Monday, February 23, 2009

we all have our jobs

My husband is great about sharing the housework to keep things running around here. But there are some areas where we each have our strengths.

His jobs include:

  • Carrying the garbage out to the curb
  • Picking up gallons of milk and other miscellaneous items at the store on his way home from work
  • Replacing light bulbs
  • Repairing things
  • Starting fires
  • Grilling
  • and Killing bugs

I am willing to help with all but the last one.

"Mom! There's a bug on the toilet seat!" my daughter screamed this morning.

"Go tell your dad. He's in charge of bugs," I was able to calmly reply. (Whew! Got out of that one!)

I do a lot of the picking up of rooms, folding laundry, dusting, vacuuming and kitchen cleaning, which makes sense because he is gone at work all day. He would actually help more if I didn't keep banning him from certain household chores. I just like things done my way, sometimes.

But there are a few things we both agree are definitely MY job:

  • Determining whether an outfit is appropriate and if it matches. ("I don't think you are allowed to wear pink socks with a blue shirt. Better ask your mom.")
  • Deciding if a snack is appropriate at a certain time. ("I don't think you can eat Cheetos for breakfast. Better ask your mom.")
  • Making phone calls. You know, arranging car pools, play dates, making doctor's appointments.
  • Figuring out WHAT we will eat at mealtime. My husband has no problem cooking a meal, but deciding what we will eat is another story.
  • Finding ANYTHING. A lost sock. A lost backpack. A lost toy. I am the only person in the house who is capable of that job. And it's not for lack of effort. It seems to be a genetic code that is only granted to women of a certain age. (I'm exaggerating, of course!)

Sometimes it's tempting to get frustrated if someone else can't match up a shirt and pants or find the missing glove. But then I have to remember, it's WAY better than killing spiders... or carrying out the garbage!

What about you? How do the chores break down at YOUR house?


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Our households seem to mirror each other, but, I could often care less about any rooms, other than the kitchen and family rooms being clean. And, occassionally, I like for my feet not to stick to the bathtub..I do like a clean bathroom. But nobody can kill vermin like Mike and no one has the eagle eyes that I do!!!

everydayMOM said...

Ahh... the vermin... I should have also included varmints and rodents in that list. The men definitely have something special in their genetic code that allows them to "take care" of those pests... It's definitely not a quality I possess. Although, I would be able to FIND a dead mouse if one happened to be missing. =]

Sarah said...

I don't kill anything. Not that I want them to be alive...I just can't do the killing.

everydayMOM said...

Sarah... hopefully, you don't have to actually KILL a mouse to BE BRAVE!

I LOVED your post on the application of being brave in the face of the mouse. Check out Sarah's latest post, if you haven't already!

Anonymous said...

I need to know, has anyone else been fired from helping with various "household engineering" duties?

Mike?

everydayMOM said...

"household engineering"??? ... as in the laundry???

Mrs.Naz@BecomingMe said...

Love, love,love the bug one...I assigned my husband that job, but he refuses to see it as just his.Grrr. :-)

everydayMOM said...

Mrs. Naz... so glad you came by on a NON-LOST day!

You kill your own bugs?!?! I'm really not a girly-girl, but I have to draw the line at bugs. Even when my husband is out of town for a few weeks, I still save the bugs for him. Of course, that means I then have to LIVE with a bug in the house and that can be worse. I've been known to throw an encyclopedia on a spider and then just leave it there for a week until he gets home to clean up the mess.

Say it with me: "Bugs are not my job!"

Jenny-Jenny said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jenny-Jenny said...

I actually take care of the bugs at our house. Sunday morning breakfast..that's Mike's and at about 7:45am each Sunday the whole neighborhood can undoubtedly hear "Come and get it" bellowed from the foot of the stairs. How surprised would I be to have the neighbors start showing up for banana pancakes? Not a bit cuz I'm sure they heard the call. see the delicious recipe on his blog www.mikeonhisbike.blogspot.com

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