Stupid idea for 23rd December

[Cornwallinverness]

My husband has decided that today he is going to sort out our bathroom light that hasn't worked for nearly 1.5 years - we have been using a battery operated lantern instead that does the job but yes, the light needs sorting by an electrician. He has no knowledge around electrics but can't see the problem of trying to do it himself today, risking the whole electric supply blowing 2 days before Xmas. We still have no Xmas food shopping done, no menu even planned but this, apparently, is what he is doing today....

I agree.

I also think it’s a bit contradictory of OP to say it’s a job that’s needed doing for 1.5 years which she’s not bothered fixing herself and then as soon as her DH starts fixing it, she suddenly remembers that there are other jobs that need doing, which again she’s not done herself by now and can be getting on with.

Perhaps they are both the type to do anything but the job that they’re meant to be doing.

My DH is painting ...

Two jobs ticked off the list. One is going through every thing you need to get for the next few days, listing it, going out into a circle of hell that is two days before Christmas shopping, praying what you need is still in, queuing for a lifetime, dragging all the shopping back to the car and trying not to lose the will to live. The other is a job that can wait until Boxing Day as it’s manage to wait 1.5 years so far.

The shopping job can be done by both of them - one lists everything needed, the other go get it. Who will be prepping and cooking everything on the day @Cornwallinverness ?

This is classic deliberate incompetence. Man finds any job to do that is of interest to him and not of help to the matters that need sorting immediately. Like mowing the grass 10 minutes before you need to go out…

The op said the job needs to be done by an electrician, which her husband is. A job he’s managed to ignore until suddenly there is a more pressing matter that needs to be sorted first. It’s Christmas is 2 days, he’s not thought the light an issue for well over a year. Why is both Christmas and the broken light both a reflection of the op’s mismanagement of time?

It’s the lack of expertise that’s the issue I think.
My dh ripped out kitchen plumbing yesterday and replaced plus painted and varnished. It was messy but I knew he’d be capable and not leave me without a working kitchen sink for Christmas

Well if he does blow it all, it will be a genuine electrical emergency, which your home insurance emergency cover should sort. Or, he actually fixes it.

Is he well insured?

If not, it might be worth hiding the step ladder.

Glad it's not just mine who rather than clean inside the house ready to put up the xmas decorations, decided that the gutters and decking needed cleaning! 4 hours later....! Our ensuite has started leaking, I've banned him from touching it until after xmas just in case it all goes to sh*t as quite often happens and so we're all using the main bathroom, lucky we have that option, lol.

bathroom work requiring addition or modification to existing circuits has to be done to standards and notified to Building regs dept. OP's husband will not be allowed to self-certify.

OP's DH will say he's not adding or modifying, simply mending an existing installation.

So he starts something, that while it does need doing, he knows it will be disruptive and inconvenient for the household = not only that, it will be clear that the absolute highest priority tomorrow will be clearing up his mess, which absolutely absolves him from all other work

He is a man. Just leave in to it. Makes no sense at all.

she said he had no knowledge of electrics

Yes I misread which actually makes his behaviour worse doesn’t it. Avoiding doing his bit with Christmas and possibly blowing the electrics in the house/his own fingers off before the day.

Mucking about with the electrics with zero knowledge is a stupid idea any day of the year!

Mine's currently taken 25 minutes to make an egg and cress sandwich each. With precooked eggs.

I'd said the upstairs bathroom needed cleaning and he's still smarting from my making him participate in cleaning the kitchen from the abomination he'd made it over the last month. Not entirely sure why he was so traumatised, it took about 30 minutes to have it gleaming, 23 of those were handing him stuff off the countertops and fridge, telling him 'bin', 'cupboard' or 'dishwasher', loading the dishwasher properly and suggesting that hot water was more effective a cleaner than a spray disinfectant immediately wiped with a grey looking sponge.

@Wonderi surely you mean why hasn't HE fixed it in the last 18 months it's been broken? There are other more pressing needs so why is HE deciding to do this not essential task now?

Yes, I don't see the big deal either.

No neither of them have.
Just like neither of them have done the Xmas menu or shopping.

I’m wondering why it’s all of a sudden a ‘him’ problem and why OP takes no accountability for it.

Why has the light been left for 1.5years?
Why has the Xmas menu and shopping been left until the 23rd?
Why was the Xmas menu not done yesterday or anytime previously?
Why is it only when he started doing something, did OP suddenly need his help doing it?

Surely she’s as capable as him to do any of these things.

I would have called an electrician 1.5 years ago, why hasn't one of you done this?

My dad once decided that the perfect time to sort out a basket of odd socks that had been hanging around for years was when me & my mum were helping him clear out the garage and he was supposed to have gone back inside to get some boxes so we could sort things into categories for donation/disposal.

We had a large group arriving for a meal and a family spending the night so we were up the walls with food prep and cleaning , making up beds etc. I found DH with the tool box out fixing a broken drawer on the locker in his room that had been like that for at least a year. Idiot

I've been sorting out the dining room ready for Christmas day, and DH decided yesterday while I was out with the dogs to sand and patch the water stain on the ceiling that's been there for at least 3 years. All I needed to do was set the table and it now needs a major clean so he's had it with both barrels and is in a sulk.

Sounds like an excuse to do nothing to help with christmas prep. Now you'll have to do it yourself as he's too busy.

I feel your pain OP.
Mine decided to weed the patio on the morning we were going away on holiday, leaving me to do all the packing. He says I have no common sense!

They really are a different species to women

Why are they like this?

I was pretty convinced I was in early labour yesterday (section booked for next week). DH wondered aloud if he could fit a quick trip to the tip with all the cardboard first before the hospital.