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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

1 hr I was gone 1 hr :(

27 replies

canyou · 14/12/2010 12:21

I am so Angry and Sad
Went out for 1 hr arrived home to find my house resembling a building site.
I asked Dad and DP to do the few jobs left needing to be done I meant the washing up and a put stuff away not put up a new extractor unit for the cooker, not drill an outlet pipe for said unit, not lift and take out the sitting room wooden floor, I know it was warped but it would have been ok until after Christmas. They are great at starting a job and never finishing it.

OP posts:
Mumwithareindeertattoo · 14/12/2010 12:26

How annoying for you! Make them do the extractor hood today. Don't let them stop (except for short meal / drinks breaks) until they have finished it. It shouldn't take that long as long as they get cracking at it. Tell they have until Friday to lay the new floor. Don't let them lose momentum or they'll never finish. Hopefully you're house will be lovely by Christmas!

LadyOfTheFlowers · 14/12/2010 12:30

My DH is crap at DIY so I do it usually.

However, sometimes he decides he will do some - I popped to corner shop the other day and while I was away he filled a hole in the fireplace - it looks ten times worse now than it did when the hole was there. :(

Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 12:31

Mum they don't even have enough equipment to have started never mind finish it and I am in the horrors of what will happen when they head off to the builders merchants place, they have great ideas

OP posts:
classydiva · 14/12/2010 12:31

Id be spitting too, Ive never let a man do a do it yourself job. Rather do myself and know it will get finished. Men take took long, they never do it properly either.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 14/12/2010 12:31

How annoying. I can imagine my DH thinking 'sod the washing, lets wallpaper the living room'.
As Mumwithareindeertattoo said, make sure they finish what they have started. And make sure they do the jobs they were supposed to.

Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 12:33

Lady that is what I am afraid of, and that they have a habit of fixing things later ie it is never finished.

OP posts:
xstitchsnowscene · 14/12/2010 12:34

I's be so annoyed. My XH decided to be 'organised' and rip out the kitchen. We hadn't ordered the new one yet. I feel your pain, I second what Mumwith says. Make them do it.

MmeLindt · 14/12/2010 12:38

"Well, with all this mess in the house, I will NOT be cooking until it is done".

Do not let them put it off.

Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 12:40

Kreecher the to do jobs are covered in cement dust, Apparently they did not know that the white sheets in the shed were to cover things and keep them clean, my washing will have to be redone and every bloody surface cleaned from the ceiling down.
Great now they have hit a concrete beam so whats the bet that the bloody house falls down,
Ladies suggestions of what to do with the DC this afternoon because I will commit murder if I have to tay and admire their mess work

OP posts:
JustBeachy · 14/12/2010 12:41

Tell them it must be done by a certain day or you will call in a handyman to finish the job instead Grin

I spent a year with no skirting boards and no gloss paint on the doors until I pointed out that nothing had happened in 6 mths and should we just face that it wasn't happening and call in the cavalry. Twas all done a week later...by a nice man I found in the Yellow Pages Wink

Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 12:42

xstich Shock they are not that bad, they have some fear respect for me

OP posts:
Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 12:43

Dinner will be the children's choice at their expense Grin

OP posts:
Mumwithareindeertattoo · 14/12/2010 12:48

How about taking the kids swimming and then for fish and chips afterward (your DH an DP paying)?

How old are your DCs?

Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 12:52

The DC are 11,8,3 and 18 months, the youngets is running around handing them Handy manny tools at the moment, it is rather cute,
They now have a hammer and crow bar and there are bits of wall cracking
I will have to repaint now as well

OP posts:
mumonthenet · 14/12/2010 12:55

Would the threat of exposure galvanize them into action?

Arrange to have a large drinks party on Christmas Eve. Or the day before.

At your place.

Invite all your dp's colleagues including said colleagues' partners.

Invite all your parent's friends and relations.

Tell your dad and dp you hope they can finish in time. You need both the kitchen and living room as there will be quite a lot of people. You'll be serving some hot finger food too....

(I am serious here)

Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 13:02

We have open house Christmas Eve and 18 for Christmas dinner and Dp Mum is living with us at the moment and has been reminiscing about him building engines on the kitchen table, she is going out for the afternoon now though Grin

They now are having a lunch break Hmmbefore heading to B&Q

OP posts:
Mumwithareindeertattoo · 14/12/2010 13:06

Ah excellent a deadline - surely that will spur them into action?

Can't think of anything really good to do with 4 kids with such a wide spread of ages on a freezing cold afternoon though. I would say take them on a walk in the woods but that only works if you're coming back to a warm, cosy house.

TheNextMrsClaus · 14/12/2010 13:09

OP, I would have gone MENTAL.

But as my dh doesn't know one end of a spanner from the other, the chances of any spontaneous DIY happening in this house are remote.

He is much better at GSI (Get Someone In).

Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 13:14

Mum our local pool has a kiddies play crèche so we could go there and the smallies can play and I can take the others to the pool, then the library to do home work and home via Mac Donalds and I will be the best ever,
Not sure how the two real babies will get on without me there to admire their trail of destruction though.
Mum a deadline means nothing to them, they promised to insulate the attic by last Sept AND THEY HAVE NOT DONE IT YET. They also have not realised I did it in Nov to help keep the house warm and bills down Grin.

OP posts:
Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 13:17

TheNextMrsClaus GSI I love that it makes things so easy and must help keep costs down
We need paint, plaster, tiles, news floor and ££££ of cleaning supplies all because they wanted an extractor unit.

OP posts:
TheNextMrsClaus · 14/12/2010 13:20

We have a tiler working on our bathroom as I type. It's so great knowing he'll be here for just three days, will complete the job and clean up afterwards!

GrimmaTheNome · 14/12/2010 13:23

Perhaps after all it is an advantage to have a DH who cannot be arsed to find the tools, so he can never start any DIY without my knowledge!

Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 13:24

And I bet fix anything he breaks, the shelf of jars has not survived and it is apparently my fault for not telling them it was loose Hmm
It was fine until DP sat on the bloody thing.
As soon as the smallies are finished lunch we are out as I have just been told the place is a mess Angry

OP posts:
Original poster
canyou · 14/12/2010 13:24

Grimma I am off to check the life insurance policy Grin

OP posts:
NetworkGuy · 14/12/2010 13:44

Hope it all works out for you.

My dear Mum one Christmas was woken by my Dad, who had spent the whole evening drinking, and after arriving home, decided he would knock down a dividing wall between dining room and lounge. He had already managed to make a hole about 3' wide by 5' high by the time she went downstairs.

We had to cope with dust everywhere for days and it made Christmas Dinner a real let down. He had just thought it a bright idea at the time and brought a sledge hammer in from the shed and got on with it, without having thought about having an RSJ ready to put in! Silly idiot.

When I was much older, but still living at home, I was once out for an hour (invited to lunch by a friend, who happened to be in the local police). It was one summer when I was off work, and my Mum had gone for two weeks on the Norfolk Broads with my middle sister plus her DH and PIL.

So, I came back from lunch and the house had been burgled, with no way to ask what rings etc could be missing... On a main road but with a 60' front garden in broad daylight... That hour out caused some grief, too.