It’s been a long day. You’ve changed 7 poopy diapers, 4 of which were full-on blow-outs. You swept up cheerios, grass, and McDonald’s toys at least 15 times already. You’ve made several small meals for the kids, listened to endless complaints and wants, and still haven’t showered. There is mold growing on the grout in your shower, dust on the blinds, piles of laundry, and the garbage is overflowing. You start to notice that your armpits stink, and there might possibly be mold growing on you.
You begin to organize the 3 foot stack of papers on the kitchen counter….throw some out, file others, hang some on the fridge, etc. Meanwhile, a little rascal spills orange juice on the floor then slips in it and cries. Another kid is begging for you to take him to his friends house. You lose your organizing focus and realize you have been eating half the pan of mint brownies that was left out. You wish for a second that you were bulimic but instead decide you are done eating for the rest of the day…except for green beans. You get sick of green beans and realize the only thing that will make you happy is the rest of the brownies.
You clean up the orange juice, wipe away tears, and run the dude to his friend’s house and run out of gas. The cell phone rings and the school needs you to make 3 dozen cookies for the end-of-the-year party, and could you attend to help out? Ugh, another poopie diaper. You can smell it all the way home. At least for a while…then your nose just gets used to it.
You pull out the Hamburger Helper and suddenly, the man responsible for all of this madness walks in the door, drops another foot of papers onto the pile, grabs your butt and asks if you have a minute. You look at him like, “Are you kidding me?” He tells you that it has been 2 days, 6 hours, and 39 minutes since “it” happened last and he’s sick of waiting. You give him a nasty look and he gets upset and says that he’s not in the mood anymore. Your nasty look ruined it. He’s mad. A day in the life, right? At least the brownies were good.
He goes and turns on golf, super loud, and falls asleep. You go turn it off and he instantly wakes up and says he was watching it. You roll your eyes, sweep the floor again, and then roll your eyes some more. Not only have you had a stressful day but the hubby thinks your a jerk and isn’t helping out at all. Ugh…what to do? Run away while everyone is sleeping? See if Wal-greens sells arsenic? Curl up in the fetal position and suck your thumb? You purposely let your husband stay mad so you can avoid “pleasing him” as long as you can. Cause, frankly…you’re too tired and so not in the mood. You’re even thinking about making him mad again tomorrow.
Please say this sounds familiar. Not that it does to me…at all. I’m just totally creative, that’s all…I would never be happy to get “off the hook” with my husband. I mean, seriously. How rude would that be? Besides, I’m horny all the time. It’s out of control.
But, we can’t all have perfect marriages, like me…so let me throw you a bone. Maybe you need to take a step back and pull it together. (Note: from now on, I’m being completly serious.) There is very little that is more satisfying to me than knowing that my husband and I are best friends, partners in everything, and are so in love. But, things seem to cycle and I think that’s normal. Things are super great until life gets too stressful and busy, and the relationship slowly starts to lose it’s connection. You both have a break down and an understanding and it starts to build back up. The key is to continue communicating, dating, and loving through it all and building it back up every time it slips.
Feeling like we are “close” (I talking EMOTIONALLY here) and truly friends with each other is what I need to bring about romance. So, that’s what I like to work on. Because, let’s face it…sometimes we just have to be in charge of our own happiness. If we sit around all day waiting for a man to read our mind, we would lose all circulation in our butts and who knows what happens after that! I like to bring about situations that allow us time to be alone, time to have fun, and time to talk:
1. Go for a walk together every night, alone.
2. Take a shower/bath together. I love this because it is one of the only places we can be without the kids and the tv on. It forces my husband to talk to me!…and he gets to listen to me!
3. Start a hobby together. Several years back, my husband and I bought golf clubs for our anniversary. We had never been golfers but thought it would be fun to learn together. To this day, when the weather is right we golf almost weekly! It’s so fun. It’s a nice, peaceful break from the kids and fun that we have something to do together. You could take a dance class, sports lessons, play racquetball, join a recreational team, enter a marathon, hike every mountain in your area, etc.
4. Have an over-nighter with no kids. If you can afford it, get a hotel room. We love to find a fun hotel that’s a city or two away and just try new restaurants and…golf. If you want to save money, let the kids sleep at a relatives and have a special night at home. It’s amazing how different the house is with no kids around! Order dinner in, watch a movie, etc., etc. (if you know what I mean…)
5. Get in to a reality show or series together. We love to watch…well, lots of stuff…Survivor, The Bachelor, 24, etc. We love getting the kids to bed, cuddling up and being excited about our shows. It adds some drama to our pretty normal lives.
6. Put the kids to bed early. I used to be really laid back about bed times…until I had 4 kids and all sanity and patience goes out the window by 7pm. So, they have to go to bed. If it’s summer time, they don’t necessarily have to go to sleep but they need to stay downstairs and let me and their dad have some quiet time together. They like to turn on movies, play games, read books, etc. So, they’re not too bothered by it. But, you will LOVE having some time alone together!
7. Start a book together. Take turns reading to each other every night.
8. Go to the gym together. Not only are you spending time together, you are improving your health and body! Set goals together and motivate each other.
9. Go out every weekend. If you can’t afford it, do it every other week, or once a month. But, be strict about it. Even better, take turns planning the date just as if you were still “dating”. One month you plan it and the next he does. The rule has to be “no complaining” about what they choose…you would have never done that when you were dating! Put some thought and effort into planning it. I have an unspoken rule that I don’t cook Fridays and Saturdays. So, if we are going to eat…he had better bring home the bacon. It forces us to go out more…even if we have to take the kids…it feels like we are doing something.
10. Give each other a foot rub and talk about your days!
Tell me, tell me, please! What do you and your significant other do to keep the flame going?? (Not too graphic, please!…for those you can just send me an email…)
When my kids were finally all in school, my husband and I started meeting for lunch at least once a week. It was great. Since it was the middle of the day, we were more alert, kind of on top of our game — and nowhere near either of the places that meant stress and work for us, namely his job or the house.
We laughed, caught up on each other’s lives, even did family management stuff like planning vacations. It was great, and is something we still do whenever we can.
Love this post!!! We try to do a date night once a week and so we have set up with some friends to “date night swap” kids once a month. We watch their kids Friday night and they watch ours on Saturday night. Saves the money we pay a babysitter every other weekend of the month!
Thanks for some fun ideas!
Fabulous tips! Date nights are a necessity!
I just stumbled across your wonderful blog and wanted to say Hi. Your blog is hilarious…I will be sure to come back and visit again.
Love the date night swaps and meeting up for lunch! I knew I could count on you ladies!
Nice to meet you, Melissa! Thanks for coming by!
I LOVE this post! I think it is my favorite one you’ve done:) Great ideas!
If my hubby has to go across town for errands I like to go with him. Our kids are older so I can go and we chat a little on the way to the hardware store or wherever.
Thanks for the reminder to keep the flame going. I’m going to go watch a movie right now, with the hubby. If you don’t work at it, you’re left without a relationship. NOw to get the guys to read this great post!
Thanks for the reminder to keep the flame going. I’m going to go watch a movie right now, with the hubby. If you don’t work at it, you’re left without a relationship. NOw to get the guys to read this great post!
I love this post, but it reminds me of what my hubby and DO NOT do. But, like you said, I need to take charge like always…
Like you Mariel, my hubby is my absolute best friend. We have so much fun together. We love to run together. I have a new post idea for you! Summer skin care, soothing sunburn ideas. Check out my blog for a sad post on my burnt up Grace. I am a terrible mother for letting my little girl get so burned! And it’s still only MAY!
So I’m a guy and dont know what all the fuss is about staying home with the kids all day. I love the little ones!
grab the hamburger helper and then the man who caused all this walks through the door!!……I think you women have more power over us men than you think……you are the ones who have caused all this!
This post really is getting to me!
Great Post Mariel. Those above pictures are such impressive visuals. I would also like to add, get some lingerie. Men are such visual creatures. And it keeps it fun for everyone.
Haha! Great post…my blog has lots of fun ideas to keep the flame burning… love your ideas. I plan for sure to post about your Rice Kisspies post—soo cute!! I will link you if you don’t mind!
My husband and I are so lucky, we get to go out almost weekly with a babysitting swap – we set up 3 rules that have really made a difference. 1. No talking about the kids. 2. No talking about work. 3. No talking about money. It has forced us to find other things to chat about, like when we were dating. Our dates have become way more fun and meaningful.
I laughed so hard while I was reading the first part of this post–that is MY life right now! Love it!