Wives and other assets

Proverbs 18:22
He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.

Hey, I am just trying to be helpful...like any good "helpmeet" would:)

The back screened door works nicely and I am glad to keep the cats off the back porch... cat hair on the cushions is annoying. It has helped alot to have the tilling done in time for me to plant those broccoli plants before the rains. I realize we had to move the mailbox, but it actually looks better in it's new place. So, all in all, I am happy with the beginning of momentum in knocking out those pesky maintenance jobs (finally).

I hope to take a few pictures of our kitchen to post here and to resume talking about what we both consider to be the highlight of our remodeling career here in the do-it- yourself house. I am still getting satisfaction from having such a nice kitchen. I think my happiness meter has been in the positive for more than seven years on that one.

Now, I am solacing (comforting, rewarding)

Is "refreshing" yourself the word you were looking for?

Springtime Projects

Being the main gardener about these parts, springtime has me focused on garden chores and plans ( for myself!), but it always seems there are many unfinished tasks to remind the Handyman about. He gets distracted. So here is the sample conversation we recently had:

ME: Don't you think 25 years is a fairly long time to wait for something?
Handyman: Yes, I do.
ME: Well, you know the outlets in the living room have been needing replacement for about that long, think you could do that this week?
Handyman: I think it was about 22 years. It's a pretty easy job- I just need reminding.
ME: I'm reminding you about it right now, what will you need to get the job done?
Handyman: A quick trip to the hardware and getting better quality outlets this time should do it.
ME: That would be great- you know it is really annoying when the vacuum won't stay plugged in and the light plugs fall out, etc.
Handyman: I know, I just don't think about it very often.

Segue to the following week: the outlets purchased, but not yet fixed. In the meantime, though, we have decided on something that puts out reminders for pesky jobs without having a pesky wife do all the reminding work:

by the basement we now have a board on which I have stuck post-it notes enumerating said pesky jobs. Handyman knows where to look if he feels like accomplishing something small, but necessary. And there are always small, but necessary jobs around an old house.

I think this is a good solution for the merry-go-round of trying to coordinate job requests and time to work on them without the sometimes irritated feelings that can go with a d-i-yourself lifestyle.

One Hardworking Man

When you live through all that there is much that you just take in stride (or suffer through- you pick), but when I read through Handyman's account I started to remember just how hard he worked... and keeps working. We can say we were nuts, that we would not do this again if we had known how much work we had let ourselves in for, but the truth is that the Handyman honed his skills and proved his mettle in the accomplishment of what is probably the work of two men... no, probably more like a team of men. He did get some help from our sons, but the elephant share was his own sweat equity (and blood sometimes... if you count scratches and whatall).

Thanks, Handyman... you have made things nice for us. and that kitchen is a constant pleasure:)
I'll try to get some pictures scanned in if I can find them...
Technorati Tags: Handyman,

Greetings

Hi:

I am finally posting here for the first time and find myself suffering from writer's block! My name is 'Handyman', and my wife and I live in a 100+ year old farm house. I often say I live in a project, because after 21 years of being here, the projects are never ending. I had some basic remodeling experience before moving here, but since that time have learned a great deal thru reading, talking, and mostly hands-on experience (lots of trial/error), and now consider myself somewhat of a pro. Many of the improvements have had to be customized, since so little was based on generally accepted standard construction practices.

So, here I am, finally on board and ready to periodically offer my thoughts, opinions, advice, etc., for whatever it is worth.

Kudos and Complaints

I had sort of s semi-complaint about my husband in the Garden Journal today, but immediately after posting I started to think, and realize we all have our negatives and positives. I was grousing a bit about how my children break tools, and my husband doesn't have the disposition to train them to take care of things...in comparison with my father who was obsessive about that, with the result that his tools were always in top notch condition and you always knew exactly where they were. Which was much of the point, really. He was raised that way and was a stickler ( I used to do yard work, etc. for him ) all his life on the point that every tools must go into its proper place. He was good that way.

What happened to me? I wasn't long raised by him- divorce, you see. I'm sort of something in between. My husband is always misplacing everything, and it is never in good condition long... and kids tend to follow their fathers ( sort of, except for ... :0 ) Anyway, I was thinking about that and wrote a bit on it, but then I thought about the fact that my husband is a steady hard driving worker, unlike my father who ( and I am like this ) worked in frenetic spurts after maddeningly long periods of detailed planning and languishment of motivation. He got little actually done in his long life, whereas my husband has done an amazing amount of work, real accomplishments and (mostly) finished jobs. He has a phenomenal patience with the fact that we work year after year in an ever marching line of projects. He also had the high praise from my father that he ( my husband, my dad's d-i-y apprentice) had far surpassed him in excellence of work. Really, the man does a very fine job on what he undertakes. Not perfect, but it compares well with most professionals.
I started to think about that. Not everyone has the same set of qualities and skills, and that is as it should be, but we don't always appreciate that in each other.

Do I tell my husband? I do. It is the one thing I am unabashedly positive about- I practically gush. Like Red Green says "And men, remember, if the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.".

yep. Red Green, the d-i-y unofficial spokesman. What will we do, now that the show has gone the way of "Friends", and "Buffy"? Redo the Re-runs.... and somehow that fits in such an à propos way.

Technorati Tags: ,