Gender Roles

So we don't really believe in gender roles in this family.

It's nothing we ever really thought about, or talked about, it just is who we are and always have been.

K loves to cook and clean.  Maybe even a little more than I do.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy both as well.  Let's be honest, if I didn't, then we'd eventually starve while he is gone (or be really fat from eating lots of fast food) and my house would be condemned because it would be so gross.  (don't worry, it's not :-))

I enjoy mowing the lawn, doing 'work' around the house.  I've done lots of tiling job, some plumbing, lots of painting, I've helped to lay lots of pergo type flooring, etc etc.  I really really enjoy it actually.  Put it this way, I was the one who tiled part of my parents house by myself (a small part, but whatever) when I was around 6 or 7 months pregnant with Goose.

And I'd bet that the majority of pilots wives are similar, after all, we have to deal with all the crap while our pilots are away.

So anyways.

One of the difficulties of being a pilots wife is sometimes fitting all that crap in.  Especially with 2 kids.  It's really exhausting sometimes, and sometimes I really don't want to do it, and put something off as long as possible.

So we've actually had a lot going on recently.  My best friends wedding, then her reception 3 weeks later back home in T town.  My friend's angel babies 4 birthday party.  Finding a new daycare, preparing to move the kids to said new daycare.  Lot's of craziness going on at work.

So, mowing the lawn.  I actually enjoy doing it.  But I'd enjoy it even more if I could be like 'hey K, I'm gonna go mow the lawn, so have fun playing with the kids while I do so.'  But that's not the reality.  I'm mowing because he's gone.  So I'm doing it in the evenings, after the kids are in bed, after the dinner dishes are cleaned up, and before I shower and do whatever else needs done.

Yeah.  That kinda sucks sometimes.

I've figured out how to make it work for me though.  I break it down into 2 nights.  I'll do the front lawn one night, the back lawn another.  It helps to break it down, and as long as I time it right (and don't leave, you know, days and days between the 2 halves) then it actually works out really well.

So I mowed the front lawn 2 nights ago.  It wasn't too long so I was able to mulch it, which was nice. But I choose the front lawn that night because the back lawn was already longer, and mulching couldn't happen.  And it was a day I took a PTO day to spend with the kids, to take them to meet their new teachers, and I ended up feeling like crap.  Dizzy, headachy, stuffy, sinusy, etc.  And the kids were HORRIBLE.  ALL DAY.

So I picked the easy way, and did the front lawn, and didn't bag it but mulched instead.

So tonight I had to do the back lawn before you know, the neighbors or the city called to see if we were still alive.  Cause it was long people.

But the backyard always needs cleaned up first, you know, chairs, the kids pool, toys, and all that fun stuff.  and the pool needed emptied of course, which I can't just dump it, I feel like I need to use the water to water the gardens, so as not to waste that precious resource.  (timing here is interesting, as T town (my hometown) just had some severe water issues recently with some pretty serious toxins in the water supply.  Like they couldn't even boil it.  Fun times).

So I take care of cleaning up and get to mowing.  As I'm working, I'm writing this post in my head, enjoying myself even though I was SO ready to be chilling watching TV.

And the mower starts putting and coughing halfway through.  And I'm begging and pleading like the dang thing is one of my kids, NOT to run out of gas.

And like our kids so often do, it ignores me.

It puts it's way right to not moving anymore.

And in my non gender role gender moment, I had to call K and explain that like another child, it didn't listen and ran out of gas.

And I had NO idea where the gas was.  In fact, I was just HOPING that there was more gas, as I was looking at half mowed, half long hair looking back at me.  And silently I hung my head while laughing at myself that as I was writing this post in my head about gender roles, I had to call K to tell me where the gas was.  Gotta love moments like those.

Needless to say, by the time everything was done, I finished the last bit of mowing without really being able to see what I was doing, and where I was needing to go.

Always love moments like these :-)