You pride yourself on being calm, easygoing and friendly. Your sister-in-law, on the other hand, is the total opposite. Everything is a crisis, and although she's perfectly capable of dealing with her issues on her own, she makes her drama everyone else's responsibility. Know the type? Here's a handy trick to keep her antics from messing with your day.
So she's at the grocery store, texting minute-by-minute updates that there's no ice-cream cake, and she needs ice-cream cake for her son's birthday party. Now she's talking to the store manager. Now she's driving to another store across town. Now there are three different flavors and she's not sure which kind to buy. Even if you don't respond to every message, it's still taking up your brain space every time you see your phone vibrate.
She's officially earned a "mute" for the day. Here's how to do it if you have an iPhone: Click on her name in your contacts list, then press "info." Turn on the button that says "hide alerts," and your phone will stop notifying you when your sister-in-law calls or texts. (You'll still get the texts, but you can check them on your own schedule, not hers.)
And just like that, your day got 100 times less stressful.
