'Man Things'

Alright, let's go there. I have to start by putting this all out there: I love my husband, I really do. He is a wonderful husband and I am blessed to be married to him. This post is not to knock my husband...it's more towards men in general.

With that said, let's talk about men. Some of these things will pertain to my husband specifically, some to husband's of my those I know, and honestly - I think most of these things will pertain to most any man because they are about...MEN.

Sometimes they make you walk away just shaking your head saying, or screaming in utter frustration, "MEN!!!"

Let's start with tonight and my husband. He is very smart. He knows a lot about computers. Sometimes when he starts talking about computers, my eyes glass over. I often just start moving my hand in the 'talking' motion and say, "blah, blah blah, blah blah." I have to tell him to put it in English. With that said...he is setting up a web page for me that will be http://www.aplaceofcandor.com, in which I promise that once it is up and running there will not be a change in web address ever again! (Right now it's just forwarded to this blog.) He was trying to set it up for me tonight. He was asking all sorts of questions and not liking my answers. Apparently, I was not answering his questions and wanted something that could not be done. That's because when I told him about how he was explaining everything, he wasn't listening to me. Anyway, we tried it again and I told him he was starting at Z and jumping to every letting in between to get to A. He got it then, finally. It took, literally - 1 minute to answer his questions because he figured it out - where I was coming from. Splendid. Take note that I was the one who had to re-word what I was saying so he could understand.

Here is 'man thing' #1 - they don't freaking listen. They say they do, but they don't. They don't. If they did, they would understand the words that we say.

Here is one difference between men and women - or least between Evan and I. I say what I mean. There is no trying to guess what I mean after I say something. Although he sure tries and it doesn't get him very far. He speaks and then when I take it at face value and get upset by what he said, he goes..."that's not what I meant, I meant...." THEN SAY THAT THE FIRST TIME!!!

Evan is very diligent about doing the dishes, and I am appreciative of this. Especially after almost 6 years he has come to appreciate the luxury of doing the dishes right after dinner, instead of leaving them there for a later time. How can you go and relax when you know you have a pile of dishes just waiting to be done? As of lately, he has mastered doing the dishes at night - solely for my sake. I do not like going to bed and then waking up with dishes in the sink. He would always tell me he would do them in the morning, but getting up in the morning is hard to do and so that leaves little time for dishes! Which leads me to:

'Man thing' #2 - There is more to the kitchen than just the dishes. Counters can be cleared off and wiped down. The stove top, you know - where you cook and splash nastiness all over...needs to be cleaned. (partial disclaimer: our tea pot sits out on the stove and therefore gets very dirty. He takes the time...well so do I...he is actually able to scrub it clean and he does this on his own free will without me asking him to do this)

A few weeks ago I did the laundry. Evan came into the bedroom and said, "thanks for doing my clothes." Look honey, if you can't get them in the hamper - they are not going to get washed. How hard is it to take your clothes and put them in the hamper instead of dropping them on the floor? Then he had the nerve to tell me I did not wash them. I got him good though, I asked, "did you know I was doing laundry?" His reply, "yes." My next question, "did you know you had clothes that needed to be washed that were not in the hamper?" His sheepish answer, "maayyyybeeee." HA.

'Man thing' #3 - Your clothes go in the hamper. NOT strewn on the floor. NOT stuffed under the bed. NOT thrown into the closet or some little nook you may have found. The hamper - you know, that thing with all of our dirty clothes? Same one!
and
'Man thing' #4 - They try to argue with a woman. That, my male friends - is foolishness. (don't try to argue this point)

All this said, we still love them...and they do the best job at driving us nuts!

(the picture is of Evan and I this past Sunday at Great America in one of those photo booths!)

Also - thank you to all the men who give me such inspiration to have written this! You made it so easy for me.