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[Y81]Your Mother In Law

by Art Gib, Art

Face it -- families are a blessing and a curse. While we love the people who have raised us and who have been by our side through thick and think, chances are good that we don't always like them. At no other time of year is this apparent than during a holiday season. If you're hosting this year's Thanksgiving Day bash, you need help to make sure you you're not going crazy with togetherness.

Are You the Best Person for the Job?

While you might have the best intentions for holding dinner at your house, let's talk about logistics. You're going to need someplace for everyone to sit as well as for everyone to sit when they're not at the dinner table. If you don't have enough chairs, things are going to get tricky. You can always rent chairs from your local party supply rental company or you can simply invite less people -- whichever is easier.

You're also going to need a kitchen which can cook for the people you are inviting. This means you need to have a big oven, a decent sized stove, and some counter space. If you just have a hotplate, you might want to push this hosting duty to someone else -- or just serve pumpkin pie.

Making a Martha Stewart Meal

The good news is that you can make it seem as though you had professional help in the kitchen, even though you didn't. Go to your grocery store right now and get acquainted with the deli and the prepared foods section -- they are your godsend. Before the big day, start trying out different side dishes they offer to see what tastes good with turkey. Then, the day before the big day, head to the store to buy everything you need -- and then all you have to do is warm it up, throw it in a bowl and grab a spoon to serve it.

But the turkey -- now there's something you can't pick up pre-cooked -- or can you? There are many turkeys now available in bags which are simply put into a pan and cooked as it. The bag seals in the juices tight so that you don't need top notch carving sets to get that meat thinly sliced for Aunt Bertha. Or you can simply choose a regular old bird (remove the baggie that's in its rump) and place it in a large pan. Of course, this bird will have been in your refrigerator for a few days ahead of time, thawing out its wings. Follow the directions on the turkey package to see how long you need to let it cook. And every half an hour or so, baste that bird in the juices that drip to the bottom of the pan.

The best news about letting others do most of the work for you? You can shoo your family out of the kitchen while you 'slave' over the meal -- finally, a little peace and quiet.

Just in Time for Mother's Day
If you have never wanted to play a little joke on your mother-in-law then maybe this gift guide isn't for you. On the other hand, if there has been no love lost in your relationship and you want to make your mother-in-law's life as miserable as she's made yours, here are a few ideas to satisfy that dark side and have a little fun in the process.

Complicated Universal Remote
No universal remote, that we're aware of, configures itself but some of these devices can drive people crazy. One unit that comes up below average from Retrevo's value and user sentiment ratings is the Philips SRU9600 which gets mixed reviews and costs just under $100. Some users complain about the ease-of-use on Sony RM-AX4000 which costs a little over $100. You can provide hours of frustration and misery for your mother in-law as she tries to configure or use one of the remotes.

GPS Devices Guaranteed to Get Your Mother-in-Law Lost
Whether it's a small handheld or one on the car dashboard, GPS devices are supposed to make it easy to enter destinations and then get to them. The Magellan Triton 1500 and Alpine PMD-B200 show up on the bottom of Retrevo's list for good value and ratings. So when your mother in-law complains about the GPS you bought her, just say, ?I've never had any trouble using my GPS.?

Cameras That Takes Blurry Pictures
Buying a that takes lousy pictures may be harder than you think. Most cameras are idiot proof and some of the better cameras with image stabilization and face technology make it downright hard to take a bad picture. So providing your mother in-law with an idiot-proof product that can make her feel like an idiot is priceless. Retrevo can recommend a couple of real bargains in the extreme low-end camera category that will most likely take a less than perfect picture. The Argus DC1512 barely has enough mega pixels to be called a camera and can be purchased for under $30 while the Micro Innovations 3120 costs even less at $10.80 and also gets low ratings.

Cheap MP3 Player
Your mother-in-law won't be the envy of her bridge club with these low-end MP3 players and they probably won't sound that great either. The Coby MP-C756 MP3 player barely has enough memory to hold a few songs and doesn't get the greatest ratings while the Nextar MA933A holds even fewer songs than the Coby and gets low marks for the display quality. One reviewer notes that the font was ?too small for older eyes.? Perfect!

Now Seriously Folks. . .
We all know you would never do anything like this to your poor old mother-in-law so just in case you want to get yourself or someone you love the best values in gadgets or gear, you can find reviews and manuals for all popular electronics like , , , , and more on .

Article Source : Thanksgiving Day

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Both Art Gib & Allen are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Art Gib has sinced written about articles on various topics from Supplements, Teachers and self improvement and motivation. Able Kitchen () sells and other restaurant. Art Gib's top article generates over 1830000 views. to your Favourites.

Allen has sinced written about articles on various topics from Lose Weight, Vacation and Japan Car. . Allen's top article generates over 550000 views. to your Favourites.