11 Things My Husband Does Better than Me

Today is Rob’s birthday and I have been reflecting on all things Rob excels at beyond my own abilities. People give me a lot of credit for being the creative one in our two-some and while my ability to operate a camera may shine front and center on the blog, Rob has so many hidden talents that you probably don’t know anything about. So, in honor of Rob’s birthday, I bring to you a list of 11 things my husband does better than me!

1 – Cooking

Rob is an excellent cook! He also enjoys his time in the kitchen much more than I do. Thanks to Rob, we have a full and diverse dinner menu in the Gavin household. His culinary skills also helped get me through my latest round of the Whole30.

2 – Packing

Rob is a mastermind at packing anything. Anytime that we have to squeeze numerous items into a limited space, I step to the side and let Rob take over. His spatial reasoning skills put mine to shame and I can only assume this ability is the result of many hours playing Tetris on his Nintendo growing up. Rob is the reason we were able to successfully pack for our honeymoon, store away household items that are not in use, and you should see all the stuff he successfully crammed into the car so we could donate it to the Salvation Army.

 

3 – Household Repairs and Improvements

Right now, we are renting a condo while we save up for a house. Luckily, there aren’t many household repairs that have arisen since we moved in. But there are occasional items that break or need to be replaced. Rob always steps up and takes care of the broken item. He also did an amazing job of measuring and hanging the frames for our gallery wall. If I had been in charge of that task, we would have uneven, crooked frames all over our dining room wall.

 

4 – General Preparedness

I have a perpetual mindset that things will work themselves out. As a result, I don’t always invest a lot of time into the planning and preparation of basic tasks. I spontaneously decide to stop at the grocery store on my way home because the thought occurs to me when I leave school that there is no food in the house. Or if I am driving out to meet up with friends or family, I guess how long the drive will take and don’t look up directions until I am sitting in the car and ready to go. I don’t even look at the directions – I just let Siri start talking.

Sometimes, I am correct and things do just work themselves out. At other times, however, I find myself unnecessarily stressed out by the simple task at hand because I was so involved in my other projects that I did not prepare myself ahead of time. Rob, however, completely makes up for my spontaneously whimsical nature. If we are driving somewhere new, Rob looks up directions at least an hour ahead of time and plans out the route. He is also a dedicated list maker and he lays out everything he needs for his morning routine in the bathroom before he goes to bed at night. The Boy Scout motto is to “be prepared” and I credit Rob’s perpetual preparedness from his strong background with the Scouts.

 

5 – Sings at Church

Rob and I both attended Catholic School while we were growing up and we both sing at church on Sunday mornings. I sing along most of the time, but I tend to stop if I don’t know a particular song or if the people around me aren’t singing. Not Rob, though. He proudly sings every song, while I slowly give up when it makes me uncomfortable. ***Hanging my head in shame***

 

6 – Tech Support

Ok, this one is huge. Rob is is definitely the in-house IT guy here at Crazy Together central. He takes care of every tech issue we have. Whether it’s setting up our new DVR, pricing out the cost of a new iPhone for me (mine is forever out of memory), maintaining our blogs or trouble shooting why our subscribers aren’t receiving email updates (our most recent issue); Rob is always on the case and I am forever thankful for every little techie thing he does behind the scenes. Rob has actually taken care of each of those items in the past 2 days. He is, after all, married to me – the woman with two blogs and a technology addiction.

 

7 – Wood Burning

Remember our wedding with all those amazing personalized bamboo dinner plates? I had the idea, but Rob was the one who executed the project and turned my thought into a reality. He spent hours and hours wood burning each of those plates by hand. My Matron of Honor, Kristy, saw him working on the plates when she came over to help with some wedding projects one night. She took one look at my then-fiance hunched over the dining table, carefully hot stamping letters into each plate, looked me right in the eye and told me I wasn’t allowed to get mad at Rob at all before the wedding. She continued by saying that if I complained about him to her, she would just yell “WOOD BURNING!” at me and that would be the end of the conversation. I have to admit, Kristy was right. There are very few men that would invest so much time and energy working on disposable plates for their wedding.

 

8 – Reads the Fine Print

Marrying an attorney has it’s advantages. Rob is literally an expert at reading fine print. You know how even an updated to your iTunes account prompts you to agree to the terms of use? I used to always just accept any terms that came away, but now I have a professional fine-print reader that I live with! Rob always graciously reads contracts and user agreements so I don’t have to. I think this is my favorite skill that he possesses.

 

9 – Accounting

It’s no secret that Rob and I are both actively involved in our household finances and I’m sure it will come as no surprise to hear that we are both equally invested in the finances related to both of our blogs (and their respective businesses). Each of us has our own set of responsibilities that we manage personally and with each enterprise. I have it pretty easy. I balance the personal checkbook and make sure that the spreadsheet we use to track our personal expenses is up-to-date and accurate throughout the month.

For the blogs, I let Rob do most of the heavy financial lifting. I literally take all of my receipts and tuck them into a drawer. Rob taught himself to use free accounting software and has successfully figured out all of the financial nuances that go along with blogging. When we meet with our accountant, she gives advice and I just look at Rob to make sure he knows how to carry it out because it all goes right over my head.

 

10 – Folding Anything

There are two types of people in our household. Those that neatly and carefully fold the laundry and those that fold it just enough to get the clothes put away and doesn’t care too much about whether they have straight corners or fit exactly into a certain location. Since I am the free spirit our our little duo, I think its easy to pinpoint role I fill in our household. Rob, you might have guessed is the superior folder of the laundry. Especially towels and fitted sheets. When Rob and I first started dating, I actually confided to one of my friends that I was attracted to Rob in part because of how neatly the towels were folded in his linen closet. #truestory

But that’s not all. Rob also knows how to rock a fitted sheet like it’s nobody’s business. If I wasn’t allowed to get mad at Rob before the wedding due to his wood burning efforts, Kristy made it very clear that he has a get out of jail free card for many things due to his ability to pristinely fold a fitted sheet. “FITTED SHEETS, MARIA!”

Yes, she yelled that at me too.

 

11 – A Love of Knowledge

Rob is, without a doubt, one of the smartest people I know and he is always learning new things. He is perpetually juggling at least 2 different books at a time, keeping an eye on the news and listening to an array of podcasts. One of his favorites: Stuff You Missed In History Class. Rob actually just published a post on his other blog, Spare Time Science, called “Why, yes, I do Have a Favorite Mathematician: Leonhard Euler.” Yup, he’s a bit of a nerd, but he knows so much about mathematicians that he actually has a favorite. And don’t even get me started on his trivia skills.

To my big, nerdy, wood burning, towel folding, account keeping, small print reading, loving husband. Happy birthday!  I love every bit of the person that you are and I hope you have the happiest of birthdays. XOXO, Maria