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"homey stuff"--3

Our one real source of friction is Eero's inertia about the house: the shoemaker's children having no shoe's situation. It is terribly difficult to get him to make a decision about such things as lighting in living-room, fabric for dining-room curtains, living-room rug, new drains, etc.--and I am obviously reluctant to make them without him. It usually needs a "charette" situation--such as a party the next night--to get him involved.

The basement leaked for months without his taking any interest in it. Then happily, one day during a strenuous spring thaw, it flooded to a depth of six inches. That was sufficient crisis to engage him...He sprang happily to action and within an hour a sump pump was making the house throb like an ocean-liner.

Despite the fact that he is an architect, he has no "handy-man" talents or inclinations. His "handy-man" contributions for 1956 consist of putting up one screen door and replacing one [[strikethrough]] burned [[/strikethrough]] blown-out fuse, the latter operation requiring the assitance of four persons and consuming three-quarters of an hour.

He has a color-code in his closet which indicates that red is for pressing green for cleaning, blue for mending, etc. He attached appropriately colored squares of paper to each garment to indicate what he wants me to do with it. He admitted at breakfast the other morning that he has to get another color to mean "RUSH"--because most of these decisions are made at the penultimate moment.

He hates shopping--Christmas is a Dec. 24 5 P.M. charette--but occasionally will make a project of it and turn up with something terribly nice, earrings or a flower vase. He forgets conventional occasions--birthdays, anniverseries, etc.--but will suddenly send me red carnations (my favorite flowers) or leave affectionate notes all over the house--in ice-box, medicine cabinet, etc--pasted up with masking tape.

Transcription Notes:
charrette - is an intense period of design or planning activity.