Ah, my husband. He is a wonderful man and great father. I enjoy his company and he makes me laugh daily. With that being said, at times, he can be an enigma. Many of my fellow wives out there may be able to relate. Whether your particular husband has an obsession with fantasy football/baseball, or likes to play with his adult toys like video games or four wheelers, or if he is a fanatic about his yard, in any case, it can be confusing and overwhelming to the wife.
My husband has a few idiosyncrasies, but one that seems to be a little different is his obsession with building fires. No he is not a crazy pyromaniac. He simply likes to build controlled fires either in our fire pit or in an old Weber grill. The other day he frantically runs to me and asks for $150.00. Like a child who just heard the bell of the ice cream truck, holding out his hand as if I had $150.00 in my pocket. He “needed” this for “a great deal.”
I am in charge of the bills and finances. I make his paycheck stretch to within an inch of its life every two weeks. Normally I would be bringing home extra money this time of year by watching other peoples’ kids. Unfortunately there are no kids to watch (besides my own) this year. So things are pretty tight and I really have to rein in all spending. I knew that when he asked me to take out $150.00 we only had about $200.00 in the checking account and that had to last us for another 5 days. So my initial reaction to his request was “no!” What did we need for $150.00? He proceeds to tell me that he was talking to this guy who he saw on Rt 202, who had a cord of wood that he would drop at our house for only $150. First off, who just finds a guy on Rt 202 on his way home from work, second, we don’t have the extra money to spend on all that wood, third, who needs all that wood? Ok that is a very good deal for a cord of Ash, however, it is a LOT of wood. We don’t have a real fireplace, nor do we have a wood burning stove (well we do, but it does not work and is sitting in my husband’s shed for a future “project” so that he can heat his shed and go out there and play in the winter. Can you hear me rolling my eyes?)
We don’t NEED wood to keep our family warm, we have propane heat that we spend a lot of money on. This wood is specifically for him to play with in the back yard. Yes, I admit, I do enjoy sitting out by the fire on a cool fall night with a beer and good conversation. BUT I NEVER GET TO DO THAT!!!! I am too busy yelling at our boys not to run near the fire pit, not to throw anything into the fire, watching out for the large culmination of neighbor’s children who come over at the sight of the flames, bringing said children in to go to the bathroom, get a bandaid, check what time it is, etc. Then it is finally time for my youngest to go to bed. At which time I have to take care of the entire bedtime routine by myself, because someone needs to be out by the fire. By that time, I am beat and not going to leave my child in the house by himself so I can go and sit by the fire. I then have to contend with getting my older one to go to bed and his pleas for being able to stay out by the fire with daddy and as his whining as he gets more tired. See what I am saying?
Meanwhile my hubby is sitting in his adirondack chair, sipping his Octoberfest and smiling and relaxing. Not like he does not deserve it. It is not something he gets to do, hardly ever. It is actually a wonderful sight to see. He works really really hard all week and lately his work has been less than fulfilling. He is a stand up guy and does not compromise himself. He does not get enough appreciation for that. He is an amazing provider and my best friend. He very rarely lets himself just relax, and sit. So if he wants to burn a cord of wood and enjoy some evenings in the back yard, $150.00 is really not that bad a deal. Besides it makes up for the boots I just bought myself!
