Grugger’s Way

 Retirement Danger TWO - Invading Spouse Space and there is absolutely nothing to tell me exactly where the dividing line is between “being helpful” and “her domain.”

This can be quite a dilemma for a husband who just retired.  The wife wants help, and she doesn’t mean just mowing the lawn and cleaning out the garage…traditional HIS jobs around our place. 

This means, among other things,  that the wife wants help with cleaning the house…but DON’T TRY WATERING THE PLANTS!  Well, outside plants okay, but never inside plants!  No No No. 

The wife wants help with the laundry…but DON’T TRY LAUNDERING HER THINGS… Well, okay, sweat socks and workout clothes…but never anything ELSE!  Not undies, not jeans…not tops…(”tops” are what women call shirts).  I can do all my own stuff plus towels…all kinds of towels are okay.

The wife wants help with vacuuming…yes, I can HAVE AT IT!  Anything extra too.  Extra?  Wow, I found out “extra” means baseboards, window curtains, blinds and draperies, furniture, picture frames….picture frames get vacuumed?  Or I can dust them.  As a matter of fact, I can dust anything I want, just be sure to PUT IT ALL BACK RIGHT WHERE IT WAS!  Don’t even THINK about re-arranging knick-knack shelves, or moving furniture around.  That’s HER domain!

The wife would like me to share some of the cooking duties.  This I can do.  She has no complaints about what I make for dinner.  She also has no preferences, no ideas, no suggestions…just whatever I want to make.  I’ll bet I did the same thing to her when she asked for suggestions last year.  Well, I am good with oatmeal for dinner, honey, how about you?

There’s a lot of touch-up painting that can be done too.  But DON’T change any COLORS!

The deck needs to be stripped and re-stained.  She will pick out the stain color this year…just like the last time.  How about something darker?  No.  She wants something lighter.

There are a few other jobs that I can do without any guidance or restrictions.  Wash the car.  Wash the motor home.  Wash the windows in the house.  Whoa!  Windows!  Do I do windows?

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