well after a terrible day yesterday, spending 3 hours crawling along the M6, and not getting in until 8.30 at night....

hubby was cooking my favourite comfort food - sausage and mash....yum

he doesn't really like mashed taty himself, and decided the best way to mash them was to use a hand blender...

so I was presented with a pan of potatoe glue

which after the day I had yesterday was like the final straw....

bless him for trying, but no brownie points I'm afraid

(the dogs loved it by the way mixed in with a bit of gravy and kibble )

They're not the most helpful, are they?  Reminds me of the time my brother-in-law was given a shopping list by his wife which included "loo rolls" and he came back with 100 rolls...

Poor husband...cant do right for doing wrong eh!
At least he meant well, I just hope you teach him how to mash properly now.....
Karen

10 out of 10 for effort though.

yes I know, he was quite upset about it bless him, but yes he got a few pointers on how to mash

it was just the final straw for me yesterday, lookin back it's quite funny really

but he has promised never to "blend" any mash again....the sausages were lovely though, even if I didn't have much appetite at that time of night!

he's in charge of chilli today whilst I'm at work, I like rice with mine so I've told him to just soak the rice for me, and I'll cook it when I get home (last time he did it he didn't rinse it either and t'was very s-t-i-c-k-y bleuugh) he has pasta with chilli, and he makes a mean chilli too - lookin forward to me tea today

HA HA, you should buy boil-in-the-bag rice when its his turn to cook, or even easier - microwave rice

You could even make the rice yourself the day before and get him to pour boiling water over it in the colander, I do it when ive made too much for one meal !!!

I sympathise with you  - It is so difficult to thank them graciously for doing something for you but trying to tell them how not to mess it up next time!   I have just run through how to use the new mower (he broke the other one).  I know it went in one ear and out the other.  I took out insurance that covers breakages although I fancy if they find that it has broken because it hasn't been used properly then they won't pay out. 

I know, I tried to explain what he had done, and for a moment I thought he was going to "go off on one" cos he is the kind of chap who knows everything iykwim....but he did concede that he didn't really know how to make mash, and thought he was improving the method by using the blender, rather than the tried and tested, old fashioned masher **roll eyes**

poor bloke - I daren't let him do the washing cos he tends to lump everything together rather than sort it, and as for ironing....I think I'd be too nervous to let him loose on my clothes.....but I do wish he would take it upon himself sometimes to strip the bed etc, show a bit of willing etc

he will vacuum downstairs but rarely upstairs, he will occasionally empty the cats litter tray, but doesn't wash it out before filling it with fresh litter...heck I'm beginning to sound like a nagging wife LOL

I always use the electric mixer to mash, so its not the using of the mixer that caused the disaster, and it wasnt a bad idea ( its recommended by many top chefs), the problem is if he left too much water in then it would give the result you describe! Get him to drain them better next time

My Dad always dries the drained potatoes by putting them back on the stove and tossing them every few seconds on the hob, so that the remaining moisture evaporates.

thats what i do as well

can everyone start saying nice things about living with boys please? bf is moving in next month (gulp!). very excited, we've even bought and built our new bed!, but also a bit scared of living with a boy!

Start as you mean to go on and hope he is part house trained, but they laps easily.

Make sure he cleans the bath, mops the bathroom floor after a bath or shower, the toilet seat thing, doesn't leave clothes everywhere, which somehow mysteriously wend up washed and ironed by someone else, and that when he farts in bed he doesn't waft the covers to spread the smell :D

Nah having been the only girl in a house of men and boys before I left home, and then got  rid of a bad husband 18 years ago, it is bad enough having a 17 year old son (but I just close his bedroom door very firmly) , without another male around the house.

Oh don't fall for the trick of them doing anything you ask badly in hopes they don't get asked/told to do it again.

lol, he's pretty good actually, far tidier than i am! he's happy to hoover and do the washing but is terrible at ironing and hates doing dishes... as i'm ok with these two things it works out alright (he practically lives with me now). everything else will be a case of whoevers free.

oh he's a lovely cook as well. he grew up just him and his mum and she trained him brilliantly!

he does however fart hugely each and every morning just as he wakes up

he's also very dedicated to Tio and is trying to learn lots for him moving in so he can be a good owner (he's not had a dog in a while and never a bull breed), bless him he has even started planning their walks together, Tio's not coming for another couple of months!

Ooooooh I know just how you feel, thats one of those 'straw that broke' things innit... (i once burst into tears when Mike turned sausages id realllllllllllllllly been looking forwards to, into little chunky sticks of charcoal..)

Thing for mash is... ricer! Throw boiled spuds in, squeeze, instant mash, not over mashed, not under mashed, perfick.

I think I got luckier than you yesterday... Mikey had actually done two out of three things on the 'list of things to do'... but I didnt get a cooked dinner, i had my sandwiches from the show instead (kelda and abby ate the sausage rolls, i discovered the plastic box had made them go allllllll flabby and horrid).

well he redeemed himself by making a great chilli last night

and then apologised again about the potatoes, and told me that he couldn't be perfect at everything....!!!

bless 'im

he does however fart hugely each and every morning just as he wakes up

Must be a man thing...my OH does this too

Nice boy things ?   Taught mine to cook a roast dinner ( although he will only do it with sausages or pie - but the roast tatties, veg, gravy and yorkshires are superb )

He never leaves his clothes laying around, always pairs up his socks, rinses the bath after he's used it, will wash up if asked, hoovers downstairs and very best of all - he doesn't leave 'skids' anywhere

Has become a fantastic diy er and built our porch canopy from scratch and tiled our bathroom fully never having done any diy before !!!

He plays playstation all the time but I wouldn't be without him

see now thats encouraging

Oh don't fall for the trick of them doing anything you ask badly in hopes they don't get asked/told to do it again. 

Now that is the most important advice, I always say, never mind - bit of practice and you'll be great at it . I was always horrified at mum's who wouldn't let their OH bath or feed the baby - get the training in early I say ! My OH sat and fed our second one (bottle  - no more breast feeding for me after horror experiences with my first) while I was carted off to have my shower after giving birth .

My OH cooks most of our meals - I did it for the first 17 years of our marriage as I was 'home first' . Then I threw a hissy fit about it and he has done it for the last 6 years, we take week about for ironing etc. We used to shop online but he didn't like that so he does the food shopping now too, spends less than me too as I always buy books or something extra when i do it.

If only he could deal with the whole emotional thing of raising teenage girls and could learn what needs to be done without needing told, he would be nearly perfect LOL !

ah shopping......he WILL NOT do the shopping!!

There is a local shop not 10 mins walk from where we live, but if he needs anything he either rings me at work to go out to a shop on my way home, or (even worse) waits til I get home to tell me there's no milk/bread etc....

his days off he stays in with the dogs, which is fine, the dogs like the company....if there's stuff in the fridge he will prepare meals etc

my days off - I go out to do the shopping, get the dogs food from the supplier, sort out the washing etc etc.....

and the dishwasher - for some reason I can get more pots in than he can - he is really no good at arranging them or utilising the space effectively!!

BUT he is very practical, (trained electrical engineer) so has fitted outside lights, built garden furniture, his big chore is the grass-cutting, he's itching to get it done but the weather is against him, and it's a mean task - takes him approx 6hrs if it's not too long. He's quite good with engines, well he can fault-find even if he can't repair, and he fixed some of the christmas lights so I'm not complaining......(much )