Every man knows what the “honeydo” list is. “Honey, do this. Honey, do that.” It’s the list of things that typically drive wives absolutely batty because, in a house of near perfection, all that can be seen is that black mark on the baseboard or that puncture in the sheetrock.
Of course, most honeydo lists are not that minor; many of them are major: the shutters are falling off the house, there is a tree growing in the gutter, the house needs painting inside and out, the furniture is falling apart, the brakes are squealing, the engine is knocking and on and on.
We’ve been in our current house for about 7 and a half years. That’s how long my honeydo list had become. We had stuff in the basement that needed to go to the dump, a trey ceiling to paint, hardwood flooring to finish, trees to cut down, mulch to load and spread, and more. So I took an entire week off to do nothing but honeydo’s and got about twelve separate projects done. Of course, there are a couple of more that just got started and may not be finished until the next honeydo week rolls around.
Sonya is a great project manager. We had some furniture that needed to be recovered. She went on the internet and studied a few sites, bought the appropriate tools and spent about a week recovering an ottoman and a loveseat. She refinished the cabinets in our master bathroom and created the textured painting that adorns the walls. She has the ability to look at a project and say, “That will take about ten hours.” Then, she will break it up into five 2-hours segments and be done in a week.
I look at a project and say, “That will take about ten hours. Heck, I ain’t got ten hours–I’m going to the mall.” Thus, I end up with a week long honeydo list.
Can anyone else sympathize with this? Who is the procrastinator in marriage (if you are married) and which style represents you if you are single?
I’m one of those “break it up into installments” guys. Except in my case, I say “That’s a 10-hour job, so it’ll take 5-2 hour sessions …. uhh … there goes October and November”.
Comment by Bob Cleveland — September 29, 2007 @ 6:06 pm
Ding, Ding Ding, we have a winner. You just described my life. My wife, on the other hand is about a detailed as God and rarely procrastinates. I hate it.
I took Friday and finally got 3 transitions strips put down after putting down hardwood laminate in MAY! All done with that…finally.
There’s got to be a man-law about this…
Comment by David Phillips — September 30, 2007 @ 6:32 am
David-
Mine had been waiting since about May as well…May 2003.
Comment by Marty Duren — September 30, 2007 @ 8:11 pm
Marty,
Right there with you! I look at things and think, geez I really don’t want to deal with that! Been intending to clean out the basement and rearrange stuff for months…my hand got forced because of the new furnace going in and everything needed to be cleaned out around the old one so they could remove it.
Comment by Chris Walls — October 1, 2007 @ 10:58 am
Marty,
Man, why would you want to write something that would cause such conviction? Yep, I’m a procrastinator when it comes to household stuff. In fact, I should probably stop typing, get upstaris and take out the trash right now. :)
Actually, Amy and I both procrastinate in this area. The difference between us is that when we finally get around to the “list” Amy does things right, and I do them quickly. I’ll let you and your readers decide which is better. :)
Comment by Joel — October 2, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
Well, boys, I am a man’s man……..and I want to keep it that way….so I do what Karen says as soon as she says it.
cb
Comment by cb scott — October 3, 2007 @ 11:16 am