The smelly-feet-ghost and other short stories

As I've mentioned before, my in-laws are quite peculiar people. My father-in-law came to Brazil a little over 25 years ago, he's from Taiwan. And as any Taiwanese, he has his own way of seeing life and the world around him... his Portuguese is only a little better than his social conduct and mind you - he doesn't speak Portuguese that well.
My mother-in-law is an uneducated farm girl. And even though she tries to read sometimes and learn about different things (she is knowledgeable in many things), some things she thinks and says are beyond comprehension. She can be very skeptical sometimes and question things - as everyone should -, but she can also be very gullible.

They lived in a very old house for many years and, truth be told, the place was falling apart. Since I met my husband I had been telling them to move out of there and when I came back to Brazil, one year ago, they finally decided to leave that place (I guess because they hoped we would live with them).

Although we decided not to share a house with them, I still helped them find the house where they now live.
Long story short, they loved it, but one day we while were visiting, my mother-in-law said she was worried about something.

The house was wonderful and much better than the previous one, but there was *one* thing bothering her.

Mother-in-law: My computer desk is right underneath the stairway, and sometimes while I'm sitting here, I'll feel a very strong smelly feet scent.
Me: Oh. What's going on? Do you have any boxes there?
MIL: No! I took everything out, there's nothing there...
Me: So where do you think the smell is coming from?
MIL: I can only think of one explanation for this... I think this house is haunted and there's a smelly-feet-ghost who lives underneath the stairway!!!

Yes, this was the only logical explanation she could find... true story. More coming soon.

Weekends in Brazil

I have an American friend living here in Sao Paulo, and a while after she moved here she told me it was hard hanging out with friends over here because most people just visit their families on weekends. I'm not sure if this happens exclusively in Brazil, but it is true in most cases here.
My husband and I are just really lazy so we don't do it every weekend, but we do try to balance weekends with friends / his family / my family. We could see his family a lot more (since they live relatively close by), but sometimes my husband is just not in the mood and, well... I'm certainly not going to insist.

This weekend and the one before were spent with my in-laws. They're not the most socially adequate people, and my father-in-law is Chinese. Oh yeah, here's some information on Chinese people: they usually have no awareness for Ocidental standards of politeness and they have no concerns to speak their mind, regardless of who it will offend or hurt. Add that to the fact that my father-in-law is not crazy about me... well, it's not a breeze to be around him.
I don't feel thrilled to go there, but in spite of all that, going there is also not as bad as it could be. They're such peculiar people, there's always a story after a day spent with the in-laws.

My husband's relationship with them is also peculiar. It seems like they depend on him A LOT (not financially, but in every other way), and he talks to them just like he would to any of his friends. His dad had a picture of a naked lady on his desktop background (don't get me started), so as a prank hubs decided to change it... to a naked tranny.
The more I talk about them, the more people think they are very bizarre. And they are, really. This was just another day at the Lee's residence.

I cracked my back.

Yes, and that's the reason I haven't checked on my blog - or any other blog - for the past week.

I've had this problem for a while now, but last Saturday my bad back finally decided to make a strong statement by leaving me immobile.

It was quite a pathetic accident, I must say - I was baking a chocolate cake, which didn't even turn out to be *that* awesome. As I was putting the cake into the oven I felt it. And then I fell on the floor and couldn't move anymore.
I managed to crawl to the living room to get my phone and call my husband, who came home to a wife, in the middle of the living room floor on her hands and knees. But then again, I think this might be every man's dream.
Only after he saw me there was no fun... he had to help me get up, lay me down in bed and luckily I have an acupuncturist for a father-in-law. I gotta say this. My in-laws are not very helpful or very nice people, but I have to be thankful for this, him being the one person who was able to get me to move again was a life saver. I guess, of all the flaws I can accuse him of, this one thing should make up for all the rest.

Anyways, coming back from NOT MOVING AT ALL is a slow recovery, but now I'm already able to get out of bed on my own, walk on my own, go to the bathroom... hell I even lifted a chair today!!!

I never thought I'd see the day this would actually happen to me, but I guess it serves me to open my eyes and get it in my head for once and for all that I do need to take better care of myself, my diet, lose weight, exercise... ugh. Recovery is just beginning and it will be a long and hard way.