Blog talkers last week (only a week behind)

Here's a question for you! Blog talkers number 18.

Who generally does the housework in your family? Do you say “Thank You” to your significant other when he/she does housework? Why or why not? Are you thanked when you do housework?

Um....well neither my wife or I are too hot on housework, and exhibit ridiculous gratitude whenever one or other of us gets around to it! We don't let the place get terribly dirty, but things do get untidy pretty quickly, and though we blame the kids, its pretty much both our fault rather than the children.

Jo (my wonderful wife) is better at putting things away than I am. She gets narked if the washing up is not done after a meal, where I like stacking up so there is a good amount to do in one go. Jo tends to work the spaceship that is our washing machine, though I am not averse to it, but she is definitely more conscientious than I am with doing laundry! We both do the hanging out of laundry and gathering it in, though Jo being at home more than me means that she often grabs it off the line if it starts raining. Jo is the ironer in the household, I am the hooverer, I find vacume cleaning very therapeutic.

I do get annoyed at clutter, and though I enjoy dusting, there are times I refuse to do so because the shelves and surfaces are all full of trinkets and bits and gazillions of photo frames. Jo seems to be able to ignore dust, though she doesn't like things to be dirty generally, so I often end up doing the dusting anyway, despite my protestations.

Cleaning the bathrooms is shared, but i tend to have to be nagged to do it, as i tend to have a shower, get dressed and go, and Jo notices that the soapy water is making the shower cubicle grimy and i have to have a good scrub! Likewise, scrubbing the loo and sinks and bath are jobs I quite enjoy when i get around to it, but I need a prod to do it.

So housework is shared, sometimes only after prompting, I am incredibly grateful for all that Jo does, and as a stay at home mum for the past couple of months she has done lots whilst I have been out during the day, and the evenings. She's a star. I do say thanks, and am always thanked when i do stuff.

But don't be fooled, when we're in the mood for an argument, housework will often come up as part of the armoury of complaint we dip into!