Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The barrette that rankled my marriage



The following is a true story.

As the Mom in the house, I'm sick and tired of being the only family member that can actually SEE and ACT ON all the crap laying around. What is wrong with the eyesight in my husband and children?? My barrette story is a perfect illustration.

My hubby and I share a bathroom, but our daughters often invade and leave their flotsam behind. And I'm always the one to return it to their bathroom or bedroom. Sometime in February, I noticed a barrette, like the one pictured, on our bathroom floor. As I was reaching for it, something in me just snapped. I thought, "I'm NOT picking up that G.D. barrette. Let HIM notice this stuff for once and deal with it! They are HIS kids too. HE knows where their bathroom is!".

So for many weeks, that barrette just SAT there, in plain sight, just gathering dust and hair and all the other gross stuff on a bathroom floor. Oh, and I might add that since I started working more, he offered to keep our bathroom clean as his sole responsibility. His standard of clean is from another planet, but that's another blog altogether.

Anyway, for weeks I stared at that crusty barrette and fumed. So one day 2 weeks ago I picked it up and put it on his sink. It sat there for another week. Then 4 days ago, you know where I found it?? ON MY SINK!!!!!

What is wrong with you men? I didn't get any specialized training in picking up after the kids! Just use your common sense for cryin out loud! Can anybody explain this to me? My friend Mary says evidently you have to have an old uterus to notice things like piles of your own crap on the stairs, and that the toilet paper needs replacing. And no, replacing the toilet paper doesn't mean perching the new roll on top of the empty roll.

And the girls' hair things go in their bathroom. It's NOT THAT HARD!

9 comments:

Cheesecake Maven said...

Okay, here's what you do. Make a very nice dinner tonight, and on his plate, have a very special little covered dish, just for him. Place the crusty, dusty barrette under his very pretty little covered dish and let him find it while enjoying that wonderful meal you just put on the table. (Not my idea, I'm having visions of "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" again.) It's those little things that really add up, isn't it? Just breath deeply and get out the 2 by 4, take a good breath before the swing. Have a happy last day of winter! Tomorrow will be better!

Dr. Monkey Von Monkerstein said...

Dr. Laura says it's your fault for not training him right. Me, I'm not about assigning blame.

michaelg said...

I don't see the problem.

michaelg said...

Hee hee hee.

laurie said...

let me guess: he thought he was doing you a favor.

Christopher Tassava said...

My wife and I differ as to just how much lint means its time to vacuum, but I always change the toilet paper roll, pick up junk on the floor, hang towels, etc.

Mnmom said...

Christopher, perhaps you could teach a seminar: how much dirt is just too much, or seeing what's right in front of you.

Missy said...

Oh. My. Gosh.

Hang in there! I like the Cheesecake Maven's idea!

I feel this is a flash into my future!

I mean, my husband and I go through the same stuff...except with him ignoring messes made by him and the cat (which was HIS cat to begin with and he PROMISED to take sole care of her when she moved in ages ago).

For example, he is a grand champion of spilling, but he never seems to witness his own majesty! He is the only coffee drinker in the house. Often I will find coffee spilled from the coffee maker, down the counter, across the cupboard doors down to the floor. I will point the mess out to him and he will say, "I don't remember that happening" and then he will try to blame the cat.

Johnny Yen said...

When I was a student teacher, my cooperating teacher and I were talking about marriage and clutter and she quoted something she'd read about how men and women actually see things differently. Men see motion much better than women, and things that are stationary disappear to them. Women are opposite-- stationary things that are out of place are maddening and they don't see moving objects as well. This would explain our (men's) ability to stop seeing the socks on the floor and women's higher blood pressure about it.