Minor Vent

So, Mr. is a bit of a neat-freak. I often drive his little OCD-lite self nutty when it takes me two weeks to unpack or if I place a used shirt next to the hamper instead of in it. If I had my druthers, I'd keep up my slightly sloppy ways, but I try to be better about things for the sake of Mr.'s sanity.

Of course, when he then falls short, I get frustrated. For example, he always seems to forget to place a new trash bag in the kitchen trash can after he takes out the trash. Now taking out the trash is great! And in my former life, I would have just been happy about him taking out the trash. Except, if I were the one to forget to put in a new bag, he would point it out in a "you know better than this" type of tone. And because of that, I get annoyed. However, I don't want to nit-pick, so instead I point it out and say, "if I did this, you would get mad". Or "guess what you forgot again!" in a cheery tone. He takes it well...but still always forgets the darn bag!

Then there's the bed making. I don't like to make the bed when nobody is going to see it. In fact, making the bed every day may actually be unhealthy. But, again, it's something Mr. is picky about, so we do it. The deal is the last person out of bed makes the bed. That's usually Mr. so it works out for me. However, last night I put new sheets on the bed late at night...right before bed... When I was finished, Mr. noted my sloppy execution ...not in a mean way, it was kinda cute, but still, it was right before bed. You know, when we were going to mess up the sheets anyway?
It didn't affect me at the time, but it did irk me a little when I discovered this morning that Mr. (who wakes up after me but leaves before me this rotation) didn't make the bed. Normally I would leave it, but we have house guests coming today who are getting in while Mr. and I are both at work. Oy. Vey. Really??

So, I rushed to make the bed and then subsequently missed my bus. Luckily I wasn't late, but I cut it very close!

Ah well. No harm, no foul...

24-hour call

Mr. and I have google calendars that we both have access to so we can each know what the other is doing. For Saturday (today), I saw Mr. had marked '12 hour weekend call'. So, I figured Friday night would be a chill night. I'd make some dinner, do a little laundry, and hang out with Mr. during his study breaks. On my way home, though, I received a text message from him informing me that he had 24-hour call and wouldn't be home until 6am.

So, I went home, made dinner, put the rest of it away, did the laundry, washed the dishes, and took out the trash. And while I did that, I though back to the housework shift from single life to married life. It's not that husbands are so high maintenance that they require so much housework, particularly not in my case. Instead (in my completely unsubstantiated opinion), it's because we're more motivated to take care of others better than we take care of ourselves. For example, it's more fun to cook for someone else than just yourself. When I'm just cooking for me, I want the food to be done as soon as possible so I can eat it. When I'm cooking for other people, though, I want them to enjoy it, I want it to be balanced, etc.

By getting into the habit of caring for another person, I feel like perhaps I'm growing up a little bit. There's a reason, after all, why immature characters in movies and tv shows are always eating ramen noodles and Chinese take-out.

Around the Home

A recent study by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan found that while men on average save an hour of housework upon getting married, women gain seven. Seven!!

Let's see... before I got married, I lived with my brother in Manhattan. I never made my bed, in part because I didn't care and partly because I didn't mess it up. I only picked the clothes off my floor in order to take them to the wash & fold place to be cleaned. I rarely bought groceries and ate mostly spaghetti or chinese delivery. Because I cut him a break on rent, my brother would sometimes do my dishes and usually took the trash out. Yeah, I didn't really do any housework.

Mr., on the other hand, was the most frequent dishwasher in his apartment he shared with 2 of his classmates and would be embarrassed if his bed wasn't made or if a single pair of pants was on the floor. He'd go grocery shopping twice, sometimes 3 times per week and did his own laundry. On top of being a first year medical student, he did everything around the apartment.

Over a year after moving in with Mr., I now cook dinner at least four or five times per week, go grocery shopping at least once a week, make the bed every morning, do laundry two or three times per month, dust, swiffer, and take out the trash. Plus, while we used to have the deal that he would do the dishes after I cooked dinner, I picked that up a few weeks before the boards.

Don't tell Mr., but oddly enough, I'm kind of starting to like it. I prefer to do the dishes in the morning before work. I time it while listening to music or watching the news. I may still have a pile of clothes sitting directly next to the hamper, but living with Mr. and his ridiculous schedule has brought out a better, more responsible side of me. Crazy, huh?