Friday, March 30, 2012

Setting the Record Straight

Anthony thinks that perhaps my last posting makes him look like a bit like a lazy, hey-woman-hand-me-a-beer-while-I-watch-TV kind of guy. Any of you who actually know Anthony realize this is preposterous. One of my nicknames for him is "The Taskmaster," and if I have one criticism, it's that he is relentlessly productive. I've never known anybody who can plow through unpleasant tasks like he can, never even thinking of procrastinating, whereas I actually procrastinate about procrastinating and still have unpleasant chores on my to-do list from approximately 2002. 

So, just to clarify: if I have four full time jobs, Anthony has two full time jobs and a couple part-timers. Besides his work at Ubisoft, he is currently a full-time family tax and financial planner who has the odious job of preparing all materials for our US taxes (which are extra complicated with a self-proprietary business, quarterly tax payments, several employees, house rental income, and major business deductions), along with our French taxes (which, in turn, further complicate our US taxes since there are reciprocal agreements for portions of the tax bills between the countries), and filing his father's income taxes for 2011 while simultaneously acting as the executor of the will and getting his father's house ready for sale and the estate ready for divvying up. I can honestly say that I would not trade all four of my underpaid workloads for this one job.

And, of course, for his part-time work, Anthony chips in on travel planning, and is also a fabulous father, far neater housekeeper than I, and -- occasionally -- most excellent pancake and French toast maker. But he really, really, really hates hanging our wet laundry on the line, and I send him away each time as he starts to grumble about how much he misses the dryer in San Francisco. Making matters worse, the on-island laundromat has closed, and the next nearest one is much too far to use; now even for big mattress pads and comforters, it's home-wash and jury-rig-a-spot-to-air-dry. And so, an add-on wedding vow: Anthony, I promise always to hang out our wet laundry, if you promise to deal with our taxes.

1 comment:

Anthony said...

Now if I could only find the time to watch some crazy French TV and yell for a glass of wine...