How to live (or not) with a sister-in-law shoved up your ass

Enter stage left, Deborah/Debbie/Deb. Deb is R's half sister by his Father. She started visiting us roughly 6 years ago. Prior to that R had very little contact with her. She grew up in Michigan, he in Florida. She is 12 years older then he is.

Several years ago she started coming down for a week every February to visit. Staying in our travel trailer parked on our property along the Indian River.* It was fun at first, meeting and seeing his wild half sister from Missouri. Eventually she started bringing various buddies down with her during her vacations. R and I were convinced from early on that had we lived inland we'd be considered lucky if she ever visited us, let alone stay with us. It was our location on the water that had the inviting touch that R's sister Dawn or Mother's inland Florida homes didn't have.

*Our property and location is a little confusing. We own a nice size property that the majority lies on the west side of US HWY 1, the other portion on the east side is directly on the river. We built a dock there and have a camping area set up to enjoy our weekends on the water. Eventually we'd like to build our home there, but have a lot of red tape to go through before that will be possible.

As the years wore on, so did our welcome mat. Last year, Deb decided to stay for a full month instead of her usual week visit. This time under the pretense of looking for property in the area to move here. She brought a friend of hers, whom we had met before but didn't care for. The friend is a rude disrespectful woman. It was not a pleasant experience for anyone. Deb went home after her month. Soon after we were posed with a very awkward question. Would it be okay for Deb to park a house boat at our Dock to live on?

R and I are very private. We don't have friends we hang out with on a regular basis, we prefer to be alone. We run a business that makes us known in most public places we frequent, so our time off we really like to be left alone. Knowing that having her there would severely alter our life, it was a topic I didn't even want to discuss. A little time passed and we realized that IF we said no, we would be splitting the family in half. We would never see Deb or her family. Period. We would be the bad guys. So, we reluctantly said okay...

Deb moved down in June of last year. Staying in our trailer, our living room and R's Mother's spare room. Shortly after she moved here it was finally released that she was going to divorce her husband. Ugly divorce and financial hardships follow. Hurricanes and Divorce postponed the arrival of her house boat, but it finally made it here in early December. We had not rebuilt our dock from it's demise during Hurricane #2, so could not have the boat easily put into the water and casually tied to the end of our dock. Said boat is currently parked on the land by the river on blocks. It is all of 45ft long and 10ft wide. It has no trailer or easy means of being put into the water. We finally do have the dock rebuilt, but still do not have the electricity, water, or her needed tie off poles in. All of which will cost US money we don't have.

To top off this lovely relationship we have, both R and I can barely tolerate being near her at all now. We have found out by living up each other's asses that Deb is not the person we thought she was. She is indeed a player. She knows exactly what she needs to do and say to get exactly what she wants. She's a professional. She has borrowed money from us to help get her boat delivered here, she has borrowed money from R's Mother. She is working making decent money, only pays her electric bill, and yet has not mentioned or offered to pay us back. Not too bad to have a place on the water in Florida for $60/month. Fucking sounds great to me!

She drinks a lot. Which is her own deal not mine, but in doing so, she is barely ever together enough to talk to. We do not trust her with Tide anymore, after she was watching him on her boat, helped him climb up to the roof of her boat, (15ft off the ground), and left him there while she answered a phone call. Not bothering to get the phone and climb up to her roof to watch Tide. She left him up there. When we realized she was not going up on the roof, R ran over to her boat and climbed up to Tide. She always has a few words about how we should be raising Tide, which I just find completely offensive. I welcome constructive criticism, I do not need someone to flat out tell me I'm doing something wrong concerning my son. Especially when I do not agree with her view at all.

She also comes into our house and takes things. Sometimes telling us, other times we just notice it missing and find it in her boat. Mostly kitchen things. Utensils, spices, dishes... One day we were eating over on the water and she brought out a bunch of spices. One of which was a German spice my friend gave to me. (She has her mother send it from Germany... NOT available in the US) I made a comment on how much I liked that spice. She said oh yes, I like it too! So, I asked where did she ever find it... She said she got that at Wa11mart. She ended up passing out shortly after that, so I packed up my German spice along with our stuff and brought it home.

A little while after she first moved down here, she hadn't found a job yet, and the divorce was getting heated. So, R and I let go the woman who was working for us on Saturdays, and hired Deb to work from 8-12 Saturday mornings for $40. (A note: the woman who did work for us was getting a lot of complaints, so we were considering letting her go regardless.) We figured she'd do fine and be able to make some extra money, knowing she needed it. Well, R's mother thinks Deb should not take this money from us. Since we are giving her a place to live without charging her anything. Especially since she does have a job and is making a decent wage. (considering she's only working three days plus our four hours on Saturday)

A couple of weekends ago we wanted to spend it on the water in our trailer. We didn't because we wouldn't be able to be alone.

We feel terribly used. Deb has no respect for us. No respect for our belongings or the land she's parked on. Her boyfriend (yes, boyfriend) treats us like children, which I find completely aggravating.

R is convinced that if we can get her in the water that she won't be able to handle the boat. Which will lead to her moving. I disagree. I think she'll be there in the water or on land until we kick her out. At which time we'll be the bad guys.