Venus and Mars

As I mentioned, my mind has been stuck in neutral for a couple of days but there is nothing like a mans actions or inactions to get those juices flowing! The best cure for those type of days is to get busy and stay busy, so that was yesterdays mission.

The frat boys had business to attend to and I took the opportunity to clean the dorm from top to bottom. (See new "dorm" decor addition) As I was going along, I kept getting smacked in the face by the differences between men and women. Now we all know that men have this amazing ability to "shelve" anything that is not directly affecting them at that particular moment...where do I buy some of that??? ...but some things can get ridiculous.

About 2 1/2 weeks ago, the resident geniuses decided to fill the hole where the suspected pooping animal was entering. They purchased some kind of spray gap filler goop and went to work. I was downstairs during this operation so of course, was not there to supervise. I heard a lot of hilarity and hooting going on but didnt really think anything of it. When I went upstairs later, I couldnt believe the mess! They had shot the stuff from the outside to the inside and what ever they thought was going to stop on the inside....hadn't! The stuff was now dripping down the wall and pooled all on the floor in the corner. Just lovely!














But that is not even the part that gets me. That stuff has sat in that corner since then! Everytime I mentioned it, I got the.."I need to get a putty knife to scrape it" line. Now this is a man that is pretty clean, as far as men go...hey, I'll even say that he is cleaner than some of the females in my family! But everyday he looked at that mess and everyday he put that vision on a shelf somewhere in the back of the closet of his brain and didnt give it a second thought. Seriously, how do they do that?? It's not fair! lol

So yesterday when I was on my mission... I got to his side of the bedroom, and I couldnt just ignore it...ok so we didnt have a putty knife... but you are talking to a woman whose favourite tool is a butter knife..small sturdy..able to be anything you want it to be! A little small for this job..what could I use?? Ding ding ding...



Thats right...a spatula! Necessity is the mother of invention lol Job finished in no time..No dithering and no shelving of thoughts. Although, I have to tell you...I am not sure that the original job accomplished its goal...there seems to be evidence of re entry but since I hadnt voluntarily been visiting that side of the room I cant confirm how long it has been at the back of the man's mind closet! :-)


Finishing upstairs, I moved down to the kitchen. Now sometimes you can just tell when something is designed by a man. The installation of the kitchen cupboards in this condo is a fine example. Obviously, at the time, the male brain was focused solely on the task at hand and the practical application of real life was "up on a shelf" somewhere. They are positioned so close to the floor that no mop can fit under them to clean the floor! While I was down on my hands and knees washing the floor, I did have the thought that maybe "they" had actually planned it this way...But then...No way...they arent capable of having 2 thoughts going at the same time :-) Can't live with them, can't live without them or as I said...Venus and Mars!

Completing the inside and to continue my "keep busy" mission, I moved my bucket and scrubbing brush outside. Bordering the front of the entire condo is a white fence. Scott and Heather live at one end and we live at the other end. Being a man..Scott loves his power tools. lol When we moved in, I noticed that he had cleaned the fence at his end and then had stopped. I asked why and he said because after about an hour with the power washer he had got tired. At the time, I didnt question it...what did I know.. I had never used a power washer. But by the end of this exercise, I sure was.

The first "male decision" I came up against was the tap. Ok...who thought of this??? If you look closely at the picture on the left..immediately to the left of the coconut tree, down by the flowers is the facet for the hose.













The picture at the right, is taken from Scott's end of the building. I.. a 51 1/2 year old woman who is going to be a grandmother within a month, had to play mountain goat and scramble down the hill to turn the tap on! By the time I got back up to the top, cursing the ant bites on my feet, went all the way down to the length of the hose.. only to find that the water was only dribbling out. Ok...now I know why it took so long with the power washer! Duhhhh By the time the water travels up hill 60 feet, there is no pressure! Male thinking! So with only a bucket of water, a dribbling hose and a sponge, I played Tom Sawyer and proceeded to "washwhite" the entire fence and the balconies on the way. Well not quite the entire fence. The hose ended just before I got to my own unit! So I am left with a dirty fence, but no worries..while I was scrubbing,.... I analysed my life, I decided what we were having for dinner, thought about what I was doing the next day to keep busy, solved half the worlds problems, delivered 2 healthy babies in my mind, reorganized The Toronto Maple Leafs, figured out how the Giants could beat the Pats and talked on the phone! I am woman! Nothing or nobody left on the shelf in the back of my brain's closet! lol

Cant's live with us..can't live without us! Venus and Mars