Softly, softly catchy monkey!

My OH does the cooking and cleans the kitchen ( in the morning) . He's pretty handy with DIY / decorating and the garden so I don't mind getting lumbered with the washing/ ironing/ cleaning the rest of the house. Its called division of labour! When I was working I had a cleaner who also did the ironing, so I look on it as saving money.

Charleygirl & Lilypops I was the same with my washing, pegs had to match each other i.e. 2 x blue, 2 x red etc. Different pegs for underwear, t-shirts, jeans, sweatshirts etc & shirts/blouses hung from the bottom. My late DH could never quite get the hang of it!! All washing had to be properly folded into basket when it came in dry.

It's funny because I'm not particularly fussy where anything else is concerned.

I no longer have a washing line so not an issue(no room in my small garden) instead have to use tumble dryer

moobox know just what you mean.....hoovering becomes an important task which must be accomplished in a really serious and thorough way ( scream!)

Oh dear Charleygirl .....that's how it starts, matching pegs! ?

If my DH started cleaning I'd think he was a stranger who had entered my home. He does shop and cook but laundry and cleaning are a mystery to him and DIY bores him. He once painted half a ceiling, many years ago, and then lost interest. No prizes for guessing who had to finish it.

Lilypops I hang clothes out as you do- there is less creasing if done properly. I have started to match the colour of the pegs and do not have eg white pegs hanging up a white T shirt. I try to pin up a blue peg with another blue one etc. I have packed and am waiting for the men in white coats to take me for a lovely rest.

I just feel ashamed I have never wiped the t.v nor pictures with a glass cleaner. I wondered why my picture of a country garden looked as though the morning mist had arrived.

June, I know what you mean too, I felt my oh was taking over my world when he retired doing my jobs even telling me how they should be done( he,s out of intensive care now)!!!! , I liked to get on with the housework after he had gone out to work with my music on ,, now , he turns it down, says it's too loud,,
He tries to keep within his boundaries I.e gardening , diy , but one thing really irks me is , when he offers to hang out the washing, I like socks hung together, pyjamas tops hung next to their bottoms, and shirts, tops hung from the hems,he won't do that, he says , does it matter which way, Well it does to me , I have been doing it that way for 48 years, or am I just a bit OCD ??

JUney yes I know what you mean I feel as if my DH has taken my life away after it being my job

My dear OH has a hissy fit every single time he unpacks the dishwasher as there is always something still damp. It's worse if there's a speck on something. I try to head him off at the pass but he thinks he's the only one who can pack and unpack a dishwasher. (He can't!)

Bless. He's a really nice man.

Sounds like most of us are with men who help love em?

I do have to hold my hands up. Mr A95 does wash up and cook,(he;s so much better than I am) but DIY,, HMM We have a CD player that has wanted to be connected since oooh January!! haha

Phoenix. would Mr P, like to do my pictures etc, will give the going rate, a cup of tea and two custard cremes xx

Retirement can be quite a difficult period of adjustment as we feel our way journeying to the new normal. Masses of give and take required and a chance to do things differently. Seeing all the comments on this thread and the way in which the lads are trying to muck in it seems that so many of us are truly blessed in the lovely lads we have in our lives!

Here's to the lads - and their lasses!

Yikes, I may be an exception here. My hubby has always done the DIY over the years and he's very good at it. However, since he's retired he's started doing things like washing up, hoovering, polishing and - to my horror, he put a washing on the other day. Some would say that I should be grateful but I'm not. The truth is that it privately irritates me to death when he does what I consider to be 'my jobs' and they have been for 40 years. I always took great pleasure in cleaning one room, (with my music on and sometimes having a wee dance as I went) stopping to admire my handy work, then moving on to the next room. I feel that my small but important (to me) pleasure has been taken from me. I don't say anything as he has such a lovely nature and I know I'm very fortunate in that respect. However, I'd be really interested to know if anyone else feels the same?

Mrsdof if he has any extra energy my lounge/diner needs redecorating- paint, not wall paper please. He sounds amazing-I did not know that there were any men out in the big wide world who could and did do so much.

I think I am just incredibly lucky my DH does everything, and I mean everything! I consider ironing to be my job, but he will do it if necessary and does it well. Before he retired he did shift work, so depending on which shift he was on he did everything before and after his shifts. While I was out at work he automatically cleaned the house, did the washing, the shopping and looked after the garden. He's a pretty good cook and he also does all the decorating. He can't sit still and has to be doing something so it's a bonus for me.

My DH is a very smart man who teaches people to fly. However it seems he can't operate a dish washer, or washing machine. I don't mind, he does all the cooking instead. I keep telling him to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher instead of the sink, but he won't do it. He also insists on rinsing dishes before I put them in the machine.

But when they do vacuum they put a lot of time into it as if it has never been vacuumed before

My DH is a paragon of virtue he does all the hoovering and dusting, all the ironing, most of the gardening, all the decorating (but we don't do a lot) and looks after the cars. We would starve and die of thirst if we waited for him to feed/water us. He has other skills but I expect you don't want to hear about those. He was of course beautifully trained by me.

I think my DH definitely has a blind spot . At the moment he has relegated the dishwasher to the back burner, and is washing up by hand He does a great job, albeit taking ages and ages, but singing whilst working . Then I come into the kitchen and lo and behold the two water glasses are still unwashed on the side, same as the night before. All dirty dishes are stacked on the left of the sink. Quite a few get ignored. He has been known to wash up one plate and cutlery, but leave both cups! I sigh and run another bowl of soapy water. This morning I went to open the back door, no keys. They also were not on the hook. They were on the garage door hook. Where were the garage door keys? They were in the door. At the back of the house, not the front. He's off put in a mo, was going to get the bus, but has decided to take the car, I hope it's where it should be. [ smile]. Probably shouldn't be on this thread, but Phoenix caught my imagination and I just went

If he was ever out of a job, maybe he could set himself up like Ovenu and clean ovens locally.

Charleygirl he's been a bit lax of late, however he brought me tea in bed this morning, which to be honest he usually does, and then did the washing up from last night's supper. (We don't have a dishwasher, and as we had used the ancient rotisserie, it had to be left to cool, by which time we had gone through to the sitting room, so although the dishes had been rinsed and stacked, they hadn't been washed up ) OK, so line me up for slut of the week bad housewife of the week award!

I must say that although he is a stranger to operating the washing machine, and seems to have some sort of blind spot when it comes to vacuuming, he takes some beating when it comes to oven cleaning!

phoenix he can always practice here!

Not so much "time" Alima more a case of how much gets done!

However, the sun is very nearly over the yardarm, so perhaps the rest can wait.