with Angella Dykstra
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.
As much as my husband and I are great at communicating, sometimes we are not so great at communicating. To be honest, he is not good at communicating, as he’s more than happy to live in his little bubble of things to be done and not talk to anyone unless he has to for work.
The onus is on me to point it out (AGAIN) and remind him that he has a wife and kids who need more that a side hug and the requisite “How was your day?” He’s quick to get back on track, so there’s one point in his favor.
Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, we’re heading full steam ahead to Christmas and other holidays. My kids have handed in their lists, and my husband and I have set a budget for their gifts and will soon get the ones we plan to give. As for gifts for each other, we’re doing things a little bit different this year.
We’re in the midst of Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas is mere weeks (weeks!) away. There is also Hannukah and other holidays that my family does not participate in, but which we respect your family’s right to. With all of these holidays crammed into such a short amount of time (weeks!), it means that you’re going to be spending at least one dinner with extended family. You might even be trekking for many miles with cranky children, only to have horrible sleeps on spring-loaded hide-a-bed mattresses, and then trying to smile nicely when your husband’s mother asks you if you’re taking a break from working out, because your face seems a bit ‘puffy.’
Never fear! I have five tips to help you survive the holidays with your in-laws, be they the woman who birthed your husband, or creepy/drunk Uncle Ted.
Back in the day when I started my personal blog (Seven and a half years ago!), most people in my life didn’t know what a blog even was. My husband got the general concept, but didn’t really pay much attention. Then came Twitter, then Facebook, and then all of the other sites we all waster our time on.
Twitter and Facebook were the big ones for me when I first signed up and my husband just didn’t see the point. Why do you need to use a website to connect with people that you know in real life? They weren’t for him.
Did you know that Facebook has decided to ramp up their privacy-invading tactics by creating a ‘couples page’ for anyone who has listed themselves as being in a relationship? They have. And they’ve already filled it out for you, complete with statuses and photos that you are both tagged in. Still don’t believe me? I didn’t believe it when I first read about it, either. And then I clicked on the link.
Over our twelve years of marriage, the pendulum has swung between my husband and I when it comes to who is the ‘major breadwinner.’ Sometimes its been me, sometimes it’s been him, sometimes we’re pretty equal. That’s where we’re at right now.
As I’m sure you are well aware, President Obama was re-elected as President of the United States of America. As I’m sure you are also aware — especially if you are on Facebook — political discussions can get pretty heated.Oh, some of the nonsense I’ve seen…
I am not a ‘touchy-feely’ person. Oh, I’ll hug friends when I haven’t seen them in awhile, and I hug my kids throughout the day, but I’m not overly affectionate. When we first got married, my husband would drive me a bit crazy because he is totally a ‘touchy-feely’ person. He’d come up next to me and rub my back, or rub my arms and I’d finally get him to knock it off already.
(Seriously. Standing behind me and rubbing my arms is in no way enjoyable for me. Hug me! Kiss me! Or, you know. Just don’t rub my arms.)
Money has been one thing that hasn’t been a stress in our relationship until recently. We both have jobs and we’re both pretty frugal, but we have felt the crunch in the current economy. There have been some moments where it … hasn’t been pretty. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when talking about money:
