Real men

[mikensara]

I am happy with simple appliances that just get the job done my husband thinks on the bigger scale lol which is why i still have a plywood floor in the kitchen he wants a floating floor I told him never mind just get me the linoleum tiles i can glue them down myself.

 

[theoldchick]

Oddly, my dad told me the very same thing. 'Learn how to do it yourself'. He taught me how to load and shoot all of his weapons, taught me how to change a tire, how me to change the oil in the car, flush the radiator, adjust the carburetor, mow grass, plow the garden and so forth. I was NOT Daddy's girl. I was a soldier in training

but I now appreciate all those simple but important things needed for basic survival, especially how to use the 'old boy network' when a job was too big for one person.

 

[pdsavage]

Quote:

Mine is learning to cook now....

 

[Happy Chooks]

Quote:
I did all those things for decades before I met my wife. Can still out-cook or bake 99% of the women I have met. So

Your wife is a smart woman!

I'd let ya cook, but I'd have to fight you for the baking!

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

DH took good care of himself long before I came along, he can clean and cook and sew.

I don't want to do his chores.... But, I'm gonna give this mower a try tomorrow. He can't believe I let such a cool new toy sit for a week without playing with it!

 

[theoldchick]

I like mowing grass because that is my alone time. Nobody will bother you when you are mowing grass.

 

[Beekissed]

Quote:
Actually that is a great idea.
My sister's neighbors were an elderly couple who had been married well over 50 years. The wife suddenly died. The poor man had no idea how to live without her. He couldn't fix his own dinner, had never shopped for groceries, didn't know how to pay the bills, couldn't do laundry, had no idea how to clean the house. He was just lost. Completely lost. For a while his daughter drove in to check on him daily. They ended up moving him into a home. He died fairly soon after that. I always wondered if he had had some life skills if he might have lasted longer. It was very sad.

I'm a HUGE believer in equal opportunity learning. I'm single, so I HAVE to do all the chores (both man chores and woman chores). If I don't do it it isn't going to get done. I am appalled by women who say that they can't do certain things (and men too!). Nope. You can figure out a way to do anything that needs to be done (even if that means hiring or bartering to get a chore done!). None of us live forever. You never know when you will have to take over all the chores of life. Better to be prepared than to have to figure it out in the midst of grief.

Ditto this! Been a single mom for 25 years and have found the more versatile you are in this life, the less stress you will have. I have three boys that now know how to bake bread better than even I do, can do all the necessary homemaking chores as well as the guy stuff. I, too, have always been amazed at the number of women who feel quite smug when they tell how they don't DO changing tires or mowing the lawn because they have husbands for that.

I once asked one of my friends what she would do if she had a flat tire and she replied, "That's what God made cell phones for!". To my knowledge this same woman has never pumped her own gas since getting married....she will drive an almost empty tank home and let her husband run it down to the gas station to fill. She says she doesn't do any man-type chores because she is "worth it"...meaning that her husband values her so much he would never expect her to do anything like that.

What does that make me? Guess the rest of us gals who have been running weedeaters, changing oil and building fence are just worthless!

 

[theoldchick]

Well, I'm feel like I'm plumb spoiled when I get to use the car lift to change the oil!

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

Quote:
Don't get me wrong. I am always happy to let some guy come charging in and take care of the chores. If he wants to change my flat tire for me I will gush and ooh and aah appropriately.

I would love to have a hunny around to take care of some of the chores (especially the ones I hate!). But life doesn't always work out the way we think it will and no one lives forever. I always thought I would be married with a houseful of kids by this point. Instead it is just me and all the chores land on my head. I have learned to work power tools and fix the riding mower and weedeat and fix plumbing and do all sorts of things that I never thought I would have to do. But if it is going to get done I have to suck it up and do it.

Your friend's attitude is somewhat appalling. What she sees as being "worth it" I see as being helpless and weak. I hope she doesn't have kids to pass that on to.

 

[zippitydooda]

Well, while it sounds quite noble, how about flipping it to the opposite side for a second:

HE needs to be given a new vacuum, a new washer/dryer, a new oven/stove, a new broom & mop..... etc, etc etc.


Get the picture? I mean, what would HE do if you were gone? You need to make sure HE is going to be able to survive... teehee!