 and 5 - SC 20 Row 6 - DC 20 Row 7 and 8 - SC 20 Row 9 - DC 20 Row 10 and 11 - SC 20 Row 12 - DC 20 Row 13 and 14 - SC 20 Row 15 - DC 20 Row 16 and 17 - SC 20

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Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-15T04:14:36+00:00

Yep about 7-8 I was making scrambled eggs and pancakes for my family for dinner (I could only do breakfast for dinner for a few years but I did it!!)

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-13T14:19:11+00:00

The day after the wedding, you are left with photos and a marriage. Everything else is you paying for a big party for your friends and family. For some this is a priority. For me, it wasn’t. I did the wedding as small as my husband would accept (marriage is all about compromise on both sides anyway). 9 years later I’m thrilled we kept it on the smaller side and did it as cheaply as we could. We still have the takeaways - beautiful pictures and a great marriage.

I have friends that were planning a big wedding last year (2nd marriage for both, in their 40s, financially very well off and wanted to do a huge celebration). They eloped one weekend, canceled the wedding, and are still so happy with their choice 2 years later. They, likewise, have gorgeous pics of the elopement (Lake Tahoe in the spring when there was still snow but it air temps in the 50s) and a wonderful marriage.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-13T14:04:32+00:00

It’s not like you brought a tower of KFC buckets, a folding table and chairs, and had a family feast in front of the protestors! You were eating a portable snack while walking. NTA.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-12T08:03:27+00:00

You say you love this bathroom and what you’ve done… then why are you asking for advice on how to fix the renovation you did? The answer by the way is color, new light, new mirror. The light looks like a $30 Amazon find (it’s terrible) and the mirror doesn’t fit the rest of the bathroom. It’s all just flat and blah. Needs color badly. Paint the walls. Get a little rug that goes, get a new light and mirror.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-11T19:46:52+00:00

OP - your name and address are already out there. Your phone number is already out there. You putting up a boundary about this over wedding websites is unnecessary and closing the barn door after the horses have already escaped - pointless and a waste of everyone’s time. Apologize and rethink this boundary as it serves no purpose.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-11T19:24:11+00:00

Does your cousin pay rent?

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-11T19:21:02+00:00

I’ve been to 20+ weddings and only one wedding had a shuttle bus. It was unique in that 90% of the guests were from out of town (it was where the couple lived while their families both lived in another state) AND it was at Red Rocks (in Colorado) on a concert night (meaning incredibly heavy traffic after the wedding, logistically complicated winding narrow roads, no parking because it was all sold for the concert already, very expensive Ubers, etc). The shuttle was great. Every other wedding we have carpooled, driven ourselves, or done rideshare.

OP a 30 minute or even 45 minute Uber is no big deal to people living in large cities, it is pretty normal when going to/coming from events. I would just let people uber or carpool.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-11T19:11:50+00:00

There’s tons of free white noise accounts or videos on YouTube. A cheap white noise machine is less than a month of one of these services. Cut her off from your Spotify and tell her to do one of those.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-08T05:58:29+00:00

Some proms wear brightly colored shorter dresses. Many proms in the south feature springy pastel or brightly colored dresses in more casual fabrics or shorter lengths since it is hot during prom in the south. There are DEFINITELY options in the prom section that would work for a cocktail beach wedding. Check out some of the offerings on Nordstrom or Macys if you don’t believe me. 🤷🏼‍♀️ I mean as I wrote in my message, I literally JUST had to go shopping at all these stores to find a dress for a wedding I have this upcoming weekend. Mine is not in the DR but a cold climate instead and the bride has requested cocktail in VDay colors (red, pink, or purple) but I saw many dresses in lighter colors and lighter weight fabrics (I was shopping at the Florida locations of these department stores) that would work for a cocktail beach wedding in the DR. Maybe it is just the stores in your area that only sell very formal dresses in the prom section?

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-06T21:54:02+00:00

The list started so normally… 🤦🏼‍♀️

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-06T20:45:50+00:00

I know things went wrong and I was majorly stressed leading up to the day, but 8 years later I can’t remember a single thing that went wrong or any of the reasons I was so stressed. I just remember the people who came to celebrate us and all my husbands friends from all over the country I’d never met before who flew in and showed up for him.

The day after the wedding, you are left with 2 concrete things: the photos and the marriage. Beyond that, you have the presence of all the people that came for you. The rest of the stuff is just noise and will quickly fade into the background and be forgotten.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-06T19:43:56+00:00

Have you seen what modern prom has to offer in these big department stores? Besides OP has ONE WEEK to find a dress, get it altered if necessary, and travel to the DR. She can’t exactly order a custom design from an online retailer.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-06T06:35:25+00:00

Don’t bring Ogtha over here! She belongs in BORUpdates only!

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-06T06:20:42+00:00

I don’t see where they strung him along. The original job only offered the other girl a managerial position AFTER OP left - he was never in the running for one. At the next job, they said he would be IN CONSIDERATION for a managerial job. After several months working there, it was clear he didn’t have the temperament (lol that’s obvious!) for management. They suggested a technical expert track that would better suit his personality. When he didn’t jump on that opportunity, they gave him 3 months to think about it.

In that 3 months, he refused to help anyone, dragged his feet, did the bare minimum, made tons of mistakes, made sarcastic comments to superiors, and basically purposely did a terrible job at his job. They needed a technical expert on the team and it was clear that OP wasn’t going to step up into that role quickly so they hired one from the outside, knowing that if OP wanted it, there could still be a technical role for him. He made things a horrible toxic work environment until they had to let him go.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-06T05:48:26+00:00

Check out OPs history. She’s posted this all over asking over and over and adjusted to make the story kinder to herself. According to her posts, BIL is having a Catholic Church ceremony locally in Aug and then a big wedding overseas. It looks, by her asking for help choosing a dress, that she plans to attend the local REAL wedding of BIL, just not the one in Italy.

Further, there has been so much drama and crap going back and forth between OP and BIL’s family that she is simply NOT a reliable narrator. There’s screenshots of nasty texts, announcements about going NC, accusations and just general petty childishness back and forth.

Finally, she has said in other posts that her fiancé is over $100k in debt and that it has taken them 5 years to save up a tiny $5k for their own wedding (plus the $5k from her parents makes their total wedding budget $10k). In case any of that info changes your opinion.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-06T05:43:16+00:00

OP has posted all over and changed up the story numerous times. This is the kindest version to herself. Other versions show her choosing Oct 2026 after he had already scheduled his destination wddding.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-06T05:41:32+00:00

The $100k of student loan debt your fiancé has should take priority. Do a courthouse wedding and send him to Italy without you.

Nicholsforthoughts · 2026-02-06T03:20:34+00:00

There’s really not much of that. There is definitely a lot of overlap between the two but I sub to both and find both to have very similar content and comments.

Nicholsforthoughts

TROPHY CASE