Monday, May 11, 2009

Self Reliance

Argh!
I am so frustrated...I've GOT to be more self-reliant. About the basic things, you know? When it comes to professional stuff like writing policies, reviewing contracts, and even managing people - I'm not half bad. But when it comes to regular household stuff - I am SO pitiful.

I'm so tired now that I suspect I'm well past the point of coherency as I try to explain what I mean...so I certainly wouldn't blame anyone if they decided to stop reading right now.

Really, go ahead. Stop reading. Turn the computer off - I don't blame you.

Even though you (wisely) stopped reading, I'll keep writing because it's moderately therapeutic.

I will begin by the horribly embarrassing confession that I do not know how to change a tire. Seriously. I am 37 years old and I can't change my own car's tire if I get a flat. Well - WHEN I get a flat because it's bound to happen sooner or later - probably at the most inopportune moment.

And then, of course, we have the washer situation. (SIGH.........) About 13 years ago, we received a washer and dryer from my husband's grandparents. It was an awesome gift because I don't think we'd have had a chance in heck of affording them on our own at that point. Well, they've been chugging along faithfully all these years. Lately, I've been seduced by the new-fangled front-loading, energy efficient, super expensive washers. HOWEVER, I figured that if I really am the environmentalist I claim to be - then I should use those suckers out until they DIE.

The only problem is that our washer has some sort of issue. It stops mid-cycle. Now - I'm lucky enough to be married to a man who understands appliances and all sorts of technical stuff. We have a number of "riggings" throughout our house because he's able to fix things on his own. (Remind me to tell you sometime about the fact that our heater/AC is rigged in such a way that wires have to be moved when the weather changes....so that sometimes I worry that if he has a heart attack right before a cold snap, I'll turn the heater on without switching the wires and burn the whole place down...but I digress....)

Anyway....our washer is rigged. Or, rather it WAS rigged. There was a rope hanging from the front, doing something (I have no idea what) to keep the washer going. Well, I may have neglected to mention this in the past - but I have a VERY curious and typical 6-year-old son. He sees a rope and what does he do? Well....he tugs on it, of course. And pulls it out of the washer.

Which would have been fine EXCEPT for the fact that I started a load of laundry late tonight (kickball games two nights in a row...so of course I have to wash the uniform) - forgetting (of course) that the washer would not complete the cycle without this mysterious, magical rope. After a mere seconds of looking at the rope and the washer, I realize that I have absolutely NO IDEA what this rope did. As a matter of fact (unlike my husband) I have no idea WHY the washer was stopping in the first place.

I call my husband...in LA. I interrupt him at a movie. I feel horrible. He's trying to explain that I need to unplug the washer before I do anything else to try to fix it (of course, all the while missing his movie) and I tell him - never mind. I'll get out the kickball uniform and rinse it in the sink. I'll worry about the myriad of towels and other kid stuff tomorrow. He thinks I'm mad at him...I'm not...I just feel really bad about interrupting his movie and too tired to fix the washer so I figure he should go back to his movie. But of course, I'm tired (like....REALLY tired....) so I'm probably not expressing myself as well as I should.

Seriously. I am completely worthless with home stuff. I feel it even more because I have a number of single friends. Do they change their own tires? YES. One of them even fixes her own pool! (Although...to be fair, she did shock herself mildly and I forbade her from ever working with electricity in her pool again.) And I have married friends who are much more competent than I am. So I can't even use the excuse that I'm married.

It's just a bit discouraging because I should be able to handle house stuff for ONE WEEK while he's in L.A. It hasn't even been 48 hours yet and I have a washer full of water (which will be rancid by the time he gets back Friday evening) and Lord knows what else will happen tomorrow.

Not that I'm trying to be negative or anything....

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