Grab a chair and a couple of root beers...

I know in some ways, I make a bit of a joke about being a domestic engineer, but really, that is what I am. Yeah, I'm a stay-at-home mom, but I am not a "home-maker" nor am I a "housewife." Because, seriously, I am not married to my house.

I probably mentioned before, too, that my dad really, really wanted me to go into engineering when I went to college. And because, at that time, the last thing I wanted to do was anything my dad wanted me to do... I didn't. I majored in communications and music. At first. Then I decided to work for a bachelor in fine arts in graphic design. That's about as far from engineering as you can get, unless you want to go for underwater basketweaving.

But in a lot of ways, I have an engineer's brain. I see a problem, I want to solve it. Not only do I want to solve it, I want to fix it and make it easier for whoever follows me to solve it. And that has made its way into my daily life. I think it was four years into our marriage when it finally dawned on me that I was a domestic engineer, because I kept trying to do things to make things more efficient around our home.

I have done things over the years to adjust things. When I noticed that the Husbandly One was wearing the same four tshirts, I thought at first it was because they were his favorites. Then I sat back to watch him as he got dressed in the mornings, and he did the Typical Guy thing. He opened the drawer and grabbed the first shirt that was on top and put it on. Which just happened to be one of the four shirts he always wore. Because... they were always on top, because he always wore them, I'd wash them, fold them, and put them back in the drawer. So... I started folding the shirts flat, and set them in his drawer so that they looked like little files, all on their sides. He could see his shirts, he didn't have to dig for them, and for a long time, I'd hear, "Wow, I haven't seen this shirt in years! Where'd you find it?"

*rolls eyes*

Because of the kids, I discovered one can write with a dry erase marker on those disposable plastic storage containers made by Glad and Ziplock, etc. This has greatly reduced the amount of biology experiments in the fridge. No longer do we dig in the fridge, going, "What is this?" or "How long has this spaghetti sauce been in here?" Because now Auntie keeps a dry erase marker in the cabinet above the storage containers, and when we put leftovers away, we write the date, and what the hell it is before we stick it in the fridge. Bye-bye food poisoning!

THO likes to rag me about it being anal, but he won't touch food in a container that doesn't have writing on it. Even if he's the one who put it away!!

But the main thing for me, is making things easier for people. That's sort of what prompted tonight's entry. I talked to the Blonde Sister tonight, making arrangements for our family dinner this month. Well, don't know if I mentioned it, but the Blonde Sister has a stress fracture in her left foot. She's a nurse, working in a doctor's office, and on her feet all day. You know, with as many nursing seminars as she's been to, and just about all of them have a mandatory workshop or two about taking care of your feet, you think she'd know better. She had no idea that people who work on their feet all day should change out their shoes every six months. Yes. If you are on your feet all day, even if you wear sneakers, you should get new ones every six months. Even less if you are working on a hard surface like concrete. How do you know if you need new shoes? Easy. If you can't wait to take them off when you get home? It's time for new sneakers.

Anyhow, the Blonde Sister had been wearing her sneakers for TWO YEARS!!! No freaking wonder she got a stress fracture! And she's been wearing a boot for nearly six weeks while it tries to heal. This has made day to day things very hard for her, as you can imagine. Her husband has had to take over the housework and daily maintenance stuff, which makes her a little crazy. She was telling me, "I can't even do laundry, really. I mean, I can put things in the washer, and then in the dryer, but, I can't carry the basket to and from the garage, because of my foot."

Auntie frowns thoughtfully as her brain starts ticking. "Um... don't you have a kid's wagon still in the garage? I could have sworn I saw one when we were there a couple of weeks ago."

"Um... yeah, I think so. Why?"

I sighed, thinking it was so obvious and then said, "Well, you can put the basket in the wagon and... pull it in and out of the garage, right?"

She was quiet for a very long moment, and then she said, "Wow, Auntie... that's... that's really smart."

O_o?

I just said, "Hello? Domestic Engineer?"

"No, really. That's just... wow. I never thought of that."

Obviously.

"You can even use a skateboard if the wagon is too wide to fit through the door," I said, still pondering. "You might get the Brotherly One to tape some sandpaper to the top, or get some of that rubbery shelf liner to put on it, to keep the basket from sliding off. Actually, the shelf liner is probably a better idea..."

She was quiet again and then she said, "You're really actually thinking about this... aren't you?"

"Well... yeah. I mean, you came to me with a problem, you know I'm going to try and solve it, right?"

I didn't know you could hear someone's mouth falling open over the phone.

"You know, Auntie, I don't think I realized until this moment how really smart you are. I mean... I know you're book smart, you know all sorts of stuff that just blows my mind, but... I never really thought about how... practical you are, and... I'm really, really... blown away by this."

o_O??

I think I really, really completely understand in a totally visceral way precisely what the term "gobsmacked" means now.

We talked a little longer, but I could tell she was really freaked out. I don't know whether to be amused, or cranky. Think I'll lean toward amused. Less ulcers that way. And much more entertaining.