Mrs. F. reads about twice as fast as I do. And I was easily the fastest reader in my classes, all the way through school.
She’s much more organized than I am, and remembers all the things I don’t.
She’s far more diplomatic than I am. Though that isn’t tremendously hard.
She’s the one who can cook without a recipe. (I don’t have to follow a recipe to the letter, but I really need one to start with.)
On the whole, she’s better with computers than I am. (She used to be way better, but I’ve closed the gap in recent years.) She has her own websites, and can build webpages from scratch, doing her own HTML coding.
She knows a lot more statistics than I do, too. And since we work for a statistical agency, that actually matters.
My honey is the best fix-it guy I’ve ever met. He can fix stuff, and build stuff, and install stuff. And he likes to do it! He’s a great gardener, too. And he is much better at cleaning than me. More thorough…do it right the first time, and all that.
I am a better cook than he is, and he ain’t too shabby. I have more experience with computers than him, so that is my area of expertise, even though I don’t know much either.
He’s the better driver. I can spell better. I’m definitely the better couch potato. He likes to keep busy all the time. Puttering around in the garage, fixing stuff.
My sweetie can read music like it was English. Of course, she’s a piano teacher, but I’ve been playing several instruments for a living since I don’t even want to say how young she was, and I can’t read music to save my life. And she plays the piano better that I will if I live for five lifetimes (she has a degree in that, too) although she needs the sheet music and I don’t.
Being a teacher, she has an uncanny ability to explain to people how to do things. This comes in very handy at her (non-music) job. She can see the whole picture, and can explain at department meetings how the project started by one group needs to be such-and-such a way, so that the next department can work with it without having to send it back for revisions and corrections. It saves the company time and money, and they appreciate her enormously for it.
She drives very well, having been taught by her dad. I don’t drive at all. She can sew like she was born with it. I can’t even put a button on my shirt. I had to teach her how to cook, as her mom was a non-starter in that race. We’ve both had computers for exactly the same amount of time, but even with my limited knowledge of how to make them do the stuff I need, I understand them better than she does. She takes care of the books, I’m a better housekeeper. So it’s a fairly even trade at our house.
Mrs. Redwing is by far the more mechanically inclined. She fixes broken objects, and takes care of the cars. She is much more organized and neater then I am, and far better at getting to the little niggling things that need to get done. She is also far smarter than I am.
However, I’m the better cook. And the computer person.
Me:
anything academic
computers
finances
cooking
creative stuff (crafts, etc)
animal care and training
Him:
mechanical stuff (he’s an electrician, but can do almost anything)
stuff involving strength (obviously)
cleaning (but not organizing)
any athletics at all (he’s amazingly coordinated–especially considering being blind in one eye since birth)
driving (although he takes chances that scare the bejeezus out of me)
fishing
Oh, but although I said he’s better at mechanical stuff, I’m actually usually the one reading the instructions and getting things that we buy put together. I really am good at mechanical stuff, for the most part, he’s just got a lot more experience with stuff like that.
Mrs. Giraffe has an incredible sense of direction, and is hands down the best navigator I’ve ever met. She always knows what direction she’s facing, and can find her way back to every place she’s ever been. It’s spooky. My own paltry navigation skills are steadily atrophying the longer we’re together.
She’s also ridiculously organized and thus way better than me at anything involving planning or advance preparation. Her forte is trip planning – travelling with her is a joy. She has literally thought of everything.
I’m better at anything involving computers and taking care of the household finances.
While FaerieBeth has been kind enough to praise my short-order cooking skills (honed through years of bachelorhood and food service work), she is an incredible all-around cook, both of comfort food and ethnic cuisine. I am competent, but most of my successes have been through observing and copying her.
But she is also the best driver that I have ever had the pleasure of riding with. I mean, she is an incredibly good driver. So much so that a lot of my family have mentioned it - my uncle (think Brando from the Godfather) gave me his blessing to marry her after observing her drive.
My wife gets pissed off when she goes into Lowes or Home Despot and they start looking around for the man. She can do any home repair you can imagine including roofing, tile, and sheet-rock (anything but electrical). I don’t know which end of the hammer to use.
In fact she is better than me at pretty much everything. She should be a professional singer, she is as good or better than anyone I’ve heard from AI. She is a great cook, a great mom and takes care of the books.
She does have a lousy sense of direction so I have one advantage.
foxymoron has all the artistic talent. She can hear notes and make musical instruments work. She can put colors together. She can manipulate pictures/images/icons with great results. I can barely get the lines straight using Visio and a visible graph.
She can cook. I can put ingredients together if armed with well written instructions and her help.
