Just punch me in the face...

Recently one of my facebook friends posted his status as "somebody punch me in the face if I ever decide to live with a woman again" It got me thinking; so I asked my husband if he thought living with a woman was hard. He didn't say much. That was last night.

Tonight we were making the guest bed together and I found myself instructing him about which way the top sheet should face and how the pillow case should fit the pillow and how the blankets should be folded down and how the pillows should sit on the bed and.... I started thinking maybe this is why men think women are hard to live with.

Women are raised by their mother's to do things the "right" way. Oh so many things are ingrained in our heads about how to clean and where to put things away ect, ect. Men are also trained by their mothers but not in the same way. Men are trained that if its sort of close then they were helpful. I think this is why when men and women first start living together there are issues. I have particular issues with the linen closet, pantry and dishwasher. I hate openning the linen closet and finding wash clothes in the middle of a towel pile or towels that are different sizes stacked together. (For the record there is more than one shelf in the pantry, linen closet and fridge.) I was taught that if your going to do it do it right. From his prespective he at least put it in the right cupboard. To complicate matters every family does it a little different. So when we start playing house and the women is doing it "right" and the man is being helpful and then you mix different household standards together you get friction. For example when your husband uses the dishcloth to wipe the floor and then puts it back in the sink to wash dishes with that may not be up to your standard even if it was ok in his mom's house. This is why women end up doing it themselves or over again. After a few years together we stop trying to teach the men how to do and instead we thank them for their help then when they aren't looking we fix it. Eventually they just stop helping to the relief of the woman. Brillant!

Now back to my friend who wants to be punched in the face. He obviously didn't get past the women trying to teach him phase. Which from his prespective she's just nagging all the time. My husband on the other hand has made it the eight year and is now close to off the hook.

I asked him tonight "You know when I asked you the other night if it was hard living with a woman... Does that question fit into the same category as Am I fat?" He just laughed and said "No comment."