There are so many days I am thankful I have the husband I have. Sometimes he actually cooks, like tonight when I was teaching my Intro to Public Relations class at the local college. Every morning he empties the dishwasher before I even emerge from our bed. Wednesday night or early Thursday morning he hauls the barrels filled with stinky diapers to the curb. I physically can not do this chore, my stomach turns and I gag and wretch!
He manages the household finances and pays all the bills. He even provides an excel spreadsheet of our monthly expenses. Of course, there's always extensive detail about my credit card purchases. Average trip to Target: $125. Go in for diapers and come out with a new book I have no time to read, a toy I used to bribe the children while I perused the shower curtians, and some article of clothing I really needed several months ago but kept putting off buying like my new $10 T-shirt bra. I was holding out for a visit to Victoria's Secret for that special push up Angel bra but it was not happening.
But the one thing about my husband that I truly love is this: he does his own laundry. Yes, you read it correctly. I said: He. Does. His. Own. Laundry. And often, he does the kids' laundry, too. Since he was 34 when we married, Mike was already well-versed in the position of the on button on the washing machine. Sure, he mixed his colors and whites but at least he got them into the machine, added soap, and turned it on. He also folded his t-shirts when they were dry.
After a couple years of marriage, I introduced him to the benefits of chlorine bleach and his T's have looked significantly better ever since. When I tell other moms I know that Mike does his own laundry the can't believe it. Most moms are simply drowning in laundry. It piles up and up and up. It can't get folded, never mind put away. Last year when my parents were visiting my dad nearly dropped dead when he saw Mike come down stairs with a basket of laundry. "What...your wife doesn't do your laundry Mike?" My dad asked, incredulous.
My mom always did my dad's laundry. She also had a basket of ironing that was never emptied. I remember looking for clothes as a pre-teen, before I knew how to use the iron properly, and my mom would say, "Did you check the ironing basket?"
Ironing is not something else I do. that's what dry cleaners are for. Oh yeah, did I mention Mike also irons his own shirts and slacks every day?
Gotta love that man! So if I'm NOT doing the laundry, what the heck do I do? Well, many other household duties. But the one thing my wonderful husband will not do is wake up in the middle of the night. That's been my job every night for the last 4 years.
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