I'm a mom of three, a professional accountant, and an amateur photographer and writer. I am not a marriage expert. But my husband and I take "Til death do us part" seriously, and here I'll be sharing how we keep our marriage strong while we both do that insane work-life juggle.
Check out my Work It, Mom! profile and my blog, Dutch Blitz.
This past weekend was American Thanksgiving (Obviously). While it was not a national holiday here in Canada, it was a weekend where my husband’s parents came to visit.
I have read many an entertaining post about the chaos! And the drama! And the crazy MOTHER-IN-LAW!
I can totally relate.
One of the regular readers of my personal site emailed me this week to tell me of a New York Times article she had read that she thought might be good for my column here. The article is about a challenge that a pastor gave his congregation: Have sex for seven days straight.
(The link now says you have to register with the NY Times to see the article. It’s worth a read if you want to register.)
The article is a great read that supports my personal belief that the more you have sex with your spouse, the closer you will be to each other. Besides, it’s a much more fun way to burn off your turkey dinner than by hitting the treadmill. Just sayin’…
I am sure that my husband will, ahem, rise to the occasion.
How about you? Are you up for the seven day challenge?
I just need to start off by saying that I cannot use the words “duty” or “duties” without giggling. I am apparently stuck in my teenage years.
That being said, the balance of housework between husband and wife seems to generally be out of balance. There are numerous studies done that say the women generally do more of the household work, even if both partners are working full-time.
I have seen this among my friends. They joke that their husbands believe in fairies.
There is the “Laundry” fairy, the “Cleaning” fairy, the “Cooking” fairy. The husbands seem to believe that these things all happen “magically” and thus reap all of the benefits of this “magic”.
While I find the analogy quite humorous, I really cannot relate. This is another annoying post where I wax poetically about how wonderful my husband is. I cannot help it. He has flaws, yes, but they are so minor and so not stereotypical (Apart from his selective hearing), that they are hardly worth mentioning.
Please don’t hate me because I married a man who likes to clean.
We have been married nearly nine years and I can count on ONE HAND the number of times I have mopped the floors. Dude hates a dirty floor; he learned it from his Mom. Every night after dinner he hauls out the Dyson and vacuums to his heart’s content.
We are both self-employed, and share the responsibility taking care of our kids. If I am the one busy with work, he does more of the household tasks. If he is working, I pull up my socks and do more household tasks.
We both have our strengths and weaknesses though. As I mentioned above, he has a love of clean floors. I love to cook dinner and do baking. We keep the kids out of the others hair so that we can fulfill our duties (Heh). The other chores are shared pretty equally. If I were to be completely honest, he actually does more around the house than I do.
I KNOW. I’m a lucky girl.
If my husband were not such a clean freak, I fear as to what a disaster my house would be. I don’t have the time (nor the inclination) to do it all.
How about you? Are chores shared equally, or does one of you do more than the other?
After dinner last night, the kids went to the family room to play, my husband sat on the couch to watch the news and I sat down to ponder what words of wisdom (Ha!) I could share here.
I was a little stumped for a topic relating to relationships and marriage and did not feel like combing the Internet for something to write about. I asked Matthew if he had any ideas of what I could write about.
Silence.
I tried again.
Dear American friends:
Please do not hate me that I mention Christmas before you have dealt with Thanksgiving. Us Canadians had Thanksgiving a month ago, which means that Christmas is FAIR GAME here in Canada.
Love, Angella.
My husband and I left our three kids with my brother for the better part of Saturday and headed to the nearest Big City in order to get a head start on our Christmas shopping. After a mere four hours of shopping we had crossed nearly everyone (Brothers! Sisters! Nieces! Nephews!) off of our list.
Please don’t hate me.
It’s the weekend (Obviously). There is no need to get all deep and meaningful. Not that I have more depth than a wading pool, but still.
I was clicking around on Kirtsy yesterday and saw a link to this post about a husband and wife who argue about generic versus name-brand when it comes to paper towels. It got me thinking to the (less severe, in my humble opinion) things that cause minor spats between spouses.
There is the whole “toothpaste cap left off” issue. We both leave it off (and usually lose it somehow), so it is not really an issue with the two of us. Mmmm…congealed toothpaste.
Infidelity is a hot topic when it comes to relationships. It seems that everywhere you turn, there are news stories about celebrities, politicians, regular community folks…confessing to (or getting busted for) getting intimate with people other than the one they are married to.
My husband and I vowed to be married until death do us part. Part of that commitment involves only being intimate with each other. Being “intimate” with someone is just that. INTIMATE. Being naked around someone leaves you vulnerable - physically, emotionally, spiritually. It involves a great deal of trust. I cannot imagine the heartache that happens when that trust is broken.
That is not entirely true. I do know a little about the aftermath of adultery.
(This is a post where my husband dies a little inside upon realizing that I am talking about our sex life.)
I don’t plan on getting into gory details (Not that there is any gore involved. Just so you know), but just wanted to talk about having a sex life in general. I am not usually one to talk (Or write!) openly about what goes on between my husband and I behind closed doors.
What happens in the bedroom stays in the bedroom.
In the five short months between getting engaged and getting married, Matthew and I went to a pre-marital course. The course had its cons (We were paired with a more “mature” couple with whom we had NOTHING IN COMMON WITH).
It had some funny moments (A male friend of ours (Who had never lived away from home) thought that a monthly food budget for two people would run about $100.) (Ha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!)
It also had some good points. Almost nine years later a few of them still come to mind, and are put into play around here. If something is still working nine years later that says that it might have a ring of truth, no?
When I first started this column (Oh, a month ago), I thought that choosing topics would be easy. I am married to the man that I choose to spend the rest of my life with. He is also in this for the long haul. Forever is the destination. Anything short of that is simply not an option.
I have a wide array of websites that I peruse on a daily/weekly basis. When trying to come up with a topic for this Friday post, I came up short with a marriage-related post that I could write about.
