Family Forum / Marriage / Marriage / July 2009

I'm just wondering...
When it comes to yard work, who usually does this kind of stuff?
I just got in from cutting the grass in the back yard.  This is something
I've always done, even when I was younger.  To this day, I still go to my
parents' place and cut their lawn  every week or two.  My parents are by no
means "old" or not capable of doing it - my dad just turned 53 in Feb and my
mom will be 53 in Dec - it's just something I do and enjoy doing and always
have.
As I was cutting the grass a little while ago, I thought of how N grabbed
the lawn mower last weekend and cut the grass.  I didn't ask, hint or expect
him to do that, and it kind of shocked me as I don't think he's ever cut the
grass before!  It's always been my thing to do that.
I then also started thinking about the winter.  We normally get about 92.9
feet of snow in the winter, or somewhere around that (haha)  I am always the
one that shovels the snow.  I'd send DS out to do it, but I want and *need*
the snow shoveled down to the cement.  I cannot tolerate snow caked on the
sidewalks.  Partly because I'm anal about it, partly because often many
times a day I am going out the door to my van, almost always with 1-4 kids
(2 of them preschoolers and one an infant in a baby seat) and snow and ice
on the sidewalks is just dangerous when I have a baby in my arms and 2 other
little ones clinging on to me while walking outside.  I also do the
sidewalks for my parents often in the winter.  Sure, both of my useless
brothers still live at home (one is 23, the other 20) but they really are
useless tits.  My dad is not able to do sidewalks and my mom ends up doing
it and I don't think she should have to do that with her asthma and all that
with 3 young adults as her children ;)  Big dumps of snow in the city, and
the next day N and I are in the van to go to my parents' place, my grandma's
and my aunt's house to shovel them out of a foot or two of snow (or more)

I just makes me wonder who does this kind of stuff in other peoples' homes.
Friends ask me why I am the one cutting the grass when there's a man to do
it.  I just reply that I am perfectly capable of starting the lawn mower and
pushing it around over the grass and I do enjoy doing it.  They also ask why
I am the one outside in the snow clearing sidewalks when, again, HE'S there
to do it.  *I must also point out that I believe it's men over 40 or 50 that
are more likely to drop dead or have a bad heart attack shoveling snow, or
something like that, NOT perfectly fine and healthy men that are under 30 ;)
lol  For that I just reply that I like sidewalks done a certain way and
doing it myself is just easier than them not getting done at all (because
for this one, I can beg and whine about it and he still rarely does it...
and really the only time I've ever *asked* about sidewalks was when I was
pregnant or just after I had a baby - DD2, as an example, was born end of
October and when the snow was flying, she was less than 2 months old and I
was still likely to hurt myself if I didn't take it easy for a bit, but
still did it anyways because I had to)

So... again, who normally does this kind of work for those around here?
This isn't a complaint I have at all, just completely curious and nothing
more!