Thursday, February 04, 2010

Don't be jealous

Don't be jealous, but Jake does almost all the laundry at our house. He always has, ever since we came home from our honeymoon, and dragged our dirties down to the coin-op machines at our first apartment in Provo. I found this, along with his vacuuming skills, quite shocking and liberal, since my pater familias grew up where women did the inside work, and men ran the farm and took care of livestock. Since we lived in suburban Los Angeles, Dad was short on livestock and acres of alfalfa. (We did have a smallish but brilliant mutt, Barney, who was clearly my Mother's domain. Father occasionally snuck him treats from his nightstand.) Maybe Dad considered the 2 hours a day he spent on the 405 freeway, commuting in and out of the Valley, equivalent to a cow, a sheep and 4 horses. I don't really know, but it seems reasonable.

Anyhow, since Jake is at the bottom of one of the world's most famous natural crevasses this week (Grand Canyon, not Mariana trench), the laundry room is full. I decided I better fold Clothes Mountain, which is looking more like the Rockies than the Appalachians every day, since this is my chance to prove that even a simple woman such as myself is capable of choosing hot or cold, delicate or heavy duty. But now that I think about it, perhaps I should play this thing all damsel-in-distress. I dunno. He'll be home tonight, so I've got a few hours to weigh my options.

Also, don't be jealous, but I had to turn on the air conditioning in my car today.

And, don't be jealous, but I have an entirely empty drawer in my bathroom. I haven't filled it, because it makes me feel very happy to know that if I wanted to stock up on toothbrushes or buy 200 bars of soap, I totally have a spot for them.

Who does what at your house? Do you stick to traditional sex roles, or is he the cook and you the plumber? Somehow, I got delegated the job of Pool Boy, which isn't working out so well, due to my delicate condition. I may need to trade for laundry, temporarily.

18 comments:

Wonder Woman said...

Yeah. I'm jealous of all of those things. I don't mind laundry, but it'd be heavenly to have Superman do it all. And I'm jealous of the fact that you HAVE a drawer in your bathroom. We're a little tight on space in there.

Lindsay said...

Okay, I'm a teensy bit jealous! Mostly about the AC in February thing.

My husband's job is to put things up in the attic or retrieve them for me. He could do nothing else and he'd still be my hero.

erin said...

I'll admit.. I'm super jealous that your Jake does laundry. That is AWESOME!
I do all the house work stuff and Jake took on yard work jobs. He really lucked out in this house because all we've got are rocks and palm trees...

the fowlers said...

We are pretty traditional.
Seeing as my husband is working long hours and crazy shifts, I don't mind doing the housework.
I also know that he is very capable of doing the household chores if need be - and he might be better than I am at a lot of those domestic jobs.
Sometimes I think he would actually be happy to trade roles (until he went crazy from cabin fever).

I am also jealous of your drawer. Any extra space is such a luxury!

La Yen said...

Lately, no one does anything. This does not work. I don't advise it.

I always do the laundry, since the horrifying Cashmere Incident. I insist that my husband clean out the cars. He mows the lawn sometimes. What we really need is a staff. Or a mother.

Amber said...

Laughing so hard I choked on my licorice...because I'm sort of skimming (toddler on my lap and grabbing things) and the line jumps out "do you stick to traditional sex" and I thought WHOA! Serious pregnancy hormones in play for a question like that!!

Molly said...

HAHAHA I thought the same thing when I read the sex roles thing...I pretty much almost died laughing. Kelly...can you just write a book already? I'd buy like 20 copies!

Jenni said...

Let's just say I'm a little jealous as well...the only time Josh has touched a piece of laundry is if I've left town with the kids and he's stuck home alone...even then i usually come back to a pile of his worn clothes waiting...nice. Since living in CA we've had a gardener take care of our lawns, and I pretty much take care of the rest. Such is life when your husband lives at the hospital 18+ hrs a day most days of the week. Ahh, isn't residency grand? NOT Good luck with the laundry decision...I have to know, did you fold or not?

acte gratuit said...

Oh, I'm jealous.

Doug helps with the folding of the laundry, (which I despise) but ONLY if I adhere to very precise specifications:
It ALL has to be completed in ONE day and only THEN will he help me fold it whilst we watch White Collar or Burn Notice or something. If a load is left by the washer, well...NO HELP FO' YOU!

But I can't complain. At least he does help AND he's a much better cook than me...when he has time to cook. AND he supervises the boys (shoddy) cleaning of the bathrooms on Saturdays, so...that's something!

And one day I'll pay him back by taking care of the yard and garden. One day when we have a yard and garden we have to take care of!

OH! And P.S.!!! I've been meaning to tell you this!

The other day I was watching "Doc Martin" via Hulu and they used the term "whinging" twice in one episode! And thanks to you, I knew what it meant!

Now to re-pay the favor I present you with...
"uxorious" (...think I found it in a PD James book...)

"Your husband is very uxorious if he's willing to do the laundry for you."

Couldn't remember the spelling so I had to waddle all the way upstairs to get that off the bathroom wall where I'd written it.

You're welcome.

Happy folding.

The Fear Fam said...

Thank you for taking time away from Clothes Mountain to write such an entertaining post!

We're not very traditional around here.... we both do a bit of everything. He actually likes to cook (whereas I only like to bake), so if his schedule permits, he does the cooking. We grocery shop together, again if his schedule permits. We make the kids do the dishes. I am in charge of the money. (I am a control freak that way.) Neither one of us mops, which is a problem, but the baby is usually dragging a blanket around so at least the sweeping gets done.

Claire said...

I know you said not to be jealous.

But you know I am.

Beeswax said...

Please do not tell me about any non traditional sex going on at your place. Altho, you know, that's what you get when you give women the vote. HAHA.

I do fold sometimes, and I mostly put away.

Emily, thanks for the new word. I will ponder how best to use it in an upcoming post. Do you write lots of things on your bathroom wall?

Perhaps in a future post, I will chronicle our disagreements over yard work (each of us thinks the other should do it.) Or I could tell about the time my Dad attempted the laundry. He was banned from the laundry room forever after.

Brett and Shireen Olsen said...

Brett did laundry when I was on bed rest with Sariah, and it was a little rough. He gets major points for effort, but he dried EVERYTHING, and sometimes that just isn't a good thing.

We used to share inside and outside work, but now it's more gender specific since we had the kid (and I have decided I don't enjoy yard work even a little bit.) But with the husband home tons more, he does a lot of the taking care of the child, diapers, even some cooking and help with cleaning. And I work... so it balances out I suppose.

SBrooks said...

I do the laundry of the boys and I, albeit my dear hubby feels I am incapable of such responsibility for his things to be laundered. Works for me. He changes a few times a day! He is an amazing kitchen cleaner. Takes everything up off the counters and washes under it all. (Me, I do that maybe twice a year!) He is good at mopping the floors too. I, I own the majority of the power tools at our house and am not afraid to use them. So, we equal out and after 15 years, seems to be working just grandly. (I do say, we are loving the 70 degree weather today!)

Hailey said...

Ben started doing his own laundry a few years ago, when he decided he wanted to actually wear clean clothes every day. Smart move on his part, and I didn't complain.

He also puts most people to shame with his cooking, including myself.

As for me, I do a LOT of dishes, a lot of delegating to children, and a little complaining when the maid (we don't have) doesn't show up.

Anonymous said...

I think I read this post late at night or in a hurry...because last night I was telling my husband about your pater familia's lack of livestock and alfalfa and I couldn't stop laughing. I couldn't remember where I read it, though, and had a little panic that I wouldn't be able to find it again. But of course, it was you!

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Beeswax said...

this is ross.2.0. the littler one. the clothes mountain actually looked more like mt. everest before you started.