Open thread -- husband edition

Pamela - posted on 08/08/2010

DL can't cook.

Isobel - posted on 08/08/2010

Rupert washes the dishes before he puts them in the dishwasher, and if I load it, he will sneak into the kitchen after I leave and rearrange it :) He thinks that I don't know that.

Rosie - posted on 08/08/2010

i don't know if mine can cook or not cause he never does. he's done a few things here and there, one time he made tacos and didn't empty the whole seasoning packet in the meat, so it tasted really bad. i think the only other time he's cooked he made chicken helper and was cooking it as a surprise for me to be ready by the time i got home. i got the bright idea to surprise them and go get olive garden to go. so i walk in with my bags of olive garden, to the scene of him slaving over the stove!! i about died! as soon as he saw the bags he gave up, and he's never cooked again! not sure i'd want him to though.

i once had an ex who thought when you made pancakes that you put the syrup in the pan and cooked it with them. what a great way to make a burned mess on the pan, gah!!! thank god my hubby isn't that dense, lol!!

Michelle - posted on 08/08/2010

My husband gets up every morning, puts on a uniform, and goes to work. He goes to work defending us. Each one of us. Some days he stand on a wall in the rain or snow. Some days he sits in front of a computer screen monitoring some satellite system. He goes to work early. Gets home late. Leaves for months at a time. Sometimes he doesn't have a chance to call or email. He misses Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, Thanksgiving, Easter, First days of school, First steps, first tooth, first smile, first word and so many other firsts. Some days he hates his job, just like the rest of the world. Some days he is proud to put on the uniform and defend us.
He hears his daughter's voice saying "daddy I miss you and I wish on a star every night that you come home". He made a choice. I made a choice. I ask for no sympathy. I am proud of my soldier.

~Jennifer - posted on 08/08/2010

Domestically, mine's good at fixing, building and cooking. Cleaning - not so much, but he 'helps'. He does dishes, laundry and vacuums, if he feels he has to, but I usually just let him off the hook and do it myself.

He has an amazing singing voice - I'm hoping that one day he catches 'a break' - he deserves it.

He's probably one of the hardest working people I know - he will take ANY job to keep us afloat (it's been difficult since the 'recession' and subsequent layoffs - laid off 2 x from the same company that keeps losing investors because the investors keep losing THEIR money - vicious cycle, isn't it?)

So, I have to give him a big 'thumbs up' for his work ethic.

He flatly refuses to take handouts. I had actually applied for disability for Peter because his medical bills were spiraling out of control, and he was, to say the LEAST, embarrassed. When I went away for my mom's funeral, he 'forgot to fill out' the paperwork that they sent when we moved between counties, and effectively cancelled the disability. I'm still a little ticked off @ that, because we're trying to pay off 4 grand (our deductible) for Peter's surgery....and the included medical insurance with disability would have covered it. C'est la vie.

Right now, he's away @ "work" - left July 9th and probably will be gone until December (unless he can make it home for his 30th b-day in September)....and I pretty much only get to talk to him once a day or once every 2 days......so, no new stories to tell.

Sara - posted on 08/08/2010

My husband is an AWFUL cook. One time, he wanted to fix green bean casserole for a family get together and I was thinking "how could he screw this up?". So I walk into the kitchen while he is fixing it to find him layering turkey lunch meat into the casserole. I said "What are you doing??" and he said "What? You have turkey and green bean casserole at Thanksgiving together?". To this day, when I tell my women friends this story, they are mortified, but he doesn't understand what is so wrong with it.

He's also a horrible housekeeper. I won't even go into that.

BUT, his good qualities far outshine his bad. He's a keeper.

Pamela - posted on 08/07/2010

OMG Krista, that is hilarious. My husband has to have everything out at eye level. We have post-it notes all over the house, in the cupboards, on the wall by the door going outside, on the office desk, on the computers, the secretary...

Krista - posted on 08/07/2010

Mine cannot find something if it is not RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIS EYEBALLS. If he has to look up, or look down, or move something, or even shift his eyes slightly to the left or the right, he can't find it. He was looking for Mr. Clean tonight in the cupboard. It was right there, in front, on the left hand side. He couldn't find it, because he was looking straight ahead, didn't see it, and developed testosterone-induced blindness, which then results in him saying to me, "I thought we had Mr. Clean in this cupboard." At which point I said, "Oh for chrissakes, it is right in front of your freaking eyeballs." This is a frequent exchange in our household.



If I predecease him, he'll wind up with 300 gdamn bottles of Mr. Clean in the house, because he'll go look for it, it won't be at eye level, he'll think there's none in the house, and he'll go buy more. I swear, he'll wind up like one of those hoarders, not because he can't throw stuff out, but because he's so awful at finding stuff that he'll just keep buying more stuff to replace it, resulting in it being even more difficult to find stuff, due to the increased amount of stuff in the house.



So if I die, and you hear of a Nova Scotian man who was buried alive under a mountain of Mr. Clean, paper towels, salad dressing and canned tomatoes, you'll know what happened.

Pamela - posted on 08/07/2010

We just have to embrace our fellas for who they are...and if they're not handy in fixing things, hire it out.

My favorite quote by Red Green, "If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy". There is more than one way for a fella to be handy, if you catch my drift:o)

Rosie - posted on 08/07/2010

my husband has the knack to NEVER finish anything he starts. so he'll buy everything for his project, then never start it, or only do part of it and leave it for ages. then he forgets about or loses the parts he previously bought so we end up with like 5 identical items lying around the house.
never replaces the toilet roll. doesn't put enough dishes in the dishwasher, and never does the ones by hand you can't put in the dishwasher.
when we bought our house 3 years ago, i bought a new faucet. still hasn't been put in.
i could go on, and on with the little things, but you get the point, lol!!

Pamela - posted on 08/07/2010

My husband is a networker - which is really good. But the shadow side of that is he collects reams of information. Piles of information everywhere. But I can't complain too much because I have bookphilia. I collect books. Lots and lots of books. I read them too.

We've been hitched now for a little over 18 years. We've seen some difficult times but have stuck it out - we're determined to see this marriage through. I couldn't stand being married to anyone else frankly. DL is too good a fellow.

Pamela - posted on 08/07/2010

My husband is Bug Man. He is completely fascinated by the insect world - I have come to appreciate these little animals and am no longer fearful of them. Like I don't freak out every time a bee buzzes by my head.

Isobel - posted on 08/07/2010

Rupert LOVES to sleep...I bet he would stay in bed till 3:00 on weekends if I let him.

Jenny - posted on 08/07/2010

My partner is bad with computers. He does not have the patience to operate one for very long and only uses it to surf motorbikes and porn.

Kelly - posted on 08/07/2010

My husband is horrible at dishes. We don't have a dishwasher right now, *sigh* and his idea of "washing" is rinsing things in cold water and putting them in the dish rack......... More harm than help you know? lol He is also horrible at enforcing bedtime. He would let the girls stay up all night eating popcorn and chocolate if I wasn't there to be the "evil parent".

Diane - posted on 08/06/2010

"To me, he is the perfect mix of teddy bear and pitt bull."

Ya know that perfectly describes my husband...when he gets ticked off.......watch out...but he has a sweet side as well.
We have had our moments during our twenty nine year marriage...some years were very tough...but we survived...and I can't imagine life without him. He is gone on a golf tournament back home with old friends and I miss him so much. Couldn't wait until he left to have some me time...but after he left, can't wait until he gets home.
We have all said what our husbands are good at......curious to know what your husbands are bad at.
My husband is a terrible painter. You do not want him to even touch a roller or paint brush. He also can't fix anything on a car. He is not good at directions either...remembering how to get to places.

kati said, "and while it's true he doesn't have any special extra talents (except for the ones i can't mention, lol) he always tries at least, lol!!"

Well in my opinion those talents you can't talk about are more important than anything else. Keeps a marriage exciting. LOL It's the trying that counts...

Isobel - posted on 08/06/2010

Rupert has breakfast cornered too :D

Kelly - posted on 08/06/2010

Oh where do I start? My hubby and I have had our moments over the years, but I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. He has a very strong work ethic, he has gone through patches of mowing lawns and valet parking to bring in income. He is an absolute wonderful father, and my girls both have him wrapped around their fingers. He is very mechanical and can fix anything. After spending 15 years as a Network Admin, a few years as a certified auto tech, and now a few years in the oil and gas industry, he has accomplished a lot. He cooks a mean breakfast, and he does any ironing needed since I am horrible at it. When I wore uniforms he would always iron and pack my shirts for me so they wouldn't get wrinkled. To me, he is the perfect mix of teddy bear and pitt bull.

Isobel - posted on 08/06/2010

We are lucky ladies Kati :D

Rosie - posted on 08/06/2010

my stepfather did that too me-took me in like i was his own. it takes a special type of person to do that. we're lucky huh, laura?! i'm not sure if i could do it. it continually amazes me. ♥ :)

Isobel - posted on 08/06/2010

We dated when we were teenagers...then went our separate ways; we've "dated on and off for 18 years many, many times...this time it's been 8 years :)

he insists on sending them to summer camp (cause he got to go and they should too, regardless of my finances...and he'll never let them go without anything...though he wishes now that he never let my daughter try lobster ;P

Isobel - posted on 08/06/2010

He loves my kids as much as I do even though they aren't really his ♥

Rosie - posted on 08/06/2010

my husband took my oldest son is as his own from the moment we started dating. changing his diapers, handling all of my sons medical problems with me as a team. he didn't have to, he did it cause he loves us, and is that type of man. he is very hard working. he's always done more than enough to provide for our family, and takes his job seriously. he's not one that has a new job every 2 weeks. and while it's true he doesn't have any special extra talents (except for the ones i can't mention, lol) he always tries at least, lol!!



with our first child together, vincent, he helped me everyday and night with him. vinnie was a little high strung and he would take the 6pm-2am shift, while i would take the 2-whatever shift. usually he was asleep by the time it was my shift. first poopy diapers changed for all of our sons were by him, and many more after that without whining.

he's my best friend, in fact that's why i didn't want to date him for the longest time. he was such a great person, i didn't want to ruin that. i'm sooo glad i took the chance. we've been together 9 years, married for 7 on the 30th of this month. i'm a very lucky gal. :)

ME - posted on 08/06/2010

Oh yeah...I also forgot...Travis can build a computer from scratch, and can fix just about anything that goes wrong on our desktop. I am a technophobe...so this has worked out tremendously well for me ;-)

Jenny - posted on 08/06/2010

My partner can do pretty much anything. He is very smart and able to figure out things he has never done before to perfection. He has saved us tens of thousands of dollars just in mechanical work. This weekend he's putting a clutch in my 4Runner that was quoted at $2500 down to $500 in parts, steak and beer. He'll be renovating our bathroom fairly soon and doing all the millwork, plumbing, electrical, tile work and pretty much everything else on his own. I don't doubt he could build a house, car, bike or boat top to bottom on his own.

On top of that awesomeness he is a good provider and is great with the kids. Even when they were newborns he'd relieve me at 3AM so I could rest even when he had to be up at 5:30 for work.

We're heading on 11 years this November, I'm gonna keep him.

ME - posted on 08/06/2010

My husband is good at other things too...He is also a great father! Endless patience, the energy and capacity for silliness of a 5 year old...he's wonderful with Miles...who told me the other day that "Daddy is his best friend" :) He does lots of cleaning, all the dishes...He's also THE FUNNIEST person I know...which is probably one of the biggest reason I fell in love with him to begin with!

Diane - posted on 08/06/2010

Although my children are older (25 and 28) and they do not need parenting per se....My husband is a great father...always played and did things with the kids whether it was getting up with them in the middle of the night, or putting them in the car when they were fussy and driving around town. He never missed any activity they were in and enjoyed taking them to practices and games. He was their number two fan....after me. LOL

In another light my husband is a scratch golfer and can with the best of them and has.

we are going on thirty years...........

Kat - posted on 08/06/2010

my husband is a great cook :)

Krista - posted on 08/06/2010

My husband is really pretty great. He's very, very handy and hardworking. He built a wood-strip canoe himself, has a side business making stone civic signs, and basically seems to be capable of doing whatever he puts his mind to. I'm in awe of him sometimes, because he's just so darned CAPABLE. He cooks, he cleans, he changes diapers, he fixes stuff, he does the landscaping...it's crazy.

Sara - posted on 08/06/2010

I don't know if I can mention all of the awesome things my husband does here (wink, wink).

Actually, this might sound silly, but my husband is an accountant and he's pretty gifted with spreadsheets. We have amortization schedules for our cars and house and student loans. I can tell you how much we will owe on our house on Sept. 23rd 2018. It's magic. :)