Men and women on projects

When it comes to doing work around the house, in the yard, etc., there are two types of people. The first type are those who approach all parts of the project slowly and meticulously, take their time, and do not rest until they are satisfied that everything is perfect. Then there are those who think, when I get this done I can work on things that are REALLY important, like watching "Psych."

This would not cause a problem, except that the same type of people are NEVER married to each other. 

There is usually one individual in the household, often but not always the woman, who fits the first description, and one who meets the second description. This is usually the man, though not always. Sometimes it is the family dog.

We personally do not have a family dog, which is probably just as well, because it would be very confused living with the two of us. The Hero would always be playing with the dog, encouraging it to get ALL its toys out at once, and then the two of them would decide to go outside, leaving the house booby-trapped with squeaky toys. Whereas I would forever be trying to teach the dog to fetch, as in "Fetch your bunny, guy. Good! Now put it in the toy basket here, that's right...Now, go fetch the Hero's hammer...That's right, put it in the -- NO, NOT IN THE TOILET!...HONEY, COME AND GET YOUR DOG OUT OF HERE!"

So it is best for us personally to remain dog-free.

When the Hero undertakes a project, he focuses on getting the job done so that he can move on to the next project, or to something fun. I focus on getting the job done, and getting it cleaned up, in such a manner that no one would ever know that any messy job had ever occurred within a hundred feet of that spot.

Our different approaches can be illustrated by a recent gardening project the Hero helped me with. The Hero was to hold the floppy window box liner so I could properly arrange the dirt and flowers inside, then place the liner in the window boxes, which were too tall for me to reach. But his allotted time for this project was roughly 1/10 of MY allotted time, causing the following events to ensue:

Princess: First, we need to --

Hero: (tosses plants into planter and throws some dirt on them) There, it's done.

Princess: (faints) 

Hero: What'd I do wrong?

Princess: (recovering and removing all the plants and dirt from the liner) Well, first I have to loosen the roots, then put in some stones, then fill the liner 1/3 of the way with potting soil -- What?...No, we can't just use top soil -- and then...

Hero: No problem, call me when you're ready for me. (goes to Home Depot, buys various lumber and tools, returns, builds a two-car garage, etc.)

Princess: Okay, I'm ready for you to hold the liner!

Hero: Look what I made! A garage!

Princess: Look at that mess! (faints)

So it is that we both usually stick to carrying out our own projects. As we gradually get used to, and appreciate, each other's way of doing things, however, it is possible that someday we will do more collaborative projects. About as possible as it is that someday we will get a dog.