Gaby doesn't usually ask me my opinion about housekeeping, but tonight he came to me while I was sitting at my computer and asked me whether he should mow the lawn, do the dishes, or bathe the dogs. I considered the question momentarily. I would be fixing dinner starting at 9:00, so the dishes would need to be done by then. At the time he asked, there was plenty of time to bathe the dogs before doing the dishes. The lawn could be put off till tomorrow. So I told him, "Dogs first, then the dishes." Then I went back to my Words With Friends game.
About 7:40, I got in the shower so that that would be done before Big Brother came on at 8:00. By the time the show started, I was dressed for work. As I watched the show, I was vaguely aware of the sound of the lawn mower. When Fritz the dog was let in the house, I noticed that he hadn't been bathed. I briefly wondered about it, but this wouldn't have been the first time Gaby asked my advice about something and then did something else. Oh, well. As long as he gets the dishes done.
After Big Brother, I got on Facebook to discuss the show with a couple of friends. It was an amusing conversation, and when Gaby came in the door, I shared a bit of it with him. He said, "You know, you could have watched the show in the studio while you were bathing the dogs."
I suddenly realized that my interpretation of the initial conversation was ALL wrong.
I also realized I was in the doghouse.
He went on to complain that I had been sitting in front of the computer all day doing nothing, and that it wasn't like I'd been to busy to help when he asked. Which is true; I'd been practially inert in the whole five and half hours I'd been awake. And worse, I'd been entirely self-absorbed and had not paid any attention to what he was doing at all.
So how do I fix this? Ideally, I would fly around the world in a westerly direction so fast that I would actually cause the earth to rotate backward and thereby turn back time and correct my mistake before it happened. But that seemed impractical.
But I still had more than an hour before I had to go to work, so I figured that if I went and got dinner at, say, Subway, and then washed the dishes before and after I ate, that should at least get one job done. So that's what I did. And it worked out.
I still need to do the two fleabags, but that'll have to wait till tomorrow.
The husband is the one paying the bills and that makes me feel I shouldn't ask to be helped doing housework; (sometimes I wonder if that's actually the reason why he doesn't like to help around the house) But every once in awhile he does something around the house, which is really appreciated.
ReplyDeleteThis time I felt I really needed some help and this is what I said:
"Hon I need help. Mowing, dogs or dishes? pick one... or two. All of the above, or none?"
Then he said: "Dogs first then the dishes" And I said: "Okay!!" I couldn't believe he was gonna do those things!
I went to the studio, clear the table and gather all the things needed to bathe the dogs and make everything easier for him.
I finished the lawns and I noticed that no dogs were bathe and no dishes were washed; The husband was watching TV and playing on the computer when I let the "fleabags" in the house; I though it was too good to be true. But it's not uncommon for him no to do things he's suppose to do; so I was like "Oh well!"
This proves that using the same formula he uses to ask ME to do things, doesn't even work on him! Oh,the joys of marriage...! LOL love you, hubby!