Things I Don't Do

This week I'm exploring my girliness, so I thought I'd make a list of all the things I don't do that maybe people think I should to be a self-sufficient person (because I'm anal meticulous like that).

I don't do cars. As in check oil or fluid or change tires.

I don't do taping - like around the edges when I paint.

I don't do yard work. At least not if I can help it.

I don't do grilling.

I don't fix things - like leaky pipes or clogged toilets or broken lights.

And I realize that some of you are reading this thinking "what a lightweight!!" or something similar, but let me explain..

I have 13 male cousins who all live in the greater Houston area and I only share them with 2 other girls (Amara doesn't count because she lives in Austin).

I have 4 Uncles.

Many guy friends.

Several incredibly capable girlfriends.

Perry - who likes to prove his manliness by doing shit around my house.

Alien - who is actually relatively handy.

Pa - who is a carpenter.

And Bean, who will do just about anything I ask him to.

So why the hell would I ever need to learn these things??

Yes, I realize that taping is ridiculously easy, but for some reason I do a craptastic job and everything I tape looks like shit. Plus it takes me years to tape a wall. So yeah, I could do it. Or - I could call Perry who does a much better job than I do in a quarter of the time.

Do you understand now??

It's not about being the helpless girl. Its about understanding my limits.

I know that I wouldn't do these things well, and I have many people around me who can do them better and faster and without breaking something - like their foot - so I leave these things to the experts, who almost all just happen to be men.

JJ Plays with Powertools

I mentioned yesterday that I played with powertools this weekend. It was great fun.

See, Alien put this maze up for Oliver's Halloween party. And it consisted of 4 foot fence posts and black tarp running around the back patio.

Well the tarp came down November 1st. But in order to take the fence apart, you needed powertools.

A drill to be more specific.

But I figured Alien would get around to it in a week or so, so I didn't worry.

And then he didn't.

And Bean wasn't feeling great, so he didn't.

And Perry never does anything without being directly asked.

So for almost 2 weeks, I haven't been able to use my back gate or patio.

Saturday I got tired of it.

I called Perry and asked him if he would put the screwdriver thingy on the end of the drill for me when he came over to pick up Oliver's stuff (because I had no idea how to do that part). He did.

And off to take apart the fence I went.

At first I just did the part blocking the back gate, since it was really the pain in the ass, because our driveway goes to the back gate, not the front door, and I have a hard enough time getting Mom to pull all the way up in the driveway when the gate is unblocked, let alone when it's blocked.

Then I waited, because Bean was sleeping for work Saturday night.

When 3:00 rolled around and Bean left for work, I went out to finish the job.

I got all of it taken apart and set to the side and was working on the very last piece when the screw came out a little more quickly than I was expecting and the whole 6 foot section of fence fell on my right foot.

And it hurt like a sonnofabitch.

And I'm not positive that I didn't break something, since it's swollen and a little black around the edges.

Do you see why I don't play with powertools??

It's not because I'm not capable. It's because there is always someone else who can do it better and faster than me and without a fence falling on their foot.