Unhandy Manny

This is Handy Manny.

He is a character on one of Jack's most favorite tv shows on the Disney Channel.

He's...well, handy. He's also resourceful, patient, inventive, skilled and speaks with a thick Spanish accent. His motto is "you break it, we fix it".

And this is Chris (also known as husband and father).

And he's not. His motto is "you break it, we call someone to fix it".

It's taken a few years to take this stance, but after years of attempting to fix things around the house we've learned

1. It's cheaper to call a professional in the long run.
2. The outcome is always better.
3. It's just not worth the time. He works way too many hours and he'd much rather spend them doing other things he enjoys.

So for Mother's Day this year I told him the only thing I wanted is for the house to be better child proofed because a certain little person has been reeking havoc in our home. So on the Saturday before Mother's Day he came home with a bag full of promising gadgets. He gathered up a few tools and asked where he should get started. I pointed to a drawer under the oven that Jack has been jumping in. About 5 minutes into the process, he stands up and proclaims he can't do it from that angle. So I pick another cabinet. I point to the one full of wine glasses which is now short of the original set of 8. He heads out to the garage, comes back with a bigger tool and proceeds to install the safety latch. I peek around the corner and I see the sweat starting to bead. I know this is my cue to be nowhere in sight and keep the kids out of the way. In a few minute, I hear a few choice curse words and he emerges, red in the face, to proclaim that it's impossible to install on our cabinets. He heads over to the computer, googles and a few minutes later, gives me a phone number to Home Safety Services and tells me to call them and get whatever I want.
So Handy John arrived this week. Handy John arrived with a well stocked tool box.

He spent an hour assessing our home and then another half hour going over the results along with his recommendations. The good news, our house was "not bad". The bad news:

In case you can't read that, how about a close up:

Luckily Handy John was not of the pushy variety and left it completely up to me which hazards I chose to live with. In the end, Handy John had to leave for another appointment and I ended up having only 2o latches installed. Unfortunately a few of my problems have no solutions on the market so I'm still having to deal with that. But here's something that I absolutely love.

It's a cleat on a tri-door closet. Half of that closet is filled with my scrapping supplies and Jack has yet to show an interest, but I'm sure it was only a matter of time.

In the end my Unhandy Manny choked a bit at the bill, but this weekend we had some great family time together, much more fun than watching latches being installed.