Sunday, April 10, 2011

Honey-Do Lists

I like to pretend that I'm a super independent girl who could figure out a way to fix/take care of anything.  In reality, my awesome husband allows me to harbor this delusion by getting things done around the house that I wouldn't even know how to begin.  Every time I ask him to hang a picture for me he says "You know you're perfectly capable of doing this yourself, right?" and reminds me that someday I'll have to learn, since he wont always be there to help (thanks, Navy!).  Although the vote of confidence is nice, he always ends up taking care of it for me.  While the picture scenario may be just an example, and I probably could do it myself, the real reason I always ask him is my horrible sense of when things are straight.  My parents can attest to years of asking "How does this look? Is it crooked?" and then stepping down to find out that I was totally off.  Putting a nail in a rental house wall is just so permanent! :)

For those of you who don't know, Colin is currently in Connecticut for two months finishing up training for the navy.  While he's there, I'm in upstate NY keeping up our 100 year old rental house.  We've been living here for about a year, and have definitely seen our share of issues (the furnace going out at least twice in the middle of snowstorms, windows that don't close just right, walls falling down in the basement, squeaky floors that made it impossible for me to get things done while Colin slept during the day on the night shift, etc.).  That being said, it really is a great house.  It's got tons of character and quirks!
In the fall for Halloween

Ever since Colin left, I've been noticing things that need fixing/keeping up, and just sort of figuring out a way to live around them until he comes for a visit next weekend.  The hallway light is out, the dishwasher is leaking, and the yard looks like it's been under five feet of snow for the last six months.  I'm perfectly capable of fixing all of these things (just as Colin would remind me), but for some reason I've just naturally started compartmentalizing them as things I need him to take care of.

Our house decorated for Christmas!
In an effort to get myself ready for the inevitable three month deployments in my future, I'm pledging to start trying to do these things on my own, and throwing out the "honey-do" list.  This new me of course, will be making it's debut after Colin's visit this weekend.  I mean, I've made it this far, right? :)

For all of you military wives out there (and the regular kind too!), what have you found yourself relying on someone else in your household to do?  How do you change your ways once deployments or training rolls around?

4 comments:

  1. Just yesterday I was driving, following my GPS every command, when all of a sudden the screen goes dim. I think, hmmm, thats weird. It must have been from the overcast and went into night mode. Now I know there is a way to manually turn it back to bright but I can only fumble around with the controls so much while trying to drive 65mph on the freeway...and I cant see when the next turn is! The whole time I was thinking, Jorge would totally have known how to fix it in less than 2 seconds, but I had to go without picture and just follow the commands by sound hoping I was always in the closest lane of traffic for the next turn. I did ok but it did not make for a fun driving experience. If only I could have called him. I, like you, will have to get used to the fact that we wont be able to just call at the drop of a hat (or when the gps freaks out). Now of course I could have came home (or pulled over) to get out the manual and find out how to adjust the brightness but I just figure I will ask Jorge when he gets back next week. :) We really must be programed to think this way cause like you said I am perfectly capable to figuring it out...if I really wanted to. :) Great post!

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  2. Steve was gone for a month for training and I found myself doing that exact thing, creating a honey-to-do-list for when he gets home. But like you said what do we do when they go out on several months of deployment and the project can't wait. I haven's experienced a deployment yet only training stunts. Like for example the bottom half of the vacuum (the push part) wasn't working so I just kept using the hand held part to vacuum the entire floor and waiting for Steve to come home and figure it out. When he did come home and look at it it was just plugged with a whole bunch of gross stuff...I could of easily done this. I guess what I need to do is just attempt it and see if I can handle it by myself, instead of just leaving it for him. Thanks Kristin! I really needed to tell myself that:)

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  3. I'm such a wimp. I can't do anything by myself! And when I do I'm ridiculously proud and feel like I need to take pictures and send it to everybody. I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who cares that I put together a wire shoe rack. :)

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  4. Meg: The idea of you vacuuming your whole house with a handheld vacuum while super pregnant is just too good of an image to let go :)

    Shannon: I care!! That's pretty impressive actually. I might be contracting you out to put together our new furniture after my first ikea shopping trip in Seattle. Then we can post the pictures on the blog for all to see! :)

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