I dislike housework-until it is done and I love how good everything looks. You wouldn't know that from this summer when I cleaned every. single. wall, closet, drawer, floor, nook and cranny. My husband hates housework. I won't ask him directly why because if he answered like I think he would (some of his family think it is a sin to let boys/men do any housework) there would be blood-and not mine. My husband uses his back injury to not do housework. I get that his back hurts-and sometimes it is bad-but not all the time.
Over the years I have devised ways to get him to do house work-I split up the rooms and I have practiced turning a blind eye when things are dusty--I know he will eventually clean because his "messy tolerance" is lower than mine (but not by much!) My best scheme?
I bought a Dyson. My pet and human hair hating husband loved it so much I have barely used it. (I recently bought a shark, too for quick cleaning and same result-his baby).
This year a new hurdle in the chore department arose-lawn mowing. Before moving here I had never mowed (really) I made it 30+ years without touching a lawn mower. My parents sent me away when they mowed grass due to my allergies. I rented as an adult in places where the landlord took care of the lawn. Not here. We have to take care of the yard now. Don't get me wrong-I love yard work. Love it! I have mowed the grass for 3 summers with only a few complaints even though I am a horrible mower-since. I cut in a random way, I can't mow along the fence without getting the mower stuck- I cut off the flower on my hostas, I displace the borders on m flower beds every single time.
All of this I chalked up to a learning experience until I mowed over a Cast Iron cover to a sewer vent (?) that was flush with the ground-something I had done dozens of times in 3 years--and, for the record, something my husband did too the few times he has mowed. This time, however, when I mowed over it the blade of the mower caught it and shattered the CAST IRON top into a gazillion pieces. (We have not been able to find a replacement that fits either).
The Husband got angry. I got angry at him for being angry. As I said-this is the way we have both mowed that spot for 3 summers. So I quit mowing.
Surprisingly, he started mowing without complaint.
It helped that the neighbor asked loudly why I was the only one mowing and my husband wasn't-and my answer may not have included "back injury." Men hate it when neighbors point out things :)
It helped for awhile that I hurt my knee and my asthma has flared up majorly because of the long, hot, wonderful actual summer we are having.
Now, he has an intestinal issue (IBS) and he is going through a huge flare up and getting off the couch isn't high on his to-do list. (He has an endoscopy tomorrow-this is a baaaad flare-up)
I am still having asthma issues. Big ones- where mowing the grass may not be okay-and I'm not going to find out.
So now neither of us is willing to mow the lawn.
The grass is high enough to 'flower'. I am thinking of tying a flag on the dog so I can track her movements in it.
It's a contest to see who breaks first.
No comments:
Post a Comment