Its now week two of living together with my Other Half. So far still so good, though I have started a mental list of the pros and cons to try to work out if the whole me working part-time and being a full time housewife is A Good Thing or not. Economics aside, I’m loving that most of the time I do what I want when I want. No office politics, no sticking on the hated suit in the morning to squash my way into the personal space of people I wouldn’t want in my house commuter hell. Just get up when I’ve had enough sleep, toddle down in my PJs for a coffee and work out what I need to do that day. After nine years of the nine-to-five-if-you’re-very-lucky-you-slacker this is sheer and utter bliss.
There are definitely some downsides to this. The housework – my chores – get done irrespective of my other half’s mood as I require clean mugs for my coffee, snowy white bed-linen and so on. The DIY – his chores – only get done if I am nice to him and of course are much more tiring and so on. Also manly chores, such as outside drain unblockage, are invariably my fault. What on earth have I been doing that it has blocked up? A combination of Victorian plumbing and five years of bachelor living where Mr Muscle has never even seen the dark of the under-sink cupboard let alone gurgled its way along the tubes clearing all in its path spring to mind. But I don’t want to end up doing it myself so I decide not to mention it.
There is also the matter of the kitchen cupboard which has been squatting in the front room since the fridge freezer was fitted a couple of months back and I want back on the wall. This is a two-person job so I am treading the delicate balance of reminding without nagging. The breakage of one of the OH’s favourite mugs (initially blamed on drainer I chose rather than the lack of a kitchen cupboard to put away the washing up in) has upped this on his priorities. (The fact that I carefully ensconced my Niagara Falls Starbucks mug at the back of the drainer and safe from all harm has so far escaped his notice.) And I’ve finally been given the all clear to purchase the shelving from IKEA to put up in the kitchen. Its only been sitting in our hallway for a week now.
All in all though its working out well on the domestic front. OH has a delightful deal with a retainer contract that provides him with a salary and frequently no work and is consequently able to linger at home working on his own pet computer projects whilst waiting for his employer to send him stuff so doesn’t really have an excuse for not pulling his full weight. Nonetheless I suspect cooking him some tasty Italian meals is still the best way to get him to do the washing up…
