How Many Husbands Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?

by Cathy


I love my husband. (Most of the time :) He's got a lot of great attributes. But let's call a spade, a spade. A handyman, he is not.

Now, if he's forced to assemble something or has the patience to fiddle around with it long enough until he fixes it, he'll try it, but only at my urging or insistence. I mean, he won't bother to take out the trash unless I threaten to dump the bin next to his side of the bed while he sleeps or I block our back door with the stenchy bag so he can't get out.

However, he's become quite comfortable with the fact that I love handywork and the challenge it provides me. I am usually the one taking on the big (painting practically my whole house) and little (hanging shelves) home improvement/assembling projects in the house. Maybe that was my first mistake. My second mistake was taking him to Greece where he claims he saw women there doing everything from plucking potatoes in the fields to nailing down shingles on the rooftops.

Last week, I was changing a light bulb in our bedroom. I was turning it both ways and it didn't seem like anything was happening. Before I knew it, I was holding just the bulb, while the metal screw-in part was still stuck in the light fixture. So I left the ladder, the glass light fixture cover and the new bulb sitting in our room in the hopes that Joe will tackle it.
Ha.
No, really, I left it there because I read somewhere that you can use a potato to help unscrew that part of a light bulb out. And I didn't have time to add potato peeling to my list of to-do's at that moment, so I left it.

Of course, the day got too hectic and by bedtime, I was too exhausted. Joe informed me matter-of-factly that he was putting the ladder in the hallway. He swiftly moved it (he's quick with that kind of stuff) along with the bulb and fixture glass, and plopped in bed, leaving our light fixture, with its rusty clawed wires, jagged glass, and cracked plaster looking like a prop straight out of Boyz n the Hood.

Here we are almost two weeks later and it still sits that way, and will most definitely sit that way until I get to it. Of course, I don't expect him to knowingly start peeling potatoes to unscrew out the bulb butt, but perhaps he can help out and at least go pluck them from the fields.

It's only fair if I'm gonna be the one re-roofing our house.