Boy-jobs

**this is not a post about capabilities or a political statement.....simply the findings of a recently single girl**

There are boy-jobs and girl-jobs. I have learned this in the recent months of living sans a husband and I was made keenly aware of these jobs again in the last 24 hours. For example, boy-jobs include:

- Sprinkler repair. I put my front yard garden babies in yesterday (happy post with pics to follow when I calm down....and dry off). I didn't have time to turn the sprinklers on and realized this afternoon the plants were looking much too dry. So I went out there just now and tried to turn the outside water back on (yes, with the huge sprinkler key metal stick thing), figured out the sprinkler box and tested all of the sprinklers. To my dismay, a few were broken so I foolishly decided to "fix" them myself. 30 minutes and a solo wet t-shirt contest later, 3 are fixed and one has been the recipient of much fussing and finally cursing, but alas will not work.

- Spider killing. Found a spider this morning....IN MY BEDROOM....and almost committed suicide over it. "Oh it's just a little spider" you say, but I am not adult enough to handle dark brown spiders on my dark brown hardwood where they BLEND IN until I almost step on them. Boys should be in charge of killing all of them. Nothing flips me out as much as the noise of hearing them squish. Ugh, just the thought is making me gag.

- Taking out the trash. In my younger years, I enjoyed watching Law & Order and CSI. There were always dead bodies in the garbage receptacles on those shows so now even during broad daylight, all I can think about when taking out the trash is, "Oh please, dear God, don't let there be a dead body in the garbage". Last week the rubbish in my kitchen trash was particularly stinky so although it was dark, I had to take out the bag. As I was throwing the bag in the can as quickly as possible and trying not to look, one of the neighborhood cats scurried past my feet and I let out a scream that would have raised the dead - had there been one inside the can. I was so flipped out by the dumb cat that if I could have caught it, there would have been a dead body in my garbage bin -- the feline kind.

- Edging the lawn: I have gone 3 rounds with the lawn edger. Rounds 1 and 2 were a clear victory for the edger because I couldn't get it turned on. Yesterday was Round 3 and although I got it on, I did a horrible job. How difficult can it be? I have watched the yard boys walk around my parent's property for years (since I had a crush on one of them in high school...hahaha) and they made it look real casual like there were just swinging the stupid thing around for fun. How on Earth does that machine work? And what makes it look so much better when other people do it vs when I do it? I feel a major Google search coming on before the next time I edge my lawn.

I know I am capable. I believe men and women have equal but different talents and we are meant to use them in pairs since the synergistic effect is greater than the sum of the parts. I am not a handy man.....or girl.....or whatever.

A happy post filled with pictures of my Saturday (which was one of the best days I have experienced in awhile) will soon follow.