A Homestead Woman's Tool Box

One gift I have given several times at wedding showers is a tool box with tools...for the bride. I usually get weird looks, but I don't care. She will find out eventually that she actually did want and need them. There are several good reasons for this!

#1 Location. When a wife needs a tool which she doesn't own, she will have to enter another world to find it....a man's tool domain. This need will arise on a homestead, as there are only so many things she can fix with a butter knife! This tool domain is her husband's tool shed, shop, garage, etc.To enter the husband's tool domain is a puzzling and slightly hazardous undertaking. It is a man's world, and his logic applies. They put stuff away differently, and can be somewhat possessive about their toys...I mean tools. If a wife finds the desired tool, it must be put back where it was when she is done, no matter how illogical its location. If she moves anything, she will probably be blamed for every lost tool for the next fifteen years! By then, usually the blame shifts to the nearest male teen.

#2 Guy's tools are, many times, greasy or dirty. Wives spend enough time trying to keep the dirt and grime out of a house without hauling in more. If a wife uses a tool from her husband's domain, she must accept that she may be wiping up grease marks for days...on her hands, walls, and clothes. Unfortunately, the converse rule also applies...don't get his tools dirty, muddy, plaster-y, etc. He will notice!

#3 Don't lose, break, bend, scratch, or mar his tools. Oddly enough...he may not mind. This is because he will feel justified getting a new one...a finer, more expensive model. And rarely do tools get purchased one at a time...they like company and accessories. They are kind of like herd animals.

So! Homestead wives! You need a tool box of your very one! A plastic, small to medium size for the box itself, with a tool tray. It needs to be sturdy but light weight...because tools are heavy. It must contain: a hammer, slot and phillips screwdrivers, lineman's pliers, tape measure, an old tooth brush, sturdy string, wire, poultry staples, various screws and nails. The contents will vary somewhat, and that is ok...but have no less than this! Keep the tool box in the house out of sight unless you are using it outside. Guard your tool box, kindly but firmly, or its contents will slowly migrate to your husband's tool domain. Think long and hard before letting a child use anything in your tool box! If they are wanting your tools, chances are they are are old enough to own their own tools and in fact they probably already do! However...they have misplaced them.

A woman's tool box helps keep a homestead together...at peace and in one piece!