Ladies and gentlemen TV Direct presents our new, improved, multi tool “The Wife”. She chops, slices, dices, measures, mops and makes dinner all in one versatile package, but wait there’s more, let us introduce to you the next generation multitool “The Mother”, not only does she chop, slice and dice, measure, shake and bake, she also looks after kids and a husband while holding down a job.
But ladies and gentlemen wait there’s more, the bigger, better most versatile tool that TV Direct has ever brought to the public – “The Swiss Army Wife”. She can do everything from changing a nappy to changing a tyre, mending a fence to mending a broken heart, she hedges, edges, mows and even cleans the pool.
Sure she’s worth a whole lot more money but once you have had one you wont know how you ever lived without her. Available for three instalments of $19.95.
Growing up my Mum and Dad wrapped me in cotton wool and bubble wrap, didn’t let me get dirty or want me to get hurt, while my brother was free to fall from trees, skin his knees and ride a bike all over the neighbourhood. Well it was the late 60s and girls were more protected like that, gender stereotypes were in full flight. When Dad was mowing the lawn, and whipper snipping the edges, my sister and I would be ushered into our house for our own protection and were taught to bake cookies, sew our own aprons, and plait Barbie’s hair and generally all the girly things. To be honest it seemed like a good idea at the time as when Dad came in from working in the yard he was always covered in dirt and had scrapes, scratches and bits of bark hanging off of him so it was clearly a dangerous thing that he was doing and not something either of us wanted to be a part of.
It seems weird now but I grew up feeling that anything that made a loud noise had an element of danger to it. The edger when Dad went too close to the concrete made an ear piercing scraping sounds and gave off a shower of sparks and that couldn’t be good. When he used an electric saw or drill the sound was deafening and usually accompanied by sparks, flying bits of timber and the inevitable cuts and splinters. And even inside the home there was the hissing and spitting metal pot which made a weekly appearance on the stove that I had heard stories about exploding in other people kitchens scared the daylights out of me. Which is why ladies and gentlemen I don’t own a pressure cooker to this day.
It wasn’t until I was much older that my husband gave away the boys own secret. He told me that men take the protective guards off dangerous appliances…. because it make the work easier for them, so they are there own worst enemies! My husband to this day mows without wearing the protection of long pants, has taken the guard off the whipper snipper so that its easier to put new cord on and don’t let me get started about how many times he has used a chainsaw without wearing chaps!
So years later I found out that all these things were not as dangerous as they had been made out to be. Being a crafty creative person I started to make things in my spare time out of wood and sell them at the markets, picture frames and such and my husband showed me how to use the tools safely, gave me my own set of ear muffs, I took work shirts from his wardrobe and in my jeans, work boots and safety googles I was able to pursue this passion without injury. For my 30th birthday I was given a cordless drill from the girls at work, soon after that my husband gave me a band saw, which was later replaced by a drop saw and eventually superseded by what I really needed all along a compound mitre saw. I started to do Youtube videos to show other women that this was fun, not to be afraid just to get educated and alway wear your PPE, personal protective equipment.
My husband has always said, its not that you can’t do it its just that you have never been shown, which is true. In my cotton wool bubble wrap world growing up my Dad reserved those lessons for his son so I am grateful that my husband is alway eager to help me learn a new skill an attitude has been particularly helpful of late as he has been on crutches for six weeks and I have needed to do all the jobs taking care of the two apartment complexes we manage.
So now I am truly the Swiss Army Wife, and I have recently added to my skill set, installing a new shower rose, fixing fly screen mesh and just this week replacing a range hood. As my skill set grows, so does my confidence not only as a wife and mother but a capable human being. So I encourage you ladies and gentlemen to not let fears of the past, the noisey, the scary, the seemingly dangerous, hold you back. Grab someone to show you how, don your PPE and you will find the fulfilment of being capable is worth a lot more than three instalments of $19.95.
Let me know in the comments below what handy dandy skills you have learnt that make you feel accomplished.
Love
Julia
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