Men are from Mars....

It never fails to amaze me at how different men and women are. We see things in a different light and can be so frustrating! Now, I love my hubby with all of my heart, but the things he does just bother me to no end sometimes! Our latest disagreement is over his ability to respect my requests. Now, I don't think that my requests are that difficult and quite frankly, I usually expect more from my kids than I do from him when it comes to the daily household things.

So, last week, I spent an ENTIRE day working on my kitchen. I cleaned out cupboards, the pantry, and the appliances. I got rid of old dishes and plastic containers and changed the way that my cupboards are set up. It took me a long time since this is the first real down-and-dirty cleaning project I have done in the kitchen since we moved in six years ago. So, after my long and hard day's work, I was so proud to have a sparkling clean kitchen with clean cupboards and more room on my countertops as well. When hubby got home, I pointed out all of the work that it had taken me to accomplish this task and that I really would like for him to FINALLY stop putting all of his crap all over the counters as soon as he walked in the door from work every night. Our kitchen is the first room that you walk into from the back door and so everyone can see the mess that accumulates there and this is where I spend a majority of my time since I am forever feeding hungry gremlins children and a hungry adult child husband. When he comes home from a long day at work he seems to feel the need to throw EVERYTHING right in the middle of the counter. It doesn't matter if I am cooking dinner or not. I get a heaping pile full of keys, papers, wallet, coat, hat, change and whatever else he carried home from that day. So, reluctantly, he said that he would "try" to keep things off of the counter. Well, that effort was short lived! It only took him about two days to go right back to his old routine. I guess that he made one baby step in the right direction since he has now moved his "pile" from the middle of the counter to the side counter, but nonetheless, it is still a huge mess in an otherwise clean kitchen.

So, today, I once again woke up to find his mess leftover from last night and I cleaned it up into a nice tidy little pile while he was away at a side job. But, as soon as he arrived home, he takes his stuff that he brought in from the car and threw it into another big pile instead of noticing that I had cleaned the first pile and then following suit.

WHY DOES THIS HAVE TO BE SO DIFFICULT?!?

He has no problem reminding me that since I am his wife that I should make an effort to meet his needs, but has problems seeing that he is NOT meeting my needs. The house is my domain. I run this place like a well oiled machine and try to have it cleaned and tidy for when he arrives home from a long day at work. I simply ask that he not mess up my work space. I have pointed out to him in the past that I do not go into his place of employment and make piles of stuff all over his desk. I am sure that he would not appreciate this gesture. So, once I put it in perspective for him, why is he having such a difficult time making a simple change for me????

So, I guess that the "counter war" will continue on for a while, but hopefully we can come to a peaceful resolution soon!