Confessions of an Indirect Communicator

I love my husband.
I think he's wonderful.

But there is this one thing he does which really drives me nuts.

He says things like, "We should organize the utility room."
Or, "Someone needs to clean up the yard."
Or even, "Avocados have lots of health benefits."

I tend to follow up those statements with questions like, "What part of 'we' is 'me'?"
And, "Are you expecting a volunteer?"
And of course, "Are you saying you'd like me to use them in my cooking?"

Call me crazy, but I think a person should say what they mean. I work hard enough trying to keep it together around here - I don't think I should have to put forth more effort trying to understand indirect communication.
Oh, how easy it is to start feeling self-righteous about trivial things!

Sooooooo, that little piece of background leads to my confession.

The other morning I wanted to remind Joshua to unload the dishwasher before he went to school. The boy doesn't need to be reminded to charge his cell phone every night, or check his Facebook page, or get a snack after school and before bed - but somehow that dishwasher has a habit of getting away from him.
So, anyway, as I was saying. I wanted to make sure Joshua unloaded the dishwasher. But I knew if I simply reminded him, he would call me annoying and say, "I know, Mom!" So instead, I said, "Joshua, when you have unloaded the dishwasher, will you make sure to put your initials on the chart?" He agreed politely, and I was amused by my clever way of communicating. I had achieved my goal of reminding Joshua to unload the dishwasher - without nagging or coming across as annoying.
But just as I was about to pat myself on the back for being such an indirect innovative communicator, I realized something.
That thing I just did?
Drives me nuts!
*sigh*