All because two people fell in love...: JACK OF ALL TRADES

Mr. Shelton is busy. Busy with work, selling boats, transporting boats, renting slips, sifting through piles of paperwork, catching up on his inbox chalk full of email (over 800 of 'em), you get it, he is busy. This all results in him working late most every day, leaving the house around 7am or so, and returning home to his abode around 8pm exhausted. Monday - Saturday. This, in turn makes it next to impossible for him to get certain things done around the house. It's all sort of a domino affect. He is busy, which causes him to have to work late, which causes him to not get his "jobs" done around the house.

I noticed last year, in early spring, when his schedule became so that he was unable to make it home before 8pm each night, that the lawn would go too long inbetween mowings, so long that it became embarrasing for me to play in the front yard with the kids. I noticed the weeds needed to be picked out of the rock beds so that you could actually see the rocks. I noticed the mulch from last year was faded, old and in need of being replaced around all the trees. I noticed the garage was in desperate need of being cleaned out, and organized. I noticed a lot. A lot of jobs that were going undone, because of lack of time.

Now you may ask, why don't you get up off your duff and do it?

Well, because. Because it was always known around our house that I was in charge of the cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, cooking, etc. and that he was in charge of the yard work, garage cleaning, cars, painting, hanging pictures, etc. I know, I know, sounds like the old archaic way to go about divvying up duties in a marriage, but it works for us, so we do it this way.

Well, I should say we used to do it this way. We used to until 2 summers ago, when I realized things had to get done. Someone had to take care of the yard work, cars, garage, etc. So I slowly began taking over these duties.

I had Mr. Shelton give me a tutorial on how to run the lawn mower. (Yes, it is true, I had never mowed a lawn before in my life.) Once I got the hang of it I officially took over this job. I decided the mulch needed to be replaced, went to Lowe's, and found a nice strapping young lad to help me load a bunch of bags into the car. I dragged each bag out of the car and to each tree that was in need, dumped mulch, spread it, and voila. Nice, new mulch. I took a day to clean out the garage, or at least do as much as I could with it. Mr. Shelton has quite a bit of "stuff" in there that I have not a clue what to do with, so I was forced to leave a lot of it be. Which was hard for me as every little inch of my being wanted to throw it all away, get rid of it, release the clutter! But I thought better of it. I began taking my car to Rapid Oil Change and getting my oil changed, and fluid levels adjusted. I began taking my car to the car wash, to be cleaned both inside and out, and waxed and buffed. I started painting rooms that needed repainting (even though I was told never to paint again after a few mishaps). And I think I did a pretty good job. I started hanging pictures, art work, and other things, even though I was not the best at it. And sometimes I left a few more holes in the wall then needed, but it got done.

Yes, I did all this AND took care of the kids, getting them to and from playdates, sporting events, cooking, cleaning, laundry.... It was a lot of work, but I did it, and have been doing it for the past three years.

In doing all of the aforementioned tasks over the past few years, there have been more than a few occasions where I have needed a tool. A hammer, screw driver, tape measure, a level, the basic stuff. But I have been unable to find what I need, as Mr. Shelton is, well, not very organized, and his tools are sort of... everywhere. Some are scattered about in the garage, some are in his truck, and some are over at the shop.

Yesterday, when I was in the process of finishing up a little project of mine, and looking around for a hammer and hanging nails, tools, etc. I as usual, was unable to find what I needed. I stood in the garage, hands on hips, frustrated and mumbling to myself about how irritated I was. I realized this situation has played out way too many times, and something needed to give.

So I made an executive decision. I decided that because I had been doing so much around this house, and it looked as if I would be continuing to do all of this for some time, that I needed my own tools. Yep, my very own tools. And heck, why not a tool box too. So I made my way to Menards, made my purchases, came home and finished up my project at hand, cleaned up my mess, and put all my new tools away in my new tool box.

I was happy with my finished project,