What I bring to the table

I took a look at my marriage. The wife, daughter, house, our life. I took into consideration all the things my wife does; work from home for the lab, chauffer our daughter here and there, pay the bills, manage our accounts, cook, clean, decorate, organize, streamline, police, delegate, shop, supply, manage, wash, repair, mend, consol, reprimand, encourage creativity and risk taking, teach, nurture, doctor the booboos, plan for the future... the list goes on. Then I took into consideration all the things I do. Ummm, I bring home a paycheck every couple of weeks. I generate an amazing amount of dirty close. I pinch my wifes butt a lot. I cut the lawn, plant shrubbery, clean the litter boxes, pick up large object, occassionally fix things, do dishes sometimes, and, well, do what my wife tells me to do... just not always when she wants me to. I really don't contribute too much do I. *sigh* This isn't a good thing. I do ask her how I can help. And I try not to take for granted everything she does. And I do try to think of what needs to be done so that I don't need to pester her (try to show a little proactiveness). But not too often. I found that I don't do whatever I did the way she would have wanted me to do it and I often have to redo it to her specifications. *sigh* So I just ask her.
I guess what this boils down to is communication. Her and I. She does what she knows needs to be done. She does it her way. I stay out of the way and try to help where I can. Seems to work pretty good.
Now I do put a lot of thought into how I can make her life easier. I will try to remove or lessen the strain on her schedule. I'll take the little one way to give her peace and quiet. I pick up things around the house. I try not to be a nuisance.
All I can say is that I try to help. I hope that is all that counts.
Well, and I love her dearly too.

The Playset

My wife and I wanted to get the girl a playset. Guess there's been some fueding going on between some neighbors wives and it's getting taken out on the kids. Ridiculous crap. This kid can't play on the other kids playset cuz his mom pissed off this other kids mom....blah blah blah... crap like that. Anyhoo, we're not going to be a part of it. Soooooo, we buy a play set that ALL the kids can play on. Not too big. Not too complicated. Sturdy and well designed. We like it. My job, put it together. Right, just put a playset together. Sounds easy. Sounds fun. Throw it together in a few hours....
A few weeks pass...
When the semi backed into my driveway with nine...NINE FRICKIN CRATES!!!!!! I knew I was in trouble. When my wife told me I need to prep an area of the yard 31' x 24' I knew I was in trouble. When I rented the sod cutter and started leveling the area where this thing was supposed to go I knew I was in trouble. But when those NINE FRICKIN CRATES got dropped onto my driveway, I knew I was screwed!

I took a day off work to put this thing together. One full day for construction. No problem. I started at sun-up. At sun-down I still was not done. The two main structures were up and the cross beam for the swings was attached. No roof yet, no ladders, no climbing wall, no ramp, no slide, no firemans pole, no rope ladder, and no swings. Not even walls. What the hell did I accomplish today? I was tired, sore, and the backs of my ears were sunburned. I went to bed knowing my daughter would be disappointed that her daddy didn't get the job done. *sigh* Perhaps she would grow to forgive me. (I say this with tongue in cheek, she really didn't care that it was not completed)

Tonight I hope to finish. My cordless drill will be recharged. The aircompressor and airtools I were using will be ready again. This ediface will be complete. I have yet to finish leveling the area. I still need to order the mulch to go over the area. I'm just happy to be at the office where I can relax and recooperate.