Mental Blocks

I am not good at a lot of things, but most of the things I am not good at I don't hesitate to try, or I laugh off, or I don't care about doing well, or I just leave out of my life entirely.  But there are a few things that I am not good at that I can neither ignore entirely, nor do I wish to ever bother to learn.  These things exasperate and madden me continually.  It is my secret, terrible, sexist hope that someday when and if I get married I can turn these tasks over to my husband forever and ever, for better or for worse. 

They include: sharpening knives, filling my tires, refilling my washer fluid, clipping the hedges, and weed-whacking.  Also any manner of putting hooks or shelves or anything into the walls.  I will hang pictures, but only if cornered. 

I mow the lawn and shovel the snow, but will probably try to pawn that off on a life partner if I have the bargaining power to do it.  Same with dithering around with the toilet or the shower fixtures -- I can tackle them if I have to, but can also avoid almost indefinitely.   

I'm happy to change the window screens.  I'll vacuum; I'll do laundry; I'll cook; I'll clean the kitchen and the bathroom.  Every couple of years I might even wash the windows, but don't count on it.  I'll drop off the drycleaning and call the furnace guys and take out the trash.  I'll repot the plants and from time to time I'll weed the garden.  I'll sew buttons back on.  Just throw the shirt into that bag over there and I'll get to it in 6 months or so.    

Since 1999, when my live-in sweetie moved out, I've been wheedling with friends to try to get someone to sharpen my knives.  So far I have had no luck.  My friends mistake my confessions of helplessness for a desire to attain the skill myself -- they tell me about whetstones and whirring gadgets.  That's not what I'm looking for.  I want someone else to take my knives and make them sharp for me.  I have a mental block about it -- I don't WANT to learn.  I've offered to trade services but so far have gotten nowhere.  I need a different set of friends, I guess.  Or a new set of knives. 

Comments

[Dan]

Sherry-

Next time I'm up Bowdoin way, I'll sharpen your kitchen knives for you in trade for dinner. One question though: are they straight edged or serrated? That way, I'll know which tools to bring.

[Scheherazade]

Dan, you're on. The knives are straight, except for one serrated one. The serrated one probably needs sharpening, too, but the straight ones are in dire need.

Can't you take them to a shop that will do them for you? Our hardware store sharpens them for us.

[Jane]

Yeah, my mom takes hers to a local small business that does knife sharpening, and I think it's not that expensive. Not sure what the going rate would be in Maine, though.

[PG]

"I will hang pictures, but only if cornered."

I don't think of this (or several of the other items) as things a guy necessarily would do, just as things that The Other Person will do. My female roommate from the two years between college and law school was (and continues to be) a very capable person. I didn't hang the pictures in my law school apartment until she visited and helped me do it. It's a good thing that I didn't have IKEA furniture in the law school apartment, or I probably would have waited for her visit to put it together. She's really good at that stuff.