"Heather Mills" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Dec 2010 07:26:15 -0800 (PST), Cindy Hamilton
wrote:

On Dec 22, 9:35 am, "Steve B" wrote:
"Colbyt" wrote in message
om...
Wives don't understand home repair.

W: What are you doing today?
H: I need to install that last 4x5 area of insulation in the attic.

Seven hours later I come home to a skeptical wife. Seven hours
because:

To install that 20 square foot of insulation and finish the attic
portion
I need to first install the bathroom vent duct.

To install the duct I need to locate the fan assembly. To locate the
fan
assembly I need to trim some plaster. Before I can trim the plaster,
I
need to cover a hole in the floor to minimize the mess.

And I went ahead and installed the fan to hold the duct in place.

Geez. I knew what I had to do!

Well, why didn't you tell your wife when she asked, rather
than leaving her in the dark?

--
Colbyt

From my experiences, women just want to see results.

I built a house. I'd take my wife there daily or every other day to see
the
progress. What I was seeking was her approval. During the framing
process,
she could grasp nothing except that the workmen had left their lunch
sandwich wrappers and Coke cans on the floor. She did not notice that
they
had framed several walls, or put the trusses on, etc. It got worse, with
her picking apart every minute detail, every scarred stud, every hanging
wire that was awaiting a receptacle. I finally just had to bring her
once a
week, or at the end of a stage of construction where she could see a
final
result, i.e. after the drywall was up, after the painting was done,
after
the cabinets were hung, etc.

When we explain or even describe what we are doing, it's just a search
for
approval, and that's not going to happen because most women don't
understand
that it really does take seven hours to put in a little insulation when
you
run into things that you never expected before you popped the first bit
of
sheetrock off. So stop seeking it, and bring them in when the job is
done
enough so she can see definite progress, or that stage is covered up,
and
there's just some sort of finished work to cover the internal exposed
parts.

And don't turn it over to her until you say so, or she'll have the pots
in
the cabinets before you even have the range/stove/oven installed.

AND tell her not to talk to the hired help. That's your job.

HTH

Steve

Balls.

Sorry, I mean, "It depends on the wife".

Although I don't fully understand every detail of a project, and
my husband's skills are far superior to mine, I'm right there
with him on every project. I've got pictures of me working
concrete, using the pneumatic nailer or the compound miter
saw. Usually it's faster and easier for him to do stuff himself,
so I hand him things, run out to the workshop for something
he forgot (or didn't know he needed until he was into it),
run to Home Despot for something neither of us could find
in the mess that's his shop, etc.

Because I don't understand all the details, I sometimes
get a little panicky when things don't look as I expect,
but sometimes when I say "Hey, that doesn't look quite
right", he says "It isn't. Thanks for pointing that out."
More often he says, "It's right; just wait until
the next bit is done. Here's how they'll fit together..."

He wants to put in a pulldown attic stair and estimated
one hard weekend for the installation and another, easier
one for the paint and trim. I said, "Nothing in this house
ever goes to plan; let's count on four weekends."
If I'm wrong, we get a weekend or two off.

Cindy Hamilton

I've been biting my tongue...

Show me a statement like "Wives don't understand..." and I'll show you
someone who has a sexist, one-dimensional view of the world. Are there
women who don't understand traditional male roles like construction?
Sure. Are there men who prolong adolescence well into retirement?
Sure. Stereotypes always have at least some small element of truth.
But those who focus on the stereotypes miss most of the real world.

In my experience, narrow, uni-dimensional people do not pair up with
enlightened, multi-dimensional people. I'm quite sure that men who
complain about their airhead wives are more or less equally
uni-dimensional at the other end of the spectrum. Conversely, women
who complain about their immature husbands, are more ur less equally
uni-dimensional at the other end of the spectrum.



I would offer to open the door for you but I can tell that you are the type
who would be offended by that.

That would be the same type who does not recognize a joke when they see
because the chip on their shoulder is blocking their view of the world.


Colbyt