guys being asked to help

[jenP_97]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "harpdreamer" <pbnesbit at m...> wrote:
> Hi all, 
> 
> I've been following this thread with a lot of interest and realise 
> just how lucky I am.  
> 
> Doug had been married before and had also lived on his own when we 
> started dating.  Not only did I get a man who'd been housetrained
<g> 
> he also had a cat, a dog, and two adorable children.  For our first 
> official date, he grilled the best barbeque chicken I've *ever* 
> tasted.  
> 
> We share cooking duties, cleaning duties (although he takes care of 
> cleaning our cat's litter box), and washing dishes.  
> 
> Gosh, I'm lucky!
> 
> Peace & Plenty, 
> 
> Parker

I just also wanted to say I'm lucky - but stick a little dig in at
Chris, too... ;)

Chris and I got married right out of college... well, okay, he got
married right out of grad school.  As recent grads, we'd never lived
on our own before (he went through grad school living with his sister
and her boyfriend), so we hadn't come up with our own individual
"quirks" yet... so we were both malleable to "training". 
Unfortunately, we both grew up in what may have been the messiest
households in the country, so our housekeeping skills were minimal -
at best.  They still are, but I have this streak of "offend your
family, impress everyone else" in me, so I end up tidying up fairly
well when company comes over.

Chris does the dishes.  He's done them pretty much ever since we've
been married, and it's almost like he thinks I *can't* do them.  The
bad part about this is when he puts them away.  As the main cook of
the house (and a good one, as my waist professes!), I'm the one who
needs to know where everything is... so I end up grousing when the
first place I check doesn't have what I'm looking for in it.  He's
notoriously bad about measuring cups.  And measuring spoons.  ARGH!

I end up doing the laundry... mostly because I don't think he can sort
clothes.  I *know* he's not color blind... I think this is one of
those things where he does it badly just to get me to do it.  I mean,
come on.  When I do a load of whites, I do everyone's whites.  He was
running out of socks one time (I swear, he must have 20 pairs of
socks... what does he do, wear 3 pairs a day???), so he did a load of
whites.  But he only did HIS whites, so I had half a load of whites
when it came time to do mine.  So now he just complains to me when he
needs laundry. :)

He does the cat box (but not as often as I'd like), and he "takes care
of the dog", since I am NOT a dog person, and have been mad about our
acquisition of said dog ever since we got her.  Of course, there's dog
poop in the run as we speak, so maybe I'll just do a little child
psychology on him and tell him if I catch another pooper-scooper sized
load of crap out there one more time, the dog's going to the pound. ;)

And then, once in a blue moon, he gets some kind of "specialized
cleaning fit" on and dusts all the a/c vents and the top of the
ceiling fan in our room.  But does he do anything else while he has
the vacuum out?  Nooooooooooooooooo. ;)

Jen (who really *is* lucky (I hate dishes!), but still needs to find
something to nitpick...)