Independence

It's incredible how empowering it feels to have my own tool kit! Dragon Dada picked one up for me in the sales and, as he pointed out, despite the slightly "girly pink"-ness of the case and handles, it does contain a fairly comprehensive set of tools for DIY. Now I've never wanted to be a stereotype who lets her husband do all the DIY around the house. I can change a light bulb and although I haven't changed a fuse in many years or rewired a plug either, I know how to do it. In our old house I did a lot of decorating and helped with all sorts of DIY jobs. I can hammer a nail into a wall with the next person and can handle a drill or a screwdriver fairly happily. But until recently, this has been rare.

Why? Well, Dragon Dada collects tools ... he would deny it but he always slows down in DIY stores by the toolboxes or multipacks of screwdriver bits. Perhaps its the cases he collects? Anyway, we have lots of tools around the place. He's an IT engineer so we've got comprehensive sets of tools for repairing computers. He rebuilds a classic Mini in his spare time (what spare time?!) so we have comprehensive tool sets for working on cars. We have lots of tools for DIY. The problem is, that these are Dragon Dada's tools and he has a storage system that I haven't quite worked out yet. This means that I can't always find them and, if I do, I'm never sure of putting them back where he wants them to be (note: I am fully capably of replacing them where I found them, but where I found them and where he wants them to be are not necessarily the same thing!).

I remember one day when we had two new sofas delivered and the delivery men couldn't get them down the hall because of the stair gate. I was quite capable of removing the gate, but I had to ring Dragon Dada to find out where the screwdrivers were because I couldn't find them. These days we have a whole garage for him to hide things in, so I wouldn't know where to begin looking!
So I've dropped a few hints about having my own set of screwdrivers and now have a toolkit, as I said, and it's already made a huge difference. I was cleaning the hallway yesterday and decided to take the decorations down. We had a garland down the stairs and it was attached with staples, so off to my toolkit for the pliers. The same again today, and when I found that a staple had broken off in the wood and left just a tiny end out, I was able to get the hammer to hammer it in fully and make it safe.

Tiny jobs, I know, but I feel so much better about myself as a woman and as a wife to be doing things myself rather than waiting for someone to do them for me. It's incredible how empowering it feels to have my own tool kit!

[And that's a ring composition.]