Day 1

I'm running an experiment. Today will be Day 1. Really, it's day 3 or 4, but since I wasn't documenting it before, it'll be Day 1.

Sometimes I get frustrated with Rob and myself and life. I'm a stay-at-home mom, and that's awesome. But it means that almost single-handedly I do the chores. Especially since Rob is involved with the Bishopric, so he's gone even more hours. And I hate chores.

Last year I had a revelation. I realized that I was doing chores so that when Rob came home he could spend the time with me and the kids instead of spending time with my dishes. And suddenly, my world became a lot brighter. And for the first time, I started leading my home. I came up with a better way to do the laundry. I started doing things more cheerfully and with more purpose. I started saying the phrase "my house."

But, still, every now and again, it really bugs me that if I don't clean my room, Rob won't either. He'll do the dishes eventually. But he won't ever really clean the living room (or any other room), do the laundry, mop the floor, or clean the toilet without me asking. Part of this is because I have higher cleanliness standards than he does, so by the time he'd be bugged by a room being dirty, I'd be losing my mind! And I get that, I do. But, still.

Occasionally I'll think to myself, "Fine. I'm not going to do the laundry and let's just see how long it takes you to notice." ... The end result of such experiments has been that not only does he not really care that the laundry isn't getting done, he hardly even notices, and eventually I do it anyway and by then I've got a huge backlog of laundry to do. SO not worth it.

I've thought that I could do everyone's laundry but his and see how he likes that. But that's spiteful and mean, and I'm not like that. I might TALK as if I'm like that, but I'm not really.

So, yesterday this one dawned on me: an experiment that's non-spiteful and completely non-consequential. There's a picture in our bedroom. It's a set of pictures in fact. Rob's senior pictures. And one picture keeps falling down. So my experiment:

1. See how long it takes Rob to notice.

2. Note what his reaction is. Does he mention it to me? Does he fix it himself?

I'm ready to let this experiment run as LONG AS IT TAKES. It might be a full year. Seriously. It wouldn't shock me.

(You might be thinking that this experiment is a little harsh for a man that doesn't notice when I do laundry. But if you can come up with a better experiment, pray tell me about it! I'm open to ideas.)