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Lighthearted. What trivial stuff does your OH angst about?

93 replies

SpongeBobJudgeyPants · 09/01/2021 08:34

Disclaimer. Yes, I know there are worse things to think about. I have them too, but this is a distraction from them. So if anyone says, "I wish that's all I had to worry about". A. You haven't read the OP, let alone RTFT, and B. This is no thread for negativity! I'll start. We have a very beautiful, but temperamental wall clock. It's vair old, so can be forgiven I think. The clockmaker from whom we bought it handles it splendidly, and can make it go for about 3 days on a single wind. (pre covid). But us? No....if we can get 12 hrs out of it, that's a result. You have to do this manouvre that involves holding the clock to the wall whilst winding it, re setting it, and then making the pendulum swing again, and not upsetting it while you close the glass. If it moves on the wall by about a mm, it refuses to go properly. I know this because the man originally mounted it not on the level, and not being able to stand things on the wonk, I moved it about 2mm to level it up. All hell broke loose, the clock stopped and The Clock Man had to be chased down the road to intervene, while both men acted like I'd personally killed their kitten left to them by a dying relative... So, to avoid the angsting when the clock has stopped, I rush to attend to it before he notices. I cannot stand the wailing of "The man, the man must come" in a kind of reverse version of Waiting for Godot on steroids. He is otherwise a good husband, and I know he is worried about recent redundancy etc, but for the love of all that is holy! So, please tell me yours. Tia.

OP posts:
LoveFall · 14/01/2021 22:03

Reading this thread makes me wonder why so many men have a thing about dishwasher loading.

And neatness. I was in hospital for 5 days in December and I am still looking for things he put away somewhere. Like the jar of pickles hidden somewhere...

BadgertheBodger · 14/01/2021 22:08

I really enjoy big family meals at the in-laws because MIL flings things into the dishwasher with gay abandon and I like watching BIL get the twitch until he can bear it no longer and goes hurtling off to Sort It Out. I actually think she does it on purpose, all smiles and chatting just going rogue and putting things in upside down and glasses on the bottom rack Grin

CatVsChristmasTree · 14/01/2021 22:09

@OliviaKeeling

DH obsesses about defrosting frozen peas. Peas for dinner appear in the microwave around lunchtime then have a random defrost setting at various times in the afternoon before finally being (microwave) cooked for dinner.

I've tried telling him that you cook them from frozen but he won't have it. Hmm

Don't get me started on frozen pizza... Or semifreddo desserts!

It.does.my.head.in. Confused

I don't know why, but I really giggled at this! Those poor peas. Does he realise he's probably decreased their freshness several fold, given they are usually frozen within a few hours of being picked?

My DH is fussy about several odd things, considering how lazy and generally not bothered he is regarding household stuff. Unfortunately, he is also usually right so I can't really complain.

It's OK for him to leave recycling all over the place, but if I dare to put it in the recycling bin without it being thoroughly crushed to smithereens, he has a major melt down. I mean, fine, they take up less space but apparently are invisible when cluttering the worktop but hidden in the recycling can be instantly spotted.

AliasGrape · 14/01/2021 22:09

Comparing the same food items from different supermarkets. Dinner this evening was a forlorn affair as he repeatedly sighed that the Lidl halloumi was not as good as the one we had from Aldi that time whilst the co-op pitta breads were not as good as the ones from Morrison’s. I can’t even be arsed to fake an opinion any more it just encourages him. For the whole of December it was mince pies. This year the co-op ones were better than Morrison’s but not as good as what Morrison’s were last year - it’s like being married to the Good Housekeeping reader award panel.

(Also related to a pp and her peas - he also has quite detailed opinions on whether various foodstuffs should be frozen and if so then how and when they should be defrosted so as to best preserve or even enhance their flavour. It’s a bloody Aldi fish cake love, no one cares).

Not exactly a little thing but - our house is very small. Having a baby has made us consider moving. When the stamp duty holiday was announced that did make us think more seriously about moving but ultimately, for quite a few different reasons, we’ve decided to stay put. Except he is obsessed with the idea that if we did move it won’t be in time to benefit from the stamp duty holiday. Which is fine since we’re not moving, but that doesn’t stop him scouting rightmove every day and bemoaning the fact that ‘all the decent properties are gone already’. Everything left is ‘garbage’ apparently and he wouldn’t pay all that money to move just for the sake of a time extra box room. Which, again, is fine because we’re NOT MOVING. But still, woe is him.

I do love him.

CatVsChristmasTree · 14/01/2021 22:10

He's also obsessive about washing the recycling thoroughly and is convinced the bin men notice and think nice things about him for it.
They don't give a shit, I'm sure.

CatVsChristmasTree · 14/01/2021 22:13

@Raera

Thank goodness Covid means solo supermarket shopping. DH cannot abide anything on the belt on top of anything else. All bottles, tins and jars laid flat not upright, if I "help" and pile things up to use less space he rearranges it. What is wrong with him?
He can come with me! I have a system that's it so specific I need to queue behind someone to give me time to arrange the conveyor belt to my liking. Everything goes on in order of type and weight so that it can go into the correct bags at the other end. I'm fast enough at that end that Lidl and Aldi cashiers struggle to keep up! When I take DH to help, if my back's sore, I end up having to take over because he cannot operate my system.
Hoppinggreen · 14/01/2021 22:16

DH is a scruffy git. He is always clean and smells ok but that’s all.As far as he is concerned clothes are to stop you getting arrested for being naked. He has no interest in how he or anyone else looks. He gets dressed by opening the wardrobe and putting his hand in without looking. He generally looks ok because I buy all his clothes and when we used to leave the house I put his clothes out.
(Before anyone calls me a doormat it’s because there’s no point in me making an effort to be seen with a tramp)
BUT dirty shoes really upset him. He has a very well equipped shoe cleaning kit and will pounce on any non pristine shoes immediately. He checks the DCs shoes before they go to school and insists on cleaning them if they aren’t up to his standards. It often results in “DAD, I will be LATE. Give me my shoe back”

CatVsChristmasTree · 14/01/2021 22:30

Oh and other people putting stuff in our bins.
'there's a coke can in our recycling, who put that there, it isn't ours!'
'This bin bag isn't ours, it's the wrong colour'

I'm just grateful they aren't littering, but DH takes it as a personal insult. Even when next door do it if theirs is full, and they're very good friends! They usually ask, to be fair, perhaps they've heard his swearing at the bins!

longtompot · 14/01/2021 22:33

@SpongeBobJudgeyPants

Thanks *@Alonelonelyloner*. I have a more childish version of your wall-touching. Sometimes, when it all becomes too much, when DH is in the kitchen,(out of sight) I actually throw him the V sign. Right hand, followed by left, rinse and repeat. I shall be old enough to have free prescriptions very very soon, so I am really old enough to know better. Sometimes I do it when driving, and someone turns out in front of me or something, it's like I forget that they can actually see me Grin
Your last sentence did make me actually LOL Grin

A different angle on packing. My dh, when we used to go away anywhere, would say "Oh, I only need xyz." I always did the packing for all of us (he worked full time and I was home) and also as I know he also needs ab&c too. When we get to said destination, he would say "oh do I have such&such" and every time I'd say, "yes, but if I only packed what you said you needed, you wouldn't have it " Smile

He has also taken to repeating things many times, apparently for his benefit. Doesn't make it less annoying. Good job I love him😊

Vthirtyone · 14/01/2021 22:33

DH deals with the laundry on the whole, but for some reason on a Friday (end of his working week) the laundry bin HAS to be emptied into the washing machine, with his work clothes and anything else, and put on. So he will have a meltdown if any rogue dirty item is put into the bin in a window of around 1 hour after this special occasion. I don't necessarily want to get out of my clothes at 6pm on a Friday and am usually making tea. I always point out that the machine will probably go on again the following day, but it just vexes him! So wierd.

longtompot · 14/01/2021 22:45

@EggyPegg

The heating, the windows and the dryer. I'll open the kitchen window a crack when the dryer is on to reduce condensation. If the heating kicks in on its timer whilst the window is open, he goes almost purple. It really stresses him out. He likes this heating to be turned off at the main point so that it can't happen. Sometimes, when he's out, I have it all going just because I can. Sadly he works from home full time now which spoils my fun somewhat. He also used to check our energy meter obsessively, but happily that stopped working when we had the new boiler fitted.
Mine can't bear a window being open when we have the heating on. He sees it as a waste of energy and therefore money, I see it as a way of getting fresh air through the house whilst being warm. I do kind of see his point, and he is much better now we have a wood burner.

I am loving these little acts of rebellion though. Touching walls when they aren't looking, jugs the right way up in the dishwasher so they fill up.
I have to say I am a bit of a dishwasher fiend. I do it most of the time, I know where everything goes for max filling efficiency and cleaning, and I have to leave the room when dh does it. My hands get all twitchy and I want to rearrange things. I usually do if it's not filled up completely and switched on straight away Grin

TiddyTid · 14/01/2021 23:03

Airing.

I notice furniture is randomly moved slightly further away from walls (I'm talking inches and wasn't touching the wall in the bloody first place. Just random furniture, mind, at random times. To let the walls "air"

Sometimes it's the shed door....to let the shed, you know... "air".

RosesAndHellebores · 14/01/2021 23:08

Where shall I begin:

Hankies, folded in 8' and every fold must have a neat crisp crease at right angles.
Boxers with sharp creases
Socks folded
Bottles and other glass arranged by size in the glass box
Straight lines on the lawn
Oh the piano, the **ing piano. Every night he checks the keys are in tune
He keeps a 7 year log of his daily X's on the back of an old envelope - every night he compares today's expenditure to that 7 years ago and puts the 7 yr old envelope in the shredding bag. he has made millions (oh and a vast quantity of old envelopes for random notes).
Shoe trees in shoes, trousers in trouser press, white shirts, blue shirts, striped shirts, checked shirts all in order; cashmere in proper bags.

Anyone fancy swapping Grin.

Balibabe1 · 14/01/2021 23:19

Badger the bodger your MIL sounds ace 😁

throwaway5001 · 14/01/2021 23:56

Nothing to add right now other than how much I love this thread

Thesagacontinues · 15/01/2021 06:30

@Sparklingbrook he is never here when the remote is lost Angry

Eg he'll lose the remote before he goes to bed, then go to work early the next morning, so when I get up with the kids at 6am I have to go searching. It drives me mad.

spottygymbag · 15/01/2021 08:07

Boxes. He has a thing about boxes. He keeps all of the boxes that his purchases come in. Admittedly some are useful like the tv box stashed at the back for when we moved but all the teeny little boxes for headphones, shaving brush, modems etc. Most of which are long gone. In fact when I moved in the main storage/linen cupboard was about 85% boxes. All empty but kept just in case. Every so often I gather them all together and tell him he can keep 5 or so but the rest must go.

sueelleker · 15/01/2021 09:12

@spottygymbag

Boxes. He has a thing about boxes. He keeps all of the boxes that his purchases come in. Admittedly some are useful like the tv box stashed at the back for when we moved but all the teeny little boxes for headphones, shaving brush, modems etc. Most of which are long gone. In fact when I moved in the main storage/linen cupboard was about 85% boxes. All empty but kept just in case. Every so often I gather them all together and tell him he can keep 5 or so but the rest must go.
My husband's exactly the same It's "in case it needs to go back". I've found boxes for items that have long since gone, before. *Don't get me started on frozen pizza... Or semifreddo desserts!^ I don't think I want to know what he does with semi-freddo desserts!
Peridot1 · 15/01/2021 09:32

Love this thread. Although I’ve noted a couple of things that give me angst - dishwasher and the Brita water filter. My BIL was terrified to put anything in our dishwasher last time they stayed. DS irritates me by using the last of the water in the Brita filter jug at night after I’ve gone to bed and I have to refill it and wait before I can make a cup of tea in the morning.

DH gets angsty about all sorts. Menu planning and doing a shopping list. Food shopping. Having stock of everything. He panicked yesterday when he realised our Ocado order is not coming this weekend but the following weekend. You would swear we didn’t have a full fridge, full freezer and cupboards over full of food.

Hoppinggreen · 15/01/2021 09:41

DH worries if we don’t have tins of “soups” (yes I have pointed out the grammatical error). He doesn’t eat tinned soup, in fact I make soup most weekends to use up whatever veggies are looking sad but it still concerns him if there are no “soups”

Cedilla · 15/01/2021 10:06

it’s like being married to the Good Housekeeping reader award panel

This made me laugh rather a lot.

With my DH it’s the lawn. We have quite a big garden and a fairly big lawn and he is the one who cuts it. In the spring and summer I get a lot of loud I Am Going To Mow The Lawn!! announcements, followed by long disquisitions on the state of said lawn (always bad), the lumps and bumps he finds unacceptable, what should be done to it to get it into shape...on and on and bloody on.

I wouldn’t mind so much but the rest of the garden is completely left to me and he has zero interest in any of it nor in the hard work involved in any of the veg I grow etc, though he doesn’t seem to mind eating the fruits of my labours.

LaceyBetty · 15/01/2021 10:17

@spottygymbag

Boxes. He has a thing about boxes. He keeps all of the boxes that his purchases come in. Admittedly some are useful like the tv box stashed at the back for when we moved but all the teeny little boxes for headphones, shaving brush, modems etc. Most of which are long gone. In fact when I moved in the main storage/linen cupboard was about 85% boxes. All empty but kept just in case. Every so often I gather them all together and tell him he can keep 5 or so but the rest must go.
This is funny because mine is obsessed in the opposite way. Boxes are in the recycling bin before I've even had a chance to fully empty them sometimes. If I get a piece of jewellery in a lovely box his first words are "You're not keeping that box right?"
LaceyBetty · 15/01/2021 10:19

Socks folded

Mine rolls them.

lightand · 15/01/2021 10:27

Mine cant find a pair, even if only six socks in the drawer! Literally.

DuzzyFuck · 15/01/2021 10:30

DP gets very worried about the cat. Often jumps up in the night to check on him if there's any kind of unexplained noise, fusses if he's being vocal 'Babe do you think there's something wrong with him?' 'Not all he's just being a noisy little dick like he is every day'. He wanted to leave the heating on for him while we're out Hmm It's very sweet though, and much better than him not liking the cat (who's been with me much longer than DP has).

Also about cooking. He's a great cook and he enjoys it, super for me as it means he does 98% of it and I'm very grateful. But he follows new recipes to the absolute letter, including going out and buying every single ingredient listed regardless of what we might already have, or insisting it can't be made at all if we don't have (for example) the exact right quantity of grated ginger available. I am much more of a 'bodge it and make do' style cook.