Don't tell a man how to do a man's job

I heard a pretty disturbing thing over the weekend that takes the term ‘control freak’ to the next level, in my opinion.

No one likes doing chores, be it vacuuming, dusting, washing up, hanging clothes on the line, weeding or mowing the lawn. Well, no one I know particularly likes housework anyway. So no one wants to be told that they’ve done a crappy job of it.

So when I hear that my very hard-working neighbour is copping an earful from his very controlling, bossy, particular wife about how he cuts their lawn, I was a bit gob-smacked.

The way I see it is that guys generally do a better job outside than women in the mowing, pruning, clearing of gutters department (this is purely in my experience to be clear!) so I am more than happy to let my husband do those jobs and I am thankful that he does such a good job, even though I know he finds it an annoying task at times. 

I know that lots of women mow their lawn, but I am a girly girl and I have always thought that the yard is the man's domain. So this blog is written in that vein.

For a man to be ridiculed by his wife about his outdoor masterpiece is a bit surprising to me. I just had to explore this slightly bazaar incident.

Let me paint a picture for you.

On Sunday my husband had just finished mowing the front lawn when our friendly neighbour (let’s call him Jim for privacy purposes) came over to see if he could borrow the mower as his wasn’t working properly.

It wasn’t a problem at all, but he told Ben that he would have to set the blades to a particular height as to achieve the desired length of grass that his wife requested. He then went on to say that it was ‘written in blood’ that he would not cut their lawn too short nor too long (this was after he had an apparent mowing incident where he didn’t please her) or he would suffer the consequences.

Not too long, not too short - it MUST be just right!

So this man, who slaves away in his yard every weekend, plays with his kids, walks the dog and runs a successful business basically is on the tightest leash ever. He may not enjoy doing chores around the house, but I’d guess that if he didn’t do them, and do them damn well, that he would probably be subjected to 50 lashes and sent to bed without dinner.

I have often seen them walking around the perimeter of their home talking about things and seeing her pointing things out to him – now I think she’s saying things like (*cue condescending tone) “Gee you didn’t really scrub hard enough there, did you love?” or “See those flowers you planted – one isn’t growing at the precise growth rate I’d like it to and it’s falling behind the others. Rip it out.”

For a woman who is a full-time, stay at home mother to two small daughters, you’d think she’d have enough to worry about in her day. Obviously not.

So next time, I’ll be paying Jim the ultimate complement by telling him how fantastic his lawn is (which it is - it's immaculate!). If he can’t get any lovin’ from his wife, he should at least get some from his lawn.

The weird and wonderful

Last weekend I got my hair done and had it made a more natural colour. It was a bit of a change for me...

Today I found this story about a lady called Sonya Cristy, who has grown her naturally-coloured organge hair past her knees and says that she will never be destitute thanks to the many offers from hairdressers to buy her Rapunzel-like tresses. Right on!

Here's the story from the Courier Mail:

Sonya Cristy's long red hair is hot property with hairdressers

SONYA Cristy's mega-mane is more than her crowning glory - it's her superannuation.

The 35-year-old contracts manager for Translink grew her extraordinarily long red hair while travelling in Europe 15 years ago, in order to have something to sell if she ran out of cash.

"Hairdressers had offered to buy it because it's thick and orange," said Ms Cristy.

"Happily, I never had to sell but it was good to know I could if I desperately needed money."

Falling to just above her knees after a 15cm "trim" on Sunday, Ms Cristy said having long locks was both a charm and a curse.

"I've had people come up to me overseas who recognised me from my hair," she said.

"And once Bono (from U2) approached me in the Portobello Markets in London and told me I had really nice hair. I didn't know who he was at first. I just thought "who's this weird old drunk dude?"."

On the downside Ms Cristy regularly gets her tresses caught in car doors and windy days can be hell.

"When it was really windy, like a tornado, I got it wrapped around a traffic light. That wasn't much fun," she laughed.

Despite measuring more than a metre in length and weighing several kilograms, Ms Cristy said her hair was not high-maintenance.

"I cut it myself, or have a friend do it and I use whatever shampoo is on special at the supermarket," she said.

"I take care of myself which is why it's in such good condition. I don't drink or smoke, I take multivitamins, I try to eat the right things."

Brisbane hairstylist Jules Tognini said mega-hair was not necessarily considered fashionable but "any hairdo that looks good is in".

"It's rare to find really long hair that's healthy. Usually when it gets that long we call it "aged hair". It tends to start drying out," Mr Tognini said.

"Staying out of the sun and air conditioning can help, as does diet and avoiding stress."

He said the market for hair was growing, as a result of the demand for extensions and natural-looking wigs.

"In Brisbane we have a lot of people donating hair rather than selling it but it's certainly something you can do."

Ms Cristy said she had no immediate plans to cut her Rapunzel-like locks as she headed overseas again.

"It's my trust fund. With hair like this, I know I'll never be destitute."