An accomplishment, and another list
[Note: Read previous post first.]
O.K., I have mopped the kitchen floor! This always feels like a major accomplishment, although I can't help wondering how clean the kitchen floor actually is. This is because we've had the same kitchen mop for about 6 years, and frankly, it's pretty gross. The thing is, every time I go to Target and consider buying a new mop, I go look at them and the cheapest one is, like, $14, and I look at the other stuff in my cart and mentally tally the bill, and then I think, "Nah, I'll get a mop next time." Funny, isn't it? I have no problem plopping down $20 for a poker tournament or spending that much on martinis at happy hour, but shelling out $14 for a new mop is just too much to ask.
Anyway, it's done. And now, Jackspatula has finished removing the noxious weeds and is now scraping old paint off the garage. I must pause here and mention that I maybe have given the wrong impression of Jackspatula in the past. Yes, he does like to sleep, but when he's not sleeping, he is often working his (very cute) ass off around here. Work hard and sleep hard, that's his motto. In fact, if not for him, our yard would probably resemble the yard of the abandoned house across the street. The fact is, I hate yardwork. HATE IT. Even the supposedly fun stuff, like gardening. I will gladly take mopping the kitchen floor with a six-year-old moldy mop over yanking the weeds off the fence.
Speaking of things I hate, I was thinking about many of them while mopping the floor. They say stereotypes exist for a reason, but I am perhaps the exception that proves the rule. For example:
Things the Average American Middle-Class Woman in Her 30s Is Sterotypically Supposed to Like, But I Do Not:
O.K., I have mopped the kitchen floor! This always feels like a major accomplishment, although I can't help wondering how clean the kitchen floor actually is. This is because we've had the same kitchen mop for about 6 years, and frankly, it's pretty gross. The thing is, every time I go to Target and consider buying a new mop, I go look at them and the cheapest one is, like, $14, and I look at the other stuff in my cart and mentally tally the bill, and then I think, "Nah, I'll get a mop next time." Funny, isn't it? I have no problem plopping down $20 for a poker tournament or spending that much on martinis at happy hour, but shelling out $14 for a new mop is just too much to ask.
Anyway, it's done. And now, Jackspatula has finished removing the noxious weeds and is now scraping old paint off the garage. I must pause here and mention that I maybe have given the wrong impression of Jackspatula in the past. Yes, he does like to sleep, but when he's not sleeping, he is often working his (very cute) ass off around here. Work hard and sleep hard, that's his motto. In fact, if not for him, our yard would probably resemble the yard of the abandoned house across the street. The fact is, I hate yardwork. HATE IT. Even the supposedly fun stuff, like gardening. I will gladly take mopping the kitchen floor with a six-year-old moldy mop over yanking the weeds off the fence.
Speaking of things I hate, I was thinking about many of them while mopping the floor. They say stereotypes exist for a reason, but I am perhaps the exception that proves the rule. For example:
Things the Average American Middle-Class Woman in Her 30s Is Sterotypically Supposed to Like, But I Do Not:
- Gardening
- Shopping
- Recreational sewing
- Baking
- Talking on the phone
- Children (kidding! or am I . . . ?)
And, conversely,
Things the Average American Middle-Class Woman in Her 30s Is Not Stereoptypically Supposed to Like, But I Do:
- Sex
- Beer
- Football
- Gambling
- Loud guitars
- When her husband goes out with the boys
So just be careful when you stereotype, people. Gender roles are not always what they seem. Now I have to go finish vacuuming and dusting and then think of something to prepare for dinner while my husband scrapes the garage and mows the lawn.
posted by flipper @ 1:02 PM
5 Comments:
At 5:34 PM,
David said…
Are you sure that most 30-year-old women don't like sex?
I bet they talk about it enough . . . maybe. At least that is the culture we live in.
Besides, depending upon when you start having sex, you are figuring it all out in your 20s and trying to find people to have sex with.
Hopefully in your 30s you've found that person and can enjoy it because you know what you're doing.
If you don't enjoy it when your in your 30s, you're gonna miss out because I bet by the time you get into the 40s and beyond you're gonna have too many aches, pains, whatever.
(But that's all a stereotype as well.)
At 8:37 PM,
A P said…
I'm gonna have to agree with Burb on this one.
From all that I have heard, seen, and observed in my lifetime, women in their 30s are quite in touch with their sexuality. In fact, they are the most perverse people that I have known.
I think that has to do with the fact that they are much more comfortable with themselves and their bodies than most 20-year-olds. They're beautiful, they're sexy, and they know what they like.
God bless 'em!
At 10:01 PM,
flipper said…
Ah, the wonderful, perceptive, and oh-so-smart men in my life! Of course you are right, or you should be. I was referring to the horrid, ugly, awful stereotypes that pervade our culture, and especially in that particular heinous niche known as the American sitcom, in which every married woman (with the exception of Peg Bundy, who is an ironic caricature) abhors sex and uses it as a tool to get her husband to do stuff around the house.
I was being ironic, as I'm sure you realize, and believe me, I'm glad that things just aren't like that anymore. And I agree with you. My wise, wise friends.
At 2:42 PM,
Sven Golly said…
Something (foolishly) compels me to enter the fray of all this wisdom. Back in the day, the ruling stereotype said that 20-year-old men and 35-year-old women are at the peak of their sex-drive. But of course there are plenty of exceptions, right? Maybe that research has been debunked by more recent studies, and it's 14-year-old girls and 60-year-old men. No, probably not. I will confirm the aches and pains after 40 (worse after 50, can't wait to find out about 60). And yeah, it sure is good that women don't use sex to manipulate men anymore.
At 9:26 AM,
lulu said…
There's definitely something to be said for sex in your 30s, but I never had any trouble in my 20s, either. Some of us "figured it out by then", just in time for college and lots of sex with various and wonderful men. I think the whole mid-30s sexual peak has less to do with physiology and more to do with, as mentioned, a more mature "sense of self". However, if you were lucky enough to feel comfortable in your skin in your 20s (and knew how to "achieve" the mystical female orgasm), you'll remember that you probably had a LOT more time to have sex then as opposed to now, especially if you have children.
So, I like sex, too. I'm not very fond of beer and was never interested in gambling, but if someone is wasting the day in the basement watching football and eating nachos (which KEVIN made), it's me. I love loud guitars, too, and don't mind when Kevin plays them in the garage with his buddies. Like Andy Rooney asserts, women in their 30s have their own stuff to do and often like the space to do it (though I must admit I appreciate a degree of proximity, as in together-yet-apart). As for recreational sewing, that must be more of an old lady stereotype as I enjoy quilting sewing, but I'm almost always the youngest person in the quilt shop by FAR. I hate to shop unless it's for quilting fabric. Pretty simpatico!
Post a Comment
<< Home