Whether you've been married for one or ten years - or if you're about to be married - how the heck do you score points with your mother in law?

If our own moms are pretty hard to please, can you imagine how doubly difficult it must be to look good in the eyes of our in laws?

Here are a few tipsthat you can follow:

• Give her regular "How're things doing?" calls.
Your hubby's mom would hate it if you completely shut her out of her son's (married) life. It'll be thoughtful to give her calls just to check how she's doing.

• Don't mess with her recipes - even if you're in your own kitchen!
Say you invited your mother-in-law to dinner. If she makes a suggestion for your meat loaf recipe, take her up on it. Better yet, ask her to write you down a copy of the recipe. The next time that she comes over, she may even whip up one of her sumptuous dishes to help you out!

• Don't go into war mode with your hubby in front of her.
Remember that your husband's her son - so she's bound to take his side. If you're having problems dealing with a **monster-in-law **- talk it out with your husband and try not to get into a catfight with her, lol.

At the end of the day, remember that when you married your husband, a mother-in-law comes with the package. **So even if you can't stand her - **just grin and bear it!