Inside Jobs vs Outside Jobs

In our home, traditionally the yard was my husband’s domain and the house mine (with the help of a house cleaner once a fortnight).

But that was in the days before kids or BK. We both worked full time BK and had plenty of time and money to spend on our domains. Hubby endlessly buying a bigger and better whipper snipper or tree pruner and me stock-piling manchester and throw pillows as if I was opening an emporium in the coming weeks.

Hubby, incredibly over-mothered (thanks MIL x), came to me with no practical life skills to speak of. What I mean is he was perfectly capable of surviving (if drinking beer and purchasing take away can get you all the way through life) he just couldn’t cook or clean or wash or even notice such things needed doing.

But boy our lawn was flash, and mown weekly even in winter (‘just giving it quick high cut”¦’). And our garage is always swept immaculately.

Then the kids arrived and everything changed. Hubby, so tired of tomato on toast for ‘dinner’, started cooking spaghetti bolognaise and the like. Amazing I know had to send photos to MIL otherwise she would not have believed me. When I let go of the house keeping due to exhaustion (the house cleaner long gone in single income budget cuts); hubby picked up the slack.

When the weather’s nice you’ll find me with the kids outside in the yard. Always a keen veggie patch gardener, I turned my attention to other areas of the yard, with the kids’ help. We now care for some chickens in our yard and have planted out more herbs, fruit and veggies in different parts of the garden to watch grow, pick then eat.

But you won’t find me mowing the lawn. After spending an hour or so just trying to start it  one day – whilst the neighbour’s kid heckled me (and I swore black and cray-cray) – I’ve decided that’s definitely hubby’s job at our place. Oh and anything creepy crawly, yep, for sure.