English: Logo for The Home Depot. Category:Brands of the World (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Whenever my husband Dave decides he’s going to fix or improve something around the house, he surveys the problem and tell me it’s going to “just take a minute.”

It’s never a minute, and for some reason, after 15 years of home ownership, he still just doesn’t get it.  How come I do?

I’ve done the math.  Any project is a minimum of three hours and two trips to Home Depot (please note here my use of the word MINIMUM).  The maximum is a full day, four Home Depot trips, one Lowe’s visit, and a drive to the emergency room for stitches.

I shouldn’t complain, because on some level, I am glad that Dave wants to try to fix things himself.  But last year, he wanted to change a toilet seat.  Relatively easy job, right?  Not when the screws holding the old one aren’t coming off.  Rather than try some WD-40, Dave thought it would be a good idea to try and loosen the screws himself.  With a hammer.  I warned him, and yet somehow he was still surprised when he smashed a hole in the toilet.

I do think that different people just have different skills.  Dave can make a mean lasagna (his “secret” is double meat.  Now you know.), can shoot a basketball like nobody’s business, and our grass is beautiful.  The toilet?  Not so much.