I am not a fan of certain boy jobs. (We call the things I don’t like to do around the house “boy jobs”. As in my husband takes care of them. No, I’m not being sexist. Yes, girls can do these things – I just don’t like them. Maybe I should just call them “Eric Jobs”. Eh, you get the point.)
Things like taking out the garbage, of course. Here are a few more things I really don’t like doing when he’s away:
1. Spider annihilation. Ew. Just blegh!
2. Unclogging hair drains. (Have you seen this hair?!) I know it’s MY hair, but when it’s all wet and gross and soap-coated – um, no thank you.
3. Washing out the garbage bins
4. Getting gas. I know, ridiculous. I just hate being bothered by taking the time to go get gas. And my car seems to need gas ALL THE TIME. Can’t it just stay full for a while?!
5. Basically anything to do with car maintenance. I don’t mind getting the oil changed or whatever, but like getting gas, I just don’t like to be bothered. I like the idea of vehicle fairies that keep everything in working order without me having to worry about the details! God help me if the idiot maintenance indicator light comes on!
Pretty short list. After a year of going it alone, I find that I am more capable than I think. Here are things I once THOUGHT were boy jobs – but they got done!
1. Installed a CAR STEREO! That was a good day!
2. Raised my son’s bed….totally used to wait for Eric to do that one!
3. Spider Killing. Ew. Don’t care how many times I have to do it – I’ll never like it. Even had to kill one tonight! Ugh!
4. Teaching my kids to play sports. While I know my husband would give a limb to be here to do these things with them, he just can’t. Until he returns, we play games like frisbee, catch, basketball, and baseball….and pray they love sports as much as their Dad.
5, Working with the kids about chipping in and helping. (Granted this is an “us” job.) Started them a few months ago “helping” to unload and load the dishwasher, pick up their own stuff (that’s a daily battle!), sweeping the floor after dinner, setting the table, etc. Even got them washing the dishes!
6. Changed my son’s bike tire. Well…I almost did. The back tire got sliced so it needed a new tire AND tube. I was able to successfully get those on the rim, but putting the whole thing back on the chain proved a bit more than I could handle. I gave it an hour and half…complete with Hannah attempting to eat the bolts on the garage floor and Jacob whining “Are you done yyyyyyyet?!!??!” incessantly. I gave up, brought it in to the cycle shop and for 6 bucks, they did it in 5 minutes.
7. Removed food particles from the bottom of the dishwasher. Yeah, ew.
8. Changed out the propane tank on the gas grill. Grillin’ season is here, baby! Bring it.
None of these household jobs is especially difficult, but when you have someone around who just does them, you don’t really give it a second thought. Many of these things I’d NEVER done before – like rewire a stereo.
If living this military life teaches us nothing else, it will definitely teach us how to stretch further, learn more, and attempt to do many things we may not have thought we could do. Or, as in the case of my kid’s bike tire – you learn when to call a professional!
Done something you thought you’d never be able to do? What are your “jobs” around the house like? Tell me about ’em!
Life and Other Stuff 