Something that people with a uterus says that really annoys me

A little timeline of the update on the front porch addition.... with a little personal rant at the end... (of course!)

My little (boring) house "before".  Nothing exciting to write home about, but I've lived here for 5 years, and probably will live here for many more. 

It's home.

It needs "something" though doesn't it?

Here is Gene preparing to cut out that hideous bush that's been living in my front yard for years.  It's funny shaped because we got some bag worms a few years ago and it killed half of it.  This is also where all the voles in the front of the house liked to hang out.  Can't say I miss it much. (btw, I think we finally got rid of most of the voles.  yay!)

Don't you love how Boo Kitty is a good helper?

After 14 arguments (14 holes) we finally determined where all the footings for the deck would go.  This is flat out, THE most important part of the whole shebang.  We're talking concrete people. Concrete is generally more permanent than marriages.  It had to be perfect.

Unlike most marriages.

Gene did all the mixing of the concrete and filling the forms himself. :)  He's so sweet, he killed himself on Memorial Day to get it done because I was inside scrapbooking with friends.  He hand mixed over 30 bags of concrete. 

Here you can see the large 6x6 beams that will hold up the back of the porch.  We decided against using a ledger board attached to the house because of multiple reasons, but mainly because we knew we'd be adding log cabin siding to the home at some point in the future.  Attaching a ledger board would cause some issues with that later.

The first joists go up!  I'm rather excited about this as now it looks like we're actually doing something.  Sadly, that "something" looks like a hitching post for miniature ponies.

First of 4 sections go up.  Those posts in the front weigh a lot.  Glad I have a big old strong husband.  The braces across the top are just temporary.  At some point in the near future (before fall) there'll be a roof there.

All the joists are in on the first section!  Guess who did almost every single one?

Me.. heck yeah.  It was such a nice day, and I wanted to surprise Gene.  At one point he calls and asks if I want to work on the deck after work.  I told him that if things went well, I'd have it done by the time he got home.  (yes he was surprised).   

He said "are you toe nailing in the joists first like we said we were going to do?"

me: "no, because I can't hold the board up where I need to and toe nail at the same time, so I'm just hanging the joist hangers first, and then putting the joists in."

Him: "uhh... so are you just hoping they are the right height?

*pause*

Me: "No, I'm actually using a scrap piece of wood to test it first.

Later: growl... who taught him how to hang a joist, what a joist hanger was and how to toe nail to start with??

YES ME.

MEN!!!!

LOL

So we're only about 2 feet away from being able to use the front door again.  Seriously I've not been able to go in and out my front door in like THREE YEARS.  I'm not kidding you.  It's just locked and stuff sitting in front of it.  God forbid there's a fire (I'd just fling myself out the window with no window screen anyway.)

We'll be starting section #2 tonight (if Gene gets home early enough) and then the joists again.  Once the joists are in, I'll throw down a couple pieces of plywood (yeehaw!) and we can walk in and out our front door.  yay! 

Now where am I going to put my chair that has been sitting in front of it for a while now?

Something I noticed yesterday as I was working outside was how many people really crank their neck to see what's going on.  In fact, while I was out there working myself it was way worse than when Gene is out there.  You'd think I was sitting out in my front yard curing cancer.

"omg.. is that... a..... a...... WOMAN??"

This happened so many times that I started to get kind of annoyed.  It reminded me of a "past life" where I wasn't *allowed* to touch a hammer without commentary.  "Who do you think you are?  Joanne Liebler?"

Gene, on the other hand, doesn't have an issue with me swinging a hammer. In fact, he kind of likes that he gets out of some of the heavy work. hah.  Gift horse's mouths and such.

Then this woman drives by very slowly in a PT cruiser.  I've seen her before.  She waves her fool head off at me, which is nice, but I'm very much "ummm.. hi?"   She is all "GIRL POWER!!" This gets me to thinking about something that women say to me that really gripes me to no end.

I mention building something.

Their response.  "Oh gosh, be CAREFUL with those tools."  {insert teeth sucking noise}

wtf?

Do you say that to your husband as you send him off to the construction site or the coal mine? Just because I have a uterus I am probably too stoopid to run a friggin' hand drill?  (which takes about as much effort as a hair dryer).

I get really annoyed when watching home decor/home improvement shows where they give the house wife a miter saw for the very first time.  She has on an over sized t-shirt, big goggles and gloves.  Like the thing is going to jump up and chop her face off or something.  Then she says "omg, that was so easy!"

Yeah.

duh.

If you've made it to 45 years old and can run a hand mixer, you have pretty much all the skills you need to run about 75% of all power tools.  Oh, and you'll need a good tape measure. 

So ladies, the next time one of your friends talks about roofing her house with her husband on the weekend (my little sister, Amber), building a shed in the back yard for her lawnmower (my grandma - RIP), or that she's building a deck (me).  Please don't say "oh gosh, be careful" because quite frankly, it's kind of offensive.  We are quite capable, thanks.

Unless of course you're saying that to your 6'2", 240 pound brother who is also a plumber, then I might let you off the hook.