Poll: The Deployment Fix-It Problem

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I am woman. Watch me use this fancy pants power tool to put screws in stuff all. by. myself.

Let’s go ahead and admit it: when most of us got married a major benefit – whether spoken or unacknowledged – was the knowledge that we would never have to learn how to use power tools. Or kill giant Alien Bugs. Or fix plumbing. Or install appliances. Or mow stuff.

Of course in our newlywed bliss we forgot one critical thing: we married military men. And military men leave.

I’m no pansy-lady. I can do anything I put my mind to. But sometimes doing new things that you usually rely on someone else to take care of is kind of scary. And so I felt very, very proud of myself this Spring when my husband was away for about three months and I learned how to use our riding mower (this from a girl who grew-up with a postage stamp sized lawn). And yesterday I conquered my fear of accidentally putting giant holes in our walls and used our power drill for so many tasks that I had to recharge the batteries mid-day.

But sometimes there are things that, even though you most certainly CAN do them, you would just rather avoid. And sometimes there are things that would be oh-so-much-easier and tidier (and less likely to, say, explode), if someone else does them. Maybe you can hire someone. Maybe you can just wait for your scrappier-other to get home.

Example: lawn care. Those yard work dudes can mow my lawn in 1/8th  of the time it takes me to do it. … and hiring them also lowers the odds of me accidentally mowing over my sneaky-like-a-nerf-ball three-year-old. Also: pouring gas into a lawn mower seems to be a task slightly beyond me. You don't want to know.

Another example: giant bugs. Obviously killing (or trapping) it must be done right away, but isn’t it just easier and less, um, horrifying, to leave it there for someone else to clean-up later? Someone, for example, who shares your last name?

So we pick our battles. Yeah, I can drill stuff now. But I think I’ll pay someone to install that extremely heavy and pricey microwave our landlord just sent lest I drop it on my foot. And yeah, that bug is going to wait under that cup until the husband returns. I have extra cups. The giant bug can keep that one.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

So what’s your deployment chore style? Do you tackle each and every task as a challenge, pile them all to await your spouse’s return, spend that lovely deployment pay on making your life easier or use the combo method just like me? Take our poll and view the results below.

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