What to do about my girly boyfriend.

By on August 31st, 2010

My boyfriend is a great person. He’s a good listener and he’s very caring. He likes to cuddle and he likes to buy me gifts.

The problem is, he’s.well, girly.

He will not do anything labor intensive. I’ve had to clean the backyard, by myself, two years in a row because he saw a spider out there once and he’s afraid of spiders. In fact, he’s also afraid of wasps and bees and when one flew in the house he tried to run.

A lightbulb burned out in the kitchen a while back and recently he asked me why I don’t replace it. I was like “Uh, because I’m 5′5 and you’re 6′4 and the ceiling is 8 feet hight so it’s your job” and he still hasn’t done it.

His idea of helping around the house is going shopping and buying soap, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies.

When we moved in, with the exception of helping unload the truck, I had to move all of the furniture into each room and unpack everything myself.

I have to make all of the important decisions and figure out what to do in tough situations because he panics and screams at me to tell him what I want him to do, even when I was dealing with a dying family member, hadn’t slept for days, and was stressed beyond belief. He’s the same way at work, completely passive. He has worked in retail for 10 years and makes $10 an hour and has never been promoted because he has no leadership skills. Three of my friends made manager within a year and a half.

It’s like WTF. I feel like I’m dating a woman. If I wanted to be the man of the house I’d be a lesbian.

Everytime I try to talk to him about this his voice gets high and he tells me “Well tell me what you want me to do.”

Should I tell him bye.

Looking for blog sites/websites on small space interior design.

By on August 30th, 2010

I am moving into a studio apartment with my partner. The room apartment is tiny (16×11 feet or 5×3.3 meters) - that’s excluding the little hallway, bathroom and kitchen. Since it’s quite tricky to furnish I am looking for blog sites or just websites *specifically* on furnishing small spaces. Please don’t give me links to websites with concept ideas of space saving furniture that doesn’t exist or interiors that look like they’re from The Jetsons The flat is in a Victorian style with wooden beams on the ceiling and a little bay window so ultra modern will just look odd. So if anyone knows where I can find good small space interior design ideas please let me know, you’d pretty much save my life. Alternatively, if you are a budding interior designer and would like to give me some ideas (free of charge :P) I could send you the layout of the flat and you could knock yourself out with some furniture arrangement concepts.

Looking for suggestions/recommendations on painting vintage metal cabinets.

By on August 29th, 2010

My home is an older home. The kitchen has metal cabinets & cupboards, probably from the 50’s but not too sure. Overall they are in good shape but the exterior surface is discolored and the previous sellers tried to hide it with spray paint. So I need to know 2 things: First, how to remove the cabinet doors since they are not hinged like wood cabinets & second, how to properly renovate them. Do I need to sand them. Then how. What about painting them. What do I use to paint them and how. Any valid suggestions from some DIY’ers would be wonderful. Also if anyone knows of any other websites that may have tips along these lines would be great too. Thanks

How long and how much will a gut renovation cost.

By on August 28th, 2010

I have a house that was built in the 1950’s and added onto some time after that. It is in bad condition due to previous owners neglect and mismanagement. I intend to have the house gutted and renovated with several changes in floor plan. I intend to have several walls knocked down and relocated, two stair cases widened, a kitchen redesigned, and the three bathrooms altered (two increased in size by use of rooms we intend to get rid of and one relocated in the basement). The whole house is about 3000 square feet including basement, first and second floors, and I was curious if anyone had any estimates on how much this would cost and how long it would take.
I live in the USA, I plan to do no labor since I will have to look after my kids in a rented home while renovations are going on. And I am looking for just the cost of renovations not including house rental and storage rental and all that.

BB USA, Is Matt the most gross HG ever.

By on August 27th, 2010

I mean seriously .
For those of you who don’t have the Live Feeds you don’t see a lot of what goes on and probably haven’t seen Matt with his hands down his pants 24/7.
I’m NOT kidding.

And that’s NOT the worst part.

After he takes his hands out he doesn’t wash them and then goes into the refrigerator .
Or silverware drawer or in the pantry where the food is.
Or in the kitchen cabinets .

It just makes me cringe.
And he does this EVERYDAY .

I thought Natalie from BB 11 was hard to watch but Matt is really a mess.

Is Matt the grossest HG ever or can you think of one that tops him.

I can’t even imagine what the other HG’s are going to say when they watch the show after they get out and see what pig pen Matt was up to the entire season.

.

why is the paint flaking/peeling off the newly painted bathroom wall .

By on August 26th, 2010

I am a bit of a novice at diy but i do enjoy it.

I thought I could easily tackle the bathroom wall but its got the better of me - can anyone give me some advice .

a while ago the paint started to flake off the wall. i rubbed it down with sandpaper to get rid of all the loose bits until is was smooth. then i painted it with that kitchen/bathroom paint the diy stores sell. now that is flaking off. should i have put a coat of something under that first or was there some other treatment i should of put on the wall prior to applying the paint. any advice is gratefully received - its driving me potty now . thanks

How do I fix my kitchen cabinet.

By on August 25th, 2010

I used a steam cleaner to get the dirt off of my stained wooden cabinet and the finish came off with the dirt. What should I use to get the cabinet to match again.

what color should i paint my living room.

By on August 24th, 2010

my living room is very large, with 6 huge windows and a glass door going outside. im planning on painting soon but i cant decide if i should paint the living room and kitchen the same color (they are two separate rooms but open to each other) the kitchen has 3 large windows. WHERE can i get good advice on painting. what are some basic rules. i want to paint the walls and the ceiling but i dont want plain boring white, and i dont want it to look like a hospital or institution. i want something nice looking, but fun and modern.
if it helps any, in the living room we have a pool table, and the decorations on the walls are paintings of landscapes from the area i live (rural iceland) and huge old world maps in silver frames. right now i have brown leather couches but those will be replaced soon.

Can you give me feedback on my short story.

By on August 23rd, 2010

I am in Year 11 and every writing task I get 9/15. I am determined to make this one different.
Please be critical and specific about what I need to change to get a better mark.

I am a pretty standard guy. Wife, two kids and a dog, the usual mix you know. Currently living in a pretty standard house, white fence, a veggie patch out the back, some of the doors don’t close properly but it doesn’t ’t really matter because we never stay in one place for too long.

The door squeaks as I shuffle through the frame, I shrug off my jacket and collapse into the worn couch, dust flies up and the smell of moths and old wine fill my nostrils. I pinch the bridge of my nose and squeeze my eyes. How should I tell her this time.

Moving house, really, is just humping your goods from one place to the next, like a tortoise. But for some reason she gets all emotional about this sort of thing. The gears in my mind refuse to formulate a line I haven’t used before. I sigh, better tell her now and get the waterworks over with, sooner I tell her, sooner they will be over and the sooner we can start packing.

“Doreen” I call, stretching the name out to three syllables as I trudge into the kitchen.
“Just a second Hamish.” She enters, wheezing under the weight of a moving box and exhales loudly as it hits the bench with a “ca-thump”.
She smiles up at me through her long hazel curls that shape her pink face.

When I first met Doreen I thought she was another one of those girls who sits up the back of the class, starring out the window because of her lack of interest in any subject matter that Was’t directly related to herself, Joan Jett or Vogue magazine. I was wrong, turned out she was three steps ahead of what the teacher was saying, uncommonly bright. Which is why her friends nearly choked on their cherry soda’s when she let me take her to the prom.

She still was slender and place, freckles scattered all over her perfect face, a bit tired round the eyes though. She has swapped the Vogue magazines for better homes and gardens magazines, but she still dottes her ‘i’s with hearts like she did 20 years ago.

Her energies augmented rather than diminished with the hours she spent in the garden, and re arranging the furniture until it fit with the walls to give enough space for the kids to run around.

She reaches into the box and starts unpacking the crockery. I grab her slender wrist, gently mind you, and she raises her eyes to mine, she wears a puzzled frown.
“Doreen, there is no need for that.Anymore” I say clearly and simply.

I watch at the face that stares back at me changes; surprise, realization, and the shaky bottom lip and she realizes that we have to pack again.
Her eyes turn pink and glassy and she swallows hard on the growing dry lump in her throat.

“Next place will have a bigger kitchen, maybe even a gas stove”

Now I love my wife, don’t get me wrong, but I can not fathom why she built up a deluded fantasy that ‘this’ place would be different. Does she think that if she changes enough photo’s on the wall, if she plants enough flowers in the backyard, fills the shelves, if she places a ‘home sweet home’ doormat on the porch, that if will be enough to make us stay.
Honestly, you think she would understand by now.

Doreen:
My throat tightens, my chest heaves in short breaths, and my eyes tingle with the bitter sting of tears. I place another ornament in the box with a foreign address scribbled in the front, surrendering all that I never got to cherish.

Cops, Lawyers, Politicians, Americans, think about it.

By on August 22nd, 2010

Imagine a workday for a hardworking young man trying to earn his way. On the scene of a newly built house, a lot of finishing work is necessary.

The first part of the day is carrying 200-lb spruce trees, the bottoms are wrapped in burlap and handling the irritating branches with bare arms is almost unavoidable (should have brought a long-sleeve shirt but can’t do anything about it then). His shoes are filled with dirt and the only parts of uncovered skin are either covered with welts and scratches or nicely saturated with the sticky pine resin. The next job happens conveniently around noon, in the heat of the day. The work is nothing less than installing R-18 fiberglass insulation (known to contractors as the worst thing already irritated arms can possibly touch) in a hot attic. After that the last task is to unload a large trailer full of cement board (the most inconveniently shaped and unbelievably heavy form of drywall) into a kitchen. And immediately after that reload the trailer with extra drywall (140 lbs per sheet) from the basement carefully maneuvered through a kitchen cramped with expensive Chinese cherry cabinets (Chinese cherry is a rare wood that is almost impossible to find online and the set is priced at over $80,000 dollars–for the record i would never spend that much on a set of cabinets but apparently the people having the house built have nothing better to spend their money on.). Now this may come as a surprise, but in this time of bad economy, this young man is happy to do this at minimum wage.

I am not an illegal immigrant and I am not a high school dropout, I am about to move into my senior year this coming semester; and the money I am saving will be going directly into my college fund so I can honestly earn a living in this day and age. My family isn’t below the poverty line but I’m not born into the “Rich and Famous”, and I don’t get many breaks. No one is making me work and this is the most reliable job I have been able to find. I haven’t had a car given to me and often after work i will be waiting for my dad (a computer programmer) to leave work for the 20-mile commute to the countryside where we live.

Now the punchline.

Imagine at the end of the day in the two uncomfortable hours before a shower is even possible, a substance exists that could make the passing of time even to the point of comfortable and fun.

Now say just what you think about such a substance, and remember.you are anonymous on here.
Although my title suggests it, this isn’t a fight towards legalizing marijuana, and its actually not about illegal drugs at all, and it’s not about getting “permission” because quite honestly I just don’t give a fig about what I am or am not aloud to do as long as I am staying out of trouble and accomplishing what I’d like to. Rather it is an outcry to the public about your opinions about what some people would consider substance abuse. “dudeman” thank you for taking the time out to write a long answer to me, and much of what you said makes sense, and congratulations on never using substances to “ease your pain”, but do you feel like a better person because you lived a harder life than I am. To better answer my question you could just give me reasons not to then explain how much tougher you are than me.really, it isn’t helping and i don’t think many people care about how hard you worked just like I expect them not to care about how much I work.