November 7, 2008
Though I’m still elated with the election news, today has dawned gray and dreary here in Michigan. The balmy 70s weather we’ve had all week has given way to rain and drizzle, and in some parts of the state, they’re suggesting snow might be involved.
And then there’s my husband. Whom I really do love dearly. But this morning he happened to do three of his regular things that annoy me, all within an hour.
I’m sure those of you who are married or who have a significant other or partner can relate. We love them, but there are those things…those little, tiny things…that they do all the time that make you sigh and lift your eyes to the heavens for patience. Call them Significant Other Pet Peeves (SOPPs).
As I said, this morning, Music Man happened to clock in with three SOPPs, which, considering it was within an hour, hit my patience threshold for a dreary Friday. I might have rolled my eyes, but I bit my tongue too. Good for me.
First, he loaded the dishwasher. Now, most of you might think that’s a good thing, and in theory it is. But for those of you who are the regular dishwasher loaders/unloaders in your house, you understand that there are certain ways things are done. The dishwasher has to be loaded a certain way. It may differ from household to household, but in each household, there’s The Way.
That Way is established by the person who does it most of the time (me). But despite the number of times that I’ve showed him (and it’s not just MM, to be fair–it’s the kids too) that the bowls stand up on their sides in the little bars, always facing the middle…and that the glasses go on the right side of the upper rack, not the left, and not straddling the little bars but between them…and that the long utensils go on the long utensil shelf…he (and they) persist in loading the dishwasher haphazardly.
Which pretty much means that I have to re-load it anytime I want to fit more than the dozen dishes they’ve managed to put in. I keep threatening to have remedial dishwasher loading classes, and force them to load and unload until they get it….but I’ve not yet done so.
The second thing he did was put something away up high. He’s 6′2″ and I’m 5′4″. For some reason, he persists in putting things away Up High. Where I not only don’t think to look, but can’t reach them. He puts everything up at his reach-level, as if there isn’t any other storage place.
So then, more often than not, he either catches me looking ridiculous as I sort of jump up and try to get the thing (and then of course he laughs), or I manage to barely reach the item and knock it over so it falls on my head. (I just did this recently with one of three cans of shaving cream he put…wait for it…Up High.) (Ouch.)
So I was looking for something that I use quite regularly and finally he said, “It’s on the top shelf in the pantry.” Which is easy for him to get to, but I need a stool. I have to keep reminding him that I’m half a foot shorter than he is, but it doesn’t matter.
And the third thing is…I came upstairs after ushering everyone out the door for school and work, and found the radio on in our bathroom blaring from after his shower. Not only does he have the inability to load the dishwasher properly, and the propensity for always putting things at his height, but he also cannot walk into the bathroom without turning on the radio in there. Even if he’s just passing by, or getting a drink of water. The radio goes on.
And he never turns it off.
Sigh.
So, much as I love Music Man, there are days when I roll my eyes so hard I strain an optical muscle. Today was one of them.
Any SOPPs you’d like to share on this Grumpy Friday?
November 7th, 2008 at 10:42 am
ROFL on the dishwasher!!! My hubby is the one who has establish The Way in our house. I drive him nuts!! And funny enough, I’m the tall one in our relationship. I totally do the top shelf thing without thinking.
I may be in trouble and didn’t know it…
November 7th, 2008 at 10:49 am
I totally understand…and I feel your pain. My husband has a problem closing his dresser drawers. Every single day of my life, and I mean EVERY single day I have to close his dresser drawers. For some reason that defies logic, he can open the drawer and close it within a couple of inches of complete closure, but can’t quite make it all the way. Go figure.
November 7th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I’m with you on the dishwasher. Personally, mine isn’t QUITE as much that I don’t like the way he loads the dishes, as what that actually DOES to my dishes! My dishes have gotten all kinds of chipped up because of the way he loads them. I find the radio bit funny. My hubby is the same way with the living room tv. He turns it on, watches for about 10 minutes, then leaves the room for two hours without turning the thing off!
November 7th, 2008 at 11:33 am
My ex husband used to make me nuts by never picking his socks up off the floor. They’d be within centimeters, millimeters even, of the hamper, but never actually IN it.
My ex boyfriend was incapable of shutting cabinet doors in the kitchen. I always knew exactly what he’d eaten in the morning by which door was open.
My brothers could never pick up wet towels. And the WORST was them leaving a wet wash cloth in the bottom of the shower. GROSS! To this day, almost 30 years later, it still makes my skin crawl to touch a cold wet wash cloth - thank goodness for shower puffs.
November 7th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
My husband is 6′5 and loves to put the spices i use ALL THE TIME on the highest shelf in our kitchen. He also will still my water glass if i leave it unattended for 5 seconds and put it in the dishwasher. The list goes on and on, but most are due to his OCD nature.
November 7th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Not rinsing the facial hair out of the sink when he would shave. Ugh. It’s like discovering a wild animal has been shedding in your bathroom and you don’t know where it is.
November 7th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
When my husband does the dishes or loads the dishwasher, choirs sing and the angels rejoice. I don’t care if he loads things upside down. I break down in tears of joy. Heh.
However, he has this tendency to load up a chair in our bedroom with his discarded clothes. I don’t know what’s clean or what’s dirty, only he does, so I don’t even bother trying to figure it out. And you know when all the dirty stuff makes it to the hamper? The minute I’ve done all the laundry. I smile with satisfaction at seeing the empty hamper. Five minutes later it’s filled with all the crap he’s just dumped in there from the chair. Annoys the $@#%# out of me.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
It would take all day to List the things my Hubby does that annoys me, but I would have to say the Biggest thing would be moving things from where they belong to someplace else. And then he can’t remember where he Moved it to. Or when I clean the House, and Have it looking Perfect for Christmas, or whatever, he’ll come home from work, and not Notice how much work I’ve put into making the house Look good, and within five minutes there will be another mess for me to clean up. Or he’ll leave his dirty dishes sitting whereever, then nag at me if I leave a spoon sitting on the computer desk. And he Makes me order my own Flowers or buy my own Birthday and Christmas gifts, even though he knows what I would like to get. And don’t get me started on the Annoying noises he makes when he has to get ready for work, or when he gets home for work and is too tired to do anything. Sometimes I Just want to hit him upside the head with a cast iron skillet!
November 7th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I understand both the height problem and the reloading of the dishwasher. I have to refold clothing, also, but I’m getting better about letting some things go. Now, when he puts the cat bowls on the top rack, I really roll my eyes. Duh, they tip upward. The water doesn’t get to them. They don’t get clean And, you must hang a washcloth on the rack or it will not dry out in our humid climate, period . . . ever. I could go on, but I think I’m really supposed to forever hold my peace or something like that.
November 8th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I don’t mind how the dishwasher is loaded as long as I don’t have to do it. I DO mind how they (dh AND ds) do the laundry, then leave everything in baskets. Or how they never notice when the garbage or recycle is full. Or when I ask them to do something and they forget and I end up having to do it. Or when they play guitar without the amp. I hate the plinky sound of strings HATE!!!