I love him, but I can't work with him.

I love my husband. After my first marriage turned toxic, I was not looking to get married again. But then I met my best friend. He wrote to me first, the good old fashioned way to court,then he chuckled in that deep voice on the phone. I used to make him stay on the line until he feel asleep, just so I could hear him talk. We have so much in common,he's a chef, I like to eat. He likes to buy bookshelves, I like to read, a lot. He loves my daughters and I love his sons. BUT, did I mention that he is an excellent chef, he knows everything and he can make spam taste good. Sometimes handyman chores are not his forte...

One Saturday discord crept up between us,he lost his listening ability and I lost my patience. It was supposed to be a simple job....they ALWAYS are. We bought a keypad for outside the garage door. So whenever the kids lose their keys....again. They can get into the house with out jumping the fence, reaching up through the doggies door to unlock the back door.

There was a large page of instructions, that I hasn't read yet, it was divided and he was only reading the left side which was looking for dip switches on the motor unit on the ceiling, to set the code for the keypad. After I climbed the ladder that was broke and duct taped together, I couldn't find the dip switches and when I asked him what the right side of the instructions said, he told me it was the Spanish instructions and I just needed to look again. I finally got the instructions away from him and the right side was alternate instructions if you had a model that didn't have dip switches. DUH! So then I pushed the quick learn code button and he read the codes and put them into the keypad....nothing was working. At this point I was threatening to come down the ladder and bop him upside his head. Instead, I hit the button, climbed down off the ladder to put in the codes but he insisted on reading them to me. Yet another recipe for disaster. We were both pretty frustrated by this point and couldn't dial a code correctly if our life depended on it.

Despite the mutual aggression that was evolving, love prevailed and no bodily harm was done. We worked out one last plan, I would take the instructions up the ladder with me, push the button, and read the codes to him while he put them in. Ta Da! Yet another household chore finished, and only after putting it off for several months and nearly coming to blows. I can hardly wait to take up the carpet in the living room and refinish the hardwood floors underneath....I'll keep you posted....I may need bail money. :>