Turn the Other Cheek

I married my husband 4 years ago but have known him since I was 18, I'm now 50. We have been together for 7 years. My husband and I are not rich by any means. We work very hard to make ends meet. We have worked as a team since we got together. We do custom painting, Sheetrock, carpentry, and much more.

My sister in-law and her husband are very wealthy. They live in a 15,000 S/F home. My husbands mother lives in a very nice home as well. When I first meet them they seemed nice. My husband never went around them very much during the first 4 years of our relationship. He always told me they are to judge mental and it is better to stay away.

Over time my sister in-law hired us to do work on their home and we accepted the job. During this time I had only meet her two or three times. One day I was painting a gazebo and my husband received a call from another contractor, wanting us to pick up some construction trash from a job site. My sister in-law walked by my husband and said Bob you should be use to picking up trash, you picked up Marie. (note real names are not used) I was so shocked that she would say that about me and tried very hard not to let it show. I kept working and my husband walked over and ask if I was OK. He saw that I was trying hard not to tear up. My husband told me to pack it up we were leaving. His sister played it off and told him she was just kidding.

We attended their annual Christmas Eve party about three years ago and his Mother was very nasty to me. I walked outside to get some air and sat down on a bench that was  under some trees. His mother and his sister walked outside to smoke a cigarette and they did not see me. I over heard them talking about me, putting me down. It was very hard for me to go back in so I sat their in the cold for a very long time. I latter joined my husband and ask if he was ready to go, in which we did. I latter told him what I had heard. He was mad but never confronted them.

From that day my sister in-law and mother in-law told my husband they just wanted the family present for Christmas dinners and all holidays. He was to leave me at home. That following Christmas my husband left to spend Christmas day with them and left me at home. I spent Christmas day alone.

A year or so later they told my husband they were going to do some major renovations on their home and requested we do a major part of the work. His sister of course did not want me there. Her husband whom had always been very kind to me and defended me to my husbands family hired me along with my husband. The renovations were so huge that we knew it would take a couple of years to complete because they don't want strangers in their home. So it was just the two of us and and one other couple working on this house.

The things I am about to list are things she has done to me and yet I keep turning the other cheek.

It was her birthday and I baked her a cake and had balloons and flowers for her sitting on the counter for her when she made her entrance into the kitchen. The next day she came up to me and said (You're cake must have been good because Winkister sure did like it. Winkister is her dog.) I later went to the fridge and the cake was sitting there all mangled up.

Her husband would leave town a lot and when he came back he would wonder why it was taking so long to paint one room. She would tell him I was slow and was trying to make him think I was milking them because he was paying by the hour. What she failed to tell him is that once the room was painted she would change her mind on the color and want it re-painted. I had painted the kitchen six different colors by the time he came back. My husband told him this and he looked at me and said is this true and I said yes. Then later I was painting the bedrooms upstairs and at the end of the day I would clean up and turn off all the lights. Her husband came up to me and told me to make sure that I cut off all lights at the end of the day and I told him I did. He said no they were on. The next day he got upset and said I told you to make sure all lights were off when you leave. I again told him I did. We were leaving for the day and had already gotten into the truck to leave and I told my husband I had left something. So I went back in and guess who was sneaking and turning the lights on. I didn't let her see me so I left and told my husband what I had saw.

Another time my husband was out on the roof working on the tray ceiling and the only way to get out to it is through two bedrooms upstairs or from a ladder. It was at the end of the day and my husband and his sister were standing at the bottom of the staircase as I was cleaning up. My husband told me to check the windows to make sure they were locked. I went to both bedrooms and checked to make sure they were locked. The next morning I  had a doctors appointment and she told my husband that I had left the widows open and that anyone could have come in on them. This was not true I know and God knows those windows were locked.

Another time I was up on a ladder painting and they had purchased a new big screen TV. She called me in there to show me and I told her it was real nice. I went back to painting and a few minutes latter she called me back in there again, stating did you see my new TV and I said again how nice it was. I got back up on the ladder and 10 minutes latter she called me back in there again and said did I show you my new TV and I said yes and again very politely said how nice it was. She walked out behind me saying " I live to make people jealous "

Another time I was staining and polying the new staircase that just went in. I painted over 150 pickets so you can imagine how big the staircase was. I got all the rails and post stained and while I was putting the poly on them she would open up the front doors, while there was yard work going on right outside the from entrance, which is where the staircase is. She knew it would allow dust to come in on the poly. My husband closed the doors twice and both times I had to re-sand on one of the post from dust settling on it. I was putting the final finish on the rails that flowed on both sides of the entrance. I started down on one side and got to the bottom and looked up and on several places the poly was literally bubbling up. I immediately got a rag with mineral spirits and started to wipe these areas off. I was so upset because they were so beautiful and all the hard work that I had put into them to make it perfect. I had to wait for it to dry and then re-sand this rail. Latter that day I saw on a shelf some chemicals which are used for making furniture etc to look antique. This chemical is wiped on and will not do anything until another coat of poly or paint is placed on top of that. She was the only one in the house and her husband was out of town again. She tried to say she had lotion or something on her hand while going up the staircase. I also knew for a fact that she had re down a cabinet to make it look antique much earlier on.

As I stated before her husband was always kind to me and would defend me. He knows how nasty his wife can be and her mother as well. This man gave me a chance and a job. I would never do anything to disrespect him. It wasn't long before she tried putting bad thoughts in my husbands head. She would call him while he was outside working and I was inside and make him believe I was flirting with her husband. My husband would come in and seem mad at me. He finally told me what she was doing. I told him if he didn't trust me then I needed to just leave. It got to the point that I was scared to even speak to my brother in-law.

She was always doing nasty things to me. It came to a point when we were finished with the inside of the home. I was hired to paint a stucco wall that surrounded their property which was about 5 ackers. This wall was anywhere from 10 to 22 feet high. I painted this wall by myself in the mid part of summer. I came in at the end of the day to see if my husband was ready to leave and he was upstairs with her husband. I asked her how she was doing and she said you look beat. I told her yea it's very hot out there. She said you look like you are about to fall over and then grinned when she said it. I again ignored it. The next day I came in at the end of the day to get my husband and again he was upstairs. She was in the kitchen cooking a big pot of green beans. I was talking with her and she said she couldn't hear me and ask if I would move closer. I came up to the counter where the stove was. She was stirring the green beans and I had my hands up on the back of the bar which is inches from the stove and while stirring she pulled one of the green beans out and dropped it into my hand. It burned me and left a blister on one of my fingers. She grinned as she did it and then walked over to the fridge as if she hadn't done anything wrong. I later told my husband what she had done and he said to just stay away from her, but he would never say anything or defend me. The next day she came down the walkway and was on the phone. I was painting on the wall nearby so I just kept out of sight and kept working. I saw my husband come up to her as she was getting off the phone. They walked into the house and a few minutes later my husband came out and threw a big wooden brush at me and said how dare you not speak and at least say hello. They are the ones who give us a paycheck. I tried to tell him she was on the phone and I just wanted to stay out of sight because of what happened the day before. Now I was the one being disrespectful.  I was so upset at to how my husband had treated me. She has lied so much and all I ever wanted was to get to know them and hopefully become friends, but I know that will never happen. I am a good person and have never done anything ever to disrespect her other than be as kind as I can be. I keep turning the other cheek. I haven't been allowed to come back since then. My husband continues to work there. I believe she has lied so much to her husband and planting those seeds of doubt. There is  more work do be done and my husband ask if he could bring me back in to help with the painting and her husband said no. The way my husband ask made me very upset. He told him if I could and she could put our differences a side that I was available for work. I ask him why he would say it that way. I told him I haven't done anything to be treated this way. I told him if I had ever done anything that I could understand it but I have done noting but be as kind to them as possible.  I was raised to treat others the way you want to be treated. I am a person with a big heart, I am a good person who lives by the word of God and I keep turning the other cheek. I want to tell her husband all the things that she has done to me because he doesn't know any of it except what she has told him. My husband tells me to keep my mouth shut and just don't worry about it that I am not their family. Let him think what he wants, it just isn't worth it. What he doesn't seem to understand is I just can't take the lies she has told on me. I just can't allow her husband to think I did these things and not defend myself. I told my husband you just don't understand, he is the one that gave me a chance, he is the one that was kind to me, he is the one who defended me when it comes to your family. Am I wrong to feel this way? I can't even sleep at night without crying. I have let this situation consume me. I just can handle the thought of someone thinking that I did such mean things when I have done nothing. There is much more that she has done but I have just named a few. I just don't know how to let this go and get rid of the anger that has overwhelmed my heart. Any suggestions would be appreciated.